Chapter Text
Wake from the dream. She focuses on the lyrics replaying in her mind as she watches him hide his hero shot within his jacket and grab her blaster and ink tank. He leaves her field of vision briefly, and returns without her weapons in hand. With his now free hands, he hoists her up on her feet, steadies her with his right hand, and then, drapes her left arm over the back of his shoulders. He starts to walk.
Forget that groovy song. Her feet drag along the floor, scraping her boots. She barely mumbles the lyrics as if they're a fervent, desperate prayer; as if remembering her orders and nothing else will save her from being taken prisoner. They won't get anything out of her. He won't get anything out of her so long as she lives.
Break apart the seam that's closed your mind for so long. She glances around the area, looking for her weapon and ink tank. If she wasn't so tired she'd fight him off and go looking for her things.
Return from whence you came. He walks towards a familiar building. She must've been here before. He speaks. When she turns to him, she sees a phone wedged between his ear and shoulder. She wonders if she can take it from him, use it as a distraction, a means of escape, but she still doesn't know where her blaster is, so fighting won't do her any good. Besides, He wasn't ordering her to escape right now, just to remember who she is and the cause she belongs to.
Bring the knowledge you have gained. At least she knows where her enemy lives and won't be surprised by their strategies anymore. She can get that information to her leader when she escapes. For now, it's better to remain inaccessible to her captors, better to let her mind rest, better to forget. She can rely on the music the remind her what her objective is as needed.
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The glory they've attained will be ours to claim.
Fissure is walking somewhere. Somewhere green. Somewhere dark. Somewhere familiar. She has no control over herself, but she knows she must walk. She knows that she's following someone. Something? It's unclear. Whatever's in front can speak: it speaks to her without turning around, and she responds. She doesn't know what it tells her or asks her, nor does she know what she says in response. The only thing she knows is that she must follow and answer to the thing in front of her. She does just that for a long, long, time: long enough for the figure to dissappear and her dreams to return to darkness.
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Fissure's walking somewhere, again. It's eerily quiet, and it starts to get darker; the green around her becomes indistinguishable from the starless sky. She tries to say something, but her mouth doesn't move. She just keeps walking, led by whatever's in front of her, as the area gets darker, and darker, and darker. Eventually, she can't make out any details other than the entity leading her to wherever they're going. The entity finally speaks: it asks a question. She answers,
"Target neutralized."
Her response must've pleased the thing in front of her because it allows her mind to rest in the darkness once more.
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■■■■■■■■ #4 is walking behind ■■■■■■■■■■■. ■■■■■■■■■■■ asks her a question.
■■■■■■■■ #4 replies. "Target Neutralized."
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■■■■■■■■ #4 is marching behind-
Fizz? A garbled voice says. ■■■■■■■■ #4 ponders it for a moment.
Calm down, we're-
"Destroy." The entity tells her.
Watch out!
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■■■■■■■■ #4-
Fizz, we miss you. The garbled sounds return. They said that thing again, Fizz.
"Is that my name?" ■■■■■■■■#4 asks.
"You have no name." Her leader says. "■■■ ■■■ ■■ ■■■■■■■■."
"Yes, ■■■■■■■"
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■■■■■■■■ #4 marches behind ■■■■■■■■■■■. It leads her to a dark room with a faint, electrical whirring. In the middle of the room is a chair hooked up to multiple machines: something on the ceiling, something on the floor, and a computer in a corner of the room. She's ordered to sit in the chair, so she does. Someone mans the computer. The entity stands in front of her.
"You've heard the Inkantation, yes?"
"Yes, ■■■■■■■."
"What has changed since then?"
"I want a name."
"And?"
"That's all."
A harsh sound rings out.
"A lie." Someone says.
"Tell the truth."
"..."
"We won't hurt you. We're trying to help."
"..."
"Speak." The entity commands.
"I want a name, I want to leave, I want to see Inkopolis, I don't want to ■■■■, I don't want to ■■■■■, and I don't ■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■ ■■■■■■■■."
"Reprogram her." The entity says mercilessly.
The lights in the room glow and flash red as a warning. Her arms and legs are strapped to the chair. No one else is in the room anymore, they've left her. Alone. Fissure screams. The machine on the ceiling descends on her head, obscuring her vision as a all encompassing, mechanical beat plays.
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■■■■■■■■ #4 stalks the intruder. His blue hair and bright yellow jacket make that easy. She ambushes him and his decrepit companion believing she'll make quick work of them both. It isn't that easy. They fight fiercely. She loses her weapon at the same time as him and they both resort to bomb warfare. The earth shakes, the trees around them fall. His explosive goes off as she charges at him; it breaks her armor as the the earth underneath them gives. They're falling and falling and falling deep underground. He finds some debris to jump off of to save himself, she is not so lucky. As she falls, she remembers something she shouldn't: a heavenly melody that played within his headset as he jumped past her and seemingly out of this free fall. It's the last thing she can think of before she hits the ground.
Fissure slowly opens her eyes. Her vision blurs as it adjusts to the light of the room and her heads reels in agony as a response. She shuts her eyes and groans as she tries to sit up, but finds her arms to week to support herself. Calamari Inkantation is playing quietly on her phone which rests on the nightstand. She rolls over and reaches out to grab her phone and turn it off.
Except the phone she sees face down on the nightstand has the same phone case as Marina's. The nightstand itself is white, not brown like her own. The sheets are cool and silky and definitely not standard cotton ones she asked Pearl for.
This leaves Fissure confused, she was in her room scrolling on her phone the last time she checked. How did she end up here?
She hears a door click open and two familiar voices.
"See? I told you a break would do you some good!"
"I guess, but now I'm worried her condition hasn't improved."
"The agents were by whenever we couldn't be, it's all good!"
"I know, but maybe if I had done a bit more research-"
" 'Rina, you gotta learn how to chill out! Fizz was in good hands the whole time."
"Pearl? Marina?" Fissure says, shocked by their presence.
The two idols stop in their tracks and stare at Fissure. They hesitate to get closer to the bed at first, but soon, they find themselves racing to get to her side.
"Fissure!"
"Fizz!" They exlcaim in unison.
They clamor to reach her and pull her into a caring embrace. Fissure feels Marina shutter as tears fall from her eyes uncontrollably and Pearl holds them both tighter as fights off her own tears. Fissure is surprised, but welcomes the affection. She missed them so much, and it seems like they missed her too. Why this reunion warrants tears, however, is beyond her.
"I thought you'd never wake up!" Marina sobs
"Don't you ever scare us like that again, y-hear?" Pearl says.
"What happened?" Fissure asks, "When did you two get time off?"
"We took off as soon as Fin called us."
"Fired that freaking awful manager, cancelled the rest of tour and flew straight to Splatsville." Pearl declares.
"We didn't want to leave you there, so we brought you to the penthouse. We hope you don't mind."
"Fin called you, again? Why?" Fissure asks.
Marina and Pearl glance between each other with unease.
"Do you not remember? What happened after Fin visited?" Marina asks.
"I scrolled on my phone, started listening to a new Deep Cut song and fell asleep."
"Carp." Pearl curses.
"Do you know what happened."
"We'll have to fill you in later, Fizz." Pearl says. "We're just glad you're alright."
"I'll let the others know you're up." Marina says before getting up and walking out of the room.
"Others?" Fissure asks, looking at Pearl for answers.
"Sorry, Fizz." Pearl sighs, " 'Rina and I couldn't make good on our promise to ya. All of this is New Squidbeak Splatoon biz."
"What? But I didn't tell Fin anything! How am I caught up in this?"
Before Pearl can explain anything, Fissure tries to stand up a bit too fast. Her head spins and she stumbles, almost falling into the lamp on the nightstand.
"Careful, Fizz! You were out for six days." Pearl exclaims.
"Six days?!" Fissure panics. "What is going-"
And then it hits her. She didn't end up listening to Deep Cut that night, something else came through the speaker. She had way too easily listened to it, and done what it told her to. She sits back down on the bed in shock, as it all comes flooding back in. The song. The fight.
The dream.
No, not a dream. Not only a dream. Some of those scenarios were too familiar to be dreams, and the fight she had with Fin in the forrest above the metro: that was certainly a memory. How much of it was real? How much had she really done before she was an agent?
"Fizzy?" Marina says. Fissure didn't even notice she was back.
"I almost went back." She states while staring blankly at her hands. "I could've hurt a ton of people. I-"
"But you didn't." Marina says, attempting to ground her. "You didn't go back, no one was hurt, and you're ok. You're still our Fizzy."
"Yeah!" Pearl exclaims. "And 'Rina and I are still here for you! No matter what! We've got your back, Fizz!"
"Even though the agents are involved, we'll do our best to make sure your involvement in all of this is minimal: if that's still what you want." Marina offers.
"Just say the word, Fizz!"
Fissure looks at them: Pearl is smiling so wide her eyes look smaller, and Marina is grinning sweetly while offering her gentle, stable support. This time, she starts to cry. Through everything: the metro, the fight on the surface, Order's rampage, and getting her acclimated to life in Inkopolis and Splatsville, they've been there. She hugs them tight, as if they'll leave again if she lets go, and they sit there with her allowing her to cry her eyes our for as long as she needs. She doesn't stop until she's fallen back asleep in their arms, peacefully this time. No nightmares plague her, and no painful memories resurface. For the first time in weeks, Fissure truly rests. Marina and Pearl tuck her back into bed, turn of the lights and leave the room, letting her sleep with no interruptions, and a smile on her face.