Chapter 21: Death of Two Veterans
"No... NO!" Marie says as she picks up her grandfather's scattered clothes on the ground, clutching them close to herself as she tries to hold back her tears while Marie's father places his hand on his daughter, saddened as well by the loss of Cuttlefish.
"Why did this flood have to happen? Out of all the days, especially on a family reunion, did this have to happen to my grandfather!?" She barely seems to calm down from her unstoppable grief-filled moment, and looks down with a depressed expression as she cries over the death of Cap'n Cuttlefish.
"Marie..." She feels Kalma's hand holding hers, as he looks down at the splatted Cuttlefish below him, sighing in sorrow as well as he turns to look back at Marie whom has placed one of her hands on her face in grief. "He lived a good life, Marie. Even though he's splatted now, we all at least had some fun with him before... this happened. Take a moment, and remember everything good that you've shared with your grandfather." He holds a piece of Cap'n Cuttlefish's clothes, looking at the captain's hat below him before placing it back down, trying to remain happy despite the situation around him.
"I hope you'll at least live happily in the afterlife, Cuttlefish..." Agent 3 says to the hat as he stands up, and has a moment of silence before he hears someone in the living room cough quietly and weakly call out for help as he rushes inside to see a horrible sight before him that causes him to nearly vomit in disgust. A near-melted Octavio in his human form has come out of his snow globe, his torso, left arm and head being the only remaining body parts as the octarian leader lets out a disturbing wheeze as he tries to cling onto his last minutes of his life.
"K...Kalma..." The octarian says, as Agent 3 rushes over to Octavio, holding his half-melted body as the octarian man coughs again and smiles happily at the inkling boy. "Kalma... I'm glad that you cared about checking up on me. My life is about to end, a-as you can see... Ahahaha... that flood made a big n...NUMBER off of me..." The octarian leader laughs weakly while trying to stand up, but coughs out ink that lands on the ground, falling back onto Agent 3's arms as he looks back up at Kalma who's shown to have tears falling down his face as he continues staring at the dying Octavio he's holding.
"Not you too, Octavio... I knew, that me and the others should've found you and Cuttlefish before the flood even started taking effect..."
"N-no, it's alright, Kalma... me and Cuttlefish have lived... o-our lives long enough... I... I have one request of you, before I get splatted..." Octavio places his hand on Agent 3's, and continues smiling at the inkling boy as more of his body starts melting into ink.
"I want you... to take me to... where Cuttlefish's c-clothes are. I... at least w-want... to die... beside the r-remains of my... b-best friend..." The octarian leader tries to cling onto his life as Agent 3 rushes to where Marie and Pacific are, the two being shocked as they see what's happened to Octavio before Agent 3 places him next to Cuttlefish's clothes. Before dying, the octarian looks around him, and smiles happily as he places his hand on his best friend's hat and closes his eyes.
"H-heh... t-thank you, every...one. Especially y-you, Kalma... Marie... Callie... E-Epsilon..." The octarian coughs, until he sees Epsilon witnessing his melting leader on the ground and rushes toward him, falling onto his knees as he looks at Octavio with his mouth agape.
"Octavio... w-what happened!? No, no, no, PLEASE! Don't die on me! Who's going to be taking care of the octarians now!? I DON'T WANT TO LOSE YOU! ANYONE BUT YOU!" Epsilon loudly says in panic, while Octavio tries to calm him down, but fails as Epsilon continues rambling on about how the octarian race will die without Octavio leading them.
"Epsilon, be quiet! Octavio is trying to say something to you!" Agent 3 raises his voice, as Epsilon silences himself, and listens to Octavio's last words to the octoling boy.
"Epsilon, boy... you are the future of octarians. Please take my place as the new leader of octarians, and lead our race into a better future... If there's a wish that I always wanted..." Octavio pauses and takes one final breath before his head begins melting as he barely manages to finish his sentence before dying. "...is for octarians and inklings to live peacefully together..."
And that's that. The octarian leader melts into nothing but purple ink afterward, as everyone mourns the loss of two war veterans. Everyone soon hears Callie and her father come down the stairs, as Arctic sees the splatted Cuttlefish and Octavio. Even for someone who hated octarians in the past, Arctic shows a bit of empathy for Octavio's fate as he takes off his hat, and holds it in front of his chest while looking at Cuttlefish's and Octavio's remains as his face is concealed by shadow.
"My dad lived a good life... I see why Octavio wants inklings and octarians to be together, and not hurt each other. Times do change, after all..." Callie's father mutters, before placing his war hat on him as he looks at Callie and Epsilon whom are mourning the loss of Cuttlefish and Octavio. Even though he doesn't fully approve of his daughter and Epsilon getting together, he can't help, but smile at the two as he sees them holding each other's hands.
"So what now, everyone?" Marie asks, looking back up after everyone has had their moment of silence together. Arctic steps forward, and opens his mouth as he says one thing.
"Take me to the hospital, everyone." He says, confusing everyone, as they see his wounds having been fully healed with only minor bruises and scars on him. Marie's father places his hand on his brother's shoulder, chuckling for a moment. "Why, Arctic? You're perfectly fi-" He's interrupted, as Arctic looks at Pacific with a worried look. Something that's rarely shown from his brother. "No, Pacific. I'm not fine! I just tried to splat my own daughter and her friends today, and I'm far too dangerous to wander around this planet, especially since I suffer a mental disorder that causes me to become crazy and murderous whenever I see an octarian! So please, I ask you, and Callie this..." Arctic says, before he looks at everyone else as he asks one request of them that Callie wants so badly to refuse, but must accept in order for her father's mental disorder to be treated.
"Please take me to the hospital. I need to get my disorder treated as soon as possible." He finishes his request, and proceeds to walk to where the front door is, and puts on his raincoat and boots while Callie and Marie's father follow him. Marie and the others are about to follow the brothers and Callie, only for Arctic to move his hand towards them as they stop in their tracks.
"Epsilon, Marie and Kalma... don't come with me, alright? This is a personal matter between me, Callie and Pacific. You three stay here. Pacific and Callie will come back later this evening when I've been institutionalized." He is about to leave the house and enter Pacific's car that he and his brother rode in, until he turns back one more time to look at his niece and the octoling and inkling boys while Callie and Pacific finish getting inside of their raincoats.
"Take care of yourselves, everyone. And Epsilon... thank you for making me realize my mistakes..." He half-smiles at the octoling, before closing the door behind him as Callie and Pacific follow him outside of the house. Agent 3 and Marie rush to where the living room is, and see Callie's father activate his bubbler that appears around him and Callie while Pacific turns on his bubbler as the three enter the car and drive off to the Calamari City Hospital.
"Kalma... what do we do now?" The Squid Sister asks Agent 3, who sighs and walks toward the couch while responding to Marie's question. "I don't know, Marie. Cuttlefish and Octavio are gone, because of this damn flood. And this flood, I feel won't be the last time we'll see a disaster like this." He proceeds to sit on the couch, water being squished out by the impact as it splashes onto Agent 3's butt, causing him to jolt back up to his feet in pain and yelp in pain as he looks at the water the couch emitted.
"You better be careful, Kalma. Water's everywhere in the house now, you know?" Marie snickers, while Agent 3 rolls his eyes in annoyance and looks back at Marie. "Yeah, your help is REALLY appreciated, Ms. Marie the Captain Obvious of the Squid Sisters. You could've told me that earlier, before I sat down on the couch." He can't help, but laugh as well while Epsilon peeks into the room and steps inside where the pair of inklings are.
"What are you two up to?" The octoling asks, joining in on the duo's conversation while Agent 3 is holding his butt, growling in pain.
"Well, my butt got splashed on by water when I tried to sit on the couch, and... DAMN IT, IT HURTS!" He groans, to which the octoling and Squid Sister only chuckle a bit. "Come on, Agent 3. Don't be like that! You've taken more serious wounds than getting water on your butt!" Marie laughs, to which Agent 3 responds by throwing himself into the Squid Sister as the two tumble onto the ground, rolling as Marie continues laughing.
"Oh, you wanna go, don't you, Marie!?" Agent 3 says with joy in his voice, as the two begin play fighting on the wooden floor together. Epsilon just stares at the two, and places his hand on his face and and moves his head side to side while sighing at the same time as he begins walking back out of the living room.
"Well, I'm going to be taking the clothes of DJ Octavio and Cap'n Cuttlefish and burn them." He says in a serious tone, as Marie and Kalma stop play fighting after the octoling says this, and look up at Epsilon with confused looks. They quickly get up and run to where he is, seeing him pick up the clothes of his leader and Marie's grandfather along with the hats.
"Why are you going to burn Octavio's and Cuttlefish's clothes, Epsilon!? Isn't that disrespecting the dead!?" Agent 3 says, confused, as Epsilon just walks past them to where the fireplace is as he grabs the wood next to it as he responds to the two.
"Because clothes of the ones who got splatted were usually burned during the Great Turf War, as I've learned from history books. If I do that for Cuttlefish and Octavio, their souls will be set completely free and will be able to ascend to the afterlife. So no, I am not disrespecting Cuttlefish or Octavio." Epsilon throws the logs of wood into the fireplace, and walks back out of the living room to find some oil in the basement. Marie and Agent 3 just stare at each other, confused as to what's going on until they see the octoling boy return, holding an oil container in his hand.
"Are you two going to stop me from burning the clothes, or what?" Epsilon says, sounding more serious as Agent 3 and Marie just step back, and decline that they won't do that to their friend. Epsilon just nods with a neutral expression at the two, and throws Cuttlefish's and Octavio's clothes inside onto the wood. He barely manages to fit in Octavio's helmet due to its size, and accidentally cuts himself while trying to push it in as he starts bleeding out dark purple blood. "Heh, it's just a paper cut, you two! No need to worry about me, alright?" He says with a smirk as he lets his blood drip out, and begins pouring oil into the fireplace where the clothes are. He stares at the clothes for a while, before lighting up a match, about to set the clothes ablaze while looking down in sorrow.
"It was nice to know you, Cuttlefish and Octavio. Good bye, you two..." He quietly says, before throwing the match inside and sets the clothes and hats inside aflame as Marie and Agent 3 look at the fireplace, not taking their eyes off of it.
"At least my grandfather and Octavio can now move on to their next life. If the history books were correct, then I think you did something good, Epsilon." She slowly smiles at the octoling, as Epsilon just sighs, and looks at the hat of Octavio that's starting to melt from the flames, continuing to stare at it as if it was something that was important to him.
"Heh, you're right, Marie. But I have to ask you both one thing now." The octoling asks Marie and Kalma, both raising an eyebrow in curiosity as Epsilon looks up at them while sitting on his knees.
"I need you both to leave me alone for a while. The loss of Octavio means something personal to me, and all of the octarians..." He looks back at the fireplace while Agent 3 and Marie listen to what Epsilon asked of them, and leave the living room as they leave the octoling boy alone for himself. They slowly close the door behind them, and look at each other until they begin to hear Epsilon quietly cry in the living room as Marie proceeds to grab the handle of the door and try to open it.
"No, Marie." Agent 3 grabs her hand and stops her, taking her hand off of the handle as the pair just stare at the door, hearing Epsilon's crying turn louder while they decide to just go to the bedroom and stay there until Callie and Pacific come back.
2 and a half hours later, 8:07 PM.
A few hours have passed, and Callie and Pacific haven't returned yet. All is silent in the dark bedroom, except for the sound of raindrops hitting the window as Agent 3 and Marie just stare at the short-circuited television while laying on the wooden floor. The sound of Epsilon crying is no longer heard throughout the house, but they both know, that he's still in the living room.
"Where are Callie and Pacific? Shouldn't they be back by now?" Agent 3 asks suddenly, sounding worried as he looks at his phone and tries phoning Callie, only for it to go straight to voice mail. "They will come back, alright? Callie just has to stay with her father for a while, and I kind of expected that it would be longer than just an hour or two." She says in an attempt to calm down Agent 3 while placing one of her gloved hands onto the bed, only for water to soak out of it as she pushes the bed. Marie proceeds to sigh in annoyance, being bored as well as the two just stare up at the ceiling.
"Hey, Marie?" Kalma grabs the attention of the Squid Sister with a somewhat serious tone in his voice as Marie turns toward the inkling boy and emits a neutral acknowledgement, wondering what's up. "Have you ever actually wondered, how if there existed an alternate universe, where I was evil instead of good?" Agent 3 says, as the two close their eyes and imagine themselves in the alternate universe.
Recommended Music: Undertale - The Fallen Child
The universe the two see before themselves, is nothing but a wasteland of the Calamari City they're in. The buildings are in ruins and the streets are completely abandoned, save for the splatted corpses of innocent inklings that were murdered by the Agent 3 in that universe. The howl of the wind sends shivers down Agent 3's and Marie's backs as they walk through the abandoned city.
"Imagine, that if all of us were in a world, where everyone we knew and loved got splatted by an evil version of myself who wasn't satisfied enough splatting octarians in Octo Valley. In this alternate what-if universe, I am an evil, remorseless and emotionless monster that takes pride in killing others, including..." He gulps from hearing the faint screams of inklings being slaughtered by his evil version, as he opens his eyes that takes him out of the imaginary world, and looks at Marie in the eyes. "...You..." He says, sounding somewhat creeped and freaked out while he feels Marie's hand holding his as he hears her whimpering in fear.
"I-it's a scary thought, Kalma... Are you t-trying to give me nightmares, or something? There can't be a universe that's like that! It would be far too evil and cruel!" Marie says with worry in her voice, as Agent 3 warmly smiles at her and chuckles as he holds the Squid Sister close to him, hugging her as he pats her back.
Recommended Music: Undertale - Memory
"Of course, there isn't, Marie. It's just something that I only imagine would happen. A what-if universe, if I didn't feel sympathy for the octarians. Of course, I am not completely innocent or naive in this universe, but I only had to splat the octarians out of self-defense during my time in Octo Valley." He says reassuringly, while Marie proceeds to cuddle with the inkling boy, feeling better while holding him. She proceeds to chuckle a bit, before looking up at Agent 3's face with a half-smile.
"That's true, Kalma. You at least felt bad for splatting the octarians, and look at what we have now! We have an octoling who's become one of our friends, and we even managed to help Callie's father become somewhat nice and friendly toward octarians now!" She happily grins, and begins crushing Agent 3 with a hug as he tries to gasp for air, to which Marie notices this and lets go of Kalma. The two look at each other for a while and snicker a bit as they get up to their feet and look at each other in the dark room they're in.
"Don't worry, Marie. This Rainstorm deal will be over soon, and we just have to survive the rest of this day, then Day 6 and finally Day 7! Do you know when the Rainstorm stops during the final day?" He asks, to which she responds at the same time and date as when it started, somewhere during 5:00 PM. Agent 3 proceeds to nod in relief, as he steps toward the door leading to the ruined corridor outside. He looks back at Marie who's still in the bedroom, and grabs her attention by telling her to follow her as she does so with hand movements.
Recommended to stop the music.
"Marie, I wanted to show you something that I found when we first arrived here 5 days ago. Follow me, and I'll show you this "something"!" He says, as he and Marie walk down the dark corridor, the inkling boy turning on his flashlight that lights up the corridor with a purple color. The look of the corridor at this time during the evening creeps Marie out a bit, but holding Agent 3 causes her to calm down, as the two turn to the left where the attic is.
"Over here, to the left at the first door!" Kalma instructs, as the two walk over to a door with a familiar gold platter on it saying "SECURITY OFFICE". The room that Kalma was interested in, yet, didn't fully explore when he first entered it when he arrived to the house.
"A security room? How come, that me, Callie or Epsilon didn't notice this before?" Marie says, absolutely confused at what she's seeing in front of her while Agent 3 grabs the handle of the door, and swings it open to reveal the room. What surprises him when he sees the room, is that nothing in the security office seems to have been affected by the flood whatsoever, save for the lamp hanging above that has malfunctioned due to the power in the house short-circuiting. The two enter the room, as Agent 3 closes the door behind him as he and Marie begin looking around the security room, interested in what they've found.
Author's Note: Thought I'd forget about the security room during Day 1, huh? Also, I posted an April Fools joke that, in which I pretty much used the very first chapter of this story and disguised it as Chapter 21. And yes, it's now taken down. This is the REAL Chapter 21. So for those who actually left a review for Chapter 21 on the April Fools version, send me a PM instead as a review.
Anyways, we're reaching the end of Day 5 now! There's now only 1 more chapter left, before we move onto Day 6! Oh, and coinciding with Day 6 and onward now, will be the Genocide version of The Rainstorm. When I release a chapter for Day 6 and onward, a chapter will be posted as well in the Genocide version. And yes, that "imaginary universe"? That is how the atmosphere of the Genocide version will be like.
Now, I got one more question before I begin writing the final chapter of Day 5: Who's excited for the Genocide version? I sure am eager to see some blood get spilled. =)
-Lord Apoplexy