Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Three shot up, wide awake, in the middle of the night. She looked around in a cold sweat, checking for anyone who could be nearby, but stopped once her eyes laid upon the octoling sleeping next to her. Three sighed and laid back down, snuggling up against the octarian. 

She woke up from a nightmare she had about when she was previously an agent of the Splatoon, rather than the captain. About how she once fought the octoling that now laid next to her, peacefully. It was a time where nobody knew that an octoling could change. A time of, dare say it, racism and segregation. 

She hated how the previous captain before her, Cuttlefish, told her that the octarians were bad and how they stole their zapfish to keep it all for themselves. But, she recalls being informed by the octoling next to her that they kept taking the zapfish simply because they needed to survive. They didn’t hate the squids, they just wanted life. Three shuttered at how she had ruined that want for them.

Three knew that the new Squidbeak Splatoon would be different from how Cuttlefish treated it. It’s not fighting for Inkopolis or Splatsville anymore, it’s fighting for their world. To protect the world from devastation. The world where inklings and octolings united, and lived together in harmony. 

Three wrapped her arms around the sleeping octoling and tried to dose off again, but images of the past kept popping up in her mind. The desperate face of that octoling came up in her head again and again and-

“Three?” A quiet voice mumbled. The inkling opened her eyes to see the octarian staring at her, worried. “Are you alright?”

Three looked away and nodded. She felt bad for waking the octoling up.

“Are you sure? It looks like you’re crying...” 

Three didn’t respond. She was too embarrassed from looking and feeling vulnerable and weak to talk. She never talked much anyways so this wasn’t out of the ordinary. 

Her eyes widened as she felt arms wrap around her. She hesitantly hugged the octoling back, feeling a wave of comfort wash over her.

“I’m here for you, okay?” The octoling asked.

“Eight. . .” Was all Three could get out. Tears blurred her vision again as she hugged the octoling tighter.

Eight looked at Three with worry. She didn’t know what had gotten her this worried, but she would be there for her for matter what. Three was the one who helped her come to the surface, after all, and she taught her everything that was fresh. She helped her with the fact that she was used for tests, so the least Eight could do was be there for her. 

Eight kissed the inkling’s forehead. “Tell me when you’re ready, okay?” 

Three nodded again in response. Eight smiled at her and held her close, stroking her tentacles soothingly. Three hummed in delight and buried her face into Eight’s shoulder. 

“Come on, let’s get back to sleep. We can go out tomorrow, stop at the Crust Bucket, and then do other fun activities like shopping if you’d like.” Eight suggested.

“Okay. . .” Three muttered, tiredly. 

Eight closed her eyes and quickly dozed off. Three snuggled into her and closed her eyes, trying to get a well deserved rest as well.

They were just nightmares. They weren’t real.

Chapter Text

“I invited Four and Neo along too if that’s alright with you,” Eight started, looking up from her phone to Three, “I just thought it could be like a little agent hang-out, you know?” 

Three nodded as she looked through her closet, searching for something to wear. She placed her fingertips on two matching sweaters and pulled them out, turning to Eight.

“Do you want to match today?” She asked the octoling.

Eight smiled and took one of the sweaters from her hands. “Sure! It would be so cute and fresh! Now, I’ll be right back - I’m going to get into the shower.”

She walked off with the sweater and leggings in tow. Three took that moment to put on her outfit; her sweater with some black sweatpants. She sat down on the bed, waiting for Eight to come back out to her. 

How did things become like this, Three thought to herself. One moment, she’s fighting Eight for Inkopolis, the next she’s in the same room as her, sharing the same apartment with her, and getting along with her. Who knew that two (seemingly) enemies would become as close as they were?

Who would know that an octoling’s partner almost killed them twice in the past?

Three’s chest became heavy as she felt the world around her falling apart. She blinked once, and all of a sudden she was back in the helli that took her and Eight up to the surface. Except, it was just her and Eight, nobody else. Three was standing on a platform hovering above the helli, looking down at an injured Eight. She was covered in Three’s ink. 

Three stood on the platform paralyzed in fear. The little octoling looked so desperate for life. She felt herself jumping down to meet the octoling. She walked towards it slowly. Eight looked up at Three in fear.

“Goodbye, evil octarian.” Three mumbled, lifting up her weapon.

Eight backed up a bit from the brutal inkling. “What do you think you’re accomplishing when you do this?” She asked, sternly. 

“What do you mean? We’re trying to stop your people from ruining the surface, plain and simple. We’re trying to get our Great Zapfish back. What do you think I’m trying to accomplish, octarian?”

“Ruining the surface?” Eight asked. “That’s what your people are convinced we’re doing?”

Three answered, “Yes. Octarians are no good. They just want the Great Turf War to start all over again.”

“You guys don’t understand it, do you? We don’t want some stupid war to happen again, Octavio just wants us to survive!”

“...What?” Three dropped her weapon to her side.

“You guys don’t need that Zapfish - you all can thrive without it, correct? Everytime it goes missing, there isn’t even a single person who cares.”

Three tensed up as the octoling said what was the sad truth. The inklings could thrive without the Great Zapfish. Did they really need it as much as it was said?

“Correct,” the inkling mumbled.

“Exactly! You guys always stress about needing it, but you can survive without it! The Zapfish is our only source of power!” Three noticed tears streaming down the cheeks of the octoling. “If you don’t want this war to start up again, why do you guys act so brutal to us?” 

Three felt her teeth clench as she raised her weapon to the octolings face, shaking. The octoling was lying, wasn’t she? This wasn’t the truth, was it? No. It can’t be true. It can’t possibly be true… right?

The inkling’s finger laid on the trigger. “I’m sorry octarian, but I was taught by the captain that octarians are nothing but trouble. I would think he would know as he is a veteran of the war." But she didn't believe herself as she said this, she believed the octoling.

Three felt her finger push down on her gun’s trigger, and then she heard a blood-curdling scream from the octoling.

“Three! Three, please answer me!” Eight was shaking the inkling and looking at her worriedly. 

Three shook her head and looked around. She was no longer in the helli, but rather in her apartment again. She flinched as Eight hugged her tightly.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re okay! You… You weren’t responding to me when I called you and you were unresponsive so I just-... I couldn’t help but worry…” 

Three nodded and stood up. “I’m fine,” she mumbled. 

Eight continued, “We don’t have to go out today if you don’t want to… I don’t want something like this to happen while we’re out… Not saying it’s a bad thing, oh no! I-I mean I just want you to be okay…” 

Three shook her head and took Eight’s hand, walking to the door. 

“Are you sure?” Eight asked, “We can always hang out some other time…”

“Mhm,” Three answered. Maybe this day out would get that horrible memory out of her mind. 

Three exited the apartment complex with Eight behind her. Eight pulled out her phone. 

“Four said that she and Neo are going to meet us at Arowana Mall. Should we jump there so it’ll be faster or…?” She asked.

“I think I’d rather walk the way so I can spend more time with you.” Three answered.

Eight blushed and smiled softly. The two continued from then on to walk to the mall, hoping Four and Neo would do the same so they wouldn’t be waiting too long.

Chapter Text

By the time Three and Eight got to the mall, Four and Neo were standing by, watching something on Four’s phone and laughing. Neo looked up at them, smiled, and waved. Eight ran up to them excitedly while Three stayed behind and walked over to them.

“Today’s gonna be so much fun!” Eight exclaimed.

Neo replied, “I know, right? I couldn’t wait for this morning!”

“Trust me,” Four replied, “they were bouncing all over the place asking me every five minutes, ‘Are we going? How about now?’”

Neo blushed in embarrassment and punched Four’s arm. Four rubbed her arm while chuckling. 

“What about you, Three?” Four asked, as the inkling slowly approached the group.

Three shrugged, not saying a word.

“Aw, come on,” Eight teased, “It’s gonna be a blast!”

Neo chimed in, “Yeah, Captain! You’re gonna have so much fun, you won’t even realize!”  

Three smiled slightly. They were right, this would be a fun day. With the help of Four, Eight, and Neo, she would be able to forget everything bad about the past and focus on the present. 

Hopefully.

“Now, let’s not wait any further!” Eight said. She gently grabbed Three’s hand again and let their fingers intertwine. “Let’s go!” 

The group set off into the mall, looking at shops and what laid inside them seeing if it piqued interest. There were many kinds of people roaming the mall, like jellyfish, blobfish, gulper eels, and of course, inklings and octolings. 

Eight stopped at some windows every so often, either looking at clothing or cute plushies that she could get for her already humongous collection of them. Eventually, Neo walked over to Eight and tugged at her sleeve, pointing to one of the shops excitedly. Eight squealed and ran into it with her. They always seemed to share interests.

“Where are they going?” Four asked, looking after them.

Three shrugged in response. 

Four hummed. “Should we go after them?”

“I don’t think so. It’s not like Eight would let them cause destruction,” Three said. “Last thing she wants is destruction.” 

“I guess you’re right. Should we get some drinks while we wait for them? Don’t want to wander off too far from them.”

Three nodded, and the two walked over to Crab-N-Go - a concession stand nearby. They looked at the drinks they had to offer, wondering which ones they would get, and which ones they thought their friends would like. They eventually left the stand with a Salty Melon Special, Sub Berry Blaster Blitz, Cherry Apple Fizz, and Smoothie Especial. The inklings sat down at a bench, waiting for Eight and Neo to come back from their little adventure.

“I will never understand the interests that Neo and Eight have,” Four joked around. Three smiled slightly and nodded.

She took a sip of her Salty Melon Special. This day was supposed to be a fun day, but poor memories kept flooding her mind uncontrollably. Three couldn’t shake off how horrible she had been to what is now her girlfriend. The fact that the octoling was never really looking for trouble. None of the octarians were looking for trouble, Cuttlefish was just racist! Racist because of what the octarians did before. Racist because of the war.

Three felt a hand on her shoulder and looked over. Four was looking at her worriedly. 

“Everything okay, Three?” She asked.

Three shrugged. “Thinking.” 

Four hesitated before speaking. “Is that octoling still bothering you?”

Three just stared at the ground. Four knew about this because, well, when the two worked as agents together, sometimes Three would just… Go through it . Especially after fighting the octarian who they now know as Eight. Sometimes, she would just break after going through a mission enough, and Four learned how to snap her out of it. Four listened to her say her opinions on Cuttlefish after the event and, even being a bit skeptical at first, Four couldn’t help but agree with her. It was a shame that they couldn’t do something about it sooner since they were just agents…

“Has it gotten any better for you?” Four asked. “Do you need to get anything off your chest?”

“It was Eight,” the words slipped out of Three’s mouth before she could even realize.

“What…?”

Three looked away and took a deep breath. “The octarian who told me the truth. It was Eight. I know it was Eight.” 

Four’s eyes widened as Three’s eyes were glued to the floor. 

“Oh god,” Four gasped, “does Eight know?”

“About what? What I’m going through or that I was the one who hurt her badly?” Three snapped, then sighed. “She probably hates me for it…”

“Three, why would she hate you? She gives you every ounce of love she can muster out. She’s your girlfriend .” 

“She could be pretending,” Three muttered. “She may have lost her memory before, but she told me that everything she went through helped her gain memories back. And that’s how she remembered-...” 

Four rubbed Three’s back, trying to at least make her feel a bit better. Three buried her face in her hands and groaned.

“Hey,” Four started after a bit, “you know what I would think would really help with this? If you talked to Eight about it. Let her know what’s going on.”

Three shook her head, “She’s already dealing with her own stuff. I don’t want to put all of this on her. I’ll find out how to deal with it.” 

Four frowned and looked away. Three sighed, having enough with the conversation. This was supposed to be a fun day, not a sad, mopey day.

“Look,” Three started, “I’m sorry for ruining things, but I just don’t want to talk about it, alright?” 

Four stayed silent and nodded, taking a sip of her Cherry Apple Fizz. Just then, Eight and Neo walked over to the group with some bags.

“Why didn’t you guys come with us?” Neo asked. “There was a lot of cool stuff in there!” 

Four smiled, “That stuff isn’t really our style. Glad to know you two had fun, though! We got you guys some drinks in the meantime.” 

The two lit up as they were handed the Sub Berry Blaster Blitz and the Smoothie Especial. Neo took the Blaster Blitz and Eight grabbed the Especial. Eight thanked them as Neo was already gulping theirs down. 

Eight sat down next to Three. “Sorry we just ran off like that without any warning,” she apologized. 

“It’s alright,” Three mumbled. It was only then that she wished they went in after the two so that she didn’t have to have that “talk” with Four. 

“We can go to the Booyah Base,” Eight suggested. “I know there’s stuff we’d all like in there.” 

“Oh, yeah!” Four exclaimed. “Great idea, Eight!”

Neo tilted their head. “Booyah Base?” 

“A store that was originally from Inkopolis Plaza,” Three explained. “The place where I used to live…” 

“The stuff there could be described as “retro”, but it’s still very cool! I think you’d like it as well. Come on, let’s show you," Four said.

And with that, the quartet set off to the Booyah Base.

Chapter Text

The Booyah Base was a small shop in the mall with different types of headgear, clothes, and shoes. It was originally a series of separate shops, but since most of the freshest squids from Inkopolis Plaza moved to the Square and to Splatsville, they carried it onto other places. It wasn’t quite like the original, but it was at least something to give a nod to. 

Neo seemed to have stars in their eyes as they walked around the small shop. There wasn’t much, but to them, it seemed like this stuff was new. Four chuckled at them as she looked around herself.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve seen stuff like this,” Four stated. “I wasn’t really from the plaza either.” 

“I didn’t remember it existed until Three showed me some pictures of it with some of her friends!” Eight exclaimed.

“Woah, you had friends, Captain?” Neo asked.

Four snorted as Three gave them a look. 

Three muttered, “If it bothers you, yes I had friends… They would join me in Turf War matches all the time. You didn’t have a life before you became an agent?”

Neo shook their head and said, “Not really. I had only one friend but I never knew them in real life. They lived at the Square but-… I haven’t heard from them in a while…” They frowned.

“Maybe we could visit the Square again one day!” Eight suggested. “That’s where me and Four came from! Well, I was below the surface but…”

Four smiled brightly. “Oh, yeah! That’s a great idea! I really miss it there…”

“We stranded you there for months!” Three exclaimed. “It was practically deserted, and no one from the Splatoon was there… How do you miss it?”

Four frowned. “Don’t you miss Inkopolis? You’ve been away from the plaza longer than I've been away from the Square!”

Three paused and was lost in thought. Don’t you miss Inkopolis? She really couldn’t say yes but also not no either. There were a mix of good and bad memories… Both in the plaza and the square. Mainly bad ones in the plaza. So did she really miss her hometown, which now had a train station in Splatsville leading to it?

Three snapped out of thought when she saw a hand snapping in her face.

“Don’t you miss it?” Four asked.

Three stayed quiet, but then quietly said, “Are you guys gonna buy anything here or what?”

Neo jumped up and started looking around the shop, since they were so eager with the aesthetic of the shop. They called over Four so she could help them carry some items they were picking out, since they wanted a lot. Eight stood close to Three, looking around.

“Would you like to look around with me?” The octoling asked her. 

Three shrugged as a “sure” and followed Eight around the store. Eight would stop when she’d see some cute clothes or accessories.

“What do you think of this?” Eight held up a hair clip in the shape of a squid and giggled. “It reminds me of you!”

Three smiled slightly and took it from her, looking at it and humming. She clipped it in Eight’s hair and took them to a mirror that was in the shop. She gasped as her eyes lit up.

“Ohhh, it looks so cute!” Eight squealed. Three smiled.

“Do you think you’re gonna get it?” She asked.

Eight immediately nodded and smiled. She continued to look around for different things, yet didn’t find anything. The two went over to the register and Three stood by as Eight paid for her stuff. Three’s eyes caught onto Neo and Four, who had armfuls of gear in their hands. Neo seemed to really like this shop, hm? The two were also heading to the register. 

“Do you guys need any help?” Three asked.

Neo shook their head as Four seemed to be struggling. Three took something from Four’s arms, making it easier for her. 

“Dear cod, Neo, did you have to buy out the whole store?” Four groaned.

Neo said, “It wasn’t the whole store! I just haven’t seen anything like this before! There’s some really fresh gear in here!”

Three gave Neo a look. “ Really? You think the stuff here is fresh? For eel?” 

Neo smiled and nodded. “Yeah! And you’re telling me you used to have this as an everyday thing? Oh man, I wish I lived in Inkopolis!”

“You really don’t,” Three said.

“Why not?” 

Three stopped as she remembered her past and childhood. All of the kids in Inkopolis were unaware of how people actually acted there, but Three was told by her family how nasty and horrible the townsfolk were. The kids, who grew up into teens, turned just as bad, and were ditching all their friends because of one false rumor.

Or they were ditching their one friend for having a life outside of Turf Wars.

Three could see herself on the respawn platform, waiting for a match to start with her friends from Inkopolis. She had a Splattershot, a male with headphones and a sweater had a sniper, that was Bennette, a female with a barrette hat and a sailor-ish outfit had a blaster, that was Mia, and another female with a fresh pair of specs and a t-shirt with a long sleeve shirt under it was wielding a roller, that was Ivy. 

They were chatting quietly, talking about the strategy they were going to use for the other team. As the match was about to start.

3… 2… 1… Go!

They all started inking the place up, Three and the roller did most of it since they had the better weapons to do so, while the sniper and blaster started defending and going to the middle. Everything was going well until…

About a minute in, Three felt a vibration from her phone. Normally, phones aren’t allowed in the arena, but Three took hers in case something like this happened. She looked around and hid behind a wall, looking at it.

A call from Agent 2…

“Oh, cod… Not now…” She mumbled as she answered.

“Agent 3! We need you right now!”

“Can you please wait a couple minutes? I’m in a match right now! I-I can’t leave my team behind!” Three pleaded.

Agent 2 sighed. “3, this job is serious! I don’t know what you were thinking when you took the job opportunity but-”

“I didn’t take it! I was forced to work for Cuttlefish!”

“Not the point. You need to be here ASAP. Gramps went missing, and Agent 1 and I are thinking it’s because of those horrible octarians! Please, Agent 3. We need you to help us.”

Three sighed and groaned, “Fine! I didn’t want to have fun for three minutes anyways!” 

“I’m sorry, 3, but you’re an agent now,” Agent 2 stated. “You don’t have all the time in the world like you used to.”

Three stayed silent, leading to Agent 2 questioning if she was still there. After a couple seconds, she spoke again.

“I’m on my way now.”

Three hung up and turned her phone off, looking around to see if anyone was watching. She turned into a squid and jumped away back to the plaza, where she would sneak into the grates that nobody dared to enter.

Three slowly came back up the grate that took her to Octo valley, exhausted. It was another hard day of facing the octo troopers, along with an army of octolings. And STILL they weren’t close to the Captain. The Great Zapfish was still missing, and it just made Inkopolis look… off. 

She slowly made her way to her neighborhood until she was grabbed by someone. Three yelped and looked over at who it was, only to be face-to-face with Mia.

“Naomi, what the heck?!” Mia yelled at Three. “You ditched us again at the Turf War!”

Three frowned, a bit nervous at Mia’s tone, “I’m really sorry, Mia! I really hate it that I keep ditching you guys, but they won’t let me stay for just one minute! I try to convince them to let me stay, but they just don’t let me!” 

Mia growled, “I’m so tired of this! This is the fourth time this week that you’ve done this!”

“I know,” Three said, “but please, you have to understand that I have a job now! When it calls, I need to be there as soon as I can.”

“Why do you even have a job in the first place? You’re 14! You have a stable household! Why can’t you just enjoy the last few years of your childhood while it lasts?” 

“I-I was dragged into the job… But I have a very important role!”

“Oh yeah?” Mia snapped. “What’s your role then?”

Three looked at her, not sure what to say. Agents 1 and 2 told her to never reveal what she actually works for, because there’s a chance that the wrong people would be dragged down. Or if word spread about the evil plan of the octos. 

But it wasn’t an evil plan… It was just for survival…

“Tell me! What’s your super duper important role that they require you constantly?!” Mia yelled. 

Three sighed. “I can’t tell you…” 

Mia rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Do our whole team a favor and don’t fight with us…”

“… What…?”

“You heard me! You’re not doing this with us anymore!”

“Are you serious?! Does Turf War mean the world to you so much that you’ll ditch your friend because she can’t be there since she actually has a cod damn life?!”

“Turf War is my life!” 

“Then clearly you have no life at all!”

Mia growled and raised her fist at Three, but sighed angrily and put it down. 

“Just get out of my sight,” she hissed.

Three stormed off while mumbling, “You’re the one who stopped me from getting home…”

Her dad was right; do one wrong thing in Inkopolis, and suddenly everyone backstabs you. 

“ Helllooooo? Captain?” Neo waved a hand in her face.

Three shook her head and looked around, noticing she was back in the small shop. Her face felt damp. 

“You did that thing again,” Four said, concerned. “You know, where you drift off into your own little world… Do you need to sit down?”

“Inkopolis was full of fakes… They left and betrayed you just because Turf War wasn’t your life. If you had a job, you were ‘wrecking your team’…” Three muttered, answering Neo’s previous question. 

There was a “next” called out from the register. Eight stood by with the squid clip in her hair, waiting for the other three to finish with their own things, or, just Neo. 

“People were really like that?” Neo asked as they put their stuff down on the counter.

Three also set down Neo’s things on the counter. “Yep. My friends all ditched me after I got my job as an agent because I had to keep a low profile. Nowadays, people are more chill, so we can just say we work for the Squidbeak Splatoon without worry.”

“Mainly because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. Ms. Marie was getting impatient with me,” Four chuckled as she put the rest of Neo’s things on the counter.

Neo hummed and smiled, putting their attention back to the cash register to see how much they had to pay. Four put a hand on Three’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that, Three,” she mumbled.

“It’s fine… It was in the past…” Three sighed.

Four exclaimed, “It’s not fine! You were crying!”

“… I was…?” Three took a moment to feel her face. Damp. She looked at her hand. Also damp. “Huh. Those hallucinations really do take me somewhere…”

“Hallucinations? Three, what are you talking about? Are you alright?”

Three stayed silent and looked at Four. She didn’t need anyone worrying for her, she is Agent 3! Well, now known as Captain 3… Jeez, maybe they should stop calling her that since now they had Agent 3 Neo… Anyways, she is the captain of the Squidbeak Splatoon! She’s tough! She has to be tough! She’s fine!

She has to be fine. 

This is why Three doesn’t like talking.

Chapter Text

Three had to help out Neo with paying since they didn’t have enough, but she didn’t mind it. She got paid enough for her job, it didn’t bother her. Neo wasn’t short by much either, it was a couple hundred coins. Neo grabbed their bags as Three turned to Eight and Four, who seemed to be talking quietly about something.

“Are we ready to go to other shops now?” Neo asked the two excitedly.

The two looked at each other then back at Neo.

“Actually,” Eight started, “we think now would be a good time to start heading back.”

Neo frowned. “Awww, what?” 

Four nodded. “It seems like a good time to start to get going.”

Three looked at the two with a half glare. She knew it had to do something along the lines of what she said to her, because Four couldn’t keep her damn mouth shut. And of course, the one person she has to spill it to is Eight. The one person she most certainly does not want to be worried about. Wonderful.

Eight seemed to be nervous as she smiled at Three and said, “Come on, Three. Let’s go back to our apartment. We could walk there together if you’d like.”

Three looked at Eight and her extended hand. She sighed and took it, starting to walk out of the store and the mall. She looked back at Four and Neo, who seemed to be talking about something else. Neo’s eyes lit up again, so Three guessed that those two weren’t going home yet. She exhaled and turned her attention back forward, looking down at the ground. 

“Have you been doing alright, Three?” Eight asked out of the blue, erasing the silence that surrounded the two.

Three decided to stay silent.

Eight turned her head in Three’s direction. “Four told me that you said something about hallucinations… Were they bad ones?”

Three continued to walk without saying a word. She wasn't in the mood to deal with an interrogation from her girlfriend. Eight looked at her, frowning as Three had her eyes glued to her feat. They continued walking in silence, as Eight seemed to realize she wasn't going to get anything out of Three. 

"Just remember to tell me when you're ready, okay?" Eight spoke again. "I'm worried about you…"

Three growled quietly to herself in annoyance. Just what she needed. And to make matters worse, she saw someone staring dead in her eyes, triggering her anxiety and overthinking. It could be someone else who wants to destroy the Splatoon.

Eight sighed, "I heard that, Three… You know I'm just trying to hel-"

"Naomi?" A voice perked up. 

Three froze at the voice, leaving Eight to tripping at the sudden stop. She looked at Three a little confused. 

“Are you alright, Three?” She asked.

“Naomi, hey!” The voice was getting closer, leading Three to start panicking. 

Three felt a hand being laid on her shoulder, and it wasn’t Eight’s. She snuck a glance over and her heart immediately dropped. She knew who it was, even if the inkling trying to get her attention had matured.

The person took a step back. “Oh! Um… I’m sorry, are you not-?”

Three sighed. “Mia…”

The inkling gasped and smiled in delight. “It is you! Oh my goodness, Naomi, it's been so long!”

“What do you want from me, Mia?” Three snapped.

Mia’s eyes widened at her tone. “I-… I wanted to apologize for how I acted towards you and-”

“I don’t care!” Three cut her off. “That was years ago! I’ve gotten over it!”

“Well, how have you been? Do you still have that weird job that you couldn’t tell us about?” 

Three felt her blood boiling. “Weird? That’s what you thought of it? I was working as an agent to protect Inkopolis! I was in the Squidbeak Splatoon, and I still am!”

“… What?”

“Yeah! You see all these scars?!” Three grabbed the end of her tentacles and showed them to Mia, which had scars of the many battles she’d faced. “You see my eye ?!” She then pointed to her eye, which was a light green, with a huge scar around it which shared the same color. “These aren’t just normal things that can happen to someone!”

Mia put her hands over her mouth and looked at Three with worry.

“You’re serious…?”

Eight peaked over at the two. “Sorry for butting into the conversation, but she’s telling the truth! I work as an agent as well. Three here’s our captain.”

Mia looked at Eight, and then back over at Three. “Three?”

“It’s a nickname I adopted… I was Agent 3. All of the agents in the Splatoon adopted their numbers as nicknames, yet the newbies know me as Captain.”

“Huh… I see.”

“My name’s Eight,” Eight peaked again. “If you want to use me as an example. Actually, no one’s really called me anything else! Or… Is my name Test Subject 10,008?”

Mia looked at Eight, horrified. Three snapped her head in Eight’s direction.

“No! You’re- You’re just Eight, okay?! Cod, Eight, you’re more than just some stupid test subject!” Three sighed. “Look, Mia, it’s been nice catching up but we have to go-”

“W-Wait! Um… I think it’s pretty cool that you did what you could to protect Inkopolis… Starting at 14! And I’m really sorry for treating you like dried out ink when I should’ve had so much respect for you.” Mia smiled nervously.

Three paused before smiling a bit. “It’s been nice to see you again.”

“Same here. It was nice talking, Naomi. I’ll let you go now.”

As soon as Mia walked away, Three sighed and continued walking, dragging Eight with her. Her mood had quickly changed, and it left Eight confused. 

“That Mia girl seemed nice,” Eight said.

Three didn’t answer, leaving Eight in silence. Eight looked at her and sighed, putting her attention to where the two were walking.

Eight asked sadly, “Are you mad at me…?” 

Three looked up at her and immediately shook her head. 

“Of course not, Eight! I’m just… Not in the mood for anything right now…” 

Eight hummed and frowned. “Just let me know if there’s anything I could do to help. I may not know much, but I’ll always listen.”

Three nodded and squeezed her hand gently. Eight smiled slightly at her.

“You know I love you, right?” Eight spoke again. “You helped me adapt here, you know… Taught me how to fix my language since to you it was broken, you introduced me to multiple people in the Splatoon, like One and Two… And you even offered me somewhere to stay so I wasn’t any trouble to Pearl and Marina. I care about you, Three. Even telling me one thing that’s going on in your mind will make me so happy.”

“I love you too.” 

The two continued walking. Three was familiar with this area; they were almost back to their apartment. 

“Hey, Eight?” Three spoke, looking up at Eight. “Is it so wrong that I just… Don’t feel comfortable around Mia anymore?”

Eight hummed. “Well, she seemed nice, but… That did come out of nowhere… I mean, for all we know she could’ve gotten the wrong person. You knew who she was, so I guess in this case no. I don’t think it’s very wrong. I mean, you’ve shown me a picture of you with your friends and said you haven’t seen them since then… That was 7 years ago, and you’ve moved on and met new people.”

Three nodded. “Yeah… That was very wise of you, Eight.”

“I learn it from the best.” 

They approached their building.

“Is it silly for me to think your name was always Three?” Eight asked. 

“Not at all,” Three answered. “Like you said, it’s been 7 years since somebody’s called me by my actual name. I mean, Callie and Marie did sometimes, but that was when we had to keep a low profile.”

“Hm…”

“Keep calling me Three. I can’t really say I like my name.” 

Eight nodded as the two walked in and went into their apartment.

Chapter Text

Three laid on her bed, scrolling on Squidder, while Eight was taking another shower. Eight said it was to wash the sweat off from earlier, but Three couldn’t imagine taking 2 showers a day, let alone one. 

As she laid down, she kept thinking about her interaction with Mia. She got mad as Mia didn’t even bother to notice her scars on her tentacles, nor the giant one on her eye until she pointed it out.

Speaking of her eye, she could feel it twitching. It started having little spasms ever since she got that infected ink off of it. She sighed and put her phone down, putting a hand over her eye and groaning.

“Damn you, Tartar,” she muttered to herself. 

If she didn’t pass out like a weakling after dropping in and saving Eight and Cuttlefish, she wouldn’t have that scar. If she wasn’t called, she wouldn’t have that scar. If she didn’t listen, she wouldn’t have that scar. If she didn’t trust that stupid old man, she wouldn’t-

Her eye twitched.

Calm down. Just think of it like this, if she ignored the call, Callie and Marie would be devastated. She passed out not because of being weak, but because she slammed her head into glass, catching her off balance so she didn’t stick the landing.

Think of it like this, if she didn’t do what she did, her girlfriend would’ve been a part of the ink that was on her face.

She shivered at the thought of that. That ink was already made up of the many MANY test subjects that failed to escape the blender, at least that's what Eight speculated, and adding her would be horrifying. To all Three knew, there could be more octolings in there than just Eight. Or Inklings.

Inklings are easy to fall into the depths and traps of the underground too.

All of a sudden, everything faded to black.

When she opened her eyes again, she was back in the metro, laying on the cold, hard concrete. She rubbed her eyes and looked around. While doing so, she caught sight of her tentacles which… weren’t scarred? She noticed a puddle nearby and crawled over to it, looking at herself.

No big, ugly, green scar on her face.

“So, I see you have woken up, number three,” a monotone voice said behind her. She looked behind her, alert, and saw a phone peering down at her.

Oh no. Oh no, no, no.

She looked at Tartar, dead in the eyes - were those eyes? She didn’t know - while trying to hide her inner fear. Agent 3 is the tough one. She isn’t scared of anything. 

“I have seen that you have fallen in here through the roof. You must know that you don’t quite have a way out of here.”

Three wanted to yell at him in anger, but she wasn’t in control of her body. It was like she was the soul in a lifeless body. 

The phone’s robotic voice glitched. “But I believe I do know how to get you out of here. Do not fear me.”

Three backed up from the psychotic device. No, we’re not doing this again, she thought. Again, but… This was just like their first encounter.

“I will give you even more strength than you had before. That impact from the fall must have done something to your legs. I will be more than glad to give you such an improvement.”

She felt herself slowly trying to stand, but her legs failed her and she fell roughly on the concrete. She heard the scraping of stone as she looked up and saw that Tartar was closer to her.

“Without further ado, let us begin the process.”

Three reached out for her gun but it wasn’t on her. It must’ve fallen out when she fell. Thankfully, it was right beside her, so she crawled for it and aimed it up at Tartar. She started shooting at him, but he didn’t seem to budge. Her ink wasn’t hurting him in any way. She was helpless.

 Tartar’s mouth - was it a mouth? - filled up with a bright greenish ink that looked like a failed science experiment. It oozed out, the station quiet enough to hear the drip drip of the fallen ink on the concrete.

She heard an old, shaky voice behind her. “Agent 3, look out!”

But it was too late. The ink was chucked at her face, leaving her to claw at it. This ink was weird, it was thicker than the usual stuff, and normal ink wouldn’t have burned this bad if it was on her. This ink felt like she slammed a burning pan against her eye and left it on there. This ink felt like it was melting her eye and the skin around it off.

All she could do was scream. An ear-piercing scream that echoed throughout the metro. Everything was black again.

Three felt something being wrapped around her waist and she wriggled around in panic. She didn’t know where she was, or who was doing this, but it couldn’t be any good. She groaned as her eye twitched.

“Three, please,” a shaky voice whispered. “It’s me… Snap out of it!”

Her breathing slowed - she was hyperventilating apparently - as she recognized the voice as Eight.

Cod damnit.

Three’s world came back into view as she looked around, seeing their apartment. Yet, it looked very trashed. What the heck happened here? She looked down and saw Eight’s worried face looking up at her, tears streaming down her face. Eight was covered in a greenish ink, seemingly almost to the point where she would be splatted.

“Eight?”

Eight teared up again and hugged Three tightly.

“Oh, Three,” she whimpered out, “I was so worried about you.”

She looked at her, confused. “What…? What do you mean?”

“Three, you were screaming. A-And then when I went to go see what was wrong, you were scared of me! I tried approaching you slowly, and-… And-…”

Eight teared up more and looked away. Three paid more attention to the greenish ink that was on her. That was Three’s ink on her. She frowned, reaching out to wipe it off, as she let her hand relax and go over to Eight’s face, feeling something slip out her grip. She looked over at it, and her face turned pale.

Her Hero Shot was on the ground.

“Oh my cod,” she gasped out. “Eight! Eight, if I knew it was you, I wouldn’t have done this!”

“Who did you think I was?” Eight choked a sob.

“I-… I don’t know…” That was a lie. “I don’t even know how I got here!”

“You’ve been here the whole time, Three! Ever since we got back from the mall!”

Three shook her head. “I was back at the metro! I-I was facing Tartar! I-”

Eight’s eyes widened as she looked at Three with fear. Three looked away, nervously feeling her ears droop. She’s said enough! This is why she doesn’t talk to anyone about anything! They just think she’s crazy, and-

Eight sighed, her eyes filling with worry. “I don’t think you’re crazy, Three.”

Oh great, she’d been saying her thoughts out loud again.

“But please, you seem to be bottling something up… You need to tell me these things, because it’s only going to hurt you if you don’t.” Eight put a hand on Three’s cheek and caressed it soothingly.

Three’s breathing started getting heavier again until small tears pricked her eyes.

It was the first time that Eight had seen her girlfriend cry.

Chapter Text

Three’s breath hitched as she wiped off her ink that was on Eight.

“Three, honey, worry about that later,” Eight said. “You’re telling me that just now, you had some sort of hallucination about your encounter with Tartar in the metro?”

“I didn’t want to hurt you,” Three mumbled, still wiping off the ink.

“I know, Three, I know. I can’t imagine how scary that could’ve been for you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Three… It’s not your fault. Don’t be sorry for it.”

Almost all of the ink was off of Eight. “Are you still hurting, Eight?”

Eight sighed. “Three, this isn’t about me! I want to make sure you’re okay!”

“I almost killed you,” Three snapped, tearing up again. “All because of some stupid hallucination!”

“You were panicking! And you said it yourself, you didn’t hear nor see me!”

Tears rolled down Three’s cheeks. Eight hugged her tight.

“How long have you been going through this? Is that what your nightmare last night was about? About Tartar?”

Three nodded. Once again, a lie.

“Oh, Three… Why haven’t you been telling me? You know, I was the one who was in the metro with you!”

“I don’t want you worrying…”

“You not telling me is what makes me worry!”

Three didn’t think that one through. Guess it was kind of hard to hide the fact that she was going through these things when it happened randomly, so it was clear to Eight that something was wrong.

What Three would never admit to Eight though, was that she was most likely experiencing PTSD attacks, not just panic attacks or mental breakdowns or whatever. 

“I’m sorry.”

“No! Three, honey…”

Eight cupped her cheek. Three blushed, but held the hand that was on her face, leaning into it. 

“Please don’t be sorry,” Eight said. “What matters more to me is that you tell me these things from now on, okay?”

“…Okay.”

The octoling smiled and kissed Three softly on the lips. Three flinched but slowly kissed back, wrapping her arms slowly around Eight’s waist and pulling her closer. The two shared that moment for a few minutes before pulling away, both blushing. Eight chuckled and looked away, embarrassed.

“Sorry, I know it’s been awhile.”

Three smiled slightly. “No no, that was needed. Now, um… We should get to cleaning this, hm?”

The room around them still had been trashed from Three’s outburst. Eight hummed, looking around the room. She looked back up at Three.

“Can’t we just… Do this for a bit longer?” She smiled sweetly.

Three chuckled and got up, heading over to their bed. “Sure we can, hun…”

They both laid down, embracing each other and enjoying the warmth they were sharing.

Night struck the Splatlands again. Soft moonlight lit up Three's face. She still had her arm around Eight, who was sleeping. She was such a sleepy head, really.

Then again, it was 3 AM, and Three couldn’t sleep.

Her mind was racing with thoughts about Cuttlefish, the previous… racist captain of the Splatoon. He tried telling her about how the Octarians were bad, and that they should never come up to the surface ever again, since they just cause trouble. She was told that she should’ve learned about the Great Turf War in school, so she knew what they did.

“ They tried to steal our precious Zapfish countless times,” Cuttlefish would tell her. “And they really did steal it this time. That’s why I need you to go in there and stop them.”

"But what makes them so bad?" Three would ask, genuinely curious. "In my class, they don't seem to be wanting any harm. Actually, the Squid people just seem-"

"Are you telling me you support those things ?" Cuttlefish got in her face, making her inch away uncomfortably.

"N-No! No I-..." Three gulped and avoided his gaze.

"I was the general in that war, I know what I'm taking about!"

Three sighed and nodded. "Yes, Captain. You're right."

Cuttlefish's gaze softened and he smiled. "I can't let my best agent fall into the clutches of the Octarians."

Three smiled slightly at that comment.

"Don't forget what I hired you for; to protect Inkopolis at all costs."

"You kind of forced me into this job though."

"Haha! You're funny, Naomi."

Not only had Cuttlefish convinced her that the Octarians were bad, but his words also made Three have the difficulty to change once octolings started coming to the surface. She even found herself being uncomfortable around Eight when she was the one who was told to teach her since they hadn't “hired” Four yet. The encounter with Eight at the Helli for the first time, when she was sanitized with Eight saving her, and bonding with her while teaching her helped Three see that they really weren't different. 

And Eight's words haunted her to this day.

The Octarians weren't evil, the Squids were just greedy.

It had been half an hour and Three was still up. Rage was slowly bubbling up in her as she kept thinking of all the things said and "taught" to her. What was "right" was actually wrong, because nobody but her saw the octolings that way.

At least that's what she thought.

She growled softly and got up, making sure Eight was still asleep. The octoling stirred a bit, humming as she did so. Her eyes stayed shut though.

Three put on a jacket and looked around, her eyes stopping on her Hero Shot that was still on the ground. She picked it up and looked at it, deciding to take it. 

She found her hand on the knob of the door, taking one last glance at Eight. A picture of her covered in Three's ink flashed in her mind, making Three look away breathing heavily. She was such a brutal 14 year old back then.

She left their room, eventually going out into the apartment's hallway looking around. Nobody on watch? That's what it seemed to be.

She went over to the nearest elevator and called it, looking around anxiously. In a minute she was in and clicking the button for the roof, waiting as the elevator carried her up.

She wasn't really supposed to be up there, but she could care less. It’s not like the roof was blocked off to guests anyways, or else they wouldn’t have the elevator going up there. Then again, staff could use it. 

Anyways, she had previously hid some dummies up there for something like this to happen. Three took them and set them up, spinning her Hero Shot in her hand. Just get your anger our. You'll be fine.

She put her finger on the trigger, squinting at the dummies. This would be easy. This would be quick. This would be-

"Pull the trigger, cod damnit! I didn't hire you for nothing!"

She yelped and jumped back, dropping her Hero Shot on the ground. Her heart was pounding and she looked around.

No, this wasn't Octo Valley. This wasn't Cuttlefish's harsh voice telling her to do wrong.

She kept thinking of all the things being said to her by that awful man, her rage bubbling up more. The more it was thought about, the more angrier it made her. She felt ink rushing in her.

She shot one of the dummies until it broke.

"This is what you get for getting everything wrong about the octarians!"

She shot another one.

"This is what you get for making me lose everybody close to me!"

She looked at the last two and stomped over to them, slowly and menacingly.

"AND THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR MANIPULATING ME INTO BELIEVING YOUR DUMB LIES!"

She jumped up, ink consuming her body, and punching down on the ground, an explosion of ink from the impact. A splashdown. Three shook the hand that had hit the hard concrete and looked in front of her. Almost everything was covered in green. She looked around, tiredly, sighing and pinching her nose. She looked at the hero shot and walked to the edge of the roof.

"There is to be no more violence in the Splatoon," she muttered.

Three dropped the hero shot off the building, and near a dumpster