Chapter Text
“So… what do you think?”
Nevis smiled, taking off the pair of headphones, “It’s great! I like it a lot, Ahato. I think this song would be really popular across the domes.” She was currently situated within Ahato’s room, or as she’s better known across the octarian domes: ‘Dedf1sh’. The two had been friends for a few months at this point, or at least Nevis thought of it that way.
Ahato was very much a social recluse, which made it hard for the two to talk in person. The two did talk through messaging, though not often. Which made it a surprise to find a message on her phone this morning from Ahato. She wanted her to listen to an upcoming track and give her thoughts on it.
“You really think so?” Ahato clutched the sides of her own pair of headphones, currently around her neck. “I’m not so sure, myself.”
“Well, it is often said that we’re our own biggest critics. Maybe you could get some others to listen to it? I know Bermuda’s been looking for another good song to listen to while she works.”
“I know, I just want to make a song that the others will really like.” Ahato rolled her chair backwards, setting her headphones on the table as she began to mess with a few keys on her laptop. Its age was showing, having been cracked and damaged in a few places. Nevis stood up and walked over to Ahato.
“I’m sure they’d like it a lot as it is.” Nevis said, resting a hand on her chair.
“Maybe… Though I think I’d like to make a few more changes before I let everyone listen to it. I haven’t put out a song in two months and they’re no doubt expecting something great. Which makes it all the harder to come up with something. ” Ahato lowered her arms as she spoke, before raising them again and continuing to mess with her laptop. “Perhaps…” A sound played as she pressed down on the trackpad. “ Yeah, maybe I can use that. ” She muttered to herself.
“You don’t have to make songs for others. Make songs for you.” Nevis said, turning her head to try and get a good look at the screen.
Unfortunately, Ahato was practically hunched over it, obscuring Nevis’ vision. “If not for everyone listening, I wouldn’t be here in the first place.” Ahato shook her head. “I appreciate the thought though, Nevis.”
Nevis nodded, pushing herself away from the chair, “Is there any way I can help, at least? I’m not a songwriter, but I don’t want to just leave you stressed like this.”
“I… don’t know. I work better when I’m left alone.” Ahato shook her head slowly, “I think it’d be better for the both of us If I did this myself. Besides, don’t you have that thing with Bermuda coming up soon?”
“Yeah, something involving another project of hers. Said they’re looking to submit a new weapon design. Needs parts to build a prototype.” Nevis said.
“Sounds like an ambitious plan.” Ahato smiled as she looked to Nevis for a moment, “Don’t let me keep you from helping them.”
“I can help you too, Ahato.”
“You already helped me by listening to my song.” Ahato leaned back in her chair, her oversized shirt draping off her shoulder, “Really, Nevis. I’ll be fine.”
“You sure?” Nevis asked. Ahato remained quiet, shuffling around in her chair as she messed with her laptop. Nevis looked away, seeming to get the message. “...Alright. Stay safe, okay Ahato?”
Ahato nodded, “You too. Say hi to Shark for me before you meet with Bermuda?”
Nevis nodded, “Of course.” She began to walk to the door before stopping and turning to Ahato one last time, “Try not to worry too much, okay?”
“I’ll… try.” Ahato relented, not looking back.
Nevis’ expression saddened for a moment, before exiting the room. Making her way outside, she was greeted with a bustling neighborhood. One that she was vastly familiar with by this point. Various octarians were walking or driving about, commuting to all kinds of places Nevis could only wonder about.
She brought out her phone and checked the time. She had about an hour until she had to meet Bermuda, but she knew Bermuda liked to get things done quickly. Using that as a guideline, it wasn’t hard to come to a conclusion and head over to her house earlier than expected. She walked down the street, waving to a few octolings she knew and saying hi to a few others. She wasn’t exactly popular, though she did know her way around.
Strangely, however, she didn’t see Shark around anywhere. Maybe he’d show his face later, Nevis doesn’t have all the time in the world to look for him. ‘ I’m sorry, Ahato. I’ll say hi to him next time. ’ She thinks to herself as she approaches the front gate to Bermuda’s house. It was a fairly run down looking two story building with many windows that you couldn’t see the inside from due to them being all covered by blinds. ‘ Bermuda and her privacy. ’ She thought to herself, rolling her eyes with a smile.
Nevis walked up and knocked on the door. Then she waited. She waited for a while, yet just as she was about to knock again, a voice from the second floor window yelled, “LOOK OUT!”
Nevis only had a moment to register, before jumping to the side as the door flew open and a burst of flames exited the door in an almost comical fashion. She let out a panicked breath before yelling up to Bermuda, who was leaning out of the second floor window, “What was that about, Bermuda?!”
“Sorry, sorry!” Bermuda apologized, smiling through her respirator mask, “Just doing a bit of testing while I was waiting for you! You’d be surprised how flammable some of this stuff is, haha!”
“What kind of hazards are you keeping in your house!?” Nevis yelled up to her. “Are you okay!?”
“Confidential!” Bermuda joked as she tried to contain her laughter. “I’m fine, by the way! Since you’re early, come inside and I can show you what I’m up to!”
“I’m not sure I want to now.” Nevis said cautiously.
“Come on, Nevis, it’s fine!” Bermuda said, only for a second burst of flames to exit the front door. “...Now it’s fine!” They amended.
“...Are you sure it’s safe in there?” Nevis asked, hesitant to go in. “Are you safe in there?”
“Of course! Fire should be out by now, anyway!” Bermuda playfully rolled their eyes, “I wouldn’t let you in, otherwise! Just be sure to not get too close to the kitchen, I may or may not have spilled some chemicals in there that may or may not have harmful effects if you breathe it in-” Bermuda cut herself off as a particularly painful cough came out of her chest before straining, “ -yeah, definitely don’t go near there. ”
Nevis slowly nodded, muttering an “ Okay. ” before carefully stepping through the front door. The inside was a complete mess of ash and soot, causing her to cough as she entered. Everything from the walls to the furniture were absolutely coated in it. “Cod, what happened here?”
“Classified~!” Bermuda sang from upstairs. Nevis rolled her eyes. Of course it was. Bermuda always liked their secrecy, but did it have to be so dangerous? “Oh, how did that thing with Ahato go?” Bermuda called out, “Was her new song good?”
“It was great, yeah! I offered to help her with completing the song, but she turned me down.” Nevis said, climbing the stairs.
The ash and soot barely reached the upper floor, which was vastly cleaner in comparison. The walls were all adorned with custom-built weapons, many of which had papers slipped between it and the wall. Rejection letters, if she had to guess. Some of which looked familiar, being ones she’d helped test. Others were completely unfamiliar.
“Meh, that’s Ahato.” Bermuda shrugged, meeting Nevis at the top of the stairs with her mask off. They were quite a bit taller than Nevis, sporting long dark purple tentacles, the two in the back tied together while the front two framed their face. She also sported the standard octarian armor, although severely busted up. “You know, I’m still jealous you get to talk to Dedf1sh in person. THE Dedf1sh!”
“It’s not that big of a deal, Bermuda.” Nevis said, “You speak with her, too! Besides, I should be even more jealous since you got to talk with Marina Ida of all people!”
“What can I say, I’m just that popular!” Bermuda smirked, walking backwards into her room as Nevis followed. There were tons of parts and scrap lying around on the floor, with even more rejected weapon prototypes sitting in a corner. “Seriously though, I only said hi to Marina in passing, it’s not that big a deal. And Ahato talks to you WAY more than she does me and she knows Marina way more than I do!”
“She does?!” Nevis reeled back from surprise.
Bermuda nodded, “Of course she does, they’re both musicians! And Dedf1sh rarely even leaves her house, yet you’re in contact with her somehow! Though her not leaving her house is surprising considering the strict military service regulations here. ” The octarian muttered to herself as she turned and placed a hand on her desk.
“I’m… sure she has a good reason for not being in the army.” Nevis said, “Besides, music is good for morale!”
“Hmm, that’s true. Wouldn’t be good if your morale boosters went and died, ain’t it?” Bermuda said. “Regardless! I think this next invention is gonna get a real kick out of DJ Octavio!”
“I’ve heard good things about it.” Nevis said, smiling. Bermuda may be reckless at times, but she does things with good intentions. At least so Nevis likes to believe.
“No kidding! I don’t have a complete design yet because it’s so early, but it’s gonna be amazing!” Bermuda’s eyes sparkled as she gestured towards the desk at one end of her room. On it sat a rather large framework of a weapon that was larger than most designs Nevis had ever seen.
“What… is it supposed to be?” Nevis asked, tilting her head to the side in confusion.
“Have you ever seen those unreleased weapon designs from the magazines that blow in from Inkopolis? I thought about using one of those as a basis! ” Bermuda asked, walking over to it and dramatically gesturing to it, “I present to you: the commander splatling!”
“...Huh?” Nevis said, confused.
“Oh my cod.” Bermuda slumped, before walking over to her bed and pulling out a magazine of what looked to be an inkling carrying a large weapon on the front cover from between her mattresses. “A splatling! It looks awesome! I don’t know too much about it besides what’s visible so I’ve had to make my own interpretations on how it functions. I think I really knocked it out of the park with this one!”
“You brought that with you?” Nevis asked, “I-I thought items from inkling culture weren’t allowed down here? This kind of weapon doesn’t even look like it’s available to the inklings themselves yet. Is keeping this legal? A-Are you at risk of being detained?” Questions began to flood out of her mouth.
Bermuda laughed, tossing the magazine over to Nevis, “No, not really. It’s not like this house gets searched, nobody’ll even notice or care! I mean, besides the Elites, maybe. They always have a stick up their bass. ” She said as Nevis caught the magazine, playing hot potato with it as if merely being seen with it was a scandalous act. When she finally did get a proper hold on it, she simply looked at the cover.
“I-I don’t get it, how are you so calm about this?” Nevis raised an eyebrow.
Bermuda rolled her eyes, exaggeratedly rolling her head as well, “C’mon, everyone does this! Well, not everyone , but a good amount of the trainees do.”
“Are you sure?” Nevis asked concernedly.
“Not at all, I don’t know what the trainees do these days. I’m not one of them anymore, remember?” Bermuda admitted, yet her smile remained, “C’mon, I’ve been fine this whole time! Ain’t nothing gonna stop me from making this and you know it!”
“If you say so.” Nevis relented, “So, what specifically do you need help with?”
“Material gathering.” Bermuda said, “More specifically, I need you to go into Beaker’s Depot and get me a list of things.”
“Can’t you do that yourself? Or at least help with it?” Nevis raised an eyebrow.
“Ahah…” Bermuda nervously chuckled in response, fidgeting in place. Nevis narrowed her eyes as her suspicion rose until Bermuda admitted, “I… may or may not have… accidentally caused an incident there that caused me to get barred from entering?”
“Wha- Bermuda!” Nevis said.
“I’m sorry, it was an accident!” Bermuda apologized.
“How do you accidentally get banned from the depot?!” Nevis asked with pure confusion. She could tell Bermuda’s apology was genuine, yet that didn’t stop her from freaking out, “What kind of incident did you cause?!”
“Pff- T-That’s not important. Nobody even got hurt!” Bermuda nervously attempted to deflect.
“I disagree!” Nevis said. Before she could properly question Bermuda any more an alarm suddenly began to blare throughout the dome, echoing across the metal walls.
Nevis winced, covering her ears momentarily. “An alarm?!” She asked, looking outside the window to find octarians gathering weaponry.
“Damn, that’s loud!” Bermuda yelled, rising from their desk as she struggled to speak over the alarm. They looked out the window alongside Nevis for only a moment, “Looks like battle preparation! Shell, I haven’t even finished my prototype yet!”
“Forget the prototype, what could warrant this?” Nevis slowly released her hands from her ears, attempting to ease herself into the noise of the alarm. “Is there an intruder or something?”
“If there is, we’ll show ‘em what for!” Bermuda raised a fist with a toothy grin before walking to her closet. “Lemme get my gun!”
“Woah, woah, is that even a good idea?” Nevis asked concernedly, “Shouldn’t this be a job for the elites?”
“Uh, this is our home , Nevis.” Bermuda said, pulling the closet door open and rummaging through it, “If we gotta defend our home, we gotta defend our home. No matter how much training we got! Besides, I may not be an elite, but I for sure know my way around a fight! You should know that better than anyone.”
“I-I mean I guess so…” Nevis began, her nerves stopping her from finishing her sentence. She definitely knew Bermuda could fight, and fight well despite not being an elite, but something about this felt different, somehow.
“What, you worried?” Bermuda paused, looking back towards Nevis. “Don’t worry, I’ll be with you every step of the way! Now c’mon, let's head to the launch pads!” Bermuda didn’t wait for an answer, taking Nevis’ hand and forcefully leading her out of the house.
“H-Hey, Bermuda, wait! I don’t even have any of my weapons with me-!” Nevis resisted, to no avail.
“We can pick up a spare on the way, I’m sure Shark won’t mind a weapon missing from his wall!” Bermuda giggled, smiling underneath her respirator.
“He very much will, you know how he feels about that!” Nevis said, almost panicked.
“We can apologize later, then!”
“ Cod help us. ” Nevis whispered.
The two went down the street, stopping by Shark’s house, which appeared to be empty due to the currently blaring alarm, to pick up a spare octo shot for Nevis. Then the two went towards an open area with a single launchpad in the center. Nevis watched as one of the last elite octarians in the area had already been launched towards a different area, leaving it mostly clear. Without even waiting for a word, Bermuda led Nevis towards the launch pad.
“Alright, here’s the plan. We jump in one after another and we see what’s going on. Then we formulate another plan from there to take care of it!” Bermuda said.
“That… doesn’t really sound like a plan.” Nevis commented. “Is it even safe on the other side?”
“Of course it is, we just saw an elite take off with it. If it’s not, heh, we’re dead anyway!” Bermuda said with a smile, much to Nevis’ dismay. She never understood how Bermuda can do things without a care in the world half the time. Bermuda rested a hand on Nevis’ shoulder, “For real though, I’m not entirely sure what lies on the other end. Do you trust me?”
“Of course I do.” Nevis said, before adding, “Aside from when you do reckless things. Which I have to prevent you from doing half the time... ”
“Wh- I know that-!” Bermuda said, before cutting herself off, “Okay, yeah, I admit, I do some dumb stuff, but I’m still okay at the end of the day! Here, I’ll even go first to make sure it’s safe!”
“Bermuda, wait-!” But it was too late, for Bermuda had already thrown herself into the launch pad with a giddy smile, swiftly being launched into the air and out of view. She didn’t like when Bermuda put herself into danger, but if she didn’t follow then chances are they’d get into an even worse scenario.
Nevis took in a deep breath as she stepped into the launch pad, entering octo form before being swiftly launched into the air. She soared for at least a minute, with the blaring alarm slowly fading away and being replaced by the sounds of music. Not even a moment after she registered the music’s presence, she made contact with solid ground as the air left her lungs.
“See, that wasn’t so bad!” Bermuda smiled as she leaned over Nevis.
“ You almost scared me half to death. ” Nevis said breathily, resting a hand over her eyes for a moment.
“Sorry! But as I said, I went first to make sure it was safe!” Bermuda held their hand out and helped Nevis to her feet. “And look at that, we didn’t die immediately upon landing!”
“Yeah… yeah, I get that but...” Nevis said, exhaling. “Please promise me you won’t do that again?”
“Promise!” Bermuda held out her pinky, to which Nevis wrapped her own around. Noises in the distance could be heard, which told the two that they were close to whatever was causing a need for alarm, “Come on, we’re wasting time!”
“R-Right.” Nevis said, following Bermuda until the two reached the source of the noise. It was towards what looked to be a brawl between DJ Octavio and someone she’d never seen before. The two of them were still a fair distance from the brawl. DJ Octavio’s music could be heard all throughout the dome the two were in. All the two could do was watch from a distance.
“Who is that?” Nevis asked, to which Bermuda shrugged.
“It… almost looks like… Is that an inkling?” Bermuda said with confusion. They tried to step closer to the fight, but Nevis grabbed Bermuda’s hand, shaking her head. Bermuda paused, looking back to Nevis. “...Alright, fine, I’ll stay here with you. Let's get a better vantage point at least. We’re sitting out in the open over here.”
The two began to move, all the while keeping an eye on the fight at hand. Nevis watched as other octarians joined the fight, only to be swiftly taken down by the inkling that was traversing the platforms. Yet as she watched the fight ensue, a loud noise suddenly cut through DJ Octavio’s music and began to fill her ears. She paused. It was… a different song? It felt… uplifting. Freeing , in a way. She was almost questioning what she was hearing. At the same time, she somehow already knew what it was.
It was the heavenly melody of the Calamari Inkantation.
…
Click. Click. Click.
Nevis’ heels clicked against the concrete floor as she traversed her dark surroundings. The old octarian dome had been left almost completely abandoned by this point, only faint echoes and distant rumblings could be heard. She absentmindedly tapped at the octo shot hanging by her side. It used to be from Shark, a friend of hers, but she hasn’t seen him in forever. A small three-way radio sat beside her weapon, with the two often clacking as her movement caused the two to make contact every other step.
It had been close to two years since she’d first heard the Calamari Inkantation. Almost two years since she left her old octarian dome in search of a way to the surface. And almost two years since she came back to it. All that time had been spent towards finding an exit through the underground to the surface. To Inkopolis.
She never found one. She could opt to take the trip to the other octarian domes… yet part of her doesn’t want to. Much like her, other octarians had taken varying routes to the surface. Unfortunately, she doesn’t know what routes they all took or if they even made it using those routes. Her own trip led from dead end to dead end. She couldn’t give up, even as she found her journey becoming more and more impossible the longer she was at it.
In the end, she figured it would be a good idea to retrace her steps and start from a different angle. Only to find that the dome she once called her home had been long abandoned. She knew the power struggles were becoming a big problem, but she didn’t think it would have led to this kind of development. There was almost no power in the dome whatsoever. Any remnants of it were in dimly lit neon signs or street lamps. Nobody was here anymore. From what she could tell, it looked like it was all voluntary. Not some kind of panicked escape or anything like that.
Did everyone here hear the Calamari Inkantation? Did power become so unsustainable that they had no choice but to move to a different dome? She didn’t know. She isn’t sure she wanted to know. She wanted to keep her spirits high, and if it turned out to be a worst case scenario, that would certainly put a damper on things.
Her stomach growled, clutching her sides as she sucked in a breath. She looked around. The only things that were around her were unlit, abandoned homes. She exhaled, continuing onwards. It was eerily quiet. There was hardly any ambiance, which only served to unnerve her more. As she approached one of the buildings, she noted that parts of the metal had begun to rust and chip away. She placed one hand on the door handle and pushed down, attempting to open it.
The door didn’t budge. “ Oh, come on. ” She whispered to herself before bracing her shoulder and slamming it against the door. “ Can something- ” thud “- please- ” thud “ -go right- ” thud “ -for ONCE! ” THUD!
She nearly fell over as the door gave way, sticking her arm out almost immediately to catch her fall, but wasn’t able to do so in time. She sucked in a deep breath, remaining on the floor for a moment as a slight pain coursed through the side of her body. “ Ow- ow ow ow ow. ” She held the side of her head as she picked herself up, looking at the inside of the building. She froze.
“This is…” She was unable to finish her sentence. This used to be Ahato’s house. How could she have forgotten? ‘ ...Perhaps there’s something still here. ’ She thought.
She found herself moving across the room without even thinking about it. Moving past the dust-covered furniture and ragged carpet flooring. She approached another door, opening it with much more ease compared to the front door (though it still took her another bash of her shoulder).
The other side was Ahato’s room. On the desk was a damaged, dusty laptop. She quickly approached it, wiping off the top with one hand. ‘ Maybe it still works? ’ She thought to herself. It wasn’t likely, but maybe… just maybe.
She opened the laptop with a few fingers, pressing on the power button. Nothing. Yet instead of giving up then and there, her gaze began to shift around the room. ‘ Ahato had to have some spare charging cords, right? ’ She wondered, walking around and checking various furniture. There wasn’t anything there. It didn’t make sense, why would she clean out everything but leave her laptop behind?
She kicked the floor in frustration. She hoped she might be able to find something. Anything, whether it be a way to the surface or a sign that her friends were still out there. She never found anything. It was painful, going through idea after idea, place after place, only to meet dead end after dead end.
She exhaled, walking over to Ahato’s old bed and sitting down on it. She unhooked the two-way radio she kept with her, which she knew was low on battery, but she had to try. She took a deep breath. “Ahato…?” She spoke into it, “...Bermuda?”
She waited. And she waited. All that came to her on the other end was static. That’s all it ever ended up being these days. At first, the three of them had gotten separated, using the radios to keep in touch. Then Ahato stopped responding a year in. It was only her and Bermuda for a long while.
But Bermuda stopped responding a month ago. That was the last time she’d heard their voice. She doesn’t know what happened to either of them. She wishes she did. She wishes she could talk to them again. But she didn’t have so much as a clue as to where they might have ended up at. Did they end up on the surface? Were they living a good life without her?
She hoped so, at least that way they would be okay. She didn’t want to imagine what possibilities were out there if they weren’t.
She laid down on the bed, letting the radio fall to her side as she covered her eyes with one arm. She felt so incredibly tired for some reason. Maybe it was how long she had been searching. Maybe it was the constant rise and fall of her hopes. Maybe she was just using more energy than she thought she was.
Whatever the case, it didn’t take long for her to fall into a deep sleep.
…
Nevis’ eyes slowly opened as pain gnawed at her stomach. She tiredly rolled onto her side, eyes still adjusting as the darkness of the room overwhelmed her sense of sight. She sucked in a breath, before using one hand to slowly push herself up off the bed. She silently muttered to herself, “ What time is it? ” Before digging her phone out of her pocket and checking the time.
But her phone had been dead for over a year now, the screen remaining darker than her surroundings. With no way to charge it, she’d long since lost any sense of time. In her exhaustion, she’d somehow completely forgotten. Letting out a defeated sigh, she let her arm drop to her side. Part of her didn’t feel like getting up.
She forced that feeling out of her mind and made herself get up anyway. She desperately needed something to eat. Her pack had disappeared sometime on the trek back to the dome, meaning she was without any real way to bring extra things, namely food, with her. She’d have to search for another backpack, if there even was one nearby. She wasn’t optimistic about it, considering her luck the past two years.
A quick search of Ahato’s old house didn’t seem to yield much. Many of the items and food inside were either damaged, expired, without power, or some combination of the three. She did find a spare backpack, however. Which was a start, at the very least.
Upon heading back out, she noted just how dark it really was. The lack of power meant lack of light, which meant that she was mostly going to have to feel around for things until she found a flashlight or a lantern. Her hope had risen a little bit. She did find a backpack after all, maybe she could find a light?
But as the hours went by, or at least what felt like hours, all she found was useless junk upon useless junk. Maybe the occasional unexpired piece of food like a granola bar, which she did try to grab as much of as possible, along with a half empty bottle of water, which was nice. There even appeared to be magazines of inkling culture drifting in the wind. They were very rare, but she managed to snag one or two. She remembered when Bermuda had snuck one in her house two years ago. She never read through that one. So she started reading through the ones she could find, which yielded a lot of interesting things to read about.
Her hope was a continuous rise and fall. On the one hand, she had even more reason to go to the surface. On the other hand, it felt even harder than before to get there. ‘ One step forward, two steps back. ’ She thought to herself, continuing down the street. Then, her movements slowed to a halt.
Was she hearing things? She could have sworn she heard something. No, that couldn’t be. It had been almost dead silent since she arrived, aside from the noises she had been making. She remained silent, looking around and trying to gauge whether or not it was her mind playing tricks on her or not…
…Then she heard a noise. A giant THUD , echoing across the whole dome as if it were everywhere at once. A chill coursed through her body as she struggled to figure out what the noise was. She heard the chiming ding of a train, loud, overwhelming. She was alone in here, so what was causing the noise!?
She sucked in a deep breath, her grip against her octo shot tightening to the point it felt uncomfortable. And then she heard the groans. The groans and the screams, the overbearing thuds that echoed across the entire dome, where was it all coming from?
Another particularly loud THUD caused her to violently jump, stepping back as her heart rate began to rise. Sweat began to bead down her face, feeling her own heartbeat in her ears. “ W-Who- ” She tried to speak, but her own words were being drowned out. She couldn’t even see five feet in front of her, which made it all the worse as the horrific noise came from everywhere at once.
In and out, in and out. She tried to keep her breathing steady but the violent noises ringing in her ears, the harsh clanging of metal and the screams kept her from keeping calm. She quietly begged for the noises to stop, covering her ears. She didn’t even hear her octo shot clatter to the floor, she was only focused on begging, pleading for whatever was causing those awful, horrid noises to end.
But they didn’t. They just kept coming, with small bursts of silence that teased the idea of them going away, their overpowering sounds just echoed and echoed. Even as she kept her ears covered, it felt like they weren’t being muffled and instead just growing in volume. Tears welled at her eyes. She wanted someone, anyone, to please come and help her, get her away from this awful noise. It never ended, it just kept on going on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and -
…
…She didn’t know when, or how long. But at some point she had her back pressed against a wall, knees curled in on herself. Her body shook with each breath, struggling to reel herself back in or even comprehend the noises that had disappeared as quickly as they came. All she could go off of was that she heard them. At this point, she didn’t know if those noises were even real.
She breathed in and out, trying to steady herself. No matter what, she had to keep going. That hope of reaching the surface was all she had going for her by this point. Not to mention the isolation and time alone was starting to get to her. At least if it hadn’t already and she was just too clueless to realize that. She wanted to see any signs of life that confirmed she wasn’t going crazy.
How much time had even passed? It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes, it didn’t feel like much time had gone by. Then again, her sense of time had been really messed up these past few months, so as far as she knew it might as well have been a complete guess.
She slowly forced herself up off the ground, placing one hand against the wall to keep herself supported as her knees shook. She reached into her backpack and took out the half empty bottle of water, drinking some of its contents before putting it back in. She exhaled, remaining against the wall for some time as her heart paid no mind to her wishes as it kept racing. She took in a deep breath before gathering her surroundings as best she could. She appeared to be in some kind of alleyway with a chain link fence to her left, which was blocking off her path to the rest of said alley.
She needed a moment to think, but her mind was struggling to come up with anything logical. In the end, she only had one idea that, while not great, was her best option. ‘ I should just keep searching. ’ She thought to herself. ‘ I can return to Ahato’s house later for more rest. Then I’ll leave when I wake up. ’
With her mind made up, she stepped out of the alley and began to walk down the street. Only to pause mid-step. There was a light at the end of the street. A light that was moving. Narrowing her eyes, she slowly approached. Two people she didn’t know began to enter her vision amidst the darkness. It was hard to tell, but she somehow knew for a fact that they weren’t from here. They didn’t seem to have noticed her yet, entirely focused on a conversation they were having. At least she hoped that was what the reason was. Part of her quietly thanked how dark it was, or she would have been spotted near instantly.
She quietly maneuvered back into the alleyway without a word, trying to stay as quiet as she possibly could. She peered out slightly to look at the two. She tried leaning in to hear whatever they were saying, if they were saying anything at all. One of them was moving strangely, as though they were using gestures in place of communication.
She wasn’t able to hear them very well. She could hardly even understand them, speaking a language that she wasn’t familiar with in the slightest. It made it hard to tell whether they were friend or foe. Yet for some reason, one of them was vaguely familiar. It confused her. Surely she should know who they were if one of the two was familiar, right? Yet she didn’t know who that was.
Yet just as she felt confusion regarding their identities, it suddenly became clear to her. That’s the inkling that fought against DJ Octavio two years ago. She let out a quiet breath. The same inkling responsible for the disappearance of her former leader. On some level, she felt like she should be excited to meet them, being that she knew the idols responsible for bringing the Calamari Inkantation to the underground. For giving her a reason to seek the surface.
And yet why did she feel so scared? Why were the two even here? Her only thought at this moment was to get away from them. She wasn’t looking for a fight, but if she revealed herself, she felt like there would be one. At least it looked like it, judging from the fact that the inkling had their gun in hand instead of at their side. She already felt on edge due to multiple factors, a fight is the last thing she needs right now.
Carefully, she began to slowly walk away.
Only for her to bump into the chain link fence, causing it to rattle. She covered her mouth as panic began to set in. It went quiet. Too quiet. She almost wondered if they’d somehow run off in another direction.
Then she heard footsteps begin to slowly approach.
Panicking, only one thought entered her mind at that moment.
‘ Run. ’
And so she did. She ran out of the alleyway, down the street opposite to where she knew the other two were as sounds from behind her indicated that at least one of them was giving chase! She unhooked her gun from her side, firing a few warning shots randomly in hopes she could deter them, but they didn’t! She ran and ran, going from street to street, knowing full well that she didn’t stand a chance!
She still knew the way around the dome, maybe she could get back to where she came in from to make a quick escape! But as she turned back, she suddenly found the inkling and her accomplice only a few feet away, the former with a gun in hand, ready to shoot! She froze, turning her gun over to the inkling after a moment of hesitation. She didn’t want to fight. But if she ran, chances are she’d only die tired.
But as the two held the barrels of their weapons against one another, another sound began to make itself known. It was a quiet sound. Before any of them could properly register it, Nevis felt something crash into her back at full force!
She used her hand to brace herself from hitting the floor. As she looked up, the inkling from before was turned away and shooting at something that she couldn’t see.
But then she felt something harsh hit the back of her head, knocking her fully to the floor.
And she fell unconscious.
…
A gentle heat touched the top of Eight’s tentacles as she reached the top of the ladder. A chill gust of wind flew past her as she rose from the exit. Her eyes went wide and her jaw hung slack as she gazed out into the sunset.
The sunset.
She had finally reached the surface.
After so long, she was finally on the surface. It felt unimaginable. Emotions flooded her as she gazed out into the orange sky, wiping her eyes as tears threatened to spill. She sniffled, pushing a tentacle out of her face as the wind blew heavily against her, causing it to partially block her vision.
She shook herself out of her thoughts and turned around leaning down back in the hole she crawled out of and grabbed onto the unconscious Agent Three, setting her down beside the hole as Captain Cuttlefish crawled out from next. “Sure you not need help?” Eight asked the elder.
“Nah, this old man’s cuttlebones aren’t that bad yet!” Cuttlefish replied, his gaze turning to the wider view. “And look at that view. Reminds me of when I was a youngin’.”
Eight nodded as a distant voice caught her attention, calling her name. Eight’s attention then turned to an incoming fleet of helicopters, blasting music at such a volume that she could hear it from where she was standing despite them being so far away. “EIGHT!” She heard Pearl yell. “WE GOT YOU!”
Eight waved over to the helicopters, knowing that Pearl and Marina were on them. Agent Eight . It’s such a strange thing to be called, yet it was fine to her. Her memories had been so fuzzy when she first awoke in the metro. Yet even when she finally recalled her name the more she navigated the metro’s lines and got more mem cakes she’d gotten so used to being called Eight that it simply stuck. Not that she minded her name, of course.
Her experience in the metro was a long journey. She doesn’t know how long exactly, she had to gauge at least a week went by in that accursed place. But since she was done with it, she no longer had to worry about it. She no longer had to worry about her old life in the domes as Nevis. She couldn’t complete every station, one of them stuck out like a sore thumb in how difficult it was. She didn’t collect all her mem cakes as a result.
Of course, there were a lot of things that stuck out to her. There had been multiple times where a certain weapon being used by the sanitized octarians had a sense of familiarity to her. Yet she couldn’t place where she’d seen it before. Or if she’d seen it at all.
But perhaps it was better to not worry about it too much.
Instead, she would finally begin a new chapter in her life as Eight. One where she actually knew the one and only Marina Ida , one where she wasn’t at threat of constant power outages and never being able to see the night sky when she fell asleep at night. One where, for the first time since she had heard the Calamari Inkantation, she felt freedom.
Eight smiled, happy to experience what the future has in store for her. Even as she boarded the platform being carried by the helicopter, helping Cap’n Cuttlefish bring the unconscious Agent Three aboard as well, since she felt bad about how he carried her for most of the climb up the ladder (even if he said he could handle it, which she was confused as to how that was possible with how old he looked and how shaky his limbs always were). Her heart was pumping with excitement, as she was finally going to the city she’d been trying to head towards for the last two years.
Yet even so, thoughts lingered in the back of her mind. Thoughts of her time before the metro. Parts were still a bit fuzzy. She doesn’t recall what ended up becoming of her friends after she initially left for the surface. Some part of her still hopes she could find out. Some part of her hoped that they’re waiting for her in the city somewhere. There was also the question of that freakish noise. She only heard them once and not for very long, but it was so out of place. So jarring.
Regardless, she just wanted to leave it all behind. Now wasn’t the time to get herself down. She had to look towards the future.
But little did she know.
Kamabo Corporation was far from ready to let her go free. She would return to the metro in the future, one way or another.
And it all began with a rising NILS statue.