Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Three groaned, not a small groan mind you, but an almighty heave of breath forcing it's way out of her mouth and into the air beyond. The next thing that Three did after waking up was grab her head, for there was a pulsing pain in the right side of her face that wouldn't go away. With another groan she sat up and looked out across the sky. The sun was bright and warm, contrary to the underground hell hole that she just escaped from. Speaking of the underground, there was that Octoling again.

The octoling was staring at her, with dead eyes, glazed over as if in a trance. She was squatting down, balanced precariously at the edge of the helicopter pad, her legs curled beneath her. Damn those legs were fucking hot. I MEAN WAIT NO!! NOT THAT! They were just nice, in a friendly, completely not gay way. As if sensing Three's thoughts the octoling's eyes brightens in laughter for the briefest of seconds before being smacked back into the tired, empty eyes of someone who has nothing left. Three knew the feeling.

Three frowned at this, feeling like she should say something to console this poor, depressed octoling but thought of nothing to say. Cutting through her thoughts an excited squeal come out of Marina, that one chick from the news, which weren't NEARLY is interesting as the Squid Sisters, but Three liked Marina more because she didn't fucking stalk her. "I'm so happy to finally see you in person Eight! Not just hear your voice over the radio!" Marina pulled Eight into a big hug, causing the latter to flinch and almost fall off of the helipad in... pain? Was her back hurting her?

"Hey you alright there?" Three asked, looking at the pained octoling. Eight's face quickly stilled and a small nod was accomplished amidst the obvious pain.

Marina pulled back and looked at the octoling again, studying her eyes. The idol's normal ink color of teal shifted to a deep blue before changing back. “ Eight… you’re free. No more tests, and no one to force you to do anything anymore. ” The octoling looked up in surprise at hearing her native tongue, but quickly recovered and took a cautious glance around before showing the slightest bit of emotion. She smiled briefly at Marina, before looking out across the sun and basking in its warmth.

Three stood up shakily and plopped down next to Eight, sighing as they gazed out across the golden melting pot of the sea. At the sight of Three, Eight flinched back before straightening up trying to pretend it never happened. Three noticed but didn’t make a comment, Seeing as how I’ve tried to kill her two times in the past, I can see why . Three shook her head, which she instantly  regretted because her eye started hurting more because of the sudden movement.

It was Eights turn to look concerned at the fellow Agent as Three made another groan. “I’m fine, I’m fine, just some little aches and pains.” Eight snorted at that, knowing full well that it wasn’t true, but didn’t press the matter. With a small sigh Three spoke up again. “Hey we should all head down to Octo Valley and get Gramps back to his beloved grandchildren of his.”

“Octo Valley? You expect us to fly all the way to Mount Nantai from here?!” Marina exclaimed, shocked at the suggestion. 

Three laughed and shook her head, “No we got another entrance in the city.” Marina looked doubtful but nodded her head. With a quick call to the pilot they started heading back to the city. 

Once the small group arrived, Three yelled, “Hey fucktards! I’m back!”

To this statement Three heard a voice call out, “Hey! who you calling a fucktard you stinky ass bitch!” After saying this the one who owned the voice walked about with a smile on her face and wrapped Three in a big hug. Callie then pulled away looking over at the rest of the group.

Marina did a small wave and Pearl did a slight nod, because her voice was still shot, and Eight… just stood there, eyes distant, looking off into some world no one else could see. At the sight of it Callie marched over and tapped Eight on the back, causing the octoling to flinch in… pain? Again? Before regaining her composure and blankly staring at the energetic inkling.

Eights brow furrowed in concentration, as if trying to remember where she saw Callie before, until her eyes widened and her mouth opened. Eight smiled, looking at the member of the Squid Sisters in one of complete adoration, as if she was a goddess before her. Eight finally recovered from this, before mumbling, “Song, much I you thank.” Three listened to Eight and smiled, what an adorable voice. 

Callie smiled and gave her a hug, which seemed to overwhelm the poor girl who instantly stopped moving, and practically transcended mortality from just a simple hug. “Your welcome, I’m just happy you like our song.” Callie said with a smile still on her lips.

This happy mood instantly changed when Three felt someone behind her, looming over her form, Oh shit, Three thought, before scrambling quickly away, trying to escape Marie’s presence. This proved futile as the injured agent was picked up by Marie and spun around quickly. 

Marie looked at the agent, eyes hard, but quickly softening with concern upon seeing Three’s eye. “I had this elaborate plan to be annoyed at you for being missing for two years, but seeing you now, I can’t even say a word.”

“Well I mean you did just talk sooo…” This comment earned a punch from Marie. A very hard punch. That hurt. A lot. 

Throughout this whole exchange Agent Eight was looking at Three with shock written on her face, surprised at the blasphemy that was committed when Three insulted the goddess known as Marie. Seeing this caused the squid sisters to laugh, making agent Three even more annoyed, which she barely thought was possible, but was proved wrong once again. 

After a long sigh Three plopped down, sitting on a cushion. “After so long I would’ve thought you would be excited to see me. Instead I just get insulted.” she said, feigning unhappiness. “You acted like a good friend who hasn’t seen each other in, like, a month.”

Marie laughed, “It’s because Gramps warned us on the way here. Telling us you were coming. You already missed the waterworks.” Upon closer inspection, Marie and Callie’s eyes did look a little red, and their cheeks slightly damp. 

“Well I’m back now so no need to worry.” Three said with a smile. She looked around, curiously, “How did you keep the octarians in check without me he-”, she was quickly cut off by a laugh that sounded familiar, scarily familiar. Almost like… Please Cod, anyone but her.

“Betcha missed me B-,” Agent Four’s teasing remarks were instantly halted as a hand flew out of nowhere and clasped tightly over her mouth. Four laughed as best she could through the hand covering her mouth, staring at her cousin with a shit-eating grin.

“Say one more word and you won’t have a tongue to speak with.” Three said, anger written in her voice, and her expression, and… well, pretty much everywhere.

Four laughed again, while moving Three’s hand from her mouth and continuing to smile at her. “Sorry cuz I couldn’t resist. Your reaction was just precious.”

Meanwhile Marie and Callie were whispering to each other. “Dammit Marie why are you always right. I can’t keep any money around here can I?”

Marie merely smiled and graciously took the 1000 G, before whispering “It was super obvious if you played any attention.”

“Yeah right, you probably have her parents written in you Four factopedia or something” Callie teased. This earned an intense blush from Marie, who suddenly felt like she didn’t win much in this bet. 

Marina and Pearl smiled at this entire scene, before Pearl, who was growing impatient, quickly coughed loudly, getting all the Agent’s attention. “So Three, why did you bring us here? I mean family reunion, yay, but why?”

Three sighed, “I needed to see these fuckers to know what to do now. After all we have another Agent here who doesn’t have a place to live.” The entire group looked at Eight, who stood stoically and at attention after the initial shock of seeing her gods.

Three almost giggled, no, snickered, giggling is unbecoming of the top agent of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. So snickered, yeah. But anyway Eight was standing at attention until Gramps spoke up, “Eight you can sit down, you aren’t on duty anymore.”

————

Eight finally relaxed her posture and plopped down onto a bench, gazing at the sky. For the past ten minutes the adrenaline was fading from her veins. It was a strange feeling for the young octoling, she no longer had to fight, she could rest easy, she was in the promised land. Smiling to herself Eight looked up bending her back backwards before instantly regretting it. 

Her back pain flared up, almost causing Eight to yelp but she withheld her screams, instead letting a tear roll down her cheek and straightening back up, causing the pain to die down, but not completely. Suddenly a face filled her view, an inkling with short blue hair and a surprisingly energetic voice. 

Eight couldn’t stand a word she said and slowly eased backwards, careful to avoid hurting herself anymore. The inkling kept talking faster, eyes wide with excitement, until a hand appeared around her neck and yanked the short haired inkling back.

Another inkling appeared, agent Three, smiled and then went back to beating up the other inkling, probably Agent 4. Eight liked her face, it was beautiful, somehow the scar over her right eye made her prettier. She looked at the lips, they looked very… no brain, don’t go there, don’t get attached, they’ll betray you. That’s what the girl did. Wait… who was she?

Eight closed her eyes thinking back, trying to remember this girl. She couldn’t remember a single thing, only that she hated her, and that she wronged her. Whoever this mysterious octoling girl was, best they be forgotten.

With a sigh Eight looked around, trying to focus on anything but Three, eventually her eyes went up and Eight let out a smile. It was beautiful. Eight had been outside before, she thinks, but those were dreary days waiting on the scope of her E-Litre and looking out across the land. This was completely different. The sky had a bunch of white glowing dots in the sky, looking like they were only a few feet away.

An even bigger surprise was the giant circle glowing in the sky, floating there. Eight reached her hand up trying to grab at the dots and circle, only for them to disappear behind her hand. Eight brought her hand back down and looked at the front, seeing if there was any dots. There were none. Looking back up the dots were back. Eight shook her head in confusion before looking back up and smiling lightly. 

Eight, leaned backwards, her head bumped into someone and immediately the relaxation was gone, replaced by alertness, with one quick movement She jumped, rolled on her side and rose into a lunging position, springing across the ground and grabbing her assailants throat, forcing her to the ground.

After a second for her to calm down Eight recognized her foe, the short haired inkling girl, Four I think? Slowly, Eight let go and got off of Four, letting her stand up and stumble back.

Eight could hear laughter and looked up to see Three rolling over the floor, laughing her guts out. Eight smiled, loving that laugh, get it reminded her of someone… Eight grabbed her head, before hearing a very sinister, mocking laugh, then the tick of an autobomb, and felt her back explode in pain.

Eight lay there, still, just whimpering in pain. Suddenly she felt arms around her and looked up and saw Marina there, hugging her tightly. Softly Marina hummed, quietly rocking Eight back and forth, holding her tightly. Eight lay there for a little before smiling and hugging her back. 

“ Are you okay little one? ” Marina asked, visible concern all over her face. Eight nodded and quickly hugged her again. Smiling into Marina’s shirt before finally breaking the hug and standing up.

She looked around and saw all of the New Squidbeak Splatoon gathered around her all there eyes filled with concern. I can’t believe I made all of them concerned for someone as useless as me. Eight looked away in shame and sat back down onto the bench.

Marina walked up to her again, this time smiling much brighter. “ Little one, we talked it over and decided that, if it’s okay with you, you can live with Agents Four and Three. ”

Eights eyes widened and she nodded vigorously, smiling at the thought of getting to see Three everyday. The smile quickly faded as she berated herself for getting excited over nothing. 

Marina smiled again, and then walked off. As everyone started leaving the outpost, Eight took one last look out across the night sky, before hoping into the grate and into her future. 

———

After a quick tour around the Inkopolis square they headed to Agent Four’s apartment, who, Eight learned, was Three’s cousin. When Agent Eight walked inside she let out a huge gasp, looking out at the amount of space Four has to live in. 

There was a big room where you first walked in with a big rectangle sitting on a shelf to the direct left, with a sofa sitting directly across. I’m the middle of the wall to the right was a short hallway with two bedrooms on either side and a bathroom connecting both rooms from the back. Then to the right there was a small little kitchen with an oven, a microwave, and a fridge. 

Eight then looked at the floor and walls, the entire house was a light baby blue, and the floor was covered in grey wood boards, until you got to the kitchen, where there was light grey and dark grey tiles across the floor, separating the two rooms without a wall. 

Eight had tears in her eyes, she had never been allowed to live in such a large space before, and with just three people. Eight giggled and looked at both Three and Four, who looked at her with concern. 

“Big place, so nice. Thank you.” Eight said, she smiled even wider and hugged the two inklings without hesitation, crying all the while. 

After Eight calmed down and was given a tour of the place, she wandered around in wonder. As Eight looked at the painting of inklings on the walls, her foot caught on the edge of the sofa and she began to fall. If Eight hadn’t been so tired, she could have just steadied herself, but because of the excitement of the day, nearly dying multiple times, and the time being midnight, she barely even registered that she fell until her back pain spiked up. 

Eight screamed as her back hit the floor, the fall had been small but her back hurt too much for her to care. She screamed loudly again and began sobbing. 

Four and Three rushes in immediately. “What’s wrong Eight?” Three asked, “What happened?”

Eight merely clawed at her back as she began crying and rolling around, trying to ease the pain. 

Thankfully Three understood and gently flipped Eight over before unequipping her ink pack and trying to take her top off. As soon as Three’s hand so much as touched her back Eight’s pain multiplied a hundred fold and she hysterically screamed before blacking out.

———

Three was panicking, all she had done was touch her shirt and Eight had blacked out, from a mere touch . Three pulled her hand away from Eight, who had now gone silent, and looked at her fingers, they were covered in teal, sickly colored ink. 

Three instantly wiped her hand off and called to Four, “Four grab me some scissors and call Marie.” Four didn’t move for a second still in shock of what just happened. “Now!”

When Four came back with the scissors Three quickly grabbed them and slowly lifted the shirt. Doing this caused Eight to start crying, and the already present whimpering to become louder. This much pain when she is already knocked out? Three grimaced and tried to lift the shirt further. The resulting sound horrified Three, the sound of flesh being ripped of. 

Three quickly started cutting away at the shirt, concentrating on the places that weren’t glued to Eight’s back. Finally there was just one big piece along the center of her back. “This is gonna hurt Eight,” Three whispered to the slightly conscious octoling, “bite into this.” Eight accepted the cloth into her mouth and closed her eyes. 

Three grimaced and yanked off the large piece of cloth, that was glued to the back. The scream that followed curdled the ink in Three, and the tears on Eights eyes grew in volume. Eights claws were digging into her arms in pain. Three finally took one long look at Eight’s back, and grimaced at the sight. There were bits of plastic everywhere, digging into her back, where teal sanatized ink covered Eights back.

Three got up and began searching for a pair of tweezers to fish out the plastic when Marie stormed in. The idol looked around, found Eight, and then grabbed the tweezers from Threes hand. The young Agent couldn’t stand it anymore, she walked to the bathroom and threw up, trying to rid herself of the image of Eight’s back. Three shuddered and threw up again, wrenching out the last bit of food in her system.

Four appeared and patted her on the back, helping her up before flushing the toilet. Dammit Three, why can’t you take care of yourself. Four’s fine why can’t you be? Three shook her head and followed Four out of the room, where Marie was trying her best to take out the plastic after calling her personal doctor. Damn idols with there personal doctors. Three looked back down and studied Eights face. She had fallen back into the embrace of unconsciousness, her face still grimacing, her lips still curled into a grimace. 

Those lips, kissable lips, all of the sudden Three’s thought’s turned to- no let’s not go there, she is in pain and that’s what is important right now. As the doctor arrived they transferred her to the car and began the journey to the damn idols damn private hospital.

———

Eight came to with the smell of sterilized… everything. Eight’s nose wrinkled at the smell, then looked around. The room was white, with only a bed, and then a bag that led into her arm. Eight didn’t recognize it at first, because her headache was really bad, but then, Kamabo, I’m in Kamabo. I’m being sanitized.

The ink in Eight’s face drained quickly and she stared sitting up. Panic began swelling into her chest as she yanked out the needle in her arm and stumbled to her feet. 

Her back hurt, but she ignored it and stumbled to the doorway. Beeps sounded around the room from a bunch of rectangles and then the door slid open. A bunch of inklings in white came in. No, they aren’t taking me. Eight leaped forward grabbing the first man and shoving them back into the others. She leaped over them all and landed in another white hallway. Whipping her head back and forth she chose the left hallway dashing out and taking a right before she stumbled. Her back pain flared up again and she fell to her knees. 

She wrenched up whatever was in her system before grabbing the wall and stumbling into the open room beyond. As she crawled in she looked up and saw Marina. Tears were streaming down Eight’s face as she clung to Marina. She felt herself being picked up, and heard humming. Thoughts of Kamabo kept rotating around her head, “ I don’t want to be sanitized. I don’t want to be sanitized. ” Eight chanted, she refused to become a mindless slave. 

She heard a soft voice, she looked up and saw Marina stroking her tentacles, smiling before whispering in her ear, “ Little one, you are safe, there is nothing to fear. ” Eight began crying profusely and felt herself being picked up and walked back into the room she was in. She felt herself being covered by a blanket and the voice began singing again.

Eight cried her eyes out, hearing the soothing melody, it told her she was safe, she was fine, she was with friends… friends? Eight clung to Marina and curled into her lap falling asleep to the soothing melody.

The next time Eight woke up it was to talking. It was Marina’s voice, and possibly… Three’s? Eight would’ve looked up if she had the energy to move. Instead she closed her eyes and let sleep take her again.

The final time Eight woke up was to a weight on her hands. Eight looked up and saw Three leaning on one hand, and Four on the other. Eight began to cry again, I’m so useless, I caused them to worry and stay up just for my pathetic self. Eight’s sobbing seemed to wake the two Agents up, who looked at her, and gave her a hug. Eight hugged back and cried, trying to cry out her sadness.

After a while Eight calmed down and swept her legs off the bed before standing up. Eight took a step and instantly regretted it, she would’ve fallen in case Three wasn’t there. Three face a wry smile, “Don’t want you to get hurt again do we?”

Eight processed this before smiling a toothy grin and hugging Three. She didn’t care about how she promised she wouldn’t be attached, she was just happy. After the hug Three’s face glowed a bright orange. It was kinda cute, totally not in a gay way nope.

Eight took another step after letting go of Three and immediately grabbed her again. I can’t even walk a single step without falling , Eight thought. She looked at the floor before, regrettably, leaning on Three and walking out the door. Four followed closely behind.

After Eight was dismissed from the hospital, she was walked back to Four’s apartment. They had to take a break at a public bench first, but they eventually made it. The first thing Eight did was shamble to the sofa before plopping down stomach first. She looked down at her clothes and wrinkled her nose, reminding her of the test subjects at Kamabo. She shivered before looking at Three and pointing to her shirt. Three seemed to get the message and started walking to the room on the right.

Four sat down on the floor and stared at Eight. “Hey, Eight, was it? Why didn’t you tell us your back hurt so much?” Eight looked at the floor in shame before turning her head to the other side. A laugh escaped Four, “It’s okay, no need to pout. I just wanted you to know you can trust us.”

Eight looked back, still shameful, but gave a slight smile for the benefit of Four. Four smiled back before looking over her shoulder and whispering to Eight, “Three was really worried about you, almost cried.” Eight’s eyes widened in shock before looking in the direction of the stoic agent and back at Four.

Eight, after a moment of silence, finally spoke, “Name have you?” Four looked in surprise, shocked she could even speak, but quickly recovered and grinned. 

“Yup!” she said proudly, “my name is Raull, it may seem like a silly name but it was my grandmother’s and she was a human historian.” Four smiled and looked in the distance before snapping back to reality. “But most of my friends call me Ra.”

Eight nodded her head, Fo- no, Raull smiled at her as of expecting something. Eight looked back confused.

“Well… what’s your name?” Four asked. Eight’s face fell, because she didn’t know. She had amnesia and couldn’t remember anything at all. She hesitated unsure what to say, but thankfully Three stepped in. 

“She has amnesia dumb ass.” Three said, glaring at Raull.

Raull’s mouth formed and “oh”, before quickly apologizing. Three then shoved a shirt into Eight’s hand and pointed toward the bedroom.

Eight slowly got up and shambles on back to the room to change. It was a simple t-shirt, just a long yellow shirt that went down to Eight’s knees and past her hands. Eight smiled before shambling on back to the sofa and plopping down in between her new roommates.

There was a knock on the door and Four got up to open it. At the door was Marina who walked in and scooped Eight up and set her on her lap. Marina smiled, “ I’m happy you have recovered little one, I was worried. It has been a week since you got here. ” Eight’s eyes widened in surprise. A week?! It can’t have been… but when Eight thought about it, it made sense. Her back barely hurt and she could walk. After such intense pain it made since such a long time had occurred for her to heal. 

“ I’m sorry I worried you Marina. I hope I wasn’t a bother. ” The older octoling shook her head no before gently squeezing the little girl in her arms. Eight melted into the embrace, smiling lightly.

“What’s the occasion?” Three asked, oblivious of the conversation. Marina looked over Eight’s small frame to Three before saying something in inklish, and looking down at the girl in her arms.

Marina spoke up, “ Little one, you need to learn how to speak so you can talk to your new roommates, and because you won’t be leaving the house soon I’m going to teach you ” Eight flashed her mantle a quick green as an affirmative and smiled up at the idol. 

Marina smiled back and picked Eight up and carried her into the bedroom before beginning her lesson.

———

Three sighed, finally sitting on the couch. She felt like she hadn’t slept in weeks, which she hadn’t, but it was especially bad right now. With a mighty yawn she rolled her head onto her cousins shoulder. 

Ra shook her head and laughed, “Shouldn’t you be leaning into your girlfriend?” Three blushed deeply and looked away. Four has been poking fun of Three for the past week since she had stayed by Eight’s side during her stay at the hospital.

Three sighed and shook her head, “No Raull, she’s not my girlfriend. Just a friend.”

“Mmmhmmmmm.” Ra said, lifting her eyebrow. She swiftly changed tactics and looked at the room Eight and Marina had disappeared into. “Hey Eight how you doing?” 

Three’s head instantly snapped up and looked at the hallway, only to see nothing. Three sat up and punched her cousin in the stomach, causing her to double over in pain. “That’s what you get.”

Four, after she recovered smiled, “You wouldn’t hit Eight, would you?” Three’s face blushed a deep orange again, before she tried punching Ra again. This time, she was ready, and dodged the punch. “C'mon you know it’s true. Though if she punched you…”

The duo stood in silence thinking back to the three nurses that were now in the hospital because of Eight’s escape attempt. How could she even do that when she could barely move? Three thought. She had broken two of the doctors bones from the force of the throw and sprained the first doctor’s neck. The staff had been ready to throw her out if it wasn’t for her being Marie’s guest. 

The cousins shook there heads and shivered at the thought of a fully recovered Eight punching them in the stomach. “A-anyway, we should watch a movie while Marina does her lessons in inklish.”

Three nodded not caring what movie because she would fall asleep anyway. Ra ended up picking a movie called Prince’s Bride , about a inking named after a candy being married to a prince. Her true love shows up and they journey together until they don’t and then some old food talks about a MLT? It was a weird movie. Three, being the tired bastard she was laid on Ra’s lap and rested her head, letting herself drift off into sleep.

When she awoke, she awoke to the movement of Ra beneath her. She sat up slowly letting her sleepiness fade away looking around the room. It was light out so they must’ve fallen asleep during the movie and stayed that way the whole night.

Ra was rubbing the sleep from her eyes and looking around the room to. Three sighed got up and stretched, walking to the kitchen to decide what to cook.

All that was in the fridge was milk and eggs. Three sighed before taking out the eggs and cracking them into a bowl. She added the milk, turned on the stove, beat the eggs, then started cooking them. By the time the eggs were done, Ra had taken care of the TV and swept up the spilled popcorn. 

Eight finally wandered out of Three’s bedroom looking tired, and rubbing her eyes with a sleeve covered fist. Three quickly looked away, Damn she’s cu-I MEAN, nice… Just nice. Three shook her head before taking out three plates and dishing the eggs out evenly among the residents. Ra quickly grabbed some forks and put them on each plate, then grabbed one and stood off to the side.

After taking a bite Ra swallowed and shook her head in disappointment, “I still can’t believe you use milk in your scrambled eggs.”

“I can’t believe you don’t.” Three retorted. “Besides you can’t even taste the difference.”

Eight looked at the eggs funny, before picking it up with her hand and putting into her mouth. Tears began to fall out, and Eight looked up at Three and hugged her. Three was surprised and nearly dropped her own eggs before recovering and looking at the crying octoling. 

“Thanks you I do. Best food I taste ever.” Eight said. Both Three and Four widened their eyes in shock to the octoling's impressive growth in the use of their language.

“Um, its really nothing, just some eggs and milk.” Three said. She didn’t know what to do, Eight eventually let go and went back to eating. Eight’s eyes darkened for a second before being forced back into the light. Weird, wonder what that was . 

Three sighed and looked at Ra. “Hey Ra, wanna go turfing while Eight gets her speech lessons?” Ra nodded in reply and gulped down the rest of her eggs. Once Marina arrived they greeted each other and walked out to Inkopolis square. 

About an hour later the grumbling pair were walking to Crusty Sean’s food truck. “Stupid BloBlobbers, they deserve to rot in hell.” Three mumbled. Ra looked like she shared the sentiment and looked at the line in front of them.

“And that stupid E-Litre shut us down so fast. I mean we still won but holy Fuck how on earth.”

“The E-Litre wasn’t the problem, it was the damn roller. It was only a carbon roller but coddammit it just pushed us into the fire of the E-Litre.”

Ra nodded her agreement, annoyed at the universe. “If it wasn’t for us our team wouldn’t have won, if you could even call us a team.”

Ra was right, their team had been some dude with a Splattershot Jr. and another chick with a E-Litre, but unlike the opponents E-Litre, she couldn’t aim.

“The only reason we won was because of you speeding past everyone and killing the charger with you brush.” Three said.

Ra shook her head, “No it was definitely you with your Heroshot, you shredded through most of the opponents team in an instant.” By this time they were at the front of the line. “I’ll get the Galactic Seanwhich. What about you ‘Becca?”

Three looked at the menus, “I’ll get a strawberry smoothie.” Three handed over the tickets then paused, “What did you call me Ra?”

Ra looked up at Three, “Umm… your name, what else?”

Three glared angrily at Ra. “You know that I hate it!” 

Ra frowned, “Why? It’s a beautiful name! It’s our aunts name too!” 

Three gritted her teeth, “ I know , that’s why I hate it.”

“But you love Auntie Becca, she’s your favorite person!” Ra was getting more and more confused by the second.

“You wouldn’t understand!” Three said, while accepting their drink and seanwhich.

Ra threw up her hands, practically at tears now. “Make me understand then! You were gone for two years! I missed you and I was worried about you! Can’t you talk to me like you used to!”

Three sat there, shocked. She sipped her smoothie and looked up at Ra, tears streaming down her own eyes looking down blankly. “It was horrible.” Three whispered.

Ra was unsure of what to say so became simply silent, letting Three do the talking at her own pace.

“For two whole years I had to survive in that hell hole. I…” Three choked back a sob, “I killed so many octolings. They didn’t even know what hit them. They just gazed at nothing and fought when attacked.” Ra put a hand on Three’s and held it tightly, silently scooting toward her cousin. 

Three was silent for a moment, before continuing on, “They fought with all they had but… they wanted death. I can’t explain how but their entire body screamed for it, wishing for its release.” Ra moves in finally picking up the smaller inkling and holding her tightly on her lap.

“All I did was kill kill kill, for two years.” Three shuddered in Ra’s arms, tears soaking into her skin. “I don’t wanna be alive. I don’t deserve to be alive.”

“You asked why I don’t want you to call me Becca, it’s because I don’t wanna dirty the name of someone so wonderful, someone I could never be, someone who is the best inkling in the world.” Three was bawling, digging her head into Ra’s chest, hoping to banish the thoughts running through her head.

“Bec- Three, you are wonderful, if it was anyone else who would have gone through this they wouldn’t have survived, or been able to remain sane, yet here you are, having done not one, but both of these things.” Ra rubbed Three’s mantle, calming the smaller agent slightly, “so please, don’t say you don’t deserve to live, because you are amazing.” Ra pulled Three away a little and glanced down at her with a smile. Three gave a weak smile back and finally dried up her tears.

“Also you're so small and you're the best to cuddle with if someone’s sad, and I’m sure Eight would love to cuddle.”

Three’s face blushed a deep orange and looked away mumbling, “I’m not small you're just tall, I’m like average.”

“Nope, you’re just the perfect cuddle size cuz.” Ra hesitates, “can I call you Becca?”

Three shook her head, “Not right now, maybe after a little while. For now just call me Three.” Ra nodded in acceptance. “Now let’s finish our food and do some groceries because honestly you have nothing in your fucking fridge.” Ra laughed but nodded, returning to her meal.

———

Eight was having difficulty reading inklish, she could understand it perfectly now, which was a step up from yesterday, but she had trouble reading. Eight sighed and plopped down onto Three’s bed, frustrated because she couldn’t even read a children’s book. She breathed in deep, smelling Three, a smile crept onto her face and she quickly shook her head.

No smiles from Eight, nope nope. Three was just going to betray her, like mystery memory octoling girl person. Eight sighed, looking over at Marina who had an eyebrow raised.

“What was that just now?” Marina asked, a smile touching her lips.

“What was what?” Eight replied, confusion on her face.

Marina smiled and shook her head, “That smile. You’ve been looking down for a while, and then you smiled. Just wondering why.” 

Eight made an “oh” with her mouth and then tried to come up with an excuse. “I thinking of the sky night.”

“Night sky,” Marina corrected, “But what about it?” 

Eight smiled again thinking back to her first day in Inkopolis, “Is so pretty, with all the white dot and big circle.” Eight smiled faintly before looking back at Marina.

Marina all of the sudden jumped on her and hugged her tight. “Your soooooo adorable!” Eight looked at her with a confused look on her face. What does adorable mean? “Adorable means you look cute and makes me want to hug you.”

Eight giggled and hugged Marina back. After a bit of time they let go and they both seemed to calm down. Eight looked back at the book and frowned, I’m wasting Marina’s time, I can’t even read a kids novel . Eight shook the thought away, trying to banish the uselessness she feels and looks back at Marina.

Marina studies her face, “Did you sleep last night? You look kind of tired.”

Eight looks away and says, “Yeah I sleep, a little bit…”

Marina raised her eyebrow and looked at Eight. “A little bit?”

Eight looked away guiltily, “Yes, sleep hard because, not good dreams.”

It took Marina a minute to work out what she had said. “You have nightmares?” Eight nodded, feeling terrible. I shouldn’t bother her, I’m not worth the time. “Hey, Little one , it’s okay, you don’t need to feel bad, but if you want to talk about it tell me.”

Eight nodded, but in her head knew that she would never talk to Marina about it, You aren’t worth the effort. Marina nodded, accepting this answer before standing up. “It’s time for me to go, but have fun okay? Don’t be afraid to talk to me or your new friends.” Eight nodded, standing up to close the door behind the taller octoling.

Once she was alone Eight became silent and looked out across the balcony of the apartment. With a sigh she turned and walked to the couch, trying to get some sleep after the mind numbingly long lesson. She went onto the sofa and curled into a ball, letting the loneliness wash over her and sleep ebb it’s way into her mind.

———

Three laughed and lightly punched Ra, “I swear they moved the eggs from when I was last there!”

Ra laughed as well, “Of course they did! That was two years ago! You looked so confident I couldn’t help but let you be wrong.”

Three laughed again, and nearly dropped the bags of groceries in her arms. She quickly set them down and ran to Eight, who was tossing and turning on the sofa. Ra quickly followed, pressing a hand to Three’s back as she stood near the octoling.

Three shook Eight, “Eight, wake up, it's a dream, wake up.” Eight had tears down her eyes and she jolted up and back flipped over the sofa. From a laying down position. Perfectly. Coddamn of Three wasn’t so worried about Eight she would’ve been impressed. Hell, she was impressed.

Eight’s eyes were still out of it but after a brief pause she relaxed slightly, but stayed in combat position. Three relaxed her own pose and held her hands out in a calming manner, before turning her mantle blue, to calm Eight down.

Eight shuddered visibly then popped back up looking at them as if finally awake. Three saw an emotion flash across her face but couldn’t place it, Guilt? Sorrow? Three slowly walked toward Eight and hugged her. “It’s alright, it’s just a dream.” 

Eight smiled and pulled away, “It nothing, just scared, not where I usually wake up at.” Three doubted this reason but didn’t question it. After everyone finally settled down Ra began putting the groceries away, finishing up pretty fast and organizing everything. 

Three glanced at the octoling and smiled, “Want anything to eat? We finally have food in the fridge.”

Eight looked hesitant before giving a sheepish grin, “I not have inkling food beside egg. My fav-favorite food at home be nutrient block.”

Three sat in a stunned silence. Ra seemed just as surprised when she asked, “You guys had nutrient blocks? Like the edible sawdust in movies?” Eight nodded confused at their surprises. “OH HUN!!! We are about to fix you up the best meal you ever had!” Three smiled in delight, and nodded, grinning from ear to ear.

“Man I forgot how fucking fun it is to be around you Ra. Let’s whip up the best fucking dish we ever made.” Three and Ra’s crazy grin intimidated the young octoling but she smiled and waited patiently.

Three and Ra got out pans and moved like a well oiled machine. Three grabbed a knife, flipped it in her hand, and quickly started chopping green onions. At the same time Ra filled a pot with water, put it on a burner and turned it on. She grabbed some mushrooms, rinsed them and slid them underneath Three’s knife.

Three diced up the mushroom and slid it into the pot that Ra had filled with broth after rinsing the mushrooms. As the water and broth were heating up, Ra grabbed some orange juice and poured it into a cup before handing it to Eight and smiled. Three had, by this time, prepared a hunk of meat and shoved it in the oven. Ra grabbed a pack of noodles, ripped the top off and dropped it into the now boiling water. 

Eight sat mesmerized by the two inklings, as if they had put on a show, which, Three supposed, they had. “How you do that?” Eight’s eyes were wide with amazement. 

Three grinned happily, “It has been too long since I have done that. Cod fucking dammit was that amazing.”

Ra laughed dizzily as well, “We haven’t done that nearly enough. Also, Eight, our amazing Aunt Becca taught us that.” Three tensed up slightly but forced herself to relax, You already had your allotted daily meltdown so be chill.

“She is the best person you’ll ever meet, and she is a profreshonal cook.” Three smiled at the memory of her Aunt, the most amazing inkling in the world.  

“Three pick a movie and I’ll finish up the food.” Three nodded and walked over to the cabinet the TV rested on, beckoning the still flabbergasted Eight to follow. Three chose the movie Revengers, which was a superhero movie about a team of different super powered people coming together in a team to beat one of the members brothers. During the climax Ra came in and handed them each a spoon and chopsticks, placing the bowl of ramen in front of everyone. Eight looked in amazement at the single most delicious food in the world. 

When Eight finally stopped worshiping the food to try some, her face was Euphoric. It was unbelievable that food could inspire such a reaction from a being, but Three was a witness to food’s almighty power. Eight began crying, tears of joy slipping down her face. 

Three was unsure how to react besides giving the small octoling a pat on the back and a small hug. Three went back to eating her ramen, hoping she would recover on her own, and after a while, she did just that and reverently ate her ramen.

Three let out a yawn and checked the time, it was almost midnight and she was tired, even though the movie wasn’t even over yet. Three curled into a ball and rested her head onto Ra’s lap, and felt the gentle stroking on her tentacles. With another yawn she drifted off to sleep. 

———

Eight stared at the movie, confused at what was happening. Some big green inkling was crushing things and another one was flying around. Eight stood up and shifted over to Raull’s other side, settling down next to her before leaning in and whispering, “What’s happening?”

Raull took a moment to launch into a long, in depth explanation of the plot of the Revengers, but she tuned it out and merely nodded her head every once in a while, regretting her decision to ask. 

Eight’s thoughts drifted away from the movie, her eyes started looking around the room. She saw the bowls that were sitting out from the now finished ramen and picked them up, moving them over to where other bowls were stacked on the counter. 

The movie ended while Eight was taking care of the dishes, and as the credits rolled Ra slowly moved the other sleeping agent and picked her up, moving her to her bed. 

Coming back into the room Raull asked, “Hey, you okay with sleeping in the couch again tonight? Your bed will come tomorrow and then you can sleep in one of our rooms.”

Eight nodded before sitting on the sofa smiling. “Have good night Raull.” Raull frowned a bit, before smiling and bidding her good night. Eight was once again alone. At first Eight rested on the sofa, but she couldn’t get into a comfortable position, because her back hurt no matter what how she slept. 

Eight eventually decided to sit outside, staring at the night sky. She smiled, the night sky was always so beautiful, and made her feel giddy. She had never seen stars before, and the one time she had been outside of the domes was when she had to lie in wait for her target to come into her scope. That assignment took literal days to complete, days which Eight had starved trying to fulfill it.

She shook her head of the memory. I don’t want to remember that, I wish I could remember something happy. Trying to distract her self she looked up at the night sky and started counting the stars. She was up to 17,389 when she heard a creak behind her, she rolled to the side and hid behind the door to the balcony. 

Her back hurt but she ignored it and looked at the cause of the creak, which was Three. Eight relaxed, but stayed hidden. Three shook her head muttering and grabbed a glass of water before walking back to her room, when she was almost there she froze and looked around.

She spotted Eight and walked over to her standing at the doorway. “What are you doing?”

Eight stayed quiet looking away, feeling guilty for some reason. Three walked up and plopped down, dangling her legs through the balcony bars. Eight hesitantly did the same.

Three looked up at the sky and smiled. “The night is beautiful, isn’t it?” Eight nodded looking back up at the sky, smiling, oblivious to the adoring gaze of the neighboring agent. Eight eventually felt something hit her shoulder, and the shorter Agent had her head resting on Eight. Eight smiled for a second before picking up the small inkling and moving her into her bed.

Eight returned to her stargazing and eventually drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

The dreams began as soon as Eight drifted off to sleep. Three loomed above her laughing as Eight tripped trying to run away from the Flooder attacking her. She fell off the platform and landed on a rail, with the bamboozler in hand, balloons popping up everywhere.

She tried to shoot the balloons, but missed a few, then heard the voice of CQ Cumber over the speaker, “You missed a balloon, test failed.” The bomb expanded and blew up, making Eight’s back light up in pain. 

She appeared on a platform with a ball. An 8 ball. Eight curled up and began crying, until

She heard an all too familiar sound, “Timer ran out, Test Failed.” Then an all too familiar explosion happened, launching her into the next vision. 

Several octolings stood far away awaiting the start of the test. Eight sat there with a charger in hand, looking out at the octolings. They charged and the orb popped instantly. “You let the orb break, Test Failed.” A beep was heard  and she felt the explosion rip through her body.

Eight cried, not bothering to see what test she was supposed to be doing, trying to get the pain to die down. It never did. Struggling, Eight stood up and looked at the test before her. Match the shapes. Eight took her squeezer and started blowing the boxes up, one by one, until she missed.

When the beep started, Eight was near the edge, so she simply leaned back, into the void, closing her eyes and letting it claim her. But she was stopped.

She opened her eyes, awake this time, and saw Raull and Three standing there, grabbing her arms. She looked backward and saw the several story drop glare up at her, daring her to fall.

After some deliberation, Eight let herself be pulled back from the brink and into the house. Raull picked her up and patted her on the head, holding her in her arms. She moved over to the sofa and sat there with Eight in her arms. 

“What happened Eight? All we heard was crying, until you started chanting, ‘no, please no’.”

“I…” Eight shuddered, “has a nightmare.” Raull hugged her tighter, trying to offer stability. 

“What was it about?”

The memories of the nightmare came to her, and she curled into a ball and cried, back pain returning. The sleeves of her long yellow shirt were ripped up as Eight curled into a ball and dug her claws into her back, trying to get it to stop hurting.

Raull tried to grab her hands but she couldn’t get a good hold, so Three came on down and ripped Eight’s hand from her back. Eight reacted like a trained soldier, and pushed Three. Hard. Making her roommate fly into the wall, almost knocking her out. 

Raull tries something different, she pulls out a pillow and puts it under Eight’s hands, so instead of killing her back she was killing the pillow. It worked to some degree. Eight began crying, the only words in her head becoming, “TEST FAIlED.”

She stopped grabbing at her back and instead grabbed her head, squeezing it hard. Raull and the recovered Three ran over and wrapped their arms around Eight, speaking calming words, both their mantles turned blue to calm her down. 

After what felt like hours Eight stopped. She had no more energy to fight and just lay there, tears in her eyes. She felt Three wrap bandages around her and knew that Raull had her hand, but she wasn’t all there.

When Eight finally came out of her trance, it was light outside, and the fellow agents lay around her, tired and asleep. Eight began crying, not earnestly, just a soft weep. I’m so useless. I’m so useless. I don’t deserve to live with them, with anyone at all. Eight dried up her tears and stood up. Her long yellow shirt had been ripped to shreds, which Eight was sad about, but since she had no clothes to replace it, she didn’t complain.

Eventually Raull and Three woke up and looked around until they saw Eight sitting on the counter by herself, sipping orange juice. Three warily walked up, before hugging the octoling. Eight smiled tiredly and hugged her back. Raull joined in and the group sat there in silence in one big hug until-

“Oi bitch get off me. You’re squishing me.”

“Well your stench is killing me,” Raull said with a grin.

“You both are much nice. Too nice for me.” Eight whispered.

“Hey, hun, don’t say that. We love you and that’s that.” Raull smiled at the octoling.

Three then began cooking up something, which made Eight’s stomach rumble. “You probably want some food after the night's antics.” Eight nodded, though was unsure what antics were.

Raull looked over in concern. “You sure you're okay? You got pretty banged up last night.” 

Eight nodded and looked at her arms, “Can I get new shirt?” Raull nodded and disappeared into the depths of her room.

She came back with a white sweater, and a pair of black shoes. “You want a hat?” Eight nodded, and was given a sailor hat to wear.

“Now you look like the freshest octo on the block.” Three called over her shoulder.

Eight giggled, and posed for Raull. She whipped out some sort of squid shaped flat screen and pointed it at Eight.

“Marina loves your new outfit.” Raull said, “Also she can’t come teach you today, she has work.”

Eight was slightly saddened by this before her curiosity took over, “How you know that?” 

Raull peered over her squid screen thing, “Oooh, you don’t know what a phone is. Well it’s a device that lets you take pictures and call people and text them.” She explained. “We really need to get you one now that I think about it.”

Three popped up behind them, raising to plates of food. “That settles what we’re going to do today, after eating a breakfast burrito of course.” Eight studied it before grabbing it with two hands and pulling it toward her mouth. 

Before she could take a bite Raull cried out. “Eight, you're eating it the wrong way! Hold it like this.” After showing Eight the proper way to eat this… burrito, she allowed her to take a bite. Her eyes widened and she smiled through the mouth full of food.

After studying her face, Three nodded and ate her own meal. Then, because Eight was still weak from her back injury, she was helped down the stairs.

“Is this your first time out of the apartment?” Eight nodded in response. “Well you're gonna have a fun time with us today!” Eight smiled and walked with them.

They first arrived at a store that had hats, and only hats. After telling Eight to wait, the two cousins ran off to find her a suitable hat. Eight obeyed and sat down, waiting quietly for her fellow agents to show up. After a while they showed up with two hats. Three gave her a beanie, which Eight adored, and Raull gave her a weird hat, that was called a beret. It was wonderful as well. She put her sailor hat in her pocket and put the beret on, smiling at Raull.

The next shop was the phone shop, and Raull bought a nice Octophone, which was colored purple. After teaching Eight how to use it, they set off to the final store on the agenda, which was a shoe store. None of the shoes apparently stood out, so they moved on. They finally ended up in the square.

It was about noon when they rested on a squeaker so Three spoke up, “Hey how about we eat something from the Crusty Bucket?”

Raull nodded vigorously, “Yes absolutely. You’ll love it Eight.”

Eight nodded and waited at the table for their food to be made. As soon as Raull and Three were gone, a group of inklings sauntered on over.

“Hey good looking, wanna stop hanging out with those losers and hang out with us instead?” The lead inkling said. “We can give you a fun time.” He emphasized this with a wiggle of the eyebrows. Unimpressed, Eight looked away.

He leaned in close, “You should feel honored that I’m even talking to you, because I’m rank A- in rainmaker, I’m too good for you noob.”

Eight stared at him in confusion, then spoke. “ Get your crusty ass outta here before you become more deep fried then the food I’m about to eat. Bitch. ” The inkling, who obviously couldn’t speak Octarian, just looked confused.

Another octoling on the table across from Eight stifled a laugh. The lead male whipped his head back and looked at Eight, before lunging and trying to grab onto her.

Before the boy could react, he was shoved aside and pushed into the floor by Three. “Hey Eight, saw the commotion, came to check it out.”

Eight relaxed and stood back up, “Why did help? I could have done it?”

Three ignored the question before looking at the inkling she was stepping on, “I just saved you a trip to the hospital, so thank me by getting your crusty ass outta my sight.” The boy scurried off, pulling his group behind him.

“That was fucking hilarious Three. They probably pissed their pants.” Raull laughed and set the food in front of Eight. “So what’d they want.”

“They said I can have fun time if I’m with them.” Eight said, eyes on the food. She picked up the sandwich and inspected it before taking a bite out of it. The flavor was insane. It enveloped her tongue and she smiled through the food.

“You didn’t cry this time.” Three stayed, staring at Eight. 

Eight swallowed her food and looked at the agent, “Was I suppose to?” 

Three shook her head, embarrassed, “No no, I jus- um… uh…” Eight laughed at the stuttering and finished her food. “W-we should do some turf war.”

Eight became alert in a second, her military training preparing her for the incoming attack. “Battle? Where.”

“Wooooah, calm down, it’s just for fun, to earn money.” Raull said, calmly, “It’s not a real battle. Do you want to do one? We can, but only if you want.” Eight nodded slowly and they headed off to find a lobby.

After finally finding a fourth member, they were sent to Manta Maria. Eight had been loaned a weapon by Three, so she was using the E-Litre 4K as her weapon.

Eight shifted the weapon in her hands, she had had enough time to take apart the weapon, and clean it, before the fourth member had been chosen. She was quite familiar with this weapon now.

The fourth member was some random inkling girl who had long tentacles that were cut off at the end. She mained the Kensa Sloshing machine, which is a ridiculous name in Eight’s opinion. Weapons shouldn’t have fancy names, they only need to function.

After explaining the rules, the game started and Eight went to the highest point. She sat up there, and sniped at anything that moved. The yellow team started with a rush along the right side. They had two dapple dualies, a brella, and a roller. The dualies led the rush, with the brella just behind. Raull was the first to engage them. She sped forward on her brush, before tossing a splat bomb and forcing them to scatter.

Eight shot the roller before they could do anything but yelp and one of the dualies got taken out by Three. The dualies and brella stood back to back and both got splatted by a well aimed sloshing machine splash, causing the entire team to be wiped. Eight sat down and waited for the team to respawn. 

By the time the team had respawned, most of the map had been covered with purple ink. The dualies swam off the spawn platform and were falling through the air when they got sniped by Eight. Eight refilled her ink and smiled slightly, pleased at the double kill.

The battle went on in a similar fashion, with Raull running around with her brush and Three just covering the entire map with Heroshot. The long haired inkling, whose name was CeeCee, was slaying it with the sloshing machine. Eight was amazed at the girls skills and silently respected her.

It was approaching the end of the match and the two dapple dualies made a rush toward Eight. Eight sighed, this had been attempted several times during the short game. Eight dealt with the left dualies and then aimed at the right one. There was a click, out of ink.

She popped the E-Litre into ink storage and hopped backwards into her ink. When the first dualies reached the trap Eight set, four ink mines were blown up in the dualies face. Eight smiled in satisfaction, looking at her handiwork, she went to materi- DUCK , Eight hit the floor. Ink splatters over her as the brella attacks, she rolls on the ink righting herself before chucking an ink mine down and materializing her E-Litre.

The brella launched her shield part and it activated the mine. Eight back flipped over the shotgun like blast and dashed forward, smacking the brella user in the head with the butt of her weapon. Eight jumped back and rapidly fired her weapon, splatting the brella user.

Eight barely had time to react when she felt a searing pain in her back, thoughts abandoned, turned and saw the roller. She felt her entire body expand and then shrink into non existence. Everything was black. Everything was dark. Eight tried to grab at her throat but had no hands to grab with. She floated there, only feelings being the searing pain in her back. The world then snapped in around her and Eight curled into a ball, crying. 

She felt her back slowly growing wet and her face growing damp. She felt a rush of images coursing through her mind. Of octolings glaring from far off, of balls rotating and falling off of platforms, of running out of ink and the telling sound of a beeping ink pack. All these led to the same outcome. The feeling of being ripped apart and sewed back together again.

Eight weeps into her arms not caring the match was still going on. She wasn’t very aware of what was happening. She heard a buzzer, celebration, then cries of concern. She felt arms wrap around her and move her far away. All she felt was her back, the wretched failing plus the pain that came with it. 

It felt like days, but it was probably hours, and Eight finally could see the world. She saw blue walls and wood floors. She was back at Raull and Three’s apartment she was staying at. She whimpered and looked down, almost crying but her body was out of fluid. She lay there feeling as if her body was a balloon slowly deflating air.

Eventually she stood up, looking around to find Three next to her asleep. Looking at the inkling, shame hitting her like a truck. 

Can’t go a day without a break down, can you. All you do is cause trouble for others. You're useless Eight.

Useless. Useless. Useless. USELESS USELESS USELESS USELESS USELESS USELESSUSELESSUSELESSUSE- something grabbed her. Eight was shook back into reality and found Three shaking her concern etched on her features. Eight released her arms as ink started gushing out of the wounds her claws made. She looked at those in mild interest before looking back at Three.

“Ra we need some bandages for Eight’s arms!” Three called, never taking her eyes off Eight. In a softer voice she looked at her, “Are you okay? Well I mean your fucking not but, what’s wrong?”

Eight looked into the inklings eyes before looking away, “Nothing.”

Three sighed, “If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s fine, but know that we are here for you. We are your friends.” At the last word Eight tensed up.

Friends. No, they weren’t friends, friends always betrayed her, just like the octoling girl. She… she wronged Eight, and she was once called a friend. If Three is a friend she couldn’t be trusted. So she wasn’t. Eight needed to trust them or she would go insane.

“Here’s some water, you lost a lot of fluids crying.” Three smiled handing her a cup of cold water. Eight gulped it down thankfully, only now realizing that her head was pulsing.

“Thanks you,” she rasped out, grateful for the wonderful inkling beside her. The almost not friend inkling.

Raull comes in and puts bandages on Eight’s arm, “You should thank CeeCee when you see her again.” Eight looked at Raull in confusion. “CeeCee helped us move you and helped change your bandages. Apparently she’s a trained medic, she was the one who told us how to do this.” Raull ties off the bandages and smiles at Eight. 

“Just know we are here for you.” Raull leans forward and hugs Eight. She stays still and slightly taps Raull’s back.

“Well if you wanted to know we won.” Three said, smiling. “You got an obscene amount of kills, over 20 on your first game!” Eight smiled slightly at that. She may be injured but she could kick serious butt when she needed to.

“Well aside from that I was gonna go hang out with CeeCee today.” Raull said, “She’s pretty hilarious.”

Three snickered, “Marie is gonna be jealous.”

Raull opened her mouth, closed it, then blushed deeply. “Well… um… uh. Argh! You’re insufferable!” Three laughed louder. “A-anyway, wanna come? since you’ve recovered.”

Eight nodded, eager to step outside and see people. Three nodded to, giggling subsiding. As they exited the house Eight looked back and walked out, preparing herself to go back out into paradise.

———

It has been a week since Eight's turf war meltdown. She has since then played a few turf wars and, thankfully, hadn’t gotten splatted since then. Eight had gotten over the initial wonder of the surface. In fact, it was starting to fade into bland.

Eight sighed, staring across the counter at the wall. She was tired. It probably didn’t help that she literally didn’t get any sleep since her first almost sleep walking suicide attempt thingy. For the first night Three had stayed up the entire time to make sure she was okay.

It was sweet, but Eight was just callous to everything now. She couldn’t walk two feet without panicking about something random. Eight looked down at her arms, clawed up by the numerous panic attacks. She sighed, stood up, walking out of the apartment, down to the street below and walked to the smiling Three. 

“Hey Eight! Wanna hit the arcade today? Been a while since we were there.” Eight nodded. It was easier to just say yes. Three was wonderful. She was the best inkling in the world. Eight didn’t deserve her.

Three smiled brightly again, “Well let’s get going!” She walked with a spring in her step, smiling and telling jokes, Eight didn’t notice how much Three was straining to try and cheer her up.

They played at the arcade for a while before Three had to go to the bathroom. Eight sat down, resting her mind from the world briefly. A voice interrupts her thoughts. 

“Hey good looking, are you available?” An inkling boy walked up and leaned over her. She looked up and said nothing. She was too tired to deal with him right now. 

She leaned back and closed her eyes. “Hey, am I too cute to look at? C'mon let’s go.” He moved to grab her arm and she smacked it away. He was growing hostile. “Hey, why the fuck your smack me? You should be honored I’m even talking to you.” Just another over inflated ego trying to hit on her. It was practically a recurring thing now.

As he moved to grab her again, Eight reached up, grabbed him and slammed him to the wall. Her eyes looked at him and he shuddered. All of the sudden, Three jumped out of nowhere and shoved Eight’s hand off him. He hit the floor and scurried off. Three jumped up to Eight, her eyes still having tears streaming down. 

“What the actual fuck Eight. Why did you do that?!” Eight looked at Three, saying nothing. Three sputtered for a second before talking again. “You can’t attack random inklings just because you are having a bad day!” Eight, again, said nothing, but looked down. 

“I swear, I go through so much to just try and make you happy and all that happens is you attack some random fucker off the street!” Three was shouting now and Eight cringed inside. She was making wonderful Three shout, at useless her. She looked down even further and started walking away in shame.

Three shouted back at her, “Are you really just gonna leave after this? After I go out of my way to try and cheer you up!??! Fine! Just don’t fucking talk to me, see if I care!” Eight could hear Three sobbing behind her. Eight trudged back to the apartment, looking up at the tall building.

She stumbled up the stairwell, just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. By the time Eight realized where she was, she was one the roof of the six story building. She looked out to the street below. If she jumped… she could save Three some tears. Her phone had been buzzing this entire time, but after seeing it was Three she had ignored it. Eight picked up her phone and looked at it. It was Momrina.

Eight smiled and answered, as she picked up, she stepped forward and whispered, “I’m sorry.” Before she hit the floor she thought she heard someone speak, but just smiled as she felt the impact of the street, instantly plunging her into blackness, with no respawn points nearby to torture her. 

———

Three had woke up today feeling down. She saw how Eight was burning out, though she didn’t know why. She sighed and willed herself out of bed. It was Three’s turn to watch Eight. For the past week Raull and her had been trading off who watches Eight because they didn’t want her to do anything to herself, or be alone when she had a panic attack. 

When Three had finished getting ready she sat down at the park and waited for Eight to stop staring at the wall to come down. When Eight finally arrived, Three smiled as bright as she could. “Hey Eight! Wanna hit the arcade today? Been a while since we were there!” Eight nodded slowly and looked at a Three with self hating eyes. Three’s heart broke but she didn’t know what to do. 

Once they got to the arcade they goofed off, which was mainly Three doing things and Eight just doing whatever Three did. Three could feel her fake happiness ebb away and excused herself to go to the bathroom. Once she was in a stall she cried her eyes out. 

Eight, beautiful Eight, was gone. She may have been reserved, but at least she had smiled. Now Eight was practically catatonic sometimes. Three heard some noise outside so she stopped her sobbing and ran out, hoping Eight was okay. What Three saw made her tears come back faster. Eight was holding a man to the wall, with her dead eyes looking straight forward. The next few moments were a blur and before she knew it Eight was walking away, more depressed than before. 

Three cried. She watched as Eight slowly walked back home, moving at a snail's pace, barely moving an inch at a time. Three cried until she had no more tears left. She called Eight, hoping to apologize, but instead got sent to voicemail. Three began to worry. She ran to the Square and began banging on the window to Off the Hook’s recording place. She called Eight all the while, never getting an answer. 

Upon seeing the crying, frenzied inkling, and how there was no Eight attached to her, the idol duo came out quickly standing in front of Three.

“Where’s Eight?” Pearl demanded, her face concerned. Three merely stammered incoherent words.

“What happened Three? You seem distraught?” Marina asked softly. Three grabbed her and stammered out words. “Breath… now say it again.”

Three swallows, “I was frustrated at- at Eight. I yel- yelled at her. She’s not picking up my calls. I wanna say so- sorry.” Three choked out through sobs. Marina and Pearl shared a concerned look before Marina whipped out her phone. 

“Here, call her and tell her through my phone.” Marina said softly, proffering the device. Three slowly grabbed the phone, dried up her tears, and dialed Eight’s number.

Before she could even say anything she heard Eight whisper, “I’m sorry.” Wind picked up and Three screamed into the phone.

“EIGHT DON'T GO I NEED YO-” Three was interrupted by a loud thud from a body hitting the floor, and then nothing. Three stood there in shock and dropped the phone. Eight, she was gone. Beautiful Eight, she was… dead . Three sobbed even harder, and it is all my fault . Marina picked up the small inkling, because she didn’t hear what happened and slowly rocked her until she could say a few words.

“She… she jumped.” Marina gasped and put her hands over her mouth, eyes widening. Pearl stood there in shock and crumpled down sobbing onto Marina. Marina slowly rocked the two inklings, trying to keep them from crying their eyes out but Marina was crying herself. 

Three cried so hard she couldn't see anything, couldn’t feel anything, and lay there. She felt hands on her mantle rubbing and she finally looked up. Marie was standing there patting Three. When did Marie get here? She instantly cuddled into the Agent and cried even harder.

As she rocked back and forth she willed herself to stop crying. She sniffled and looked up, bleary eyed at Marie. She smiled down at her and hugged her tighter. Three steeled herself and sat up, slowly. 

Her head pulsed with pain as she looked around. They were in a… hospital? Why were they here? “Wh-” Three rasped out, her voice nearly gone from sobbing, “Where are we? Eight? Where’s Eight?”

Marie strokes her tentacles, “She’s here, in the hospital. Ra was coming home after doing the groceries and saw her… fall. She called the ambulance immediately. They’re operating on her right now.” Marie hesitates, “They don’t know if she will survive.”

Three nodded, she expected that, but it still made her heart ache, and had tears trying to force their way back to her eyes. She hugged tightly to Marie and sighed. Just then Pearl and Marina walked into the room, with Ra and CeeCee close behind. Only then did Three notice that Callie was behind her.

“She’s stabilized somewhat, she will definitely live, but we don’t know if there will be permanent damage. When she… hit the floor… she had some asphalt shove its way into her already injured back. They took it out and are just hoping it’s not in her ink stream right now.” Marina smiled weakly and collapsed into a chair. Pearl sat on her lap and everyone sighed.

“... I’ll stay with her.” Three said. She needed to do this, she was why Eight had done this. Hopefully she could apologize.

Marina looked at her softly, “Are you sure? Now that she’s not in any immediate danger she will be under watch and stopped from doing… this sort of thing. They have personal for that.”

Three nodded, “I’m sure, positive.” Three stood up shakily, holding onto Marie for support. She was led by Marina into a room and as the door opened her breath caught. Eight was lying in the bed on her side, with her back heavily bandaged.

Her face was smiling, dry as a desert, with no mirth behind it. Her hands were covered in large foam blocks, to prevent her from injuring herself when she awoke. Three felt her face grow wet, she dried her tears and sat down in the chair besides the bed and stared at Eight, willing her to be okay, hoping beyond hope that somehow, she would be okay.

———

Eight first realized one thing, she was in pain. Eight sat there, she felt drained. She had done the one thing she felt would help Three and had failed that. Eight went to curl into a ball but stopped. What was on her hands?

Eight looked down at the foam blocks around her hands. She unsheathes her claws and they bore deep scratches into the inside, but they didn’t break. With a sigh Eight thought back to her jump. She had heard a voice, what was it? Three’s voice.

In an instant the weight of the entire world crashed onto her mind. She would’ve cried but she was past tears. Eight pulled up her hands to dig her claws into her arms, to snap her out of her thoughts, but instead, was treated by a soft foam thump.

Eight looked at the foam, unsheathing her claws again, wiggling her fingers, trying to break free. She pressed her hands together, her claws digging through the foam as she tore it off. She looked at her hands, unsheathing then resheathing her claws, before slowly bringing them to her arms.

Hands appeared and stopped her. Eight looked up and saw Three standing there, holding her hands and looking at her face. Eight looked down, she didn’t deserve to look at Three right now. Three grabbed her hands, lowering them down slowly, and rested one hand on top of both.

She sat down on Eight’s bed and tilted her head up so she could see her. “I thought I lost you.” She whispered. Eight looked up at Three, surprised someone so amazing could miss Eight of all people. 

Eight just sat there looking up at Three, making no sound. She didn’t realize she was crying until Three brushed a tear out of her eye. She looked at the hand by her face and leaned into it. Three still hadn’t let go of her hands or else she would’ve grabbed Three and pulled her into a hug. 

Three called over her shoulder, “She’s awake everyone!” Immediately people began rushing into the room. Marina, Pearl, CeeCee, Raull, Marie, Callie, and Cap’n. They all started talking at once and she immediately felt overwhelmed. She sat back and gripped the steel bars on the side of her bed. Her claws dig into her palm and her breathing became quicker.

Three, sensing this, raised a hand and everyone quieted down. She reached out, and pried Eight’s hands off the steel, before slipping Three’s hands into Eight’s. After leading her in breathing, Three released her hands. “Now one at a time.”

Marina stepped up with Pearl behind her. “Eight, I’m so glad you’re okay. It’s been days since you… fell…” Marina hesitantly said, “We missed you so much Eight, we love you like a daughter and we wouldn’t know what to do without you.” Marina was in tears now and Pearl too, they ran up and gingerly hugged her, as if she was a frail princess. As if she was so weak she’d-

Her thoughts were interrupted by Three’s voice, “You’re not weak.” Eight whips her head around and looks at Three. She still had a hold of one hand, but she was leaning in and whispering it.

Next up came CeeCee and Callie. CeeCee stood next to the goddess Callie and solemnly walked up to Eight. “I know you may not know me, we barely hung out those two weeks ago, but… if, no, when you were happy… you lit up the room. I don’t know why you did what you did, but know that people care about you.” Cee stepped back and made room for Callie.

Callie walked up and gave Eight a hug. “I don’t know you that well either, but whatever you're going through, we are all here for you. We care about you Eight. So please talk to us.”

Eight felt tears starting to form on the edges of her eyes and she curled her palm inwards, preparing to shock herself out of tears when she didn’t feel anything. She looked at her hands and one was held by a Three, the other by Raull. When she went to dig her fingers into her hand it dug into theirs.

Eight let the tears start to overflow, pulling her roommates, no, friends , into a hug. They gently placed a hand onto her back and pulled her deeper into the hug. They sat there sobbing and Eight felt more pressure from all around her as Marie, Callie, CeeCee, and her moms joined in. After a while Eight breathes in deeply, and sighed.

Raull breathed in deeply and sighed. “Eight… you… are just amazing. You’re kind, and your smile can light up my depressed cousin in a second, and anyone else too. You deserve to live. You   haven’t ever been useless. Ever .” She started off as a whisper and got louder each word. Eight grabbed tightly to her.

“You might not see us as friends, I don’t know why, but we are your friends. We care about you and love you. Please don’t do this again, just talk to us.” Rau- no, just Ra, had tears in her eyes as she leaned in and gave her a hug. Eight pressed their foreheads together and wrapped her tentacles around Ra’s longest ones. They stayed like that for a while until Ra broke forehead contact.

Marie then stepped up, the last person there. “Eight, you made one of my dear friends, and fellow agent, cry for hours. She stayed by your side all week , barely sleeping or eating to be there for you when you woke up. I never knew you well but I know Three, and she cares about you a lot. You aren’t useless, far from it, so don’t think about doing this sort of thing again, please.” Marie leaned in and gave a soft hug to Eight, who nodded silently.

After Marie pulled away they all stood there for a second until Eight spoke up. “I feeled… useless. I feeled that best thing to do was die. I feeled I wasn’t important. I… I feel now that I have people who feels that they care about me.” Eight wiped a tear falling down her face. “I… I will try be better Three. I see not how hard you try to make me happy. And Ra, I do not remember how, but I had a friend once. She bad. I didn’t want you be bad too.  Now I see, you good friend. Moms, I l-like you lots. I’m sorry to make worry. SeaSea, maybe I get to know better. Squid sisters, thank you.”

She ended this little speech with the barest of smiles. Everyone else was crying by this point. Eight all of the sudden realized how tired she was. It crashed onto her like a tidal wave, sweeping away every other emotion. She sagged and leaned onto Three’s shoulder for support. She wrapped her tentacle around Three’s and closed her eyes. As she drifted off to sleep she could feel everyone laughing and crying. Eight smiled and let sleep take hold.

———

Eight was having a dream. It was a simple one. She was walking around with Three before she was stopped by a random inkling. All of the sudden Eight was falling. She grasped at air and felt nothing, but once she looked down, she hit the floor with a thud and she felt all the ink rushing out of her body. She was deflating, losing all ink, when suddenly it all went away. Eight jerked up but her head got stopped by something and it fell back down onto a shoulder.

After a minute, she processed where she was.Her tentacles were wrapped around Three’s and Eight was resting on her. Three turned and looked down at Eight with a concerned smile. Eight felt her insides get all warm and fuzzy, she didn’t know what it was so she subconsciously reached for her arms with her claws out, when Three’s hand darted out and stopped her.

“You need to find a new way to release emotion Eight. This isn’t good for your arms. They already have scars.” Eight shriveled a little at the mini-lecture. She did, however, pull back her claws and Three released her hand. The warm and fuzzy feeling was away, so it had worked, partially.

As Eight finished sitting up she looked around and saw that they were the only ones there. Eight went to stand up but instead, Three picked her up. With a yelp Eight wrapped her arms around her neck.

A grinning Three declared, “Doctor said that you shouldn’t walk because of the damage to your back, something about asphalt getting into your back and not wanting you injuring yourself before it heals. So I’ll have to carry you wherever you want to go.”

Eight felt like she had some sort of secret plan but didn’t ask, instead grabbed hold of Three for dear life. As she was carried out of the room, Eight leaned into Three’s chest hearing her hearts beat.

Eight felt that warm and fluffy feeling inside again, feeling her insides get all twisted up, so she silently unsheathed her claws and then resheathed them, because she couldn’t scratch herself from this position.

“I heard that Eight, don’t do it.” Eight looked up at Three’s face and saw a slight look of concern, then it was replaced by a blush. Eight was confused but said nothing.

“Cmon Eight what’s wrong, let’s not let it build up inside you this time.” Three said. Eight looked away and didn’t respond. Three sighed. “If you don’t wanna talk to me talk to one of the others, but talk to someone .”

Eight nodded and then looked back across the hallway seeing light. Ra and Marie were sitting together, laughing. They looked cute together. Eight smiled slightly, and Three walked her over to them.

“Hi...” Eight said, softly. The two agents didn’t hear because Eight spoke too soft. She was going to try again until-

“Yo bitch, stop flirting with coddamn Marie and answer Eight.” Ra’s face turned into a deep blue, almost matching her tentacles and tried to stammer a response. 

Marie with a slightly green tinted face smiled, “Oh? Someone would think you had a crush on me if you were flirting.” Ra’s face got an even deeper blue, and she tried to speak but just made sounds. “Does that mean you don’t?” Ra stumbles over her words again and shrugs helplessly. “Oh, okay, if you did you might’ve gotten a kiss or two.”

Ra couldn’t handle the excitement and shifted into a squid and started jumping up and down. Marie laughed heartily, and picked Ra up. Ra shifted to human form in Marie’s arm, and grabbed her neck and pulled her into a kiss.

They stayed like that for a good twenty seconds, not breathing, until Three cleared her throat again and said, “Jeez I make one coddamn joke and then they start making out. Get a room fuckos.” Marie and Ra pulled apart, Ra looking embarrassed and Marie happy.

“Thanks Three, I’ve been trying to get this fool to kiss me, but if all it took was some teasing I woulda done it ages ago.” Marie smiled. “Anyway, where are we taking Eight?” 

Everyone looked at Eight and before she spoke her stomach growled loudly. “Well that answers that question,” Three said with a laugh.

Eight blushed, huffed, and looked away from Three, staring at the wall. Three shook Eight slightly, “C'mon, don’t pout! At least you're out of the hospital!” Eight nodded and the blush lessened, but it was still there.

Three walked outside and set her down in Marie’s car. “Where should we eat?” asked Three. After helping a confused Eight put on her seat belt, Three rounded the car and hopped besides her. Marie called shotgun and Ra was driving.

Eight nervously looked around, this wasn’t nearly as safe as dome tech, in the domes they hovered everything around and no one actually drove the flying saucers. These… were driven by the same crazy inklings that killed each other for sport.

Eight gripped her arm, nervous, feeling ink slowly leaking out of them, before something grabbed her, and slowly moved her hands. Eight breathed deeply, In, then out. In, then out, until she finally sheathed her claws and relaxed.

Three was smiling at her, trying to help her calm down, and, for Three’s benefit, Eight smiled back. After a sigh of relief, Three checked her arms and cleaned up the blood with a rag that she had in her pocket, and made sure they were no longer bleeding. Eight sighed and looked outside the window while this was done.

The scenery zoomed past, and Eight watched as inklings we’re walking, talking, and laughing in the streets. She looked at Three who was studying her arms, and leaning close to her. Eight felt that warm and fuzzy feeling once again, and her claws automatically chk ’d out, and Three, without even looking, grabbed her wrists.

“No missy, you aren’t going to do that again.” Three said, she grabbed her hands and held them. “I just made sure the blood was stopped.” Three gently let go of Eight’s hands and looked outside the car, but still kept an ear out for the sound of claws coming out.

Eight sighed and looked at her claws, they were the prized part of any octoling warrior, but now… she only got in trouble with them. But she would never cut them because they were her claws. It was simple, it’s like going turfing without a weapon, it’s just unheard of.

Eight felt a hand on her knee and saw Marie looking at her. She put her hands down and stared at the idol. “You okay kid?” Eight nodded silently, and shifted a bit. Marie nodded back and looked forward. “We are going to a place called Squidbucks. It’s a coffee place. Has food though.”

Eight looked out the window, and stared at the city passing quickly by her. It was slightly surreal, before she had jumped, she hadn’t enjoyed the world at all. It was like seeing through a pair of glasses that couldn’t see color. Everything had been bland and lifeless, now… after waking up, it’s like the world had color and taste. Eight smiled and stared out the window as they slowed to a stop in between two white lines. 

First, Three popped out of the car, opened the door, and helped Eight with her seat belt. She then picked up Eight with a smile and carried her into the coffee shop and set her on a chair. “Now don’t move, or I’ll make you regret it.” Three threatened, though her eyes were laughing. Eight smiled and looked down, until she heard the screech of a chair.

Looking up she saw Ra slide down into the chair across from her. “Hey Eight.” Eight smiled in reply. “Man… I can’t believe today just happened. So many good things. And yesterday was when you woke up! Everything feels right about life.” Wait. So did that mean she had slept on Three for the entire night.

Eight felt a blush creep her way onto her face and the familiar chk sound approaching. Ra’s hands snatched at hers before anything could happen. “And that’s why I’m here. To make sure you don’t do anything stupid.” Eight looked away.

She looked back at Ra and smiled, resheathing her claws with a shk. Sighing, Eight gazed at nothing, looking at Three in the line. Ra looked at her, studying her, and made no move to talk again. Abruptly a thought popped into her head, “What Three name?” 

Ra looked startled at this question before looking at Three, “She has a name. She’s named after one of our aunts. But… she hates it. I’m not going to tell you but if you really wanna know then ask her.” There was something in Ra’s voice, was it pain? Eight didn’t know. “Why’d you ask?”

“I want name.” Eight said simply. “I like Eight, but name be nice.” Ra nodded in understanding.

“Well what’s some of your favorite things? I could help you. I got my nickname Ra because my first word as a child was sun. And my grandma, whose a human historian, told me Ra is the name of some sun god, so bam. Ra’s my name.” Ra smiled.

Eight thought back. What did she like? Thinking of the last week was painful for her, all that came to mind was the days spent following Three or Ra, and nothing else. The first night was a plague of nightmares, and the rest were spent gazing at the stars. The stars. The moon. The sky.

“The night.” Eight said, it was the only part of the week that Eight had truly enjoyed. Staying up at night and counting stars, seeing what they formed. She smiled at the memory. The only part of her short life so far that never lost its splendor.

Ra mused for a moment, “Well, if you're okay with it, I can think of a name. It was the name of another god from ancient human mythology. Her name was Nyx? Yeah, Nyx. She was the goddess of the night. I think her body was the stars and sky, something like that? You’d have to ask my grandmother to be sure.”

Eight thought for a minute. She said the name aloud, Nyx, Nyx, felt how it rolled off her tongue, then smiled. Yeah, she liked it. “Can I be Nyx?”

Ra nodded, “Yup, it’s your name,” she smiled across the table. “Though if you want a nickname I’d call you, like X? Ny? Nah, Nyx is just perfect.” Eight nodded at that. She smiled brightly and pulled Ra into a hug from across the table.

“Thanks Ra! I love name!” Ra smiles and hugs her back. Soon Three and Marie returned with some sort of brown drink in hand and a bunch of sandwiches.

“Three! Three! I got name!” Nyx said excitedly, pulling Three down besides her. “My name Nyx!”

Three looked confused for a second before smiling, “Like the goddess of night from human histories?” Nyx nodded vigorously. “Well I think it suits you, seeing as how you stay up all night counting stars.” Nyx blushed and nodded before looking at the sandwich given to her and eating it in a single bite.

She quickly chewed and swallowed. She grabbed the drink gingerly, not wanting to spill a drop and then started to drink it. She finished in ten seconds, though her mouth was a little warm now, and she felt even more energized. 

Nyx vaguely heard Three whisper to Marie, “We shouldn’t have gotten her coffee.” Marie nodded in agreement.

Nyx felt like she was bouncing off the walls. She probably would have if Three wasn’t sitting on her lap, forcing her from standing up. Nyx calmed down slightly after seeing Three’s concerned look at her when she nearly slammed her face into the table. She felt a little guilty so she stopped moving. Three eventually got off.

Nyx almost tried to stand again but stopped herself, she didn’t want to be a bother to Three. Before anyone could blink she had her claws deep in her arms, calming her instantly. She sat there claws in her arms for a few seconds before the pain hit her. It was a deeper gouge than normal, so they hurt a bit.

Three, who had sat there stunned at the sudden shift in behavior quickly recovered and grabbed out two rags and cleaned Nyx’s arms with them. She tucked them back into her pockets before she plucked the water of a passing customer and poured it over her arms, cleaning the last bit of ink not cleaned by the rag.

Nyx winced in pain and looked at her arms as Three finished by wrapping them up. After a second of wordless silence Three finally spoke. “What. The. Fuck. Nyx.” Three’s eyes burned with anger, the calm surgeon like demeanor gone.

“I told you to stop that and the next thing you do is rip up your arms worse than you did earlier today!” Nyx said nothing and just shrunk into her chair. She couldn’t really explain well to Three what she felt, it was nigh impossible to explain it to herself. It just… felt right, like it was what she had been trained to do. She couldn’t stop herself if she wanted to. She felt worthless, she hadn’t changed at all since she jumped, still the same idiot octoling who doesn't know what’s good for her.

Three took a deep breath, “Look, I don’t mean to yell but, that isn’t good for you. If you keep doing that… you could lose control of your arms if you damage the nerves too much. I just don’t want you to get hurt like that. I care about you Ei- Nyx. So please, try harder.” Nyx sat there, she didn’t know what to feel, but nodded anyways.

Three sighed, “Let’s finish our food and go back to the apartment.” Four and Marie, who had sat in silent shock for a while, nodded and finished their food. Three did so as well, and then scooped up Nyx and set her down in the car, buckling her up, and going to the otherside. When they got back to the apartment Ra and Three took turns carrying her up the stairs.

“Well, I gotta go, me and Marie are going on a date. Don’t kill each other while I’m gone.” Ra said jokingly. She turned quickly and ran down the stairs, trying to avoid further confrontation. Once Ra left, Three set Nyx on the sofa and walked away, going to grab something in her room. Nyx sighed. Why do I always rip my arms up?

Nyx pondered this for a second, trying to remember something, it felt like something at the tip of her tongue. With a sigh Nyx felt the thought slip away in her mind. She glared at the ceiling, sighing at her incompetence. She closes her eyes, losing herself to her thoughts, which is the closest she will ever get to sleep for the time being.