Chapter 10: Feeling Unwell

Adstrum woke up the next morning with the side of his face pressed against the wall, his body upside down in the booth. He untangled himself from his predicament and sat up with a yawn, stretching his limbs upward. He stood up and walked over to the fridge, pulling out a can of soda and quickly chugging it down, his body shaking from the fizz.

"Whoo! That hit the spot." He looked out the window to see the scenery passing by. "Guess we are moving on to the next city. I wonder how long it will take?" He walked down to his and Callie's room, where said Squid Sister was sleeping. As he passed by Marie's room he heard her footsteps walking around.

Marie seemed unsure about what to do as she paced around her room. She looked at the pale white squid in her shoebox.

"...Cici… are you… okay?" she gently touched her and Cici's eye somewhat opened, "Oh." She seemed relieved that she moved.

A knock at the door caused Marie to jump a little. "Hey, Salt Queen? How's Cici doing?"

"O-oh… She's horrible… to put it bluntly. She refused everything I tried to get her to take… and now all her colors are gone..."

"Try putting a pill in her beak and holding it shut until she swallows it. That's what I did to my little brother when he was sick." Adstrum's voice replied.

"She bites me…"

"Do you seriously need help? I'll do it after I check on Callie." He walked away from the door back down the hallway.

"Um sure. I'll be right out."

Adstrum slowly opened the door to his and Callie's bedroom. "Callie? How are you feeling?" He opened the door completely to find the covers pulled up completely and one of Callie's tentacles sprawled out on the floor, somehow tied into a knot, while her other tentacle was wrapped around the headboard. "Um...You okay?"

"...Mmm…" She moved a bit, but had no energy to get up, "Morning…"

Adstrum walked over to her, taking care not to step on her tentacle, and kneeled down next to her, putting a hand on her forehead. "You are burning up." He had a concerned look on his face.

"Heh… Yeah I guess I am… I feel horrible" Her voice was hoarse.

"Can I get you anything?" He smiled and gently held her hand.

"Water..." She coughed, "Please?"

"Okay." He nodded and stood up, walking over her tentacle again as he walked toward the kitchen.


Cici has bitten Marie's hand again, as Marie tried to get her to eat the medicine.

Adstrum smiled at this before walking over. "Where's the medicine?" He grabbed a glass from the cupboard.

"It's in the bathroom… Ah, Cici your bites have like no power…" Marie shook her off.

"And yet you still yelped." Adstrum shook his head as he grabbed the pill and picked up Cici, gently placing said squid on the counter. He had a serious look on his face as he held the pill. "Cici, open your beak. This will go a lot smoother if you listen."

She puffed her body.

"Alright." He shrugged before grabbing her beak and very slowly forced it open.

She struggled as she squirmed around.

Adstrum placed the pill in her beak before holding it closed. "I'll let go after you swallow. Kapeesh? I've done this with my baby brother before. And he squirmed more than you are right now."

She continued struggling and remained stubborn.

He turned to Marie and shrugged. "She'll give up eventually. Either she swallows or the pill dissolves in her mouth and she'll have to taste it the entire time." He smirked.

"...But won't she pass out from straining so much?"

"She'll stop squirming before that happens."

"But… this seems a bit… much."

"Well, this is Cici, remember? Getting her to do anything is impossible. Hiding the medicine in cookies won't work. Chase and I tried that once. She didn't touch any of them."

"Huh? She got sick with you guys before?"

"Yep. It was a sore throat and she kept passing out in the napkins. Well, more than usual. But that time Chase held her beak shut."

Cici seemed to be getting tired.

"Just swallow the pill and I will let go, sleepy." Adstrum looked down at her. "Now swallow already. I gotta get some water to Callie."

"Pills usually go down better with water…. Having them like this may get stuck in her throat"

Adstrum rolled his eyes. "She won't take the pill without a fight. Give her water after she swallows. And if she chokes give her the heimlich."

"...Ah… Cici. If you don't listen, I'll tell HIM that you aren't listening" Marie bluffed.

Cici stopped for a bit. She looked at her.

"Him?" Adstrum asked.

"You know exactly who I'm talking about… right? He will be sad."

Cici whimpered and finally swallowed it.

"Good girl!" Adstrum smiled and let go of her beak, handing her a glass of water. "Expect a cookie later." He grabbed another glass and filled it up with water.

"I'm… not hungry…" Cici muttered.

"I said later, didn't I?" Adstrum replied as he walked back to Callie.

"I'm sorry Cici. I need you to be stable. Just until the doctor sees you two"

"...I'm sorry…" Cici seemed blank.

"C-can I help?" Jack's voice asked from the stairs.

"Sure, Jack. When she's like this, she's very spacy."

"O-okay." His face looked relieved for a second as he walked down the stairs, but he froze when he saw her. "Oh my gosh, she looks terrible." He had a look of absolute fear on his face, placing his hand on his chest.

"She lost all of her color… I have never seen a fully white squid"

"...I'm sorry… I'll be good…" Cici muttered blankly.

"What do you need, Marie?" Jack asked.

"Can you just watch her? I need to get Jim directions to the nearest hospital. If she misbehaves tell her you will tell Alex. It's the only way to get her to obey… sadly..."

"Yeah. I can do that." He gave the white tentacled Squid Sister a thumbs up.

Marie ran to the front of the bus.

Jack watched her run to the front before looking at Cici, placing his thumb on his other hand's wrist. "Hi…" He rubbed his arm.

"..." She snapped out of it and she looked at Jack. She stayed quiet and didn't move because she was too tired.

"...Okay, I'll shut up." He grabbed a cup of water and placed it next to Cici, a look of sadness and fear on his face.


"Here you go, Callie." Adstrum held the water near her face.

"Than *coughs* Thanks Addie" Callie took a couple of sips.

He blushed and smiled at her. "You need anything else?"

"No… I'm just cold…"

"Oh...Callie." He gently wrapped his arms around her, feeling her shaking.

"You are warm…"

"I hope so. You are shaking."

She smiled and nuzzled into him.

He smiled and gently kissed her on the cheek.

She scratched her tentacles and pulled out a twig, "Oh, how did that get in there?"

"Um...I don't know. Maybe you need a bath. You stink." He smirked and kissed her forehead.

"That's mean… but you are right…" She tried to get up and managed to get on her feet.

"I was kidding, you know." He stood up and placed an arm under her legs. "You don't need to walk." He gently picked her up bridal style.

"O-oh! Hehe…" She blushed.

He blushed back as he walked out of the room, Callie's tentacles dragging on the floor.


Cici stayed on Jack's head not moving. She nipped his tentacle.

"Ow…" He muttered as he saw Marie walking back. "So how far is the closest hospital?"

"Like another half an hour…"

"It could be worse. Could be an hour away." He shrugged. "Ow." He felt Cici nip his tentacles again.

"Heh… I didn't think that would hurt… Her bite lost its power…"

He held a finger up to his lips. "Ow."

"Oh… oops" Marie smiled.


Adstrum walked down the hall and stopped in front of the bathroom. "Hey, Marie."

"Y-yes?" Marie jumped a bit.

"Can you open the bathroom? My arms are full." He gestured to the sick inkling in his arms.

"Oh of course." She ran over and opened it up.

"She needs a bath." He said as he carried Callie into the bathroom.

"Do you need help with that?"

"I'll be fine…" Callie coughed some more.

"You sure?" Adstrum looked at her as he placed her down gently.

"Yeah" She got up and started wobbling around as she took a couple steps.

"Um...you sure?" He asked.

"You are not okay… Here let's get you all cleaned up and back into bed… Oh, um... I'll clean your bed before you go back..."

"I'll do that." Adstrum replied. "You help her in here." He told Marie.

"Oh… Yes… Thank you"

He nodded and pointed down at Callie's tentacles. "And get that knot untied. It's been bugging me for a while." He gave a thumbs up and walked toward the bedroom.

She watched him leave and attended to her sick cousin.


About twenty minutes went by as Adstrum swapped the bed sheets with new ones, putting the dirty bed covers in the laundry hamper. As he finished up he turned around to find Callie and Marie in the doorway, a towel wrapped around Callie. "Okay. I'm done with the bed." He stepped out into the hallway.

"Nice and clean. Her fever is down a bit too." Marie smiled.

"Glad to hear that." He nodded. "Now I shall leave so she can get dressed." He kissed Callie on his way out.

"Okay"

"That was...different." Callie raised an eyebrow as she turned away from the doorway. "He didn't seem to make fun of you." She smiled.

"...Only because you are sick…" Marie sighed as she helped Callie get dressed.

"Maybe I should get sick more often." Callie giggled before coughing a bit.

"Please don't. Just take care of yourself. I'll handle myself around him." Marie finished up and helped her to Adstrum, who was in the kitchen area.

"Good. Stand up to him, Marie." Callie nodded. "Hey, I thought I was going back to bed."

"First things first, beautiful." Adstrum smiled holding a small container of red liquid. "You need medicine."

"I'll just keep out of his tentacles… See you later." She walked away

Adstrum rolled his eyes.

"Okay, Addie." Callie smiled and drank the medicine, chugging down some water with it. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He smiled and helped her back to the bedroom. "We'll be arriving at a hospital soon. I don't think you need to go, but Cici…"

"Oh… is it that bad?"

"She's completely white. Like a ghost." He smirked as Callie had a quick look of fear on her face before it disappeared.

"She's still biting Jack… or at least trying to." Callie replied, "At least when I walked past them"

"She's not happy with him." Adstrum shrugged as he helped Callie back into bed.

"Yeah… I know"

"You feeling any better?"

"Yeah actually. Not a hundred percent, but getting there"

"Aw...you poor thing." He smiled and hugged her.

She smiled and hugged him back.

Author's Note: And another chapter! Here it is! Hope you all like it.

All right, thank you The Bowser Monster, morganfr33man42, Agent 7, SpikedFruitPunch, Noodle Doodle, Ashanti, and Pink Hedgie 74 for leaving reviews. I greatly appreciate them guys.

You're welcome for the shout out, Agent 7. Even though I always reply to guest reviewers in the Author's Note. Apikachua and I just write the characters we think would work best in each situation. Glad you liked the scene with Cici and Jack. And as for the "lethal" water...well, SpikedFruitPunch explained in his review that, according to the Splatoon developers, the water is so polluted by the humans that by the time the Inklings are around it is extremely hazardous to swim in or drink. Which kind of explains why it's green in Salmon Run...So Inklings can drink out of the tap because it's filtered and shower/bathe in tubs and showers, but rain would mostly be made up of the water from the ocean and thus be the toxic liquid they drown in. (However, thinking back to Mahi Mahi Resort...is that water not filtered?)

Thanks. And yeah, Cici has suffered. I teared up when editing this chapter.

I feel bad for her too, Ashanti. And I'm glad you still like the fic.

Glad you like the fic, Pink Hedgie. And don't worry about Cici. She'll get over it...hopefully...honestly, it's hard to tell.

Well, thank you all for reviewing and please go ahead and leave a review. But remember the rule. Say something you like about the fic, then tell me what is wrong or what you don't like. Alright, have a great day everyone!