"What?!" Nora yelled, absolutely furious. Krahn stood close next to her, holding her hand and gripping it tightly to comfort her. Mano stood before the two of them and maintained eye contact with the mortified octolings before him. Mano sighed, crossing his arms in front of them and a small frown printed on his face as his half-lidded eyes remained locked to Nora's anxious violet ones. "Didn't she visit the Hivemind's office?" Krahn squeaked, his voice barely retaining its cool and casual tone. "She never came out," Mano answered grimly, his gaze dragging away from Nora out of guilt. "Why didn't you follow her?! She could be hurt!" Nora screeched, terrified and enraged at the same time.
"I couldn't find her! There was nowhere else she could've gone!" Mano yelled back, anger beginning to boil under his skin along with the frustration at his own obliviousness. "Nora, please, Mano's right, I've been to his office before! Surely the Sheik's office isn't much different, right?" Krahn said, a twinge of worry edging his tone. "Shut up Krahn! We all know that Vai isn't fit to be wandering around all alone, especially if she's lost!" Nora screamed, tears now brimming in her eyes and threatening to spill. The two boys stayed silent. Nora flung Krahn's hand from her own in a fit of frustration and Krahn flinched, his eyes drooping with sadness. There was silence, yet tension hung heavy in the air. No one said a word as Nora desperately attempted to regain control of her labored breathing and sudden anxiety levels.
The massive steel doors of the corridor leading to the duplex area swung open, making everyone's heads snap towards the doorway. The silhouette of an octoling stood there, almost menacingly, its stature intimidating and stiff. "Vai!" Nora cried, rushing up to it and squeezing it tightly. "Nora, please, let me walk," a familiar voice said nervously. Krahn's face lit up and Mano's facial muscles relaxed. "Sorry, sorry!" Nora giggled, backing up and allowing Vai to walk in the doorway. For the first time in days, Vai wasn't wearing her lab gear. Most of it, at least. She still wore her mask. She finally walked up to the group and gazed around at everyone. She offered Mano a slight wave as her eyes landed on him. Mano gave her a solemn nod and his typical refusal to display any emotions like relief or excitement clearly hadn't changed since she was absent.
She walked up to Krahn whilst Nora clung onto her arm, harassing her with question after question. "Krahn," Vai said quietly, seriousness thick in her voice. "Come with me." Krahn stared at her, dumbfounded and confused. "What?" Krahn asked, returning her same volume. He raised an eyebrow at Vai, who stood tall and confident before him. "Come," she repeated, blinking slowly. "Um, okay," Krahn obeyed. He tipped his head slightly in confusion and he crossed his arms. Vai turned without another word and walked back to the doorway, which still stood agape as she left it.
"Where do you two think you're going?" Nora exclaimed, glaring in the direction of the two octolings. "Out," Vai answered simply. Her behavior was strange and unlike her usual self. That worried Nora even more. "Can I get a little more than that please?" She pressed, a commanding tone lacing her tone. "Nope. Out," Vai repeated, still making her way out of the duplex past the open metal door and Krahn trailing after her. Vai exited the building and Krahn took a moment to flash Nora a wave and a nervous smile. Nora only stared at them as they walked out together.
They exited the area housing the duplexes, their boots clicking loudly on the stone floor as they made their way down the corridor. They eventually reached a train screeching to a stop in front of them at the usual station that leaves for the education district, its overpowering stench making them clamp their eyes shut to block out the spray of gravel being shot towards them. They boarded it quickly and Vai appeared to be in a hurry, the reason as to why completely unbeknownst to Krahn as he trailed behind her. They sat close together as the train was rather crowded, since many Octarians were ending their 2nd quarter 8 hour shifts.
Strangely enough, there was a sense of time down there, but it was only determined with stopwatches, timers and work shifts. Octavio has been to the surface before, and of course since he held all of the power, he also designated what constituted "time" in a place like the Deepsea Metro. There were three quarters, each of which pertained to a period that an Octarian may work. The most popular is the 2nd quarter shift, mostly because it feels like a middle ground and it's when most students are active. Octarians who work during the 1st quarter are typically breadwinners and hard workers who are willing to take on the responsibility of the first work shift. Typically, most octolings are asleep for this shift, so it's picked the least as a result. The 3rd quarter starts after the 2nd quarter and it's quite awkward when it comes to a sleep schedule, but it doesn't seem to bother anyone who picks it. The concept of a circadian rhythm is null when you're that far underground though, so what does it matter?
"So, Vai," Krahn began carefully, his gaze trailing over to Vai's blank expression. "What are we doing? Where are we going?" He asked, his hands folded in his lap. He sounded confused, but not afraid. Fear was an emotion that was rarely detectable in his voice since he was constantly optimistic. This of course was quite an unusual concept to the octolings around him, but he didn't seem to mind too much.
He said it was "the music" that gave him hope, and he would always walk around humming the same song. It was quite obnoxious to his only three friends, but they knew it made him happy, so they let him sing it as much as he pleased. He never sang or hummed it in public though, which was weird, but no one seemed to care since it was annoying.
Anytime he was asked about the song, he would ramble on forever about the band being "off the hook" and how it's saved him from the darkness of the underground, like how "calamari inkantation" has saved many other octolings, including Marina Ida. Vai and the others knew who she was; the octoling who escaped from the underground after being the most intelligent Octarian to have ever been born there. Her freedom was a devastating blow to Octavio's reputation.
"I'm bringing you with me to speak to someone," Vai answered plainly, her gaze still fixated on the wall in front of her. Krahn didn't respond. He was still confused by the lack of clarity in Vai's words. "Oookay," Krahn finally sighed, his eyes scanning the ceiling of the train.
Not very long afterward, the train screamed to a halt to another train station. Now even more confusing to Krahn, it stopped in front of the Technology District's auditorium. Krahn's face twisted into one of consternation as Vai got up to exit the train here. He was totally blown away by how unusual Vai's behavior was. "Are we talking to Loma?" Krahn asked, tapping his index fingers together, almost in a nervous manner. "No," Vai replied, her voice softer now. She hopped down each of the steps that led to the dark stone brick ground beneath them. "Alright," Krahn said slowly, trailing behind Vai closely while observing his surroundings. He was almost paranoid that something would've changed since he'd last been there, judging by Vai's tense demeanor. Unsurprisingly to him though, everything was fine. He was just a bit worried about Vai, and that was all.
Vai entered the auditorium and Krahn immediately observed the peculiar sight of no guards present at the doors. "Should we be going in here?" Krahn asked quietly, fiddling with his fingers nervously. "It'll be fine. I'm deputy of the Technology District. It's fine," Vai answered calmly, maintaining her steady walking pace into the long corridor that had two parallel doors on the walls located very close to the entrance. "Oh my Lord Vai, is that it? That's great!" Krahn grinned, reaching to pat her on the shoulder. She flinched away, which brought back Krahn's feelings of dread. "Keep your voice down," Vai hissed, glaring at him. Krahn gulped and just stared at her. When she started walking again, Krahn followed, growing more nervous as moments passed. It was eerily quiet here, only the sound of their boots on the hard floor was heard echoing down the hall.
Vai quickly opened the door on the left and flung it open, allowing it to swing in a large enough swoop to allow Krahn to slip through the gap right behind her. It slammed shut behind them, but Vai paid the noise no mind as she made her way down the familiar hallway toward where Loma's office was.
"You're sure we're not talking to Loma?" Krahn repeated, mostly trying to tell himself that the situation wasn't as sketchy as it seemed. "Of course not, his office isn't in the corner of the floor," Vai assured casually, kneeling next to a weird patch of grayish stuff in the corner. When he approached it, it seemed to warp into a grate. Whatever this was, it was definitely meant to stay concealed.
"Woah," he murmured, astonished at the sight of it. Vai didn't say anything. She instead quickly slid behind Krahn and wrapped her arms around his midsection, pulling him toward her tightly. "Woah woah woah! Hey Vai, it's totally cool if you're into me, but don't you think this is a little fast?" Krahn said shakily, taken aback by the strange behavior demonstrated by his Octarian friend. "Shut up," Vai commanded, tapping her watch-like device and powering it on. "Yo, Vai, that's a little offensive, dontcha think?" Krahn laughed nervously, now becoming increasingly unnerved.
Seemingly out of nowhere, a bright blue box with an X in the middle of it was projected in front of the pair, making Krahn flinch. "Hold on, go into octopus form for only a second, then back to octoling form right after. Better hope we land on the ladder," Vai added, squeezing Krahn even tighter. "W-what?!" Krahn yelped, his eyes widening as he heard a click, and felt his being warp into something it never has before, whilst he slipped into his octopus out of instinct. He felt the cool sensation of metal bars brush against his tentacles and he flinched back into his octoling form, gripping onto the metal poles for dear life. Vai almost plummeted past him until he quickly grabbed her arm as she nearly toppled to the ground in a flurry of flailing arms. Krahn grunted, slightly surprised by how heavy Vai was.
"All that weight must be your b-brain, h-huh?" Krahn joked, sweat beading down his forehead out of nervousness and physical strain. "Drop me," Vai ordered, looking back up at Krahn with a blank expression. "What?" Krahn said, bewildered. "Drop me," Vai repeated, starting to wriggle around in his grasp slightly. "You don't know how far down it is, Vai! I'm not gonna let you fall!" Krahn yelled, gritting his teeth as his arm started to burn from the excess strain. "Augh-!" Krahn grunted as Vai's wrist slipped out of his grip. He watched in horror as she shot down into the darkness below. He heard a loud clop of what seemed to be her boots, but panicked when he heard the loud and alarming sound instead of considering the fact that she landed on her feet just fine.
"Vai!" Krahn screeched, jumping down from where he clung to the ladder and landing on more cobbled flooring with a loud thud. He felt something splash beneath his left boot, and lifted it up to inspect what it was, only the worst thoughts coming to mind. "Eugh!" Krahn yelled, panicked and disgusted at the sight of dark ink stuck on his boot. "What in the-" Krahn muttered, shaking his boot and flinging the ink off of the metal sole.
"Oh, so you really did bring him along, hmm?" a deep voice said further back in this room, presumably talking to Vai. "Yes, I did. Besides, I am quite interested in what the surface has to offer," Krahn's heart dropped as his suspicions were confirmed. "He is quite a noisy one, isn't he?" the voice chuckled, almost in a mocking way. Krahn then sped toward the direction of the voice, blindly charging at the potential enemy despite being unarmed.
"Vai! I'm gonna come find you, okay? It'll be alright! You don't need Mano, you need m-" Krahn froze, skidding to a stop in front of an extremely tall octoling. In front of him, it wore the infamous enchanted hat, white longcuff sweater and punk whites, all while finessing the unforgettable shade of violet ink that sparks fear in every opponent to lay their shaky eyes on it. "Hello there, Krahn."