Eight took a deep breath as he steadied his shot. He took aim to the low-most balloon fish, looking through the scope of the charger.
As the three balloon fish lined up, he let loose his shot. The first balloon exploded, destroying most crates on the lower level, followed by the second and third balloons, which destroyed the rest of the crates…
…except for the two on the upper left-most corner.
"You didn't bust all the crates— Test failed,"
Eight fell to his knees as the sound of beeping reached his ears, and the bomb strapped to his back exploded in ink.
He respawned with a bamboozler in his hands, and before he could register it he was riding along an inkrail. He spotted some crates along the sides, some even on top of octowashers, and did his best to shoot them. He did good for the first eight or so but missed the ninth shot. He tried to shoot it in time, but it was already so far away. The inkrail came to an end and he jumped into the void, his body evaporating in thin air.
He reappeared holding a pair of Splat Dualies in his hands. He could see in the distance about eight or so Sanitized Octolings waiting for him, standing there almost tauntingly.
Eight threw his Dualies away as he slumped with his back towards one of the pillars, his ink tank scraping against the metal and making an awful sound that made him recoil a bit.
The first two Octoling Warriors super-jumped over and began moving closer and closer to the orb in the center, the loud sounds it emitted hurting his ears.
He drew his knees closer to his chest and felt himself begin to cry just as his ink tank's bomb began to beep and inflate.
The only thing he wanted was to make it safely to Inkopolis...
Three felt herself be woken up by something faintly moving beside her on the bed.
She didn't really react at first, as her brain hadn't really woken up like her body did, but it soon did as a faint groan came from beside her too.
Turning slowly, she came to face the sleeping form of Eight, laying on his side, yet he hardly looked like he was getting a good rest.
His face was strained, like if he had been hurting. Likewise, his hand was tightly gripping the bed covers, while the other did the same to the bedsheets.
Finally grasping the situation, Three slowly but firmly reached out to stroke the young Octoling's shoulder, shaking him gently while talking in a sweet and soothing tone of voice.
"It's okay, Eight,"
She continued to shake him gently in an effort to wake him up, but to no avail. Her hand glided from his shoulder to his face, slightly caressing his cheek.
"It's okay, Eight," she repeated "You're alright,"
Eight's eyes snapped open, and a panicked gasp escaped him. His eyes moved frantically trying to set on something, which they finally did on Three's form.
His eyes locked onto her heterochromatic orange and green eyes —a remnant of that horrible place—, calming him down somewhat, yet he still was on edge.
"Are you okay?" Three's voice came, soft and sweet. Eight took a moment before slowly nodding.
"Yes... Only bad dreams..."
Three smiled sadly at him, caressing his cheek again and looking into his lovely light brown eyes. He still hadn't gotten over the Metro —Understandably so—, but his nightmares were getting less and less bad with the passage of time.
"You are out of there now, Eight," she soothed, receiving a small nod in response "You are safe here,"
The Octoling smiled sweetly, slowly moving closer to hug her and rest his head on the crook on her neck, something he rarely did since he was a couple inches taller than her. Three happily returned the embrace, one hand going to the base of Eight's largest tentacle on his head, caressing it softly, while the other went to her waist where one of the Octoling's hands rested, taking it and interlocking their fingers together.
"Us are safe," he said, after a bit of silence.
Three giggled softly to herself, leaning back slowly so they could look at each other. There was something about his broken Inkling that made him so unique, in her opinion.
"We are safe," she corrected.
The Octoling rolled his eyes and again buried his head on her shoulder, slightly nuzzling her.
"I am happy we are the friends," he said, slowly moving to place a loving kiss on her cheek.
Three raised an eyebrow, moving back again a bit, but not too much so they wouldn't stop hugging "Mmh, just friends?"
Eight chucked softly before replying "we are the lovers?"
The Inkling smiled and moved to place a loving kiss to the Octoling's lips, a kiss that was happily returned in kind.
"That's more like it," she purred, cuddling up to him.
They stayed like that for a few moments, just enjoying each other's company. Three slowly moved back to lay a soft kiss to Eight's forehead, the Octoling smiling and looking up at her in turn.
His eyes locked onto hers, more specifically her right eye. He felt bad every time he looked into the abnormal green iris, what was once a beautiful orange color.
His hands moved to caress her cheek lovingly, yet he smiled sadly "I am sorry of your eye,"
Three smiled sympathetically, petting his tentacle like one would pet a child to calm them down, speaking in that soft tone of hers.
"You know it isn't your fault, Eight," she received a soft nod in response.
He always brought her green eye up when they were alone, but she didn't find it annoying or anything. It was kind of sweet, in a way.
"It is not, but I feels bad of it," Three giggled softly before replying.
"It's okay though, I use contacts," Eight sighed and nodded, conceding.
"it's really sweet of you to care," She smiled, after a bit of silence "I love you,"
"I loves you too," he replied, moving to softly peck her lips with his.
Three giggled girlishly, happily returning the soft kiss. Both of them cherished these moments of their relationship dearly, enjoying them as best they could.
"Mmh~," Three moaned softly in appreciation, once the kiss ended "Spoon me?"
Eight smiled softly at her, nodding. Three smiled back and turned around, her back now facing her Octoling boyfriend. She felt his arms wrapping around her midsection, his chest pressing comfortingly against her back.
The Inkling giggled softly as Eight laid a soft kiss to the back of her neck. She turned her torso a bit to properly kiss him in turn, smiling sweetly before resting her head on the pillow again.
"Good night, sweetie,"
"Good night, prettiest,"
With those words, the young couple fell back asleep slowly, all the while thinking about the wonderful person they shared a bed with.