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Silence.
Eight had found it advantageous to spend occasional time immersed in such a state over the years. There was a sense of cool calmness that always enveloped her in these kinds of moments. It was never clear why the lack of sound welcomed an echo of familiarity to itch away at Eight, but she welcomed the sense of clarity it gave her and turned to it in moments like this.
The nights where Eight struggled to sleep were numerous since they left the Deep Sea Metro. In a weird way, nights on the surface were all she actually knew, but a crack of emptiness broke inside her, some memories of some other way of life desperately trying to call out to her. And yet…
Pure silence. With one exception.
Marina had found fear in an absence of noise. She's grown to smother the silence in every moment. A carefully calculated combination of a house a stone's throw from the ocean, high quality sound-canceling headphones, large speakers, and living with her intensely talkative partner had given Marina very few brushes with pure silence since her ascent to the surface. An onslaught of music was always enough to combat the encroaching fear of silent agony.
But today, a bizarre mixture of this top floor suite rental, her headphones breaking on her, and her two closest confidants both having long sense drifted off into dreams. All Marina could cling to was the inconsistent pitter patter of her fingers against her laptop's keyboard, their rhythm erratic as her exhaustion threatened to pull her away from Project Memverse. Until another sound zoomed toward her through the silence like a life preserver.
Eight's footsteps only seemed to get louder as Marina stopped typing. The pair suddenly locked eyes, neither saying a word. Eight offered a very small, but assuring smile. Marina felt a primal fear encroach spread across everything she was in an instant.
"Marina?" Eight queried, her voice a small degree more hushed than it normally was.
"Oh, um…" Marina stumbled to locate any words as sounds erupted from her mouth all the same. A practically mumbled out "Eight… hi…" was all she was able to settle on.
Raising an eyebrow, Eight approached as if stealthing in her swim form during Turf War. Bringing herself to a stop, the younger Octoling wore a look of concern, her lips forming a line as she gazed carefully at Marina.
"Oh, I was just, um…" Marina grasped for the right words. "Work-shopping a few song ideas, you know… the concert made me feel kinda…"
Eight's completely blank stare strung Marina' confidence away from the lie, her blatant lack of headphones single-handedly splatting the deception before it had any shot of getting past spawn.
"I've been doing a bit of journaling." Marina conceded, not exactly lying. She briefly flashed her laptop around to show off one of her Dev Diaries.
"Project Memverse?" In that fractional moment of dull computer light, those two words etched themselves into Eight's mind.
Marina let out a hefty sigh. "It's just a little thing I've been working on."
Eight's eyes pierced through Marina. It was obvious Marina wasn't lying anymore. She just didn't know how to tell the truth.
"Okay, so…" Marina rose to her feet, pacing off to a corner of the room, not letting her eyes meet Eight's own gaze. "Do you remember a few months back when I snuck back underground and you totally noticed and I said I was hoping to find something in the old Kamabo Co. complex?" Her words rang out rhythmically, with a nervous energy that sounded far closer to a rap cadence then she'd intended.
Eight nodded.
"Well, that was the truth." Marina nodded, trying to stick to the truth as an ebb of worry flowed across her, the implications s not yet having the chance to sink in. "I was… well, hoping to find Mem Cakes. I'd been trying to figure out everything I could about sanitization. So that… I can reverse it."
She hesitated for a moment, the meaning escaping her. Marina wasmore than content to spare that time. "So… restoring memories?" Eight finally asked
"That's what I'm hoping for. I've been locking in on this the past few months and I'm so close now. The Memverse is my name for it. It's a virtual world where sanitized individuals can be matched back up with their memories."
"How long?" Eight asked firmly, but not unkindly.
"For each user, the process should take less than an hour." Marina explained half-heartedly before meeting Eight's gaze that saw right through her, patience running out. "I've been working on and off on this for… four years."
"And, Pearl knows?" Eight's voice emanated a dark pulse below her typical calm tone. Despite expectations, a weak nod was all Marina could muster initially.
"Pearl's my ride-or-die and my partner. I love her to bits. I tell her everything." Marina started, suddenly aware that she might be once again deflecting the question. "But, over the past five years, you've become very special to me in a different way. Honestly Eight, you're my best friend. Through the long nights, the arguments with Pearl over our music, the stressful contract negotiations. Every time I needed something rock solid, something immovable, I could just reach in your direction. And I wanted to reach your way…"
"But…?"
"I didn't wanna get your hopes up. And… I didn't want you to be excited because… it would just remind me that, when you remember everything you used to have, you might not choose to stay with us." Marina winced as the words left her mind, the thought practically dealing the damage of a Reef Slider to her heart. She had felt all of this in her core for a few months, but this was the first time she found words for it.
"Marina…" Eight reached out a hand towards her best friend.
Marina shoved her laptop away like an after though, and rushed to Eight, skipping the hand-holding in favor of a tackling hug.
Eight grasped Marina in her arms. Marina meanwhile, could tell by the way Eight's cheek touched against her shoulder that the younger girl was smiling.
Composing herself, Marina stepped away, bringing her right hand to Eight's shoulder. The shorter Octoling looked up into Marina's eyes expectantly.
"So, when you do regain whatever you once had… whatever you forgot, don't let it replace us. Even if that means we're just one stop on your road of life… please…" Marina yearned, "please just don't forget us, Eight."
"I'll come back." Eight nodded with a smile. "I promise."
The pair sat together as seconds ticked by, Marina still embraced by her best friend. Silence enveloped both girls, Marina held firm by Eight, guided through with an attention to her care. Seconds turned to minutes before Marina drifted off to sleep in Eight's arms.