Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It has been quite the day.

First, Pearl and Eight ended up going out into the city limits of Splatsville looking for Marina, having not been home for hours and not responding to any calls or texts. Not that they were necessarily scared for Marina's well-being, but in general, such a lack of communication usually doesn't bode well.

But hey, both of them knew quite well that Marina could hold her own in a fight. And she seemed just fine when both of them last saw her. It was probably nothing anyway...

Then a big scary portal appeared.

After having been sucked in, Eight woke up in a place that seemed to resemble her old home of Inkopolis Square. But to say it was anything like the bastion of colour, self-expression and community she came to love would not be accurate. In fact, rather than being teemed with life, as Eight knew it, the word that would best describe this Inkopolis Square might, in fact, be death. The entire area was surrounded in a sickly white, which strange objects resembling dead coral protruding out from the ground and from all sides. No one else seemed to be nearby, which did not bode well for the chances that nobody had died here.

Fortunately, Eight would soon find the comfort of a familiar friend. Unfortunately, it wasn't exactly a familiar face, as Pearl found herself in the form of a drone. No, she wasn't piloting the drone from a distance or even from within - she was the drone, which was both a surreal sensation for her and, unfortunately for all involved, made her virtually (no pun intended) unable to help, what with the lack of opposable thumbs and all. I mean, they could have at least programmed the drone to have a machine gun or something! Is that too much to ask?

To make matters worse, when the two of them entered the tower in the middle of the Square in an effort to get to the bottom of this, they were soon swarmed by a horde of what looked like fish. They were grey and see-through, revealing a robotic exoskeleton. Luckily, Pearl was able to have Eight grab onto her and fly above the fish to take them down (one of the few benefits that being robbed of your organic body and having your soul shoved in a cold metal ball unable to feel touch or other sensations afforded at the moment), but overall, this whole situation did not inspire confidence in what was to come, especially since they quickly pieced together that they had to get to the top of the tower.

So with all of that context in mind, it's easy to forgive Eight and Pearl for having a bad reaction to the sight of what appeared to be one of the sanitized Octolings from the Deepsea Metro standing inside of the elevator.

"You with those fish we busted up?! Sic 'em, Eight!"

"Cool it. I'm not your enemy. Just another bystander that got sucked in."

That reaction stunned Pearl and Eight into silence. As far as they both knew, sanitized Octolings were essentially zombies, undead, programmed to kill and having lost their sense of individuality. So to hear one speak a full sentence, in perfect English, was quite a surprise. To say nothing of the fact that they seemed to have a pretty laidback and blasé attitude towards the potential end of the world, judging from their monotone voice and casual posture.

They reluctantly chose to follow her into the elevator. Upon further inspection, Eight seemed to recognize who this was. This was Dedf1sh, the composer of the music that played when Eight completed a test in the Metro. She had seen posters of her on the train and in a few of the tests.

"That's my stage name. Kamabo gave it to me when I worked for them."

So she was one of the Octolings from the Metro! And because of that, Pearl remained skeptical of her. After all, nothing good came from that place!

(.....well, except for Eight and Cuttlefish and Agent Three and Iso Padre and okay that little blue guy may have blown Eight up every five seconds but they seemed chill and they were probably just doing their job and also the fact that Pearl learned Marina was an Octoling as a result of all that and Marina, Eight and herself all became agents of the New SquidbeOKAYGETTINGOFFTOPIC)

"Don't give me that look. I know you want to find Marina, but that doesn't give you an excuse to act like a blowhardfish."

"...hang on, how do you know who Marina is?!?!"

Actually, now that Pearl was thinking about it a little harder, that was kind of a dumb question. After all, she and Marina were now international celebrities, having only recently come back from a world tour with the band Damp Socks. They had even become more popular than the Squid Sisters, something which was unfathomable even just a few years ago. So it was very likely that Dedf1sh, or whatever her name was, knew the two of them from that. It's just that Pearl was increasingly dubious of her, given that she and her kind came from that terrible place underground...

...

...

...

...

..."NO", she thinks, "I can't think of her like that!"

And the reason why she can't is because that description of "that terrible place underground" might also fit the Octarian Domes, the place where her beloved Marina had grown up in and escaped from.

When Pearl first met Marina several years ago, she barely had a concept as to what Octarians were. The Great Turf War was taught in school, albeit not very thoroughly. It seems as though, as the years progressed, without the Octarians being around to remind them, the memory of both the war and the Octarians had faded from public memory, to the point of becoming nothing more than a historical footnote. As far as anybody knew, they were extinct, so there was no reason for Pearl to think Marina was anything but an Inkling - even if she did wear her tentacles in an unusual, but fantastic, way. Who knew you could turn your suction cups inside out like that?

Even when it finally emerged as common knowledge that Marina and the other Inklings with that weird hairstyle were actually Octolings, it did nothing to change the opinions people had towards their friends. In fact, it was if they didn't care much at all. "Oh, that's neat. Hey, wanna play turf?"

See, as the younger generations got farther and farther away from the effects of the Great Turf War and as the culture surrounding competitive Turf War began to permeate all areas of life around Inkopolis, Inkling society became increasingly hedonistic. People just want to be fresh, play games, eat junk food... the only things they get really passionate about are stuff that ultimately doesn't matter. Which side should the toilet paper roll go, what kind of desert is the best, etc. That attitude has sometimes had its own set of consequences, from kids skipping school to the nonchalant attitude many had towards the Great Zapfish disappearing (leading the New Squidbeak Splatoon to try and pick up the slack), but it did have one delightful outcome - societal prejudice now tends to fade away as much as that meme that became popular last week. They don't want to waste their time hating people, they just want have fun!

Inklings may not be the smartest bunch, but for all their bravado and their competition, they had become a surprisingly peaceful society.

Despite all that, Marina had no idea about any of this when she first arrived on the surface. The notion that Inklings were a hateful, racist society had been drilled into her via propaganda and it was a notion that was seemingly proven correct when Agent 3 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon tore through the domes (never mind that the Great Zapfish had been stolen and they were trying to get it back). Marina still escaped to the surface nethertheless, the heavenly melody of the Calamari Inkantation having made the inadequacies of her current life apparent and it was a decision she did not regret. Inkopolis was a paradise.

But she was still hesitant to let anyone know about her heritage, the lessons she was taught as a child still lingering in her mind. And in fairness, Marina had done more than just be a foot solider.

Pearl could remember the day she finally learned the truth. Old Man Cuttlefish sent her something from his Octarian Dossier, a file on Marina that stated she was an Octoling as well as several facts about her past. This turn of events elicited within Pearl both fascination, getting to learn more about her closest friend, as well as outrage over the fact that Cuttlefish had shared something so personal behind Marina's back. But as she took some time to let the surprise of this revelation wash over her and figure out what to do next, her computer dinged as a notification popped up in the chat room Marina had set up.

Webmaster > DJ_Hyperfresh has seen this file.

Suddenly, there was a blood curdling scream followed by several crashes upstairs.

Pearl ran up the second story of their shared apartment to find that Marina's bedroom had been trashed and seemingly abandoned. Fortunately, before she could go out looking for her, she heard a sneeze. Marina was underneath the bed, as if hiding from a monster. Crouching down and lifting the covers to see her, their eyes met and Pearl was struck by how much fear Marina's eyes demonstrated. Marina looked at her as if she thought Pearl was going to beat her.

"p-p-pplease don't kill me i'm sorry for lying to you i'm sorry for being an octoling"

Marina barely had a voice, as if she lacked the confidence that she usually exuded while performing one of her songs or delivering the news, but Pearl heard every word.

A devastated Pearl slunk down under the bed to stroke Marina's back and reassure her everything was fine, even as Marina curled in on herself out of fear, while a million questions raced through Pearl's mind. How long has she been scared of people finding out? Did she expect Pearl to hurt her? Has she been feeling this way the whole time they've known each other?

Pearl was about ready to burst into tears.

After that incident and equipped with the knowledge that Pearl still loved Marina despite being an Octoling, even becoming girlfriends, things seemed to go back to normal, though the topic of Octarian society was still a touchy one. Pearl wanted to know more, not just because she wanted to know as much about her girlfriend as possible, not just because she wanted to share in her people’s culture, but because she couldn't shake the look in Marina's eyes on that fateful day. Marina seemed adamant, however, to not let Pearl find out any more than she already knew.

Cuttlefish's Dossier had said that Marina was a war engineer that worked for a "DJ Octavio", though it did not mention specific weapons. But beyond that, Pearl knew there was still a lot she didn't know. So Pearl would sometimes casually mention it in conversation, hoping to coax something out of her, only to be shut down. Pearl also attempted to find books at the library pertaining to Octolings... in particular, a book on the Octarian language, so that she can speak in Marina's mother tongue. Again, though, Marina discouraged it. The two of them also serve as agents of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, but despite that, Pearl has never seen any enemy Octarians or seen the inside of the domes. The excuse given was that, with so many defecting, the army was quiet these days, but Marie accidentally let loose that Marina had wanted it that way, forcing her to explain to Pearl that Marina had asked them to have it so that Pearl would never see what it was like. Finally, in a desperate attempt to get her to open up, Pearl pleaded with Marina to talk about it, a move that openly pissed off Marina.

The most recent incident occurred earlier this month, during a NSS meeting. The couple had moved to Splatsville following their world tour (no way the leader of Team Chaos wasn't about to live in the City of Chaos) and were introduced to Deep Cut for the first time. Marina was instantly drawn towards Shiver because, while Octolings have been reintegrating into Inkling society for years by that point, there were still relatively few Octoling musicians, at least as far as she knew. But when she tried initiating a discussion with her about how she was so thrilled to see Octoling representation in the music industry and to see people escape the army, she was met with a confused "what army?", to Marina's surprise.

This led Callie and Marie to drop a hard truth they had learned in their time in Splatsville... namely, that the Great Turf War never reached there and as a result, Octolings have always lived freely on the surface here.

A visually distraught Marina, trying desperately to keep her cool, asked to excuse herself. Pearl followed soon after, watching on as Marina threw a bunch of stones around in frustration, yelling about how she was born in the wrong place and that she could have had a normal childhood, a normal life here...

They haven't discussed the Octarians since.

And perhaps they don't even need to. By getting away from her past, Marina has clearly flourished and Pearl was proud of her for it. During their recent tour with Damp Socks, Marina seemed happier than ever before, as people all over the world came to see them. But even though Inkling society was pretty peaceful these days, people aren't perfect. Right now, Pearl found herself in the position of having assumed this Dedf1sh person as the enemy based purely on the fact that they were a sanitized Octoling - essentially, Pearl had become guilty of the very thing Marina was scared she would do if she had ever found out about Marina's past.

Pearl chalked it up to the fact that, while Marina was her first introduction to Octolings, Pearl's first introduction to sanitized Octolings came from the hoards of enemies that would fight Eight in the Deepsea Metro. This made Pearl wonder if things would have gone differently if she had ever met any enemy Octarians prior to meeting Marina.

This whole situation made Pearl feel ill whenever she thought about it. She can't help bu-

"First things first: I'm Acht. As for Marina and me... we go way back."

...hold up. What did she just say?

Chapter Text

The way forward was now much more clear.

In order to leave this place, Eight had to ascend the Spire of Order and reach the top.

And in order to do this, Eight had to...

...complete tests.

Eight had an emotional freakout in which it fully sunk in that, yes, she was stuck doing this a-f***ing-gain. She eventually calmed down enough to be concerned that she may have damaged the elevator, but luckily, that did not seem to be the case.

Eight was trying out one of these tests right now. Pearl had made it a point to directly help out Eight as much as possible, lack of opposable thumbs be darned, to make up for the fact that she had been unable to be there in the room with her back in the Deepsea Metro. Right now, though, Eight had asked to complete this test by herself, which Pearl obliged. Now, she was alone with Acht, thinking over the current situation.

The Spire of Order, huh? Hmmm...

Pearl had been anxious to get out of this sea of white so that she could find where Marina had run off to earlier, but with that little nugget of information, there was now a non-zero chance that Marina was somewhere in this place too. Well, if that was the case, Pearl was going to make sure that, if anybody tries to do anything to her, they were going to pay.

For now though, Pearl's mind was stuck on that comment Acht had made earlier.

She knew Marina. She had been Marina's friend.

Even with all of the defectors coming up to the surface, Pearl was unaware of anyone who had personally known Marina during her time in the domes. There were certainly people who knew of Marina, apparently being a bit of a celebrity at the time ("heh, I guess she just naturally suits the spotlight", Pearl thinks), but no friends or family.

Acht could well be a valuable resource to finding out more about Marina, but Pearl hesitated, not wanting to go behind Marina's back to learn anything she may consider to be private. So Pearl chose not to initially, but at the same time...

"p-p-pplease don't kill me i'm sorry for lying to you i'm sorry for being an octoling"

...she couldn't help but feel the need to find out as much as possible. Not just to satiate her own morbid curiosity, but so that she could help her friend.

As Acht would go on to explain, Marina and her both worked worked as engineers, but they also shared a passion for music. Both of them had even gotten the chance to work with Turquoise October, the Octavian's premiere band, helping to create the music that reinforced their own brainwashing.

Turquoise October? That's a name Pearl actually recognized.