Chapter 32: Awakening

Everyone was awake early the next morning, getting ready for the trip to Calamari County. Adstrum was loading the bus up with everything Callie bought last night at the festival while Callie and Marie joined Arisara and Shelly on the bus. Callie was sitting in a booth watching Ari hug her squid plushie.

She appeared to be still very much happy.

"You really like this plush, huh? You look so cute hugging it." Callie smiled.

"I never had things like this before. Hugging machines isn't really the same..."

"Oh… Well, that would make sense." She looked over at the clam sitting in the middle of the kitchen. "You okay, Shelly?"

"Yes, I am just checking the tickets and the flight path of our plane" Shelly looked up from her laptop.

"Okay." Callie looked over at her cousin. "You excited to go back home?"

"Yeah, I wonder how my parents are."

"Me too. I wonder how my parents are doing." Callie sighed and smiled at her. "Well, they should be happy to see us."

"Oh, looks like our flight is coming in so we should start heading out." Shelly replied.

"Okay. You hear that, Jim?" Callie looked toward the front of the bus at the middle aged urchin.

"Yep. We'll get going in a bit." He gave her a thumbs up.

"Don't worry, driving won't take long. There isn't any stop light on red for us" Shelly put her laptop away in her shell on her back.

"Jeez, Callie. How much did you spend last night?" Adstrum asked as he dragged the last of the items onto the bus.

"Um...I don't know. I lost track." She giggled.

"Can you really blame her? They have lots of pretty unique stuff there" Marie replied.

"I just had to buy it all!" Callie jumped up in excitement.

"Heh. Okay." Adstrum chuckled as he tossed a bag of items at Callie, who caught it with ease.

"You know, I'm really looking forward to you meeting my parents, Addie." Callie smirked.

"What?" He just looked a her with widened eyes.

"Oh, this is going to be so fun!" Callie yelled.

"Hehe" Marie smiled at her cousin's excitement.

"Yeah, I guess." Adstrum laughed nervously before noticing Arisara. "Oh, where is she going to sleep? Jack's vacant bed?"

"Marie's vase is okay" Arisara replied, "Or if you have a jar."

"You wouldn't rather sleep in a comfy bed with more room?" Callie asked.

"But that's his room… He's gonna come back to it."

"Yeah, but in the meantime it's available to be slept in. Don't worry, he won't be mad."

"In you go" Marie picked up the octo and carried her upstairs to the room.

"...Okay. Thank you" Arisara waved her tentacle.

"See ya!" Callie waved back. "So...what do you guys wanna do?" She looked at Shelly and Adstrum.

Adstrum just pulled out the drawing of his weapon idea on the napkin. "I'm going to work on this."

"Maybe I'll just hack into the air control to see where our plane is now" Shelly shrugged.

"Heh, okay. Have fun?" Callie shrugged and stood up before walking toward her room.


As his eyes slowly opened, Jack looked around the room he was in. 'Where...am I?' He slowly sat up, finding it a bit difficult. As he sat in bed he realized he was in a hospital room. "What happened? Why am I-?" His eyes widened with realization. "Cici." He was about to get up when he noticed a paper with his name on it sitting on the table next to him. He picked it up and opened it, noticing it was Cici's handwriting.

'To whom it concerns, I leave my whole estate to Jack Trench and his family. This will become effective if I become deceased or imprisoned for insanity. Of sound minded and body, Cecilia Bubble.'

"No...Cici, no…" He tried to get up, but it took him a while and someone stepped into the room.

"Oh, young master Jack. You are awake? You shouldn't be up. Rest up." Chives was holding freshly cut flowers to put in his room.

"Where is Cici?" He asked, not getting back into the bed.

"Ah, she's been taken to a different room for… attacking the doctors and nurses. They are planning to take her to an asylum."

"Take me to her." Jack replied, heading for the door slowly.

"Sit in the wheelchair. I can't have you hurting yourself, young master."

"I'm fine. Just...feel a bit tired." He replied, his legs wobbly and he leaned against the wall for support.

"As you wish…" He put the flowers into a vase and led him to Cici's room.

Jack held onto Chives's arm for support as he was lead toward Cici.

"It was quite a shock… I have never seen her so… aggressive." Chives slowly opened the door after knocking on it.

"I don't care. I just wish to see her right now." Jack replied as the door opened.

A glowing tiny squid rested at the bottom of a large fish tank. She seemed too weak to move and watched the doctor finish decorating her tank. Her blue eyes followed the giant hand as he made her tank comfortable.

"Cici?" Jack's voice was heard from the doorway.

She looked over and her heart rate rose as she tried to crawl away.

"Cici, are you okay?" He took a few steps toward the tank but the doctor stood in his way.

The half foot clear squid buried herself into the sand.

"Hm?" The doctor turned around, "Oh um… you aren't really allowed to be in here."

"Move. I need to see her." Jack said and tried to get past him.

"The young master just wants to see his friend."

"Ah, well just be careful. She is unpredictable."

"I know all too well." Jack nodded and stepped up to the tank, his head resting against the glass. "Cici?"

The mound of sand starting quivering.

"Cici, is that you? Please?"

"That's Cecilia Bubble. Are you sure you have the right room?" The doctor replied.

"It is Cici." Jack's eyes started to well up with tears. "She's alive. Oh my gosh, she's alive."

"Barely…" The doctor muttered.

Jack tried jumping up into the tank, but was only able to grab the edge of it.

"Easy does it" Chives gently helped him up.

"Thank you, Chives." Jack turned into a squid and slid inside, landing with a thud. "Ack! I'm okay."

Cici tried to drag herself away, but she couldn't no matter how much she struggled.

"Cici…" He sat up and looked at her, not moving. "I'm sorry."

The mound of dirt only quivered.

"I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry I watched the video. I'm sorry for being a dick over the phone the first time we talked. I'm sorry...for…" He sniffed.

"...It was.. Never your fault… I hurt everyone… now I won't… hurt anyone anymore..."

"What happened in the grove was not your fault and what happened to Alex wasn't your fault either. That incident was unexpected. But the grove...the glasses...I shouldn't have let my feelings get in the way…"

"I attacked you and tried to kill you… I am.. A murderer…"

"Like I don't deserve it. And you are not a murderer. You haven't killed anyone." He scooched an inch closer. "If I had just let my instincts take over at the grove, I would have stopped you from attacking me quicker. I should have tackled you and held you down. But I didn't want to hurt you. I love you too much to hurt you."

Cici became quiet as her body started brightly glowing.

"I don't blame you for attacking me. I knew you never would have. I should have realized something was wrong when I saw those glasses."

"...That's not good." The doctor got on the PA, "Hey, firefly patient is glowing in room 462. She's possibly near death. All available staff required."

"Cici?" Jack crawled closer. "Cici, are you okay?!"

She didn't move. Her markings were brightly glowing.

"CICI!" He hurried toward her and hugged her. "Don't leave me! Please! You mean too much to me!"

"Bring her up here! Quickly!"

Jack turned into his humanoid form and handed Cici to the doctor, tears streaming down his face. "Please… don't let her die…"

She was limp and was gasping for air. Her markings were still brightly glowing pink.

"CICI! NO! PLEASE DON'T GO! I DON'T WANT YOU TO LEAVE!" Jack started panicking.

The doctor pinched her mantle to change her back into humanoid form and started checking her vitals. He laid her on her bed and gave her oxygen.

"Cici...I can't live without you…I love you...Please don't go…" Jack sobbed and looked at the glowing inkling. "I'll do anything for you. I'll give up anything for you…"

"Sir, you have to leave" The nurse gently push him out of the room.

"NO!" He gripped the doorway.

Author's Note: I know it's been a while, guys. Sorry for taking so long and also sorry for leaving you on a cliffhanger like this. Apikachua dared me to do it. BUT! I will update the fic again in three days. I promise. I don't want to leave you guys on this cliffhanger for too long. So see you all again in three days.

Thank you The Bowser Monster, Pink Hedgie 74, Agent Cherry, and Devil Dude 42 for leaving reviews. I really appreciate them guys.

Glad you like the flamethrower, Pink Hedgie. And fingers crossed Cici will be okay.

Jack's fine, but Cici is not looking good, Agent Cherry. Let's hope the doctors can help.

Cici is not doing too good, Devil Dude. I'm scared for her health as well.

Alright, thank you guys for leaving reviews and I will see you all next time!