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The doors to the metro opened with a sharp, creaking sound as the three agents stepped into the train.
"I'm exhausted !" Eight heard Four sigh loudly, gathering a few looks by the other passengers, as she walked directly to the nearest seat available, letting herself drop onto the stiff chair. "Can't wait to be home."
Three, her hands in the pockets of her old hoodie, sat down on the seat across hers, a small bag hanging loosely on one of her shoulders. Eight took a seat besides her, throwing glances in all directions, fiddling with her fingers.
Four had insisted that the three of them should spend some time together at the end of the week. They apparently 'hadn't seen each other in a while!', though Eight clearly remembered that they had hung out the week just before, which Three hadn't failed to mention. Obviously, Four completely ignored it and insisted that they should come spend the night at her apartment at the end of the week. So, here they were, all three taking the metro to Four's.
It wasn't the first time they went to her apartment. Actually, they spent quite a lot of time there. Three really didn't like having a lot of people over (first because she liked to keep some privacy, secondly because it was messy as hell) and Eight basically slept in anyone's houses by this point. Of course, most of the time, she stayed with Pearl and Marina, but she had been in most of the agents' homes. Though, seeing how the very few nights she had spent at the Squid Sisters's went, they decided it'd be best if she didn't go to Callie and Marie's mansion anymore, for everyone's good.
She didn't want to think about those disaster nights at the Squid Sisters', so Eight quickly turned her attention back to the other agents.
"Salmonids?" asked Three with her usual low voice, and Four nodded with a yawn.
"Yeah. Grizz was in a sore mood all week, and I kept getting splatted over and over by freaking Flyfish."
Eight grimaced slightly. Salmon Run sounded tough. She had never tried it, but Four, Pearl and Marina had told her lots about it. Toxic water, Salmonids not being the nicest creatures alive, the perhaps-a-bit-worrying number of work incidents and injuries… It was shady, and dangerous, but it paid well. That's mostly what Four was doing it for, anyway.
Very thankfully, the other agent had never gotten seriously injured. But, though it healed fast, Eight always noticed how she still came back with new, small scars on her arms and legs, adding to the old ones already there.
She'd never make any comment on it, though.
Though Four rarely mentioned it, it was obvious how she felt about all those scars on her body. The several cuts and ink burns that she got, three months ago, when she went to deliver Callie and the Great Zapfish. The rough scars she got from the violent attacks of the Salmonids. This big scar on the edge of her nose, that only ended right under her ear. The sharp cut that went through one of her mantles. It was an unspoken rule to never, ever talk about it.
Eight could understand it, in some way. She wouldn't really appreciate if someone started commenting on the several ink burns she had on her back. 'Even thinking about it makes it hurt.' She repressed a groan when she felt the familiar, faint pain on her skin.
It had been two months and a half since Eight finally managed to find her way to the surface, out of the Octarian army, and out of the Metro. She'd have to admit, these past two months had probably been both the happiest yet the most exhausting in her life.
Inkopolis had proven to be even more wonderful than what she had expected, back when she was only imagining it, reading through the magazines and posters all across the Metro, the pictures and illustrations more colorful than anything she'd ever seen, both back in the Domes and in the stations of Kamabo.
When she eventually got to explore it herself, it had been in every way overwhelming : the people, the places, the colours, the food, the liveliness, the sky, the music, the food … Even the tiniest things still felt so foreign to her. She couldn't count how many times she had shivered when she had felt the warm light of the sun on her back, how strange yet so calming it was to feel that warmth coursing through her whole body, and just how blinding the sunlight was, even though Four always told her to 'not look at it directly, you'll hurt your eyes', which wasn't...wrong. She did take a good while to get used to so much light, and sometimes her eyes still hurt, but it had gotten better.
Eight blinked lightly, and her vision got back to the window, as she glanced at the reflections of Three and Four. She clearly hadn't paid attention to the conversation at all, but as always, it seemed like Four had gotten into one of her endless rants, while Three listened without saying a word, only vaguely nodding from time to time.
Them, too, had certainly animated those two months on the surface, perhaps even more than Inkopolis did.
The New Squidbeak Splatoon certainly had grown in size, in such a small amount of time. Three and Four had told her many time about how hilarious Cap'n Cuttlefish's face was when he had learned that, in the two short weeks they had spent in Kamabo, how DJ Octavio had somehow escaped the snowglobe, how he stole the Zapfish again , how Callie had been brainwashed by those weird shades, how Marie had to recruit Agent 4, how they had managed to get to Cephalon HQ, how they won against DJ Octavio again , and how they brought Callie back home. In two weeks.
Though, they weren't really better, since Cap'n Cuttlefish himself had arrived to the cabin aboard a freaking helicopter , with a still confused Agent 3 with a half-blue face, the two very enthusiastic members of Off the Hook , and Eight, an octoling , who had almost freaked out when she saw the Squid Sisters. Not to mention the whole 'saving-Inkopolis-from-ultimate-doom-by-a-crazy-phone' business. No wonder they all collectively took some long, well-deserved vacations afterwards.
It hadn't taken long for the agents to meet up again, though. Firstly because Four had really wanted to meet them both : Three because she had heard Marie mention her countless times (and also because she had very much wanted to check if her hygiene was, indeed, that bad. Which was the case.) and Eight because 'man, a friendly octoling? It's so cool!'
She would admit she had really wanted to meet up with Three again, too. She never had had the chance to properly thank her for saving her life, back in the Metro. She still admitted, though, that she had been quite nervous with both of the agents at first. It had quickly gone away, though.
Eight didn't really understand how it happened, or why, but the three agents had quickly started to hang out together. Perhaps a lot more than any of them would have expected, actually.
She couldn't really explain it, but there simply was this common understanding between them. Though they never spoke out loud about it, they had adapted weirdly easily to each other.
Eight was also grateful, as they had accidentally ended up as her guides on Inkling culture, along with Marina and Pearl. She still didn't know how they all found the patience to sit through every single question she had, or listen to the few poems that she came up with randomly as they walked through Inkopolis, or take her back home after she got another one of her stomach pains because surface food was so good and she just wanted to eat absolutely everything that they came across. Though Four would often comment about how eyestraining her newly-bought clothes were. Which was completely untrue . It wasn't eyestraining! She just really liked wearing a lot of colors. They were so vibrant! And pretty! Four could complain about her super dope colorful shirts and shoes and hats all she wanted, she didn't care.
In the background, Eight vaguely heard Three answer something, but she wasn't paying much attention to the conversation anymore. She looked at the window, watching as the train moved across the rails. She couldn't help but flinch a bit whenever the train entered a tunnel, almost plunging them into darkness, if it wasn't for the faint lights inside the metro. Her throat felt drier than what she'd like to admit.
Eight had taken the metro several times over the two months. It had been the same every single time : get on the train, wait, get down on the station she wanted. No matter how many times she had taken it, she still got that deep fear every time she'd see the mechanical doors would open, imagining it opening on one of the tests stations again. She'd start shivering, her thoughts going back to Kamabo once again, seeing the long rides to the tests one more time, the chat logs with Pearl and Marina, the people roaming endlessly in the metro, Iso Padre, the mem cakes, those blue and green Octolings, the bombs on her back, the thangs, Tartar, the blender, and her back felt like it was burning again —
The sudden but slight grip of a hand on her shoulder made Eight jump, and she turned her head. Three was watching her nonchalantly, with her casual calm expression. "Four was wondering what you'd like to eat tonight." For a second, she could swear she saw Four make a confused face, her brows furrowed, almost as if she tried to speak. Eight, however, was too busy thinking about the question to really dwell on what was bothering Four.
Food? Eight took a second to collect her thoughts, blinking slightly, a concentrated look on her face. Food! Food was great. Surface food was really great. There was so much super tasty things and everything was so good— except that weird white-y thing. What was it called again? She really didn't like it. It tasted bland, like the things she remembered eating when she was in the Octarian army, and she didn't really want to go back to eating that . What's the name… ah, yes— "I'm good with anything except tofu."
Three hummed in agreement, but Four, who had been watching them with a confused face, instantly huffed in indignation, crossing her arms with a frown. "Tofu is good ! You just don't know how to appreciate it!" She tapped her finger against her vest, now looking thoughtful. She watched both of them for a second, before her eyes slightly lighted up as if she realized something. She looked at Eight with a small grin. "You know what? Fine, no tofu… I don't even feel like cooking anyway. How about we just order pizza?"
"Pizza!" Eight chanted instantly. She really liked pizza. It tasted great and you could put almost anything you wanted on it, which was awesome! (though she would never taste one of Pearl's pizzas. There was… a bit too much mayo on it for her liking) The only problem was that it was really hard to eat. She just couldn't eat it without making a mess… but it was super good, so she didn't mind it.
Eight slightly felt Three's hand leave her shoulder, as she crossed her arms, nodding quietly as Four asked her if pizza was alright.
"Aaaalright. Pizza it is, then. Man, Marie would probably scold me if she saw how much junk food I've been eating recently…"
Four started one of her ramblings again, though this time, she'd occasionally drop in some questions for both of the other agents, and Eight found herself listening to the conversation more intently, often giggling or commenting, which most often resulted in Four pouting as Three and her made some small snarky remarks, causing the octoling to laugh at her even more. It was only when the other agents started getting up that Eight noticed that the ride was already finished.
When the mechanical door opened with a creaky sound again and that behind it was a standard, open air station, she realized now that Three and Four's conversation had stopped her unwanted train of thoughts earlier. When her feet finally touched the ground again, Eight couldn't help but sigh slightly in relief.
She looked up to see that Three was giving her a small glance, as Four was already walking away from the train. When Eight slightly grinned at her, she could have sworn she saw the faintest of smiles on her lips.
'Thank you," she thought gratefully.
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Eight stared at the cards she was holding in her hands, brow furrowed in deep concentration. She lightly tapped one of the cards, a green 4, with one of her claws, before taking it out of her hand and putting it on top of a red 4 card, changing the color again.
"Urgh," Four instantly grumbled, looking at her cards with a disappointed face. "You're really not helping me here Ei— OH COME ON!" Three had a very satisfied look in her eyes as she made Four draw two cards for the third time in five turns. She was already down to three cards. Eight snorted slightly as Four added the new cards to her already-large deck. As the other agent skipped her turn again, the octoling put a green 7 card on top of the pile.
That's when Three, as quick as lightning, frantically put two green Skip cards the second Eight dropped hers. "Uno," she blurted out before smashing her last remaining card, a green 4, onto the others. "And I win."
Eight jumped out of surprise at how fast Three had been, before slightly pouting. Aw, too bad, I was going to pull out something cool next turn…
Four let out a guttural growl and her shoulders dropped in defeat. "How do you even do that." She said, pouting. "It's your 7th win in a row!"
"Skill." The other agent replied simply, crossing her arms and letting her back rest against the couch, a hint of amusement shining in her bi-colored eyes.
"Not skill, luck. There's no skill in Uno!"
"You say that because you lose every single time."
Eight chuckled as the two inklings started one of their endless arguments. Any time they played Uno together, they ended up with Four always arguing that Three was way too lucky in card games. Which… she kinda was. No matter what game, if it was with cards, the agent would somehow win every single time. It was a simple rule, but Four always insisted to play anyway, even though she always got her ass kicked in the end. She was hilariously bad, though she tried her best… Eight wasn't that good either, but still better than Four, so she was always second. Playing games with the two other agents was still fun, even if knowing who the winner would be every single time did get a bit tiring at times.
"You'll see Three, you'll see! I'll win against you one day!" Eight heard Four say with a defiant tone, while the other inkling simply shrugged. Four got up from the couch, where they had been sitting near the small table, where all the cards were still laid down. "I'm going to go order the pizzas now. What do you want?"
"Anything but pineapple." Three said instantly, frowning. Eight couldn't help but giggle. Three's absolute hatred for the fruit was well-known, and she still remembered the angry glances she'd shoot at it if she saw any. The octoling didn't understand why, because it tasted great. Speaking of which...
"I want anything that has pineapple on it." Three huffed loudly while Four simply gave her a disgusted glance.
"I still have no idea how you can like pizza with pineapple." She pouted. "Pineapple is good—" Three deadpanned her but she ignored it, "—but definitely not on pizza ."
Eight shrugged. "It still better than Pearl's pizzas. Did you know that she—"
"Nevermind I don't want to hear that, I'll go order, BYE." Four instantly ran towards the kitchen, leaving the two other agents alone.
Eight smiled slightly as she rested her back on the couch. Three seemed to be checking her phone, so the octoling quietly looked around.
She was familiar with Four's apartment, seeing how many times she had been there. It wasn't anything fancy or that big, but Four often mentioned that since she spent most of her time outside, she didn't really need much space.
It was pretty simple. The rooms had big windows, showing off some other apartments and the train station that was outside. It had plain, gray walls, which would probably need to be repainted (she remembered Four saying how she still didn't know what color she wanted). There was a few pieces of furniture, like the brown table where they usually ate in a corner of the main room, a small tv and some kind of bookcase — though it was pretty empty, Four had told her that it was mostly here to keep all the old and outdated Octarian articles, files, or just ads or newspapers she came across in the Octo Canyon. What was their name again? Sunken Scrolls, or something…
Overall, her apartment looked really simple, which could be surprising considering Four's personality, but her agent work, her job at Grizzco and Eight's arrival took most of her time, so she could only start decorations from time to time. However, it was slowly coming together. There was several boxes on the floor, seemingly containing decorations and stuff from her old home. There was some things hung to the walls, namely one with several pictures on it.
Funnily enough, Four had that one curse that made her always incredibly blurry in pictures. No matter how still she could be, she always was some variation of blurry, which was a great source of funny jokes to tease her with. She still kept a lot of pictures, though. There was several of her family, some of her old city. Eight didn't recognize anything or anyone on them. However, there was two pictures, the newest ones, where she could. The first one was a really nice picture of Marie, Callie and Four at Cuttlefish's Cabin, all smiling. It had been taken a month ago, and Eight often caught Four stare at it with an endeared look from time to time. The second was from last month : Eight's first-ever Splatfest, actually. She still fondly remembered the event : it had been amazing . The Turf Wars, all those people hanging out and having a great time, the music, all the lights everywhere, the night sky surrounding everything. No wonder it was the inklings' greatest celebration : it was so incredible, and Eight couldn't describe it in words, except with I want to do it again.
In the picture, they'd been standing near the big tower, the Great Zapfish flying in the horizon as always. Eight and Three were in the center, though the octoling hadn't even been looking at the camera, so it mostly showed her back, since she had been too busy looking everywhere in awe. Three had her usual calm-though-almost-scary face, and seemingly waved at the camera with a bored look. Three wasn't the most fond of Splatfest — which Eight had trouble understanding, since it was so great , but had agreed to come with the two agents anyway. Apparently, she didn't have a bad time, as seeing Eight jump around everywhere to see everything had been pretty funny. 'It was awesome, of course I had to see everything! '
Though it wasn't the prettiest picture in the world, Four had insisted on keeping it, and it now rested on her wall. It did make Eight really happy to see that Four had wanted them to be shown in her apartment. She wondered if Pearl and Marina would also let her have some pictures of everyone in her bedroom. She already kept some souvenirs there, namely all of her mem cakes, which were carefully put together on the same shelf. She took great care of all of them, and fondly remembered all of the poems she had written alongside them. It came back so naturally to her, as if she had known them all her life.
"Hey, Three," Eight started with a smile, looking back at the inkling. "How about we help Four with the decoration of her apartment one day? Maybe if we helped her with it, it'd be qui—"
A shaky breath interrupted her.
Three's hand was on her face, on top of her blue scar. She held her cheek, brows furrowed as she tried to contain some slight hisses of pain. 'Is she okay?' Eight's eyes instantly clouded with worry. "Three, are you hurt?"
"I'm fine ", the other agent instantly blurted out in a low voice, and she knew she was lying.
"Please, don't lie to me." Three seemed to avoid her gaze, instead looking at her other hand, who was turned into a fist. She quickly realized what was bothering the inkling. Eight looked at her, before taking a slow, soft voice. "Is your scar hurting you again?"
When she was met with a heavy silence, Three not moving a inch, Eight guessed she was right. With a little nod to herself, she carefully got up from the couch. "Stay here, I'll get some towels." she warned Three, before turning away and quickly walking towards the bathroom, her throat now feeling as dry as sand.
It wasn't the first time Three's scar started hurting her again. Actually, it had happened quite a few times, though thinking about it made Eight's chest heavy. From the small information Three had told them, and what they had seen, her scar was frequently causing her pain flares. The first month, it had been several times a week, and Eight still remembered dreadfully the first time she had been here when Three had one. She had been really scared to see the inkling in pain, and though she had wanted to help, she had quickly learned that there was little they could do.
Sometimes, the scar would burn, some other times, it'd even go as far as to give Three a deep fever or migraines for several days. They had tried many things to make the pain more bearable, but the hellish blue scar would not respond to anything. Though the pain flares were becoming less painful and happened less often than when she first got it, it still handicapped her a lot. And knowing they could do little to help her with it was so incredibly frustrating to Eight.
Three had been stubborn, too. As much as the scar could handicap her, she refused to let them know when it hurt, even though they always ended up noticing it anyway. They knew the other agent didn't like getting help for it. She never had been clear as to why — as much as they hung out with her, she was still an incredibly hard person to read. Still, Eight didn't care if she didn't want help. She hated to see her suffer, and if they could at least help her a little bit, then they would.
Eight opened the drawer of the bathroom, quickly looking through it before grabbing a small, neatly folded white towel. She approached the sink, turned the tap on and dampened the towel slightly. 'I'll go warn Four,' Eight thought as she quickly walked towards the kitchen, shooting a sad glance at Three, still sitting on the couch, letting out muffled, pained breaths.
When she opened the kitchen door, Four was apparently finished with the phone call. She looked at Eight with a surprised smile, opening her mouth to speak, but she quickly stopped when she saw her serious expression.
"Three's scar is hurting her again." she announced with a low, sore voice. Four instantly looked worried.
"Oh cod… is it bad?"
Eight shook her head. "It doesn't seem like it's as bad as the worst ones." She looked at the damp towel, eyes clouded with sadness. "... it's still hurting her, though."
She saw Four nod, not answering anything, her mouth shut, her expression serious. Without another word, the two agents got back to the living room.
Three was still on the couch. Eight approached silently, before carefully handing her the towel. "Take this," she whispered lowly.
It took a second for her to register what happened, hand still grasping her cheek, but she still grabbed the towel, before carefully tapping it against the blue skin. Eight felt a little relieved when it apparently made Three feel a bit better, her hands and shoulders relaxing slightly. Four sat on a chair near them, looking at Three with concern, apparently as worried as Eight was.
The three stayed a while in silence, which was only disturbed when Four or Eight went out to dampen the towel again from time to time. The atmosphere was incredibly tense, but none of them would say a word. Sometimes, Eight would catch Four's glance, and the octoling could feel all of the concern she had for the other agent— which she shared.
As they waited silently, not saying a word, Eight couldn't help but look at the glimpses of the blue scar that weren't hid by the towel. Sometimes, she wondered if she could have done anything to prevent Three from getting it. She often thought that maybe, if she had been more careful, or if she had trusted that freaking phone less, maybe she wouldn't have to watch Three suffer like that without being able to do anything .
She wondered if perhaps Three hated her for getting that scar. Did she blame her? After all, if she hadn't entered that stupid blender, perhaps none of it would have happened. She wouldn't have to suffer as much as she already did because of her.
The thought made Eight's hearts swell with guilt.
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Eight opened the door to the living room, careful not to make any sound, listening to Three's constant, slow breathing to make sure she didn't wake her up. She closed it behind her, all in the deepest of silence.
She didn't know what time it was, but night had completely taken over the sky now. They had all gone to sleep since a good while : the day had quickly drawn to a close after Three had her pain flare.
It had lasted a bit more than half a hour, before Three's skin finally started to burn her less. Thankfully, this time, the pain flare had been pretty short, but it still drained all of the agents' energy. They all ate some parts of the pizzas they ordered, not really hungry anymore, and went to bed early. The mood certainly had shifted quickly, and the night had ended sooner than they had expected, but they had grown used to this sort of thing.
Still, Eight couldn't fall asleep, as usual. She had spent a long time watching the wall, counting every crack on it, before it bored her. She had tried to think of some poems, but no rhymes came to her mind. She had listened to Three's steady, calming breathing for a while, trying to match its pattern to maybe try and fall asleep too. When all of that failed, she decided it'd be best to just go drink something in the kitchen and hoped she'd sort it out when she'd get back to the bedroom.
Eight threw a glance at the gray, worn couch sitting in the middle of the living room, but was surprised to not see anyone sleeping in it. Four always insisted that they slept in her bedroom whenever they had a sleepover. She had a spare mattress in her room, and the other agent usually stayed in her beloved couch, but seeing how the fuzzy blanket she slept with was thrown lazily to the floor, Eight guessed she had gotten up.
Still, very careful not to make a single noise —she was too scared to wake Three up from her deserved rest, she walked across the living room, and put her hand on the kitchen's door knob.
She wasn't that surprised to see that Four was here. The other agent was looking through the small window of the room, her arms crossed on the kitchen counter, turning her back on Eight. She held a small pack of biscuits in her hands, quietly munching some. When she heard the door open, she turned around, giving her a small, tired smile. "Hey." Her voice was low and soft, just above a whisper. She clearly was less energetic than a few hours before.
Eight returned her smile. She took a few steps, walking next to the inkling, before bending over slightly on the kitchen counter to look at the window. She heard Four hum quietly next to her.
The octoling stared at the night sky, partly hidden by some buildings and clouds, but still felt that usual, warm feeling in her hearts when she caught a glimpse of the shining stars, white dots of light across the dark sky. She watched them shine, so far far away, awe glintening in her eyes, and her body relaxed with a small, calm sigh.
"You know," Eight started with a low voice. "No matter how many things I discover on the surface every day, the sky… the sky is still my favorite."
She saw Four turn her head to look at her, listening to her with attention. Eight took a second to observe the clouds moving slowly, the light wind taking them far, far away.
"Before I got out of Kamabo, I never saw the sky. No soldier ever did, except the patrol that went to steal the Great Zapfish. I don't remember the details, but…" Her claws lightly tapped on the counter, as she tried to recollect what she remembered. "I remember some soldiers who talked about how the sky, on the surface, was the most vivid of blues they'd ever seen, even deeper than the most colourful of inks. I had trouble imagining it, but when I saw it in the pictures and the magazines in the Metro, I thought it was so, so beautiful."
"But, when, finally, I got out of the Metro…" Eight closed her eyes, and couldn't help the faint smile that appeared on her lips. "The sky… it wasn't blue. It was orange . It even became pink as the sun got out of the sea. In a few seconds, the color of the sky had changed so much! I never ever imagined it could do that. It was the most amazing thing I saw in my life."
Eight opened her eyes again, and her smile widened as she continued. "But, now that I've been here for a while, I was able to see the sky change so many times! It can be all blue, or with lots of clouds! When its raining, it turns gray, and sometimes there's even electricity coming from it! And the night sky is so beautiful!" She glanced at the stars, before bringing her voice down a little. "Pearl and Marina even told me that, on Mount Nantai, you could see even more stars than in Inkopolis. I want to see that."
Four, who was still watching her with a endeared look, nodded with a light laugh. "Oh, yeah, you can see the stars a lot better when you're far away from the cities. I kinda miss my hometown because of that."
Eight could barely imagine what the sky would look like with even more stars. 'It's already so beautiful, and yet it can still be even better? I wonder if Pearl and Marina would let me come to Mount Nantai with them one day…'
As she looked at the window again, Eight hummed when she started to remember all of the beautiful, beautiful skies she had seen in her two months on the surface. However, she became thoughtful when a particular memory came back to her again.
'I wonder if I should ask Four about it… she will maybe think I'm weird' , she thought anxiously, glancing at the inkling, who was now staring at the sky. Yet, she probably was the person she felt more comfortable telling right now.
"Hey, Four… Can I tell you about something? ...Please don't think I'm weird."
Four turned to stare at her, looking at her with surprise "Yeah, sure. I won't ever think you're weird, anyway." Eight couldn't help but feel her hearts warming up at that.
"Thank you," she said, and Four gave her a small smile. "So, what is it that you wanted to tell me about?"
Eight nodded. "Well, it's about the sky again… it turned really weird, once." Four arched an eyebrow, but let her continue.
"I was at the Reef to buy something for Pearl and Marina, and it had been really cloudy. It started raining, so I hid in a building and waited for it to stop here. But then… the rain had been going on for a while, but the sun came back, and it stopped. I got out, but when I looked at the sky…"
Eight couldn't help but fiddle with her fingers. "Parts of it had changed colors ! Like, I know it's weird, but I saw it! There was red, yellow, green… I even saw some purple ! It looked so weird and so cool that I stopped down to watch it, but then, it just… started disappearing." Speaking about it made her as confused as she had been that day. "I swear it really happened, all those colors were there! But then, then... they just… went away! I was super confused, and then I thought I was going crazy, so I told no one, but I really did—"
Four suddenly burst with laughter, and Eight stopped, looking at her with a confused expression. The inkling had a hand on her mouth, trying to muffle down her laughter, and the octoling started wondering what she had said that was so funny. 'Did.. Did I say something inappropriate? I hope I didn't do anything wro—'
"Eight, please don't ever change," said the other agent, still laughing, as she pulled out her phone from one of her shorts' pockets and started tapping on it really fast.
"Um… did I say something weird?"
Four shook her head with a big grin, looking at her phone. "Eight, I think you simply saw a rainbow."
"A rainbow?" The octoling started, confused, before Four, leaning down towards her, showed her something on her phone.
Oh!
It was a picture, and it looked exactly like what she had seen! The colors were in the same tone, and it had that same, weird pattern on the sky. "That's what I saw!" She exclaimed, taking the phone within her hands to stare at the picture a bit closer. "It's so beautiful!"
Four leaned her back on the kitchen counter, crossing her arms with a big grin. "Yeah, it's super cool!" She agreed. "I don't really know the details, but basically it appears when there's sunlight right after it rains. It doesn't happen often and it doesn't stay for long, but it's really pretty."
The octoling stared in awe at the few pictures of rainbows, holding Four's phone very carefully between her claws.
She was so, so glad she hadn't imagined that.
She held Four back her phone a few minutes later, after staring at it in complete silence for a little while. ' How come the surface always seems to be getting better each day after each day?' There was still so much to see and so much to learn about the world… once again, she felt her hearts swelling with gratefulness.
"The surface is wonderful." she finally whispered with a low voice, and she saw Four smile, before humming in agreement.
They continued talking a while after that, Four even shared the pack of biscuits she had been eating with her. They slowly ate them, talking and laughing at a low voice, before fatigue started to dawn onto the two of them. After they both started yawning repeatedly, they decided to both go back to sleep.
"Good night." Four finally whispered to her, a soft but tired smile on her lips, before Eight closed the door to the living room, slipping back into the bedroom.
Three was still soundly asleep, clutching her beloved Zapfish plushie tightly in her arms. Eight noticed she looked way more relaxed than a few hours earlier, and was glad that, apparently, her scar had completely stopped hurting her. She slipped back into her own bed in silence, and she felt like she fell asleep as soon as she touched the mattress.
Her mind hummed dozen of rhymes about skies and rainbows, and Eight quietly thanked everyone she knew on the surface, falling into a peaceful sleep.