Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I wake up in a dark underground. All I can remember is that one song. That soothing, beautiful song.

I stand up and look around. All of this looks so unfamiliar! Then I walk around for a bit.To my left, I find some sort of rectangular vehicle which stands on a path of wooden plates. I go inside to see if I can find something relevant to this place in there. All I can find is some sort of liquid, but to my surprise, it has the same pinkish tone of my tentacles. Is this… ink? I try to submerge in it in my octopus form, since I have the feeling that usually, that’s what should happen. After getting out of the ink and turning into my humanoid form, I notice that the black bag I’ve got on my back got heavier. I try to take it off to see what’s in there, but I can’t. Since when did I even have this bag? I can’t remember that either. Maybe it helps me to at least know the shape of the thing that is inside of it, so I hop a little bit. It feels like liquid, so it must be some ink that got inside while I was submerged in it.

Since I can’t find anything else in this vehicle, I go out and see if I can find something in that dark place. I find a strange platform with a shoe Symbol on it. I stand on that platform and something appears. I remember this! This is a weapon! Then a room with many boxes and balloons shows up. Apparently someone wants me to shoot at all these things, but who is it? I search up the room for clues and notice that many of these things- even my weapon- have got the name "Kamabo Co." on them. But who or what is this Kamabo Co.? I start to shoot at the objects, hoping to find some more clues.  

I notice that there are some strange things in this room, like a fluffy, quadratic thing that grows and gets the same pinkish tone as the ink I had found in the vehicle when I shoot at it. Can I climb it in my octopus form? I try to do it and: it works! Now I can know what things are up there. After climbing up, the first thing I see is some sort of glass bubble that is attached to the floor up here. I shoot at it and the bubble lights up, gets the same color as the ink and some sort of strand, also made of ink, appears attached from this glass bubble to the other upper end of the room. Can I swim through such an ink ray too? Like if it was some sort of rail? I try to touch the pink bubble and notice that it doesn’t feel like glass anymore, but more like ink, so I try to get in my octopus form. Inside the bubble, I somehow become a bit more round. I try to swim towards the ink strand, hoping not to fall down. But I keep the round shape and somehow get to the other upper end of this room. But I notice that there is again a glass bubble and get in. How do I get out of the rail? Do I simply jump out? I try it out hoping for my idea to work out and get to my humanoid form, which surprisingly works. I take a look at this platform and notice two boxes: a brown one and an orange one. I wonder what happens if I shoot at them, so I do it. The boxes break and it seems that inside of the orange one there is something golden that seems very familiar, so I take it. I take the ink rail back to the other platform again and swim through the fluffy thing back down.

I take a last look at the room before deciding to get out of it. I step on the platform with the shoe symbol again and surprisingly, my weapon disappears the same way it appeared. Once I’m out of the room, I notice a door to my left with a picture of the golden object I had found in the box, saying:” please enter key”. A key? Oh, that’s how this object is named! I put the key near the door and it opens to a dark tunnel. Darker than this underground. Maybe I could find more clues behind this path, so I go through it.

After going through the cold, dark tunnel, I find myself in the underground again: hard, cold floor and the strange vehicle to my left. Did I just make a whole round to the start again? Apparently not, since there’s a strange rectangular thing in the middle… and it’s… ringing? Is this a telephone? Maybe there is someone on the other lane who could help me! I run towards it, hoping to have all my clues cleared. Where was I before? How did I get here? What is this place? I try to take the speaker, but then the telephone… starts speaking itself?

Chapter Text

‘’Hello, subject 10,007’’, the telephone says. Who’s this subject 10,007? Is that… my name? The telephone goes on: ‘’Do you want to reach the Promised Land?’’

What is it talking about? I take the speaker and ask: “…the Promised Land? What’s that?” The telephone answers my question: ‘’the land of eternal happiness, where all of your kind lives” Now, this sounds interesting… so the Promised Land is… the place where I come from?!? I lighten up and, without noticing, I shout “Yes! Yes I want to!” This sounds promising; maybe the people in the Promised Land can help me remember who I am! Suddenly, I hear something falling on the floor. I look down and find a small phone and something flat and rectangular. I don’t know why, but I think that that thing is used to identify someone. I pick it up and read what is written on it: 

    Subject 10,007

   Stations: 0 Thangs: 0

   CQ-Points: 1000 Level: Newbie 

“This is your CQ card” the telephone says. I was right. Subject 10,007 is my name and this… CQ card is to identify me! But ‘10,007’ doesn’t sound like a name… And what is “Level” supposed to be?

I wanted to ask so many questions, but in that moment I hear a loud sound from behind. I turn to see what it is and see one of those blue vehicles passing by and stopping to my right. The doors open and something- or someone? Starts walking out of the door and towards me. I’m not very sure what it is; it looks slimy and doesn’t have any legs underneath it: “C.Q card, please”, it says and I show it to him. “Hmm… Subject 10,007”, says it silently and looks towards my other hand, where I hold the phone-like shape: “Ah, I see you have a C.Q 80. You probably want to reach the Promised Land, right? I’m C.Q Cumber, your instructor.” Sea Cucumber? I find it kind of funny that that’s his name, but I don’t know why.

Sea Cucumber then goes on: “This train drives through many stations until you finally reach your destination. Get in; I’ll explain everything to you there”

I do as I am told.

Chapter Text

Compared to the train that I inspected before, this train is full of creatures that I don’t feel were of my own kind at all. They don’t have tentacle hair or the same skin color as I have. Some don’t have a specific shape and are blue; others have four legs and two arms. And then there are the ones who have legs where the arms should be. I sure stand out between all of them with my bright, pink tentacles… I sit on one of the empty seats trying to keep a low profile, but shortly after I sit down, Sea Cucumber comes at my direction and then explains to me how to use the C.Q-80. It’s actually very easy to use, so I learned everything pretty fast. Basically, I have to go through all the stations and complete tasks. I decide to which one I go by selecting it with the C.Q-80. After having gone through a certain amount of stations, Sea Cucumber then brings me to a special station where I can take one of the four thangs I need to get to the Promised Land. Well, then I might as well hurry up if I want to go up there and find out who I really am! I open the map and see that there is only one station available for me, so I select that one.

Chapter Text

The train arrived at the destination shortly after I selected it. The doors open and no one leaves the train except for me and Sea Cucumber. I see a glass door and my reflection on it: There’s one big tentacle that almost covers my whole right eye. The other three tentacles are neatly braided and are so long that they’d even reach my back if there wasn’t the bag that lifts them a bit. And my eyes have a nice, dark blue color. We go through the door and I glance around the small room. All the walls are made out of glass and I see a green forest behind them. Sea Cucumber is in the left corner next to the door leading into the forest and in the middle of the room there’s another platform. “You have to choose a weapon before entering”, Sea Cucumber tells me out of the corner. Aha, I’ll probably have to shoot at boxes and fluffy things again. I step on the platform and there’s only one weapon I can choose. Well, it’s not like I know which one is best for me. I choose it and go towards the door, but it doesn’t open like the ones from the train do. I notice a small slot beside the door. Do I also need a key for this one? “Just slide your CQ-Card through the slot. You only need 100 CQ-Points for this station, so it’s perfect for someone who only has 1000 points”, Sea Cucumber tells me out of the corner, snapping me back to reality. I still don’t know what CQ-Points are, but I do as I am told. A message appears on the doors: ‘Current CQ-Points: 900/weapon: Splattershot; reward: +600 points/tries: 3’. Then they open. “You can try to finish the task the number of times written on the door. If you spend up all of your tries, you have to spend 100 points again”, Sea Cucumber tells me before I leave. So that’s what the points are for… they’re like a key for the station doors… “And what if I use up all of my points?”, I ask unassertively. “Well, in that case, you wouldn’t be able to reach the Promised Land”, he says nonchalantly. If he’d had arms, he’d have probably shrugged right now. I vow to myself to never go out of CQ-Points and do whatever it takes to get those four thangs. Then I breathe in and enter the forest.

I look around, find two boxes to my left and shoot at them, but nothing special happens. Maybe I also need to shoot at those fluffy things? I search for them everywhere but don’t find them. Suddenly, I see someone from afar. It seems to be a girl and she looks just like me only that her tentacles are shorter and green-ish. Her skin also is green and she has a pair of sunglasses on. Additionally, she has a different weapon than mine. Does she also want to reach the Promised Land? I don’t remember anyone else leaving the train other than Sea Cucumber and me… or maybe there are several trains leading to the same station… Well, whatever. It’s nice to see someone that kind of looks like me around here. Maybe we could team up and finish this task together! I shout “Hey!” and reach out to her, running towards her. I stop in front of the strange girl and ask her, panting: “Hi, I’m new here and want to reach the Promised Land. Do you mind if I-“

“Object found. Eliminate”

She interrupts me and I find myself again on the platform at the entrance with Sea Cucumber.

A burning pain lingers through my body. What did I do wrong? Had I been rude to her? “Oh, what a bummer, you only have two tries left”, Sea Cucumber tells me out of the corner, but I don’t pay him any attention. I can only think about what happened right now, and about this burning pain. I cramp up, and pink tears roll down from my eyes, all the way through my cheeks until they finally reach the floor. I don’t know if I’m crying because of the burning pain or because of the fact that she shot me despite of me being nice to her.

I turn my head to Sea Cucumber, and “why?” is the only question that comes out of my mouth, meekly. “Well, you got splatted, so you failed the test”, he says. “That’s not what I meant. Why did I get splatted even though I didn’t do anything to her?” I ask again with the little air that I have left, breathing deep in and crying even harder. He pauses and stares at my crying eyes, but then, finally, I get an answer. “Let’s say your partners are only those with the same tentacle color as yours. Everyone tries to reach the Promised Land by their own hands. You have to fight for it” “So… I need to splat them to win?” I still don’t get how these tests work. “In this task you’ll need to reach the goal. If you need to splat your opponents to reach it then so it’ll be. But not every station has the same tasks”. Why didn’t he tell me that before? Sea Cucumber can be so weird sometimes.

Chapter Text

I take a few deep breaths and process everything as I look through the glass doors across from me. There’s not a single droplet of pink ink to be seen in the forest. All of the trees are covered with the same gooey green ink which that girl used to splat me, which means that I’ll have to fight her alone. And I will have to do it if I ever want to go to the Promised Land, but… there’s something that just doesn’t sit right with me about this concept.

“If I-…,” I ask Sea Cucumber without averting my gaze from the glass door-

“If I manage to complete this station, does the other girl get a chance to win points somewhere else?”

I’d hate to be the reason someone else does not get the chance to get to the Promised Land-I mean, it does sound like a great opportunity…

I can’t hear Sea Cucumber answer my question, so I turn around to face him once again

“Sea Cucumber?” I mutter, but he doesn’t budge. So I decide to walk to the corner he was at and kneel in front of him to be on his eye level- if he even has any eyes…hold up, where are his eyes?

I quickly shake those thoughts off. Whether Sea Cucumber has eyes and how he is able to see is not important at the moment.

“Sea Cucumber, will the others be able to get to the Promised Land?” I ask again.

Finally, he answers my question after a few minutes “Don’t worry about the others. Everyone gets the same chances.”

“Then why do we need to fight each other for it?”

Silence.

“Sea Cucumber?” I repeat and gently tap him on the side. Why does he take so long to answer? Is he asleep? It’s hard to tell when he doesn’t have eyelids like mine…

“As I said, don’t worry about the others,” he answers once and for all, interrupting my train thought abruptly, “everyone gets the same chance. Besides, that girl did not hesitate to shoot you, even if that meant losing one of your chances for you. So why should you stop?”

“But-”

“Nobody is forcing you to go to the Promised Land, 10,007,…,” he says calmly interrupting my complaint, “…if you don’t feel fit for the challenge you can always get back to the train. But keep in mind that you’d lose your remaining tries without getting your points back if you do so; plus you would be wasting a great opportunity if you give up. Just think about it: that other girl was ready to splat you to get to her goal. What will you do?”

He does have a point. And I would not like to remain stuck in this undergroud forever…

I take a deep breath: “I guess you’re right…”

“Of course I am; I work here,” he answers; once again in that dry, nonchalant manner.

I stand up and turn to face the door again. As much as I don’t want to do this, there’s no way around it if I want to reach my goals. But maybe I can reach the goal without hurting anyone. I just have to be…sneaky about it. With that thought in mind, I grasp the splattershot I was given before and firmly slide the C.Q. card through the slot, by which another message appears on the door:

“remaining tries: 2”

And with that, the doors finally open once again and I gather myself by taking a deep breath before stepping into the station for the second time.

The scenery is the same as before: A lot of trees and some boxes here and there. I take a few steps inside, making sure that there is no one else in sight. Now that I am paying closer attention to my surroundings, I notice how many trees there actually are! I mean, sure, it is a forest after all, but man! This is a lot of trees! And many of them seem to be covered in some sort of greenish goo with some small chunks of…something? They do not look as soft as those fluffy things I had to shoot at in the beginning, but they don’t seem to be hard either. What is that? Well, it doesn’t matter that much either. The important ting now is to reach the goal- preferably without being caught! So I keep walking; hiding behind a few trees here and there while holding on to my splattershot for the life of me. And then, suddenly, I hear them: footsteps! I instantly press myself against the nearest tree and regret it right away. It seems as if part of the goo was got stuck on this tree too; and not only is it disgusting- it also burns! It burns just as much as the shot that girl aimed at me in the last round! It is so hard to not scream or sob right now, but I don’t have a choice. I cannot allow myself to make a single move unless I want to get caught, but- THIS HURTS!

The steps get louder and louder. I catch my breath and shut my eyes. Please, please go away; or at least leave me alone!

The person seems to be walking past the tree, so I silently readjust my position to stay out of sight. And then I don’t hear any more steps. The person seems to have stopped walking. Is it the same girl as before?-Ugh, what am I thinking?! That does not matter at the moment. Just don’t move, don’t breathe, don’t open your eyes. And do NOT cry! You are the tree and the tree is you. You are the goo and the goo is you. Even if it burns as much as if I was getting shot over and over again. None of that matters. What matters now is to not get caught and to not lose this try.

After what seemed like an agonizingly long time, I hear the footsteps again. But this time they seem to be going back to where they came from. And then, finally, they seem to be far away enough. That’s when I dare to open my eyes and take a step away from the tree and that awful, horrible goo. This does not make the burning impression go away completely, since some of it got stuck to my body and this cropped top I am wearing is not really helping to create a barrier between myself and…whatever this green thing is, but it’s still better than to be pressed against it. I decide to take a peek from behind the tree before going further into the forest in case anyone is close, but the only person I spot is about thirty trees away. She was probably the source of the footsteps earlier and it is, in fact, the girl that shot me before. She seems to be minding her business, walking around as she covers a few trees with her-goo?! Hold up, don’t tell me that her ink is this thing! My ink was not as sticky when I touched it; and it certainly was less dense. But then again that would explain why the pain I felt was similar-it’s because it’s the exact same pain. But why is her ink so…well, gooey? Or maybe I am simply recalling it wrong and my ink is also this gooey? I need to test this out now.

I take one last glance at the girl to make sure that I am still unnoticed before cautiously shooting a few drops of my ink on the floor near the tree, then kneel and gently tap it with my fingertips. No, my ink is definitely not as slimy as hers. And there are also no weird chunks swimming on it. Furthermore, touching my ink seems to have eased my pain by a lot. It’s so…cooling and so refreshing that I have this instant urge to dive into it again. And that’s what I do: I let myself turn into an octopus and submerge into this suddenly calming, refreshing droplet of pink ink. And it feels awesome! All of the pain I have been feeling seems to vanish in an instant and I feel like I could just…sleep in here and never wake up. I’d really rather stay in here instead of having to feel the presence of that awful slime ever again. But alas, I guess that won’t be possible if I ever want to find out more about myself. So I turn back into my second form, jump out of the droplet and continue my trip out of the forest and towards the goal- although now I don’t keep going straight, but decide to first take a left turn and then turn right again after walking past a few trees as to make a curve around the green-blue tentacled girl.

Everything seems to go well since this path appears to be empty, so I keep walking and simply shoot some of my ink on the floor as soon as I spot that green goo to not get hurt again. I make sure to also paint other areas with my ink and not leave a trail behind that others could follow. This also has the advantage that I could hide in my ink in case the worst case scenario comes into play. And the best thing of all: my plan seems to be working! No green inked people seem to be following me and my ink appears to annulate theirs completely; making it fully safe for me to simply walk or swim through this path.

This goes on for the next…I don’t even know how much time has passed, but it was a long time. And then, I see it: the goal! Finally! I start running towards it; inking my path on the way. The goal gets bigger and more noticeable with each step I take. Only fifty trees left…Fourty-five…thirty…

Suddenly, I hear a splat on the spot I had just covered with my ink and a girl emerges from the goo that was previously on the floor. And another one…and behind them emerge five more green skinned people; each one of them wearing the same uniform and the ones behind the first two are also wearing a pair of sunglasses. But no matter whether they are wearing glasses or not, it is crystal clear that all of their gazes are fixated on me; and not in a good way. How am I supposed to avoid seven people at a time?! I really don’t want to hurt them, but that feeling does not seem to be mutual. All of their weapons are pointed at me, and before I know it, every single one of them shoots simultaneously. I quickly dive into my ink, but that doesn’t stop them from shooting the spot I am hidden in; and even if the ink has a healing effect when untouched, the pain of getting shot while in it seems to be more hurtful than when I am getting shot while outside of it- and that was hurtful enough already! I need to get out of here! I feel like I am being cooked alive!

I jolt out of the ink and jump behind a nearby tree, tightly clutch my splattershot and shoot myself to regain some of my energy, but it seems to do little to nothing. This pain I am feeling is not because of enemy ink anymore- I am EXHAUSTED! I am panting and sweating like crazy, my stomach is growling as if a bomb exploded inside of me and I feel unnaturally dizzy. And if that wasn’t enough already, now I am being chased by seven girls who have nothing else in mind than to kill me! But the goal is so….so…in reach! I just need to run and dodge their shots a little bit more; only a lit-

“Object found,” is the only thing I hear before getting shot in the arm with no warning. I cry out in pain and accidentally drop my weapon as I instinctively reach for my arm.

“Look; I don’t want to hurt you!” I shout at the girl as I try to hold back the tears in my eyes, but she seems to act just like the previous girl: It’s as if I didn’t say anything. She keeps staring at me with those expressionless eyes and aims again, to which I crouch to the ground, dive for my splattershot and shoot her on the leg. It wasn’t enough to completely splat her, but that cry sounds as agonizing as if a knife was put inside my ears and taken out again. It’s horrifying, to say the least.

“I am sorry,” I whimper as I force my limp body towards the goal while she is distracted with her leg. Her six companions start following me, each one of them shooting me in a different body part than the previous shot. I manage to somehow shoot the floor in front of me and swim through a few puddles here and there to regenerate those wounds; although I am not left with enough time to completely heal them. I am not even running at this point, but rather…limping? Hopping? Dragging my limp body out of reach?! I am not sure, to be honest. The only thing I know is that every single part of my body hurts and that the goal is almost reached…although it looks kind of blurry…just like everything else…everything burns, but…only ten trees left…twenty-two…a shot on my foot…I shoot at the floor…I drop on my ink…I swim as fast as I can…only ten-or is it fifteen? trees left; and another shot…I jump out of reach and hit my head against a hard surface, but the pain is almost unnoticeable when simply added to all of the other aches. What is this? The goal is at an arm’s length by now…I think…but this wall…why is this wall here?

I hear shots nearing again. Oh no, not again! There’s no time to think about this; I have to do something…anything! The fact that I’ll still have a try left if I fail this one is not calming at all; I need to achieve it now! I do not want to go through this again!

I raise my splattershot-was it always this heavy?- and forcefully pull the trigger as I aim for the wall and hope for the best, and- it seems to be working! The barrier falls apart with each shot until I am able to pass through it. I feel a final shot on my back, which sends me right to the goal; causing a pair of doors to close behind me as I bounce against the goal. That’s it. I lost. I will have to go through all of this again…Why did I have to get shot before touching the goal?! I am going to be even more useless like this!

As I wait for my fate to be sealed while laying on the ground, a message appears on the door. It is hard to read when everything is this blurry and the words are upside down…I squint my eyes to make out the words:

“Subject 10,007→+600 Points→Current CQ-Points: 1,500”

I can’t believe my eyes…am I dreaming? Did I…did I actually do it?!

Suddenly I feel a cold sensation crawling up my leg crossing my belly and stopping on my chest until I find myself staring at Sea Cucumber. “Congratulations”, he says and keeps talking, but I find myself unable to listen to him as I get lost in my thoughts…I did it! I actually did it! Am I going to get a thang now? Man, I am so…hungry…and why is everything still so blurry and black on the sides…and Sea Cucumber sounds so…muffled and…it is so, so hard to breathe…

“…#++!§&&!…” what is he talking about?

“”&&=!/&….”

“…Card….” is the only word I make out before everything turns black and nothing else can be heard.

Chapter Text

“Oh hey, you’re finally awake!” A deep voice chortles.

I feel the floor vibrating beneath my body as my eyes flutter open; the nausea still remaining. My head is pounding as if I had been shot on the head mere seconds ago.

I slowly sit up, holding my head, groaning in agony as it was still throbbing from the previous battle and to be able to better see the figure that was bending over me. It is once my vision readjusts that I realize that the figure in question was a man. A big man. A huge man. A huge man with sunglasses, six arms and two legs that is wearing a nice, black suit adorned with a red pocket hanky and matching red socks. And very, very nice shoes. Not that mine are lame, but the last fight has proven that these high heels are not really made for running around in battle, although I’d still rather wear these than to step into that poison with my bare feet- hold up; the man is holding a rubbery object with his upper left hand, which is the only one that has a watch around its wrist. He seems to be waiting for me to take the object; as if he’s handing me something that actually belongs to me. But I do not recall being given such an object or carrying it around with me from the start…what is this?

I take a look at what the figure is holding- it looks like a rubbery model of…a screwdriver? And not just any screwdriver, but…a very specific screwdriver. My favourite one. The one with the fading paint on the handle because I insisted to give it a purple coat of paint instead of leaving it in that bluish-gray color. That screwdriver…it helped so many people-or, well, I was able to help so many people with it…or did I? How did I help these people? When? And most importantly…WHERE?! And how come it was that old screwdriver, the one that was- is so dear to my heart? I do recall having more tools than that rusty old piece of metal. After all, I was…

Wait, what was I? Why did I own tools? What was my connection to them?! And how come I suddenly remember what a screwdriver is?

“Sorry for looking into it. I know I shouldn’t have done it, but I was just too curious” The man’s deep voice brings me back to reality as he reaches for my hand and puts the strange, squishy object into it. I perceive an instant feeling of inner peace once I feel the cold rubber against my skin. Now it is me who feels like I have been missing this for a long time; although I do not mean the screwdriver model per se, but rather the things it is making me think of. But why is this dude apologizing?

“Um…excuse me,” I mutter, still not able to turn my eyes away from the piece of rubber in my hand, “What exactly are you sorry for?”

“For partaking in what does not belong to me”

I finally turn my vision away from the small screwdriver towards his eyes which are hidden behind those shades, bewildered at what I just heard.

What in the fried sea shells is he talking about?

“…huh?” Is the only thing I can muster out of my mouth as I simply stare into my reflection on the pitch black glasses, to which the man simply chuckles.

“I mean that I apologize for looking into your memory without your consent, young lady.”

“My memory? What are you, a mind reader?”

“Don’t tell me,” he answers, ecstatic while pointing at the tiny screwdriver, “is this your first mem cake?”

“A what now?”

The man nods understandingly, walks to a seat on the train that is covered with bags, plush figurines and other stuff and invites me to take a seat across from him, to which I oblige.

“A mem cake is a part of your memory,” He says as he crosses his arms and leans back on his seat, the gold chain around his neck slightly shimmering in the dim lighting, “you will get one after every stage that you complete successfully. Let me guess, you’re trying to reach the Promised Land?”

My eyebrows arch up at the sound of that place and I give him a small nod.

“How do you know about it? Are you perhaps trying to reach it too?”

And if you are, please tell me you are not one of my opponents. I can barely go through someone with the same complexion as me, let alone a giant like him!

But he shakes his head. “I tried and failed miserably. I am not made for such extreme challenges.”

“Oh.” My shoulders relax. I didn’t even notice how I tensed up! “So…do you just…live here? And by the way; I still don’t get what you meant by you looking into my mind with the help of this thing” My fingers automatically close around the soft rubber. I wish I never had to let go of it.

The giant’s antennae twitch as he lets out another small chuckle. “Please ask one question at a time, miss…” His head tilts so that his eyes are set upon my right ankle, “…10,007.”

Right. I forgot that everyone can see my tag. Although I still can’t fully believe that my parents would actually name me after a number.

“Alright, sir…” I search for some sort of giveaway on his wrists and his ankles, but there’s nothing to be found except for his watch and his shoes. I wonder if I can get some new shoes somewhere. Preferably ones that are as flat as his-

“Iso Padre,” he answers upon noticing my confusion, “but you may call me Padre for short.” His antennae jolt slightly once again.

“I see,” I sputter. He wants me to call him by a nickname? Just like that? Wow. This dude is pretty cool!

“You seem to be very nice!” I smile. “To be honest, I am not very fond of…” I gesture to the number on my wrist. “…so how about you call me by a shorter name too since I am allowed to do the same with yours? Like…Seven? Or Sev?”

Padre sighs. But it’s not a sad or frustrated sigh. It’s rather…melancholic? As if he just got reminded of a memory he holds dear. He is also taking pretty long to answer. Should I not have suggested this? Did I misinterpret somehing? Oh no…

But then, his antennae move again. A sign that he is happy!

“You sevens…” He chortles. “…Every single one of you tends to trust everyone a bit too fast. Have you never heard of ‘stranger danger’?” He smirks.

“E-excuse me?” All I can do is to stupidly stare at him and blink. Wha- what does he mean?

“I mean that your peers are just as endearing as you are”

Aww he thinks I’m endearing?- wait- “PEERS?!” All of the aches I have been having are suddenly gone. All that is left in me is anticipation, excitement and relief. Relief as it has never been felt before. Relief that overshadows every other negative emotion I have had today. And then suddenly all of it is gone and all I feel is an ugly lump in my stomach.

“Please tell me you do not mean those green-inked people…” I whimper pleadingly. Please; PLEASE let it be actual peers who have no intention of killing or hurting me in any way, shape or form!

Padre simply nods. “You mean the ones who supposedly wear sunglasses, only have one line and have weirdly shaped ink, right?”

I nod as I begin once again to tremble, to which he shakes his head.

“That is also a thing all of you have in common. No matter if big or small, athletic or not, brave or…comfortable, all of you are scared of those ‘enemies’. And, honestly I can’t blame you. I encountered the ones in the first stage and never dared to go further in ever since.”

“So, there are other…people like me trying to reach the Promised Land?”

Iso Padre nods.

“But you are not one of them?”

“Not anymore”

“Huh…” I mutter, “And do you know where I could find them?” I am unable to contain my anticipation at this point.

Padre crosses his arms and averts his gaze from me, now looking out of the window to the moving scenery of dirty stone walls behind me.

“I wish I knew,” He mumbles, talking more to himself than to me, “I assume they have all reached the Promised Land by now or are on another train.” He shrugs. “There are probably more conductors in this underground than hard-working C.Q. here leading the other subjects to their destinations.”

That’s odd. “Don’t tell me that everyone has the same name as me!”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Subjects,” I repeat, “That’s how you keep calling the people who reached the Promised Land. And you called them ‘sevens’ before that too!” Although it would be strange if everyone was called the same…

Padre shakes his head. “It seems like our dear C.Q. had a handful of things to do…which would also explain your lack of knowledge about the mem cakes” He mutters as he flashes me a smile, “…alright, I’ll explain it to you then.” He takes a deep breath. “This…term, this ‘Subject 10,007’ is not your real name”

Oh.

“As you might have figured by now, almost everyone who finds himself in this underground and comes from the Promised Land does not remember anything about their trip to this underground- or barely anything about themselves, for that matter.”

Oh…

“That’s why Tartar comes up with these subject names until we get reminded of our names; either through a mem cake,” he points at the mini screwdriver, “or by us remembering it ourselves. I was lucky enough to get reminded of my name through the first and only mem cake I acquired.” He shrugs. “And yet, Tartar still likes to call me ‘Subject 35’” His antennae jerk up.

“But most of the ‘subjects’ are not as lucky and remember their actual names pretty late. Rest assured, though: once you get your name back, it’s going to feel like…like it just fits…” he nods slightly, seemingly lost in thought once again.

“And it’s not just me who says that. All of the people I have seen receiving that mem cake end up in tears of joy. All of them. Including myself”

“So those ‘mem cakes’…they are our literal memories?”

“Exactly. Although I’d rather call them memory fragments”

“And you can see other people’s memories because…?”

“Anyone who lays eyes upon your mem cake can see a fragment of that fragment of that memory,” he says, “but only you are able to see the whole thing. For instance, all I could see when looking upon that mem cake was a plain old screwdriver-”

“It’s more than a plain old screwdriver!” I protest.

“My apologies. I didn’t mean to offend you, Miss Sev,” again, those antennae jiggle, “that’s the point I was trying to make. You can get more out of that memory since it’s yours. You are able to associate feelings and emotions to that fragment that fill what a mere image fails to show.”

“Ooooh! I think I get it now” I stare at the rubber in my hand. Now everything makes sense…-well, to be fair, it made sense before already, but now it makes actual sense.

“And do I get one of these in every station?” I ask curiously.

“You do.” Says a squeaky voice from my left. I jump up slightly, turn around and see no one…until I glance at the floor.

“Oh, hello there.”

“I just wanted to check in to make sure you are still alive” Sea Cucumber voices.

Padre laughs. “Cumber, I am aware that you are very fond of your dark humor, but don’t you think that was a bit…insensitive?”

“I don’t think she felt offended,” The conductor states, “did you, Subject 10,007?”

“I, uh…” I shake my head in confusion.

“Excellent. Now then, I have work to do, so just select the next station you want to go to once you are ready and I shall bring you there.”

And with that, Sea Cucumber turns around and disappears further into the train once again.

“I told you, that is a hard working gentleman right there.” Padre says once the condutor is out of reach.

Chapter Text

I open up the map shortly after Sea Cucumber- or SeaCu, as Padre apparently likes to call him- turns around and exits the wagon in which we’re sitting in. To be honest, a (big) part of me doesn’t want to go to the next station just yet, as I think I am not ready for such a task until I took a good, refreshing dose of sleep. This plastic seat seems more comfortable for the job than the floor, at least…

But I guess it also wouldn’t hurt to plan a few things beforehand .

“That screwdriver…is it really that special to you?” Padre asks, his gaze turned to look at me through the see-through image of the map that separated us.

“I think it is,” I answer, “I am not sure why, but something in me tells me it is very dear to me. I assume it must be right- I mean why else would I have taken the time to make it more unique by painting it?” I shrug

“You make a fair point, although it looks like you need a few more mem-cakes before getting the whole picture”

“Looks like it.” What am I even achieving by scrolling through these stations?! It’s not like I will magically be able to beat these stages by simply looking at their titles…if only I could find out more about the number of enemies in each stage or- huh that’s funny, apparently not all stages are related to reaching a goal. The descriptions of a few of the stations mention things like aiming, not wasting ink or bringing an ‘8-ball’ to the goal…I wonder what could be so hard on the latter- do I have to protect that ball from enemies?

Padre sighs “I wish I could remember my past as well. But alas, every choice has its sacrifice…”

“you can always try again, you know” I mutter as I keep scrolling through the map just for the sake of it.

“Sadly I can’t. I have used up all of my points.”

“All of them?”

Padre nods apprehensively. “As you may remember, I am not the most suited for a challenge like this and, to be honest, I do not feel the need to return to the Promised Land. You find everything you need on this underground if you just know where to look,” he grins, “but I must admit, I sometimes regret this decision, if even just a little bit. See, I was lucky enough to experience the memories of the countless subjects that have shared a train with me but-” he shrugs “-what can I say? I can tell you lots of fun facts about subject 9,458 or subject 5,789, but I barely know myself”

Ouch. That must be…painful- and awfully awesome- at the same time. Would I rather know everything about myself or a bunch of facts about other people? Sure, you get to hear- or rather partly experience a ton of experiences, adventures, maybe even feelings! But how much of that is really worth it if you don't know yours?

…

…

…

Oh wow, I must admit it is pretty soothing to be just mindlessly moving this stick…it sort of makes me zone out…in a good way. At least I can forget my throbbing feet for a moment…and my aching back…oh, to lay down- wait, what's stopping me from laying down? I could easily fit in this seat.

“Do you mind if I lay down?”

I get no answer, but I'm pretty sure he's amused by my question. I could swear I saw that mustache jiggle again.

I lay my back on the cold, hard seat, but my back could not care less. It is just happy to put the burden of my weight on something other than itself.

sigh…

I close my eyes, zoning out the buzzing sound of the moving vehicle around me. The image of that screwdriver is burned into my eyelids, it seems. Yes…hm…it does have its charm. Not just because of the sentimental value, but this shade of lavender? Top tier! Great, I slowly remember random stuff like lavenders ans screwdrivers but not my name-

Suddenly, I feel something drop onto me. Something large, but light and…soft! My eyes jolt open and I see my own reflection staring at me from Padre's sunglasses and a small blanket that is covering me from shoulder to knee.

“What's this for?”

“Use it”

“That still doesn't answer my question”

Those antennae move again “let's just call it a…gift of my gratitude”

“The fish are you thanking me for?” Padre is so irrational. And irrationally considerate.

This is the first time I see his mustache drop. Slowly. With meaning. At least I feel like it does have some sort of meaning.

“Look, miss Sev. You- all of you never fail to make me feel less…lonely. I needed to show my gratitude somehow. You subjects interact with me, share your memories- old and new- and never, ever fail to make me smile. The least I can do is share the treasures I find with you. They may not be as valuable as memories, but they must be worth something! Plus, I'm sure they can be of use in the Promised Land as well.”

That was actually very touching. Especially considering that we have only known each other for a few minutes. I mean, sure, I am apparently a Subject and therefore part of the…let’s call it Promised Land Squad. But to thank me just because I have the same goal 10,006 people must have had before me? Or, well, 9,972 ever since Padre was on board, I assume? Over nine thousand people that apparently made this Isopod feel less lonely and more included?

They must be awesome people. I hope I get to meet them someday as well.

I wanted to ask more about them; maybe even about the adventures all of them had and the snippets of their memories Padre may remember. But my eyelids felt oh so heavy and all I could do was mumble sheer utter and nonsense.

“Sleep well, Sev.”

My eyelids shut close and I was sent to The Dream Land for now.