(A/N): I've deleted my previous author's note in place of this chapter. Essentially, I know I've been gone a long time and haven't uploaded any content in an even longer time, and I'm still sorry about that. Hopefully what I upload here will make up for it. Please enjoy the story.
Intense sunlight protruded the blinds of the bedroom window, beams of warmth invading the once dark area. A particular set caught Cecil's face, prompting him to toss and turn until eventually falling off of the air mattress and onto the unforgiving wooden floor with a hard smack. He quickly jolted awake, grabbing his glasses in a panic and hastily shoving them onto his face. In front of him sat a fully awake and alert Bic, legs crossed on the now neatly made bed. As he wiped a small amount of dried drool from his face, he heard a quiet giggle from her direction.
"Good afternoon, sleepyhead." She greeted with a loving smile.
"...wha...a-afternoon...?" He questioned, rubbing his eyes from under his glasses.
"Yup. You must have been very tired, though I don't blame you, with everything that happened..." Bic laughed a little, finally standing and offering him a hand, which he more than gladly accepted from his floor-bound position. He gave a quick stretch, bruised body cracking and popping in certain places before giving a breathy huff.
"How long have you been awake?"
"Since 5am. I uh...am still used to routine, I guess..."
"You sure you don't need more sleep?"
"Nah, I'm good. Trust me." Bic reassured.
With that, Cecil shrugged and sauntered, still half-asleep, to the bathroom. One hand turned on the sink, the other took his glasses and placed them on the sink's counter. He took a quick breath before splashing his face with warm water and then blindly reaching for his toothbrush. As he brushed, Bic could (blurrily) be seen in the mirror's reflection, still in the bedroom and turning on the television. He heard her click through the channels for a bit before he spat, finally settling on the news. Cecil finally took off his black bonnet and replaced his glasses, then grabbed a hair tie from the counter and tied his mauve tentacles in a ponytail. He finally decided this was acceptable for now and stepped back into the bedroom just in time for the Squid Sister Broadcast's familiar jingle to be heard.
"Hold on to your tentacles..."
"It's Inkopolis news time!"
The familiar sight of Callie and Marie flashed on the screen, the duo looking nothing like they did the day before. How they managed to keep themselves so glamorous all the time was a mystery, to be sure. Cecil took his place next to Bic on the bed, his hand making its way to hers. As they held hands, she glanced over to him and gave a smile as they listened together.
"Before we reveal today's stages, we have some very important news!" Callie ecstatically claimed, jumping with a fist pump.
"Whaaa? For eel?" Marie replied in her signature calm, almost-monotone voice. An image of the giant tower of the Booyah Base appeared behind them with the Great Zapfish in plain sight, wrapped around the top once more.
"Knick knack, the zapfish is back!"
"Seems like it."
"And in other, unrelated news, Inkopolis seems to be working on a treaty between Inklings and Octos!" Callie said, pointing to the camera.
"Wait, what...?" Bic whispered, earning Cecil's concerned glance.
"Good, I've been dying for some Octo pie..." Marie said with a dreamy grin.
"So, if you happen to see any Octos in the plaza, don't worry! Instead, be sure to greet them kindly! It'd be totes fresh of you!" Callie said, giving a mock wave and a wink.
"Super fresh." Marie reinforced with a wink of her own. A quick special effect flashed across the screen before Callie continued once more.
"Now, for Today's stages..." The rest seemed to fade into the background as Cecil's hand moved from Bic's to her shoulders with a full smile.
"Though they could have been a little better with that delivery, do you know what this means, Bic?!" He exclaimed, shaking her a little. Bic rose an eyebrow.
"...No more late night sneaking?"
"That and you can go out in public without having to disguise yourself. You can participate in turf wars! You can-"
"Er...Cecil, all of that sounds nice but...it's still too soon, don't you think...?" He paused, his excitement dwindling a little.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean...just because Callie and Marie say 'Hey Octos are cool now', it doesn't mean the masses are just going to...y'know, unprejudize themselves? They've been used to seeing Octos in a bad light for this long...I know it can't all be changed because two pop stars say so. If it were that easy, don't you think it would have been done before...?" Bic explained with a slow shrug. Cecil nodded at this, realizing her implications.
"Yeah...sorry. Got a little too excited. But I mean- isn't it a start? I know people really look up to Callie and Marie. They'll listen. And once the peace treaty is in effect, it'll be even better, right?"
"That's another thing...you know my da- er...Octavio wouldn't be so willing to just sign a treaty after being captured."
"Maybe he doesn't have a choice?"
"You can't make someone sign a legal document against their will, you know."
"Sure you can. It's called blackmail!"
"You're so-" Bic yelled, giving him a playful punch in the arm. They both shared a laugh before standing.
"Well. I'm gonna show you what I mean. C'mon!" Cecil exclaimed before taking her hand once more and sprinting out of the apartment. Though confused and trying to keep up, she couldn't help but laugh at his antics.
Once outside, Cecil brought her close, linking his arm in hers as they walked down the street. Various inkling bystanders gave a variety of reactions. Some neutral, some waved with a smile, some even took pictures. Some scowled, frowned and began to gossip, and Bic surely took notice. She very anxiously looked to Cecil, who didn't seem to care about the reactions around him. He returned her look with a beaming smile, which made her feel a lot better as they continued around the corner, never breaking their pace. They soon reached his intended destination: Milly's Cafe. Cecil broke their arm link only to go and open the door for Bic, who thanked him as they walked inside and heard the familiar greeting of their favorite pinkling. She came to them, warm and welcoming as always, before seating them.
"Whale, if it ain't my favorite couple. Ah heard the news; looks like you two did it!" Milly congratulated. Bic seemed confused by this.
Wait...I thought no one knew that Cecil was Ag-" She was halted by one of Milly's tentacles.
"Hon, there ain't nothin' I don't know about what happens in Inkopolis." Milly explained with an all-knowing wink. Bic laughed nervously before Milly took out her signature pencil and notepad, took their orders and walked away. The couple made small talk while they awaited their 'breakfast', despite the fact that it was clearly lunch time. Once she returned, they ate in relative silence, save for a few 'mmm's and 'ah's from Bic in regards to the cooking. They finished and paid before leaving, waving their friend and waitress farewell as they departed for Cap'n's hut.
They both exited the grate to the all-too-familiar landscape and made their way to the now-under-construction hut. Cecil was very surprised that construction was well underway so quickly, but simply chalked it up to Callie and Marie being able to pay out of pocket for the repair expenses. Cap'n had a hard hat on, instructing (read: bothering) the construction crew on how he wanted his hut rebuilt. Upon seeing the duo, he waved to them happily, calling them inside. Cecil returned the wave. "Alright, let's go talk with Cap'n, I'm sure he should have some ideas on the power problem." When he got no response, he turned to his companion, waving a hand in her face. "Er...Bic? You alright..?" He asked, following her line of sight. He gave an unheard 'oh' when he realized her gaze had been transfixed on the rather large snowglobe in the distance. He paused before placing a firm hand on her shoulder, snapping her out of her trance. "Go ahead and talk to him. I'll be alright talking to Cap'n without you for a while." He offered with a comforting smile. She offered a broken smile in return, giving her thanks and a quick kiss on the cheek then hesitantly going off in the direction of her previous gaze. Cecil uttered a silent prayer before heading to Cap'n.
She shook, nervously walking up to the globe that got larger as she got closer. What would she say? Would he even be willing to talk? What if he breaks out? Would she be willing to take him down all over again? All these thoughts clouded her mind until she was halted by a male inkling with orange tentacles and bright green eyes. He smiled and offered a handshake. "Hey! I'm Sheerborne, but everyone calls me Sheep! I'm in charge of watching Octavio. Did you need something?" Bic hesitantly shook his hand before speaking.
"Yes, I need to talk to him." She blurted out, pointing at the snowglobe.
"Ah, alright. I'll be watching from over there." He agreed, standing to the side. Bic figured that he'd seen Cap'n waving at the two for it to be okay. She then approached the snowglobe, seeing Octavio turned away. Her first instinct was to tap the glass. And so she did. Three times. Inside, Octavio flinched and swiftly turned around, visibly pissed.
"What'd I tell you 'bout tappin' the glass, you slimy little- Oh. It's you." He said, narrowing his gaze on her. Bic took a sharp inhale before speaking.
"Octavio. I'd like to talk."
"Oh! What a coincidence!" He began, waving one of his wasabi stalks before frowning. "I don't wanna." He declined, turning around once more.
"Octavio, I have some important questions I need answered." She tried once more, her mock-tough demeanor faltering. He simply shook his head with a 'nope'. "Can you at least listen to me, then? I really just want to ask if-"
"Beat it, squirt."
She sighed, clenching her fists and angrily squeezing her eyes shut. For a brief moment, she thought of punching the glass, but refrained and instead took a deep breath. She swallowed all of the contempt and malice she harbored, if only for a moment. She gently pressed her fingertips against the snowglobe's reflective surface before softly speaking.
"Please...dad."
Octavio's once angrily shut eyes snapped open, his eyes looking down before slowly turning back to her in a huff. "You wanna know somethin'? In all these years of leadin' and schemin', one of the few things I ever wanted was to hear you call me that..." He admitted, frown still on his face. Bic's tense-ness seemed to slowly fade as she took her fingers away from the glass.
"Then why didn't you ever act like one?" Another flinch from him. The question seemed to tug at his heart and hurt him, but he recovered and dared not show it in front of anyone else. He looked around, seeing that Sheep and anyone else was out of earshot and seemed to unwind a bit. He gave a heavy sigh, seeming to allow a lot of pressure off his chest before looking Bic in her large, confused magenta eyes. He seemed to wince, being slightly thrown off.
"I...uh...look, squirt, it's not like I wanted to-"
"Where is she?"
"Wh-"
"My mom...Where is Iliza?"
Upon hearing that name, something in Octavio broke, his expression finally changing into a sorrowful one. He cleared his throat before answering. "I was hoping...hoping that by the time I'd have to tell ya this I'd- ah- find the right words...Still haven't. Bic...She's gone..." Bic was silent, not fully grasping his words for a moment.
"What...What do you mean?" She whimpered. Tears had already involuntarily escaped her, flowing down her flushed face. The Octarian leader's gaze fell from her eyes to the ground.
"The reason I took you. Kept you away. Never let ya see 'er. ...Iliza was sick, Bic. She-" He squeezed his eyes shut. "She was dyin', Bic, and with barely any electricity, there wasn't squit I could do about it!" He furiously slammed a tentacle against the base of the globe. By this time, Bic had buckled and sank to her knees, fully sobbing and pounded her fists against the ground.
"But why!? Why take me away from her! It doesn't make sense!" She screamed at the ground. Octavio sighed again, anger dissipating.
"We...your mother and I...we agreed we didn't want to let you see her like that. To see her die. So I took you away. She...Iliza died shortly after. You may not remember but...I took you to her funeral...You were so little back then...But it was what she wanted. I'm uh..I'm sorry, princess..." He half-whispered in a broken voice. He was unsure how to handle all these sudden emotions he'd tossed away years ago. He waited, but Bic had no response and simply continued to shed tears while pounding the concrete in frustration. He crept over to the edge of the globe and slowly reached an arm out to her grieving form to comfort her, only to be met with the cold glass' surface. He gave yet another sigh, realizing that it was too late to want to be that kind of father to her. "I want you to know that, despite everything I've ever said and done...I loved her, Bic. I loved both of ya. N' I never meant for it to go this far." He muttered. Nothing else was said between the two, simply a shared silence of regret and lament.
"Well, I'll be honest with ye, laddie. I haven't the foggiest on what t' tell ye."
Cecil facepalmed. "C'mon, Cap. Surely we can think somefin up?!" He pleaded, resting a hand on his head Cap'n Cuttlefish stroked his beard in thought, gaze shifting upward toward the steel beams that were currently his ceiling. He then shook his head.
"Hm...nope. Nothin' jumps to mind, lad."
"Well, we gotta think of somefin." Cecil said, rising from the table they sat at and beginning to pace. "How do we bring power to an entire Octo nation without the use of the zapfish? After all, with everything said and done, I doubt the Inkopolis government would let us just 'borrow' a few of them." Cecil pondered aloud, using air quotations to illustrate his point. Cap'n, who'd been watching him get up, pace, ramble and everything of the sort, grabbed a cup from the table and took a sip of his tea before finally deciding it was enough.
"Listen lad. We've been at it fer about two hours. I want to help as much as you do, but it won't do us any good to beat our heads in all at once." He took another sip. "Sides, I'm sure the lass is wondering where ye be. We can put our nose to grindstone again t'morrow. Go and clear yer head; Might help ye think a bit better." Cecil stopped his pacing and slumped over, knowing Cap'n was right. He took off his glasses and proceeded to clean the lenses on his shirt before leaning over the back of his chair.
"Yeah...I guess it has gotten kinda late. We'll think more on it tomorrow, that okay?"
"Aye, laddie. I'll be at the hotel t'morrow. Feel free to drop by. They have a hot tub, hee hee!" Cap'n laughed before speaking again. "Now begone with ye, my soaps are almost on!"
Cecil resisted the urge to massage his temples, now feeling like his shows were the only reason he was being kicked out and waved Cap'n goodbye as he stepped out. Once out of the building, he could see Bic and the giant snowglobe in the distance. Upon walking a bit closer, he saw that she was leaned against the snowglobe, asleep and Octavio leaned against her seemingly watching her. Octavio noticed him and frowned almost immediately. "6. Get this one outta here." He more so commanded than anything else, motioning to Bic. Saying nothing more, he turned away from them. The agent did nothing more than give a small smile before lifting Bic and walking towards the grate.
"...Damn kids..." Octavio muttered once they were out of earshot, wiping an eye.
(A/N): Alright, that's it for this chapter. I'll get started on the next one soon, and try my damnedest not to vanish again. ;; Please put your pitchforks away... Also, as a heads up, this story has two different endings! I wanted an opinion. Should I just post both, or instead make it based off reviews? Either way, thank you for reading and do tell me how I'm doing (and yell at me for not uploading sooner) in the reviews! Have a great day. :3c