An Inkling of Sympathy Ch. 17
AN: Hey everyone. Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I've been working a lot on my third novel. I'm actually looking for people to give me some feedback on the previous one before I go to publish it. It's also rated T, so if you'd be interested in giving it a read let me know! As always, your reviews and messages are much appreciated. I thought about making a joke about canceling the series, but it took me a little longer to write the chapter so I missed April Fool's Day. Ah well. -Kiba
Sheldon and I quickly arrived back just in time. Marie had begun to groggily wake up as Callie rushed to greet me by throwing her arms around me tightly. "What happened?" she demanded. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," I assured her, as Sheldon's eyes seemed to focus elsewhere. He walked in a daze towards Sil who was on the floor, writhing in obvious agony. "How is she?"
Callie frowned. "She kept calling out for you," she explained. "I've done my best to try to make her feel better, but whatever is wrong it must hurt a lot."
Sheldon pulled his pack from his back, setting it down beside her before he too sat, crossing his legs beneath them. "Hello," he greeted politely, causing her deep violet eyes to open and regard the stranger. "My name is Sheldon," he continued, "I'm going to help you feel better. What's your name?"
After a slight hesitation, she opened her mouth to speak before letting out a pained whimper. Approaching the two, I knelt down beside her. "Her name is Sil," I explained. "At least, that's what we call her. She's a pretty amazing girl. She's taken a full face of ink at least twice and just shrugged it off."
Sheldon's smile faded slightly as he rummaged in his back. "When did she first show up?"
"Shortly after reaching my old shop. At first, only I could see her. Then when we were down in the sewers, we could all see her." Remembering that Sheldon had mentioned the Yellow Mark, maybe he knew something about her. "Oh! That reminds me. Something happened to us down there. We ended up in a weird place called Carcosa."
The needle he was preparing fell from his hand with a clatter on the ground. "D-did you say C-carcosa?" Sheldon stuttered nervously. "How in the world did you manage to get out of C-carcosa?"
"With the help of this little one," I replied, gently running my hand over her tentacles as she let out another low moan of agony. "She saved all of us."
Off to the side, Callie had returned to her own wounded cousin who gripped her head painfully. "Oww...what happened?" Marie whined.
"Marie, you're okay now," Callie assured her, hugging her perplexed sister tightly. "Listen to me, I don't think my life would be easier without you, okay?"
"Where's all this coming from?"
"Don't worry about that, just...just know that it's true. Hold on to it, no matter what. No matter how bad things get, don't forget that I love you and that my world would be far more empty without you."
Marie slowly hugged Callie in return. "Callie, I'm so sorry," she replied, her memories starting to trickle back. "I wasn't myself, you know? I mean...I was jealous...am jealous, but I'd never…"
"I know," she quickly cut her off. "I know."
"Tell me everything!" Sheldon demanded. "Did you see the Yellow King?! Please, tell me! I have to know!"
I shook my head. "I fear the Yellow King has been dead for quite some time,," I finally whispered. Sheldon sank back on his knees in shock. "What's wrong?"
"I'd always thought...maybe if I could find him, maybe he'd come back…" he whispered, tears forming beneath his spectacles and running down his cheeks.
"Sheldon?"
"My Grandfather was the last King in Yellow. He made a trade with the Carcosans. They'd give him information on how to beat Cthulu if he surrendered his hand in marriage to them once it was all said and done. My grandpappy," his words were interrupted by a sniffle as he wiped his face, "he was a genius. My grandma died shortly after the war started, so he'd always assumed that his mission would be his last. He had a daughter, see? My mother. But the two never got along. He was always in laboratory, tinkering away. He didn't do much fathering."
"Sheldon, I'm so sorry," I began, biting my tongue to prevent from revealing that it was I who was meant to be the next King. "If it helps, he ended up having another daughter. Two of them, in fact. He may have been happy there."
The horseshoe crab's expression darkened as he glared at me, "Let's get one thing straight. My grandpappy never would have stooped so low as to fall into their trap if he didn't absolutely have to. I am certain he fought until his dying breath before marrying that demon! He wouldn't just…" He paused, taking a deep breath. "My Grandpappy left me a large collection of written letters detailing his work and the encounters he faced. The Crest of Carcosa allowed him to learn...things. Forbidden tomes of knowledge that flooded his mind. You've already felt it, I'm sure. You've seen the ruins of R'lyeh, learned its language perhaps? That's all because of the Yellow Sign. All it takes is spilling the blood of one person using its power and you're officially they're puppet. Whatever willpower saved you from turning before would be of no use to you any longer. That's why I stopped you."
"Thank you," I muttered.
He sighed softly, picking the needle back up again and expelling a small bit of fluid to get rid of the air inside of it. "Hold her still, this will help with the pain." I obliged, cradling Sil in my arms as he moved the needle closer to her wrist. As a drop fell from its tip, it sizzled on her arm, and I quickly pushed his hand away.
"Wait, look," I instructed, pointing to the small blotch on her skin. Sure enough, whatever was in that needle was burning her, almost like…"That's R'lyeh Ink isn't it?"
"Y-yeah," he replied just as I wiped it from her arm.
"So R'lyeh ink hurts her? Why? It healed the rest of us."
"R'lyeh only hurts Great Old Ones. It was how Cthulu killed his kin."
"Kin?"
"Yes. Great Old Ones are all related," Sheldon explained. "They don't have any true name for them in recorded history, but they're assumed to be beings from a distant universe that's far different from our own."
"So then...Sil is…"
"Related to Cthulu, yes."
Something else dawned on me as well. "I'm sorry to say Sheldon, that I know how your grandpappy died now. Cthulu must have killed him. They told me the previous King died at the hands of his half-brother."
Sheldon fell quiet once more as he stared at the now shivering elder god. "Then that makes our mission all the more important. I intend to make my Grandpappy proud of me. Unfortunately, I don't have any tools necessary to help Sil. She's just going to have to suffer until we can defeat Cthulu and find a way to cure her stomach ache."
I clutched her tightly in my arms as she cried weakly and nuzzled closer, her hands resting on her stomach. "Y-y'gnaiih…" she whispered, the first time I'd actually heard her speak from her own mouth rather than in my head.
"Y'gnaiih?" Sheldon murmured, looking up at me before pulling out a large series of papers from his bag and flipping from them. "This is what she's been calling you?"
"Yeah, do you know what it means?"
After a few moments, Sheldon paused, his features scrunching up. "It means 'my father'. She's saying that you're a great old one."
"What? But...I'm not her father! She just appeared in front of me is all. I mean, I didn't even...I mean, I've never…" I stumbled over my words as I tried to justify myself to the young crab. Sil, however, continued to nuzzle closer to me. If he could translate R'lyehian though, perhaps he could help us identify who Sil actually was. "She also called herself 'Y'Goffyn'. What does that mean?"
"My children," he replied after flipping through a few more notes. "That doesn't make any sense…"
"Sounds pretty sensible to me," I replied. "If I'm her 'father', she is 'my children'."
"That's not quite how it works," Sheldon explained. "The fact that she calls herself 'my children', means that she is her own child. Great Old Ones reproduce like we do. So in a way, she's calling you her father and her child at the same time."
"This is all so confusing," I groaned. "But if her real parents also called her 'my children' then…" I paused for a moment. "This is going to sound crazy. But if Sil is related to Cthulu...and her name is 'my Children'...then is it possible that she…" I let the words hang there as all eyes turned to the silent child whimpering in agony. "I mean, that's insane right? She couldn't be his...you know...how would he even have...you know?"
"That wouldn't explain why she calls you 'my father'," Sheldon pointed out. "Come on, let's get back to the surface and regroup. I think I have a plan to fight Cthulu."
Running my hand through Sil's tentacles, I frowned. "We have another problem as well. The Captain has been captured by the enemy. We have Agent 3 searching for him, but...she's just a kid. I don't know how much longer her stamina will be able to hold out."
"Gramps is gone?" Marie questioned, her voice sinking just as Callie's had when she heard the news. "Then, what are we supposed to do? Without him, we have nothing. At this point, we were better off in Carcosa."
"Now hold on," Callie interjected. "That's not true! We have everything we need right here. We've got Lusca and the Yellow Sign. We have a Great Old One on our side. We literally have everything and more that formed the first Squid Beak Splatoon." Callie's forwardness made us all quiet down as she let out a huff. "No one ever thought this was going to be easy! We knew that coming down here that it would be hard. But I'd like to point out that we have fought and survived against two Great Old Ones and we've even managed to come out unharmed! As far as I'm concerned, that means we are winning this fight."
"Callie, while I appreciate the optimism…" Sheldon began, but she interrupted him.
"We are winning! Agent 3 has already taken down one Octarian War Machine by herself! Lusca's insanity seems to be under wraps now that he has better control of the sign. We are all together and we are all safe. We're soldiers now. We're in a war and in a war you don't call yourself defeated when we're in the lead. Now as Sheldon said, let's go back to Inkopolis. Maybe we can find something for Sil there. Agent 3, too. She's probably exhausted. Let's clear our heads, then restart our search for the weapon in the morning."
As she stood there with her hands on her hips, I could feel a soft smile crossing my features. It was amazing to watch her take charge. I could see now why the Captain chose her to lead. It was then that I knew, I'd follow Callie anywhere. "She's right," I agreed. "Whoever took the Captain needs him for something. They won't kill him. He's counting on us to finish this mission. He said so himself, this is bigger than all of us. It's not just about us anymore. This is about the whole world." The dark-tentacled popstar smiled at me as I stood beside her, holding Sil in my arms.
"I suppose that is a logical conclusion," Sheldon murmured to himself.
Marie however, remained completely silent. "Marie?" Callie asked, "Is something wrong?"
After a few more moments, she took a deep breath and shook her head. "No. You guys go ahead and return to the surface without me. I'm going to keep looking until I find him. If you want to have your premature celebration top-side while Gramps dies, fine, but count me out of it." Her words were cold and bitter, and I could see the hurt she was causing Callie. Why did Marie insist on doing this to herself?
"Marie, you're coming with us," I stated blithely. "This isn't a celebration, this is a tactical retreat."
"A tactical retreat?" she scoffed, "A tactical retreat from what enemy? The only hostiles we've encountered so far have been the Carcosa cunts and you."
Anger began to pour into me as my eyes flashed a sinister gold, but Callie quickly stepped in front of me. "That's enough, Marie."
"Ooh, there's a surprise," she grumbled as she stood up and dusted herself off, "Callie to Lusca's rescue. She has to make sure her hooks are in deep. Can't let him get out of sight, no sir."
Sheldon seemed very concerned by the building situation as his gaze constantly flowed between the three of us. "Marie, that's enough," Callie repeated, this time colder than before.
"You're right, Callie, it is enough. I'm sick of this. You keep forsaking your own family at any given chance to follow behind Lusca like a love-sick puppy. I've had enough." She turned to leave, and that was when the wall Callie struggled to keep up cracked.
Cutting off her cousin's path, I could see rage in her eyes. "I'm the love-sick puppy? I'm the one who forsaked our family? Last I checked, Marie, you have no right to be criticizing anyone!" Marie took a surprised step back, causing Callie to advance on her like a hungry animal. "You're the one who became so obsessed Marie! When we first met Lusca, I just wanted to be nice. When I moved the Inkstrike, I didn't do it to flirt. I didn't do it to impress him or to seduce him. I did it because he begged us to stop it! I saved his life at our concert because we promised we would leave him in the same state we got him. Do you know why he picked me? It's because this entire time, I'm the only one who's treated him like a person and not some sort of prize to be won!"
Marie growled, ready to come back equally strong. "Oh, really? You've never flirted with him, not even a little? Don't give me that crap, Callie! You've gotten into his bed, not once, not twice, but three times now! You think he doesn't see through your, 'Oh, look at me. I'm just a cute girl who's naive and vulnerable' act? What happened to all of that bravado form when we were in a cell? Oh that's right, you don't have any! I may have trouble sorting out my feelings, but I'm still more consistent than you. Lusca came to rescue you and you treated him like dirt because he killed one Inkling. One inkling in his entire lifetime was enough to shake your faith in him and yet, have you ever told him how many Octarians you've splatted?"
"Marie, don't…"
"What's wrong, Callie? Afraid that he won't love you once he finds out your dirty secret?"
"Marie, shut up!"
My eyes shifted between the two of them. What was Marie talking about? Even Sheldon looked to be at a complete loss as Sil began to cry in pain into my shoulder. "Well, you know what they say, Callie! The foundation of every good relationship is honesty and trust. Let's see how much he trusts you when you're honest." Turning back to me, she wore a sinister smirk on her lips. "Did Callie ever tell you how we got into this business, Lusca? Hmm?" Callie went to pounce on her cousin, but Marie slugged her hard in the jaw, sending her to the ground with a whimper. "Oh sure, it was all fun and games at first. We would pretend we were part of the legendary 'Squidbeak Splatoon' Gramps was always telling us stories about. We'd pretend to fight Octarians and we'd spray each other with harmless colored ink. But then one day, Callie actually met an Octarian. Just some kid, not much older than us."
"Lusca, don't listen to her," Callie begged, just as Marie put her foot on her head, pushing it into the dirt.
"That kid had taken a wrong turn. He wasn't hurting anyone, just minding his own business. So do you know what your oh, so, innocent angel did? She went inside, grabbed one of Gramps' guns, and while he was pleading for her to let him go, pointed the barrel in his face and splatted him."
My hearts pounded roughly in my chest as Sil's grip tightened on my collar, her pain becoming even greater than it was before. "Callie, is that true?" I asked, desperately hoping it wasn't.
"Yes," she whimpered. "It's true."
"When Gramps heard what she did, hardly being even ten years old, he didn't scold her or comfort her. He praised her! He told her she had done well to help stop an Octarian from invading our home on the surface. Turns out, Callie couldn't stop there, of course. She had to have even more attention. But she couldn't just wait for another Octarian to wander to the surface. She started sneaking out at night, dragging me from my bed, to go down into Octovalley and hunt the Octarians she hated so much. To this day, she still keeps track of her kills. One notch on her bed at Gramps' cottage for each Octarian corpse she left behind."
My mouth felt dry as I stared down at the pink-clad girl. Her entire body was heaving as tears rained from her eyes. "Callie, why?"
"I didn't know!" Callie cried. "I didn't know that Octarians could be good people. I didn't know!" Her entire body shook as Marie moved off of her, walking towards me. Sitting up, she wrapped her arms around herself, sobbing pitifully. "I was just a kid. A stupid kid. Gramps told me all of these stories about how he was a hero. I wanted to be a hero, too!"
"A hero?" I growled. "A hero?! A hero doesn't gun down innocent children Callie! A hero doesn't go out looking for blood!" My body was shaking as I continued to seethe. "How many, Callie? You keep count, so tell me how many!"
"Lusca…"
"HOW MANY?!" I roared, causing a flash of golden flames to erupt from my eyes.
"2,148," she finally confessed. "I've killed 2,148 Octarians. But I never lied to you, Lusca, I swear. I told you, I've never really thought about what I was doing before I met you. I've lost countless hours of sleep over each and every one of those Octarians. There's not a moment I don't regret not pausing to think that maybe I was hurting innocent people!"
"See?" Marie interjected. "Your goody two-shoes angel is nothing but a front, Lusca. She's as bloodthirsty as a shark."
My fist clenched, golden energy flooding my hands as I held the still wailing Sil in my arms. "Callie, I'm about to gain retribution for every innocent life you stole. I swear to you, I'm going to make you pay for every drop of blood you've spilled with your own." Lifting up my hand towards her, she just hung her head low, weeping. There was a high pitched whine followed by a crackling sound, just as electricity arced through my body, sending me to my knees with a hiss, and collapsing on the ground.
Sheldon stood there, anger in his eyes as he quickly turned the gun on Marie. "One more word from you and you're next," he warned. Keeping the gun trained on her, he walked over to Callie and crouched down, placing his hand comfortingly on her shoulder. "Callie, it's okay. Let's get you out of here, huh?"
"Heh, seduced another one, Callie?" Marie asked before the crab kept true to his promise and zapped her to a crumpled heap.
"Listen to me. I grew up on the same stories, Callie. My grandpappy wasn't around to tell me them, but I poured over his book every night. That's why I started designing weapons in the first place. War is harsh, Callie, we all know that. Even Lusca."
I began to struggle to get up, but Sheldon turned and pointed his gun back at me. I still felt so angry. "I swear," I growled, "I'll...kill…"
"Shut up," Sheldon snapped. "Is this really all it takes to turn you against someone you claim to love? You're still clinging to Sil. Do you have any clue how many beings have probably been sacrificed to her over time? Sil is in agony and if you had paid attention for even half a second, you'd realize that she hurts even more when you argue and fight! I warned you what would happen with the Yellow Sign if you killed someone. So let...it...go. You can talk about this topside once you've cooled off. Until then, I shoot the next person who argues, understand?" Putting Callie's arm around his shoulder, he helped her towards the extraction zone he'd planned for in advance, before turning to regard Marie and I. "Are you two coming?"
I said nothing, simply helping Marie to her feet and cradling Sil as I followed after them both. Was Sheldon right? It wasn't just the sign making me angry was it? Worse, was that what was hurting Sil? She was trembling in my arms, but the pain seemed to have subsided. Part of me was relieved. The other part wished he hadn't been right.
Our trip back to the cabin was absolutely silent. No one wanted to say a word. Now that it had been more or less cleaned up, we found that the same could not be said of the inside when we opened the door. "Oh no," Callie whimpered before Sheldon quickly shielded her eyes, taking her into the back room, checking to ensure they were clear.
"Don't look Callie. It'll be okay. The Captain will be okay."
All of the furniture was strewn about the modest abode. Even the freshly baked crabby cakes had fallen to the ground discarded in the struggle. "God in heaven," I whispered under my breath.
Coming out of the room, Sheldon sighed. "Callie's resting now. Marie, you go into the other room."
"You're putting me in time out? Really, Sheldon?"
"Yes, I am," he shot back matter-of-factly. "If you insist on behaving like a child Marie, I'm going to treat you like one. Now...go to your room."
She let out a disgusted grunt before obliging him, shutting the door behind her. Setting Sil down I began to work righting the upended furniture. "So what about me?" I asked, placing the couch back on its feet. "Let me guess...I'm too dangerous to leave alone? Handcuff me to the stove or something?"
"Don't be silly," Sheldon said, sweeping up the mess on the floor and depositing it into the trash. "I think you've been punished more than enough. Hearing all that because you're in the middle of a feud? That's pretty harsh stuff." What was he getting at?
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," he assured me. "I'm sure if I found out the girl I was crushing on had killed a bunch of my family and friends, I'd be pretty upset too." Sil wobbled over to the couch before flopping on to it with a relieved sigh.
"She didn't…" I paused, giving him a scowl. "But you knew that."
"Naturally."
"How?"
"You went to Octovalley and didn't visit a single person. You instead fought with the one civilian I met. Threatened to kill her even. She accused you of betraying your people for, and I quote, 'getting a piece of tentacle'. Considering those two girls are the only Inklings that really go down into Octo Valley to fight, if your friends and family had been all wiped out, I doubt that you'd have surrendered yourself to them."
"Even still, those people are…"
"Dead. I know. But you saw Callie. Do you really think her a cold remorseless killer? I mean, the poor girl was bawling her eyes out. So she made a mistake…"
"She made over two thousand mistakes," I interrupted.
He sighed, upending a chair and sitting in it. "You can't honestly tell me that you haven't made such a mistake before." Wordlessly, my gaze lowered to my belt, where the blood stained badge still rested. "Yeah, that's what I figured."
"Even still, two thousand people is…" My words trailed off.
After a moment, Sheldon spoke up again. "I'm willing to bet that in their shoes you'd have done the same as her. That's war, Lusca. It's a propaganda battle to see which sheep are dumb enough to run themselves off of a cliff first."
Looking back at Sil where she slept, something occurred to me. "Hey...does she look bigger to you?"
Sheldon appeared confused. "What do you mean?"
Moving closer to her, I gently rested my hand on her stomach. Sure enough, it felt swollen. "She's bloated. When we first found her, she wasn't like this. What could be…" My eyes widened as I suddenly felt a thud against my hand, causing Sil to whimper in her sleep. "Oh my God. She's pregnant."
"What?" Sheldon asked confused, placing his hand beside mine. "That's not possible." Another thud and we both jerked away quickly. "Holy crab...she is…"
The two of us looked at one another. "My father...my child…"
"Maybe you're not the only one she calls 'my father'."
"I'm getting really sick of this freaky shit," I groaned, running my hands through my tentacles. "First I'm seeing crazy doppelgangers and now a pregnant five year old. This is getting out of hand."
"I'll do some research into this. Maybe Grandpappy left something." Just as he stood up to leave, he stopped and pointed at me. "You, on the other hand, need to go talk with Callie. You can be mad all you want, but she made me promise to have you come talk to her." My eyes drifted to Sil, momentarily. "I'll keep watch over her. Go."
"Fine." I replied. Moving from the couch, I walked to Callie's door. Taking a deep breath, I pushed it slightly open, knocking on it gently. I had to keep myself calm. Sheldon was right. I didn't want to hurt her. "Hello?"
Sitting in the bed, her eyes red and puffy, was Callie. She sniffled as she heard me, wiping her face with a tissue. "Hey."
I sighed, walking in and shutting the door behind me. As I sat beside her, my hand went to rest on hers with a smile. She didn't return it. "Callie, I don't know how to start this…"
"I'm sorry."
"What?"
"I'm sorry, Lusca," she whispered. "I didn't want you to find out this way. I just...how do I possibly justify myself to you?" Her hand rolled over to slip her fingers between mine. "I wasn't lying about any of it, I swear to you. I was just being nice at first. I didn't do it because it was love at first sight or anything like that. I just...when you were begging for me to stop it, something clicked in my head. Despite being our enemy, you were actually surprisingly nice to us. When you intercepted us in the end, I thought we were goners for sure. But then you surrendered yourself. You didn't have to do that, but you did. You cared about us, even though we'd only just met."
I smiled, slipping into bed beside her as she'd done with me so many times. "That makes four," I informed her with a smile.
She smiled back at me, nuzzling into my shoulder. "Then, after all of the trouble we've put you through for us...I didn't know what to say. You told me once that you wouldn't forgive me because there was nothing to forgive remember? Well, I'm asking you again...please forgive me?"
In response, I simply lifted her chin slightly to stare into her beautiful golden eyes. Holding her gaze captive with my own, I leaned forward and placed a loving kiss against her lips. After the briefest of moments, her eyes closed as she pressed herself back against me. Our legs tangled with one another's as I held her close to me, savoring her taste. Soon our tongues clashed as we seemed to continue taking it step after step further.
As she gripped my tentacles, holding me to her neck, I sucked and nibbled on her skin affectionately. She let out a gentle moan into my ear, like beautiful music. "L-lusca…"
I ignored her addressing me, taking the time to ensure that the hickie I left on her throat would be visible in contrast to her pale skin. She giggled, her hands running from my head down my spine and to my waist. Now that she was marked, I pulled my mouth from her throat, leaving a glistening dark spot, now moist from my saliva.
"I get to give you one now, right?" she asked. I nodded, tilting my head slightly to the side as she rolled on top of me, burying her face into the side of me neck. Already I could feel her sharp teeth grazing my skin, yet with the feeling of her soft body on top of mine, I didn't even really care.
She was straddling my waist as she pulled from my neck. Sitting up, I ran my hands up her thighs before giving her a playful spank that made her blush profusely with a surprised squeak. Before I could comment on the adorable sound, however, she pounced on me, fiercely making out with me on the cot.
It wasn't until a few minutes later that Sheldon burst in, causing both of us to immediately sit up with a start, causing Callie to nearly tumble off the bed. "Sorry, but this is big! I know who Sil is! Her real name is Cthylla!"
To be continued.
