It was hard, being separated from her daughters again but Avrika knew it was for the best. She was filthy, the air was full of death, and they couldn't risk the children any more than they already had, but her soul still ached seeing them go.
Once parted, the first thing she did was go down and get a drink of water. She felt so parched she thought she might shrivel up after all the shooting and crying she had done.
As she returned to the battlefield, she noticed more inklings in their midst, adults. They were wearing the uniforms of the Calachoran Coast Guard and were tending to the wounded. She also saw several jellyfish examining burns and taking samples of some of the Salmonid ooze.
She found Callie and Lady Sever standing together and, not knowing where else to go, went to them.
"I've made the arrangements," Sever was saying to Callie. "They will let the Guard's trucks in and out; and the Coast Guard's air vehicles will be allowed to land near the entrance."
Callie bowed her head in thanks. "It will save lives. Thank you."
Sever shrugged her tentacles. "Still, I never thought I would willingly let the Calachoran military within our borders, even if we did achieve peace. We're even on the edge of war with them"
"I don't think there will be a war at this point. We've proven that inklings and Octarians can cooperate, even fight on the same battlefield together. There's trust between us now that the Assembly won't be able to ignore. There's still plenty of time before the elections for that to work in our favour."
That was a relief to Avrika. She hoped it would be as Callie said. Once peace was established, then they could work on truly rebuilding. Certainly the efforts of the Guard could not be ignored. The Loyalists and the Calachoran warmongers would probably react violently to each other, and Lord Stonefeller would continue to make a nuisance of himself, but maybe Lady Octavia would be able to get rid of him somehow now that he'd been brought down a few pegs.
A trooper jogged towards them with the drawn-out strides of weary legs. She stopped in front of Sever, panting, and saluted. "Ma'am, the members of the Ravalda have arrived. They need to speak with you and Lady Cuttlefish. They say it is of the utmost urgency!"
"Wonderful," Sever said dryly. "Might as well deal with all the disasters in one day, I suppose."
Callie pulsed grey and shrugged. "If that means we can sleep all day tomorrow, I guess I'll take it."
She turned her head slightly and smiled when she saw Avrika approaching. "Ambassador, perfect timing. I hope you didn't get dragged away for this."
Avrika shook her head. "Not at all, Lady Cuttlefish. I am ready to perform my duties as required."
Callie smirked. "Liar, you're as tired as the rest of us. But, as long as you're here, you might as well come with us to see what this new crisis is about."
The councillors had been brought to the rest area where both members of the Octarian Army and the Guard were present. They regarded the inklings with cautious interest while they in turn wondered who they were. Avrika noticed that the Exarch was also present, along with several priests, priestesses, and the blue-ringed girl. Why would she have been brought here?
The girl looked distraught, like she'd witnessed something horrible. She was pale, her tentacles shrivelled, and her eyes were puffy. As they got closer, Avrika noticed the splatters of blood on her clothes. Sever noticed it too.
"What happened?"
Lord Sabbart stepped forward, his tentacles turned white and his expression mournful. "It is hard to know where to begin." He shook his head, as if catching himself saying something foolish. "No, I will just try to give you a summary of events. Lady Octavia caught Lord Stonefeller communicating with a special unit he detached to Inkopolis to free Octavio."
"HE WHAT?"
Callie's thunderous yell reverberated around the entire cavern and drew everyone's attention. It also made the Councillors flinch.
Sever sighed and held her head in her hands, perhaps too weary or too unsurprised for a more energetic reaction. Avrika felt oddly numb and she wobbled slightly as if the news had been a strong wind trying to knock her over.
What had Stonefeller been thinking? Sending troops out when they had needed every single soldier for the defence? He'd put his own agenda before the welfare of their people, of their children – her children!
"Where is he?" Callie growled.
The councillor's eyes all shifted to the blue-ringed girl.
"She bit him on the neck and fully envenomed him." Lord Sabbart then looked back at Lord Haruul, the Lord of Health and Welfare, who explained further.
"He died in less than two minutes. There was nothing we could do."
Everyone stared at the girl in shock. Her eyes were streaming tears, and it obviously wasn't the first time today either. While Avrika could certainly understand wanting to kill someone like Stonefeller, he was an octarian male, and a councillor at that! Even after finding out he was a traitor, how could a temple maiden, even a blue ring, simply murder him so brutally?
"What do you have to say for yourself?" Sever asked the girl harshly.
The girl glared back at her with fiery blue eyes. "He killed my mother!"
Sever's contemptuous expression vanished, replaced with surprise and confusion. Even the councillors looked confused, staring at her.
"What do you mean, Mansia?" Callie asked gently.
"Octavia," the Exarch answered solemnly. "She was Mansia's mother. Because of the stigma against blue rings, the information was kept secret. It was Octavio's order. So, when she was old enough, she was brought to the Grand Temple to be raised as a temple maiden."
Even as the Exarch spoke, the horrible, awful truth dawned on all of them.
"Octavia's dead?" Sever's voice was like thin, brittle glass.
It was Lord Glittermine who answered. "Stonefeller had a concealed ink pistol. When Octavia caught him receiving reports from his field agents liberating Octavio, he shot her and tried to hold us hostage."
A wave of sorrow swept through the cavern. Octarians all bowed their heads in sorrow, their tentacles white. Even the inklings seemed to understand what had just been said and, out of respect, turned their mantles white as well. As Mia, Four, and the Octarian members translated for them, their expressions became more sincere.
The tension in the area ratcheted up several notches as Three walked towards the Octarian councillors. All of them stepped away save for the Exarch and Mansia.
Three walked up to Mansia and for several seconds the two did nothing but look at each other. Abruptly, and to the shock of everyone, Three wrapped her in a tight hug. Mansia, surprised at first, clung to her in turn, not bothered by how soiled her clothing was. They didn't say anything to each other. Perhaps, nothing needed to be said.
Callie sat down, looking overwhelmed and touched her fingers to her forehead. "I can't believe it," she murmured. "Why did this have to happen?"
"It was an act of desperation. He knew – we all knew that the way things were going, the Loyalist cause was lost."
Callie eyed him. "You don't seem all that torn up about it."
Glittermine shook his head. "What he did was not Octarian. The Loyalist cause existed because we were afraid of losing what made us Octarian, that we would lose our culture, our spirit. In the end, our fears were well founded, but not in the way we thought."
There was a brief moment of silent reflection, every Octarian taking a moment to think Glittermine's words over in their head and relating it to themselves.
"So then, what has the Ravalda decided to do next?"
The councillors all looked at Lady Protor who hesitantly stepped forward. Avrika noted that the Exarch had a bittersweet smile on his face.
She exhaled deeply, and then looked firmly into Callie's eyes and spoke loudly in Inklish. "Under long-standing Octarian law, as the only remaining kravah, you, Callabria Cuttlefish are nominated to the position of Octarian Soverign."
Callie's mantle and those of every other inkling light up to a luminous orange, followed by patterns of other bright, startling colours that were dazzling to look at, but Avrika and most of the other Octarians were just as shocked, their tentacles flaring outwards.
Now Avrika understood why they had positioned themselves so close to the Guard. They wanted the inklings to hear the announcement as well.
Callie shut her eyes tightly and rubbed her temples for a moment. When she opened her eyes again she stared hard at Lady Protor, blinking, as if she were an illusion. "I'm sorry, I'm pretty tired. Could you repeat that?"
The Exarch chuckled. "She is serious. It is a law that goes back centuries. It is the same law that put Octavio in charge. When the other Octo lords were killed or forced to abandon their titles, Octavio became King by default. Of course, because he hated the octo lords and blamed them for what happened during the war, he insisted on becoming a constitutional dictator instead, to separate himself from them, officially reducing his rank back to kravah."
"Which is why… which is why the Ravalda was able to legally depose him." Lady Protor continued. "Since you are now the only kravah, that automatically puts you in as Queen."
Callie's mantle flashed red. "But what about Mansia? If she's Octavia's daughter, doesn't she inherit her title?"
"If, as queen, you allow her to. For the moment she doesn't have that title officially, even if Octavia did officially appoint her as heiress. There are other reasons but those are the most important ones."
"Mansia supports your ascension as queen anyway," the Exarch added.
Callie looked at Mansia. She was still wrapped up in Three's arms, sniffling, her fingers clutching handfuls of her uniform jacket.
Lord Glittermine stepped up to Callie and, to everyone's surprise, knelt before her. "We need you to become our queen. All of the Octarian people do. The leader of a nation does not merely tell them what to do, it gives them a dream, a purpose beyond just being cogs in the machine. A nation's leader must give their people hope, and right now the only one who can give us hope is you. Please, I beg you to become our queen."
The other councillors knelt, bowing their heads in supplication. Avrika did the same, her soul praying to all the gods listening that she would accept. Glittermine was right, especially without Octavia, they needed someone, they needed her.
Around them, the other octolings were doing the same, a whole nation expressing the same plea. Even the inklings genuflected, flashing their mantles white in solidarity with their octoling comrades.
Callie rose to her feet, looking over the battlefield, surveying the thousands of octolings and inklings about her, their united petition. She let out a sigh, her mantle turning a gloomy grey before it adopted a vivid purple colour.
"If this is what you want, then I'll do it. But just so you know it's not going to be easy. I warned everyone when I got here that I would bring this nation up from the hole it was in even if I had to drag it up. If that means I have to also save Calachora from itself to make that happen then that's what I'm going to do, but no matter what I am not going to let the lights go out here. The Octarian people aren't alone anymore, so while we may not be in our glory days right now, we are far from beaten. The Consortium wasted their best shot at beating us and they're going to pay through their gills for it.
The Guard has proven that even a small group can speak with a loud voice, and I intend to shout down the ears of everyone in Calachora holding our nations back, getting in the way of peace, and the prosperity of all of us! We've shown today that we aren't to be messed with, and if you want me to be your queen then I'm gonna' make sure everyone knows it!"
At that moment, Marina rose to her feet, thrust her fist in the air and yelled. "Gloria Valdina!"
Her voice was joined by those around her and the voices rose in power and spirit as more and more joined in, chanting the same words over and over again, the exhaustion of battle momentarily gone, as even Avrika herself rose and joined in the cheer as octoling and inkling alike shouted the octarian phrase as one, shaking the whole cavern.
Gloria Valdina. Glory to the Queen!
Callie spread her hands and the cheering gradually died down.
"Alright, you wanted me to be your queen, well it's your own fault if you regret it. Three, Four, Pearl!" The three named inklings hurried up to her. "Go to Inkopolis and get a situation report. Make sure to check in with Marie. I also want you to get Vella and our observer out of there if possible. It's probably not a good idea for any Octarians to be in the city right now."
Flashing green the three of them headed off, grabbing one of the free supply trucks and driving through the tunnel, out of the cavern.
"Kifi," she called, summoning forth the Guard's second in command. "After the wounded have been taken care of, take the Guard to my dome and get some sleep. Depending on what happens, tomorrow may be a busy day."
Kifi thumped her chest and bowed. "Yes, Your Majesty."
Callie winced painfully at that.
"Everything else seems well in hand," she said. "I don't need to tell the rest of you what your duties are." She locked eyes with Avrika. "But I'll want you to stay close to me for now, Ambassador. I might need you."
Avrika had no doubt of that. Octavio assaulting Calachora's equivalent of the Ravalda would not go down well. Octavio's actions might be enough to solidify the election for the anti-Octarian faction, and if war happened between them then everything they had worked for up until now would be for nothing.
—-
Reina sat frozen in her seat, paralyzed with fear, afraid the slight shakes caused by her excess of adrenaline would prompt the octoling, pointing the gun vaguely in her direction, to splat her where she sat.
Keeper was in much the same situation, an octoling pointing the tip of her ink gun right at the back of his neck. He was glaring across the chamber at her with an accusatory "I told you so" look. Reina wasn't fooled however. These had to be the Loyalists.
Octavio was standing in the Monarch's booth, one of his thick, muscular tentacles around her throat. He seemed unusually vital for someone in the second decade of his second century, and he spoke with the strong voice of a seasoned warlord.
"If I haven't made it clear by now," he said. "I, DJ Octavio, leader of the Octarian Empire, demand your complete and unconditional surrender." He pulled on Orvenii's neck. "You're the Monarch, right? I'm sure you can arrange that."
"You're wasting your breath, Octarian," Keeper hissed. "You can't make us surrender without a fight."
His body jerked as the octoling guarding him struck him on the back of the head, not especially hard, but hard enough to give him a serious headache.
Octavio chuckled. "What fight? You have no military anymore. Your entire defence relied on an old coot and handful of teenagers. If that's the best your nation has to offer, then there's no fight you can give to threaten us."
"What if those teenagers show up?" Reina asked, trying to be brave. She wanted to come off more as curious than defiant in her tone. She didn't want to get knocked in the head herself.
"They won't be. They're all busy fighting to protect the Octarian Domes from those crabs you're all so afraid of. Not like we need the help, but I'll happily make use of them before I kill them."
Next to her, Mora wrung her hands anxiously, her eyes full of worry and murder. Reina put a hand on her knee, telling her through tuk'yan that everything would be okay.
"Getting back to your surrender," Octavio said. "I believe it was unconditional. I don't have to explain what that means, do I? I'm not sure if inkling education has slipped as far as your national defence has."
Reina glanced at the other members of the Assembly. They were all looking between her and Keeper. It made sense. The two of them had been the ones at each other's throats up to the moment the Octarians came in. They were, effectively, the de facto leaders of the Assembly with Orvenii incapacitated.
"What puts you in a position to demand unconditional surrender?" Keeper demanded.
Octavio wheezed like an old tire, regarding him with complete incredulity. "Are you serious? Maybe you haven't noticed I have my army holding you all hostage!"
"Oh really? If you have a whole army here then why do you only have two of us held at gunpoint? You have a few guards protecting you, a few by the doors, maybe a f–." The octarian struck him again, harder this time, abruptly silencing him.
Reina clenched her jaw. She had to put aside their little arguments. Right now they were both working towards the same goal: saving everyone's lives.
"I don't need my whole army to keep you all behaving," Octavio hissed. "The only reason I have a guard for you two is because you're obviously the faction leaders of this little circus you call a government. I could hear you arguing when I came in."
"And that's also why you don't have your whole army in the city?" Reina asked.
Otavio jerked and he narrowed his eyes at her. Her own octarian pressed the barrel of her ink gun into the base of her neck and Reina did her best to maintain a brave face.
"Of course I don't. Obviously the other half is in the domes fighting off those crabs. I don't need my whole army for either."
Reina was seriously doubting he had much of an army at all. The Loyalists were an ever shrinking minority, if what the Ambassador and Marie told her was right. Also rather convenient that he should show up when both the Guard and the Octarian Army was otherwise heavily occupied.
He's putting on a brave mask but he's desperate. The loyalists are all desperate, and they're on time limit. Once the Reformists find out about this they're going to do everything they can to take him and the Loyalists down. But how could she use that to help them in the here and now? Marie was the only one in the city, but what could she do on her own? Her size wouldn't help her in dealing with a hostage situation. Where were the Enforcers? What had happened to the guards?
"Even if we did surrender to you unconditionally, would it mean anything?"
Octavio glared at her. "What are you talking about?"
"You call yourself the leader of the Octarian Empire, but that isn't true anymore. Octavia is the leader of Octarians, not you. Even if you got our surrender, if the Octarian Empire doesn't acknowledge it then it would be meaningless."
"Of course they'll acknowledge it!" He thundered. "They'd be stupid not to! It's what every Octarian has been dreaming about their entire lives!"
"But what makes you think they'll accept you back as leader?" Keeper asked, his words slightly slurred. "They have a new leader now and your Ravalda deposed you. Any document we signed surrendering to the Octarian Empire would be considered invalid and would mean nothing."
"I don't care about a blasted piece of paper!" Octavio roared. "I want your surrender here and now, or I'm going to start popping heads." He lifted Orvenii up by her head, her face was discoloured from the lack of air. "Starting with this one."
"You would take us at just our word?" Reina asked.
"Of course," Octavio said amicably. "You're still broadcasting this, aren't you? A live recording witnessed by your entire population is as good as any signed document. What do legalities matter when I'm the one making the rules?"
Keeper's mantle turned an ugly, derisive purple. "You'll just kill us right after anyways. And regardless of what you say, you won't walk out of here alive, Octavio. And when you're dead, we'll deal with the rest of you Octarians just the same, one limb at a time."
Octavio glared hatefully at him, veins bulging on his round head, then he pointed an angry tentacle. "Kill him."
—-
Craig Cuttlefish was disappointed. Disappointed in the Assembly, in Orvenii, the NSF, Inkopolis Security, even his own granddaughters.
Of course they would free Octavio if you gave them such an irresistible opportunity. Of course the Consortium attacks are important, but you should never go all in if you don't have to. They were acting with too much emotion – or at least Marie was. That was unusual for her as she had always been the more rational and methodical one.
But then she has been put under a lot of pressure lately, probably from things I don't even know about. Still, she should know better than to make a mistake this obvious.
Now it was up to him. He had always known this day might happen and he had prepared for it.
He clutched the small, battered container in his pocket. He had inspected its contents before leaving his quarters. Everything worked, everything was ready, he just needed to get into the Assembly Hall.
He was just across the street from the Hall now. He had a perfect side view of the security barricade placed in front of the main entrance. Other guards were guarding the side entrances.
And yet none of them are guarding the most obvious way one might sneak in. Typical. Today really was a day for disappointments.
As he crossed the street, a large coach abruptly pulled up in front of the Hall next to the lines of security cars and Marie emerged.
Even with his old eyes he could tell she was in a bad way. Her clothes were torn, she was wearing large bandages, and she was unsteady. She couldn't deal with a situation like this in that condition. She was acting on emotion again, which meant she was going to do something stupid.
No, he realised with horror, she's full of adrenaline. She must have gone into that frenzy of hers. She won't be able to think straight in that condition.
He hoped her mother would be able to set her right because it would be a miracle if he were still able to after this.
He went up against the side of the building, looking as casual as possible. One good thing about being old was that nobody paid you any attention.
There was a small sitting area near the outside wall with benches and trees. He walked towards one particular fir tree that hid a small alcove in the building used to channel rainwater from the roof. But there was more there than met the eye. Fastened to the downspout was an inkrail that had been used during the Hall's post-war reconstruction to access the roof.
Clutching his modified bamboozler tightly, he focused hard. It had been a while since he'd done this and he had one less heart to do it with.
He managed to shift into squid form and slipped into the inkrail. It was hard work going all the way up to the top, especially as he had to pass through decades of detritus that partially blocked portions of the tube, but eventually he reached the top.
He reformed on the roof, gasping and clutching his chest painfully. His whole body went numb, and his supporting arm threatened to turn to jelly under his weight. Gritting his beak, skin deathly white, he managed to hold himself together, just barely.
"Just a little more, Soreela," he whispered softly. "Just a little more."
—-
Marie welcomed the cold air blasting her as she emerged from the coach. She was pushing herself dangerously and she knew it all too keenly. Her mind was full of fog and she briefly had to steady herself on the coach before approaching the security barricades.
People gaped at her, shocked by her presence and maimed appearance. She ignored them, keeping herself focused narrowly on the task at hand.
The security officer in charge stared at her. "What are you doing here?"
"I have a plan," she said. "I can get Octavio away from the Monarch and create enough of a distraction for you to get in and deal with the rest. He can't have many followers with him."
He frowned. "This is a delicate hostage situation, miss."
Marie cut him off there. "I know it's delicate! My grandmother and aunt are in there. What you don't understand is that we're all on a time limit. Octavio and his loyalists are desperate and he's not going to stick around long if he thinks he's going to get captured again. Before he leaves he's going to kill as many of the Assembly and the matrons as he can. He's here to try and keep Calachora and the Octarians as enemies. We can't let him!"
The security officer paused, processing this new information and weighing his options. "They're terrorists then?"
"Probably as close a comparison as any. This is a rogue op. Even if Octavio himself doesn't know it, the others do. The Octarians won't support him unless he does something miraculous, which is what he's trying to do by making us surrender. We can't let him. Don't worry, the troops in there aren't regular soldiers, they're mostly public security."
"I do worry! This kind of job is what Enforcers are for."
"The Enforcers won't be coming for a while and I don't think we can afford to wait. I know Octavio, and he's nearing the edge. Much longer and he'll just start killing people. I know it's risky, even stupid, but we have to take a chance."
He grimaced and held his chin, his eyes darting back and forth as he thought hard. She could understand his reluctance, this whole thing would be on him if it went sideways, and hostage situations were delicate at the best of times, but what choice did they have?
He looked around at his people, all of whom seemed willing to go in. There weren't many of them and they were regular security officers at the end of the day, but they were all prepared to do their duty and Marie prayed that none of them would die.
Marie stepped over the barricade. They were out of time. "I'm going in. You coming?"
He glanced back at the barricade, probably realising he was going to have to leave it unguarded. Pulling his ink pistol out of its holster he followed, as did the rest.
Can't let them down now that they've decided to follow me. I can't let them down.
Marie's vision blurred again and her head swam. Even in the cold her body felt uncomfortably warm.
Come on, just a little longer, just a few minutes more.
"Don't follow me directly into the Assembly chamber. Go up and clear the balconies to make sure the members are secure. Don't waste ink on Octavio, he's pretty much immune to it. I'll take care of him."
Marie summoned all the strength she had left, digging deep to draw every scrap she could find, and then she moved.
Marie broke into a run, smashing through the outside doors and knocking them off their hinges. Two octolings on the opposite side of the room gaped, eyes wide in shock. They tried to run but Marie was already upon them, grabbing them in her hands and hurling them against the walls. She ignored the sickening splat sounds and kept moving.
The doors to the main assembly hall loomed ahead. Again, there were two guards and they managed to get behind the doors just before they got there. It didn't save them though.
Though the doors to the Assembly hall were large and impressive, Marie had far too much momentum for them to stop. She jumped and slammed feet first into the doors. They flew open, sending several more octolings flying while she slid across the floor a ways before rising to her feet again, her hands drawing out of her pockets.
Octavio's eyes bulged in surprise. He'd barely recognized Marie before he found a cluster of splatbombs arching towards him.
He covered himself with his tentacles but maintained his grip on his hostage until it suddenly went slack as Orvenii burst. His two bodyguards, likewise, were splatted almost instantly, failing to find cover.
The blasts of non-lethal ink had barely dissipated before Marie reached up over the Moderator General's stand and grabbed Octavio by the head.
She roared and hauled him off of the balcony, violently tossing him the other direction. He slammed into the floor with a heavy, wet thump and tumbled to a stop on the opposite end of the hall.
From the balcony on her left, one of the octarians began shooting at her, but she barely felt it. Marie grabbed her in a grip that probably killed her instantly before she threw whatever was left against the opposite wall. Now, she was laser focused on Octavio. If she could kill him, they would never have to worry about him again.
"Why do you have to ruin everything," she slurred. "Why can't you… just…"
Marie saw the floor suddenly rise, blackness rapidly encroaching on her vision.
No, not now! Not now!
—-
The moment the splatbombs went off, Mora struck. Her tentacles lashed out violently at the octoling threatening Reina, striking her hand first before whacking her in the head repeatedly. The other matrons joined in, pinning the octoling down under a pile of bodies and holding her so she couldn't transform.
Reina opened her eyes just in time to see Marie hurl Keeper's captor into the wall just below their booth with a heavy thud, followed by a scream from the booth below.
Marie teetered unsteadily, her eyes bulging, veins showing on her head and face. Her pallor was deathly pale, the lime in her mantle was now the colour of parched grass.
"Why do you have to ruin everything? Why can't you… just…"
Reina watched in horror as the light in Marie's eyes went out, and her massive body collapsed to the floor with a boom that shook the chamber.
"Marie!" Without thinking, Reina climbed over the balcony railing and leaped down three stories to the floor. She ran to her granddaughter's side and put a hand to her forehead, then quickly withdrew it with a gasp. She was burning hot!
"Ha, haha, ha."
Reina turned and saw Octavio picking himself off the floor. His head was deformed where Marie had grabbed him, and the right-side of his body was flattened where he'd struck the floor. His right eye was swelling even while he stared at them.
"I win!" He cackled. "I don't know what she did to herself to turn into a giant freak but clearly inkling bio-engineering is far inferior to ours."
Reina glared hatefully at him, her mantle turning a very dark red. Marie wouldn't be safe as long as he was here.
"You're the only freak in this room," she hissed. "Back off!"
"Ha! What are you going to do, you old bag? I've killed inklings far younger and stronger than you."
Mora appeared next to her, her tentacles coiled like rearing snakes. She said nothing, but the utter blackness of her tentacles said enough on its own.
"Freeze!" Someone barked from one of the upper balconies. They all looked up to see an Inkopolis Security officer glaring down at Octavio. "Your supporters are all captured or dead. Surrender and we promise you will be treated fairly."
Octavio was silent just for a moment, then his whole body shook and Reina swore she saw his eyes briefly point in opposite directions.
"Fairly? Since when have inklings ever treated us fairly? You leave us to rot in isolation for a century, you deny us the means to even fend for ourselves, and even when you talk about peace, you make sure we're all subservient to you! As long as I draw breath, I'll never let the Octarian people become your puppets!"
"We never wanted puppets, Octavio. In the end, what all of us want is peace."
Octavio whirled around and all eyes in the room were drawn to Craig Cuttlefish as he tottered towards them. He looked exhausted. How far had he pushed his old body to get here? Why was he here in the first place?
"Cuttlefish." Octavio's voice dripped with venom. "So you are still alive."
Cuttlefish stopped and wheezed, catching his breath as he supported himself on his cane. "The Octarian menace has always been the same thing, Octavio: the thing that makes you crave conquest and the exploitation of others. The Octo Lords did it to your own people then tried to do the same to us. I once thought you were different." He shook his head. "But you succumbed to the same thing; though I guess, we can partly be blamed for that."
"Don't lecture me, squid." Octavio hopped towards him. "You're half the reason the treaty ended up as it did, leaving us crippled and trapped until we were so worn away we could only decide between death and servitude."
"We never wanted either, Octavio, but you refused to surrender, and we weren't too keen on bringing the Octarians to the brink of extinction. Nobody was happy with the compromise, but it's been over a century since then. The new generations want to move on and start over; we should let them. The only thing holding them back are those of us who can't forget what we did to each other, who can't move on, who can't forgive."
"That's how it should be," Octavio growled. "Never forget those who did you dirty, never forgive them for what they did to you. Justice only comes when you make them pay for it!"
Cuttlefish shook his head sadly. "We will all pay someday, Octavio, but we shouldn't make our children and grandchildren pay for our mistakes or burden them with our hatreds. That's why, I think it's finally time we took care of our unfinished business."
Octavio wobbled and curled his tentacles, his eyes shimmering wickedly. "You want to finally decide it once and for all? That's fine with me, Cuttlefish. Even if your people kill me here, as long as I get rid of you, I'll die satisfied!"
With trembling arms, Cuttlefish lifted his bamboo cane and pointed it in Octavio's direction. "Let's end it."
Octavio roared and charged at Cuttlefish. Security officers shouted at him and fired their ink weapons but they didn't affect Octavio in the slightest. When he was barely a metre away, Craig fired, blasting Octavio with a frankly pitiful burst of ink before the Octarian grabbed him around the throat and torso with his tentacles.
"That was gross but otherwise pathetic!" His eyes were gleaming maliciously as he slowly squeezed the life out of his lifelong enemy. The security officers yelled down at him, demanding he put Craig down but he ignored them, or maybe he was so caught up in his moment of triumph that he didn't notice.
"Not very bright to try and take me on yourself," he taunted. "You should have called your little pet devil to fight me instead, but you just had to try and make it personal. Not smart, but I can respect it at least. It's always been about you and me in the end, hasn't it?"
Craig gasped and wheezed but stared back at Octavio with a twinkle in his eyes, even as his life was being crushed. "The old you would have realised by now… You really have gotten sloppy in your old age."
Octavio's eyes bulged again. "What are you talking about?" He looked down at the ink stain where Craig had shot him and with a mangled tentacle he picked a small dart out of his body.
Suddenly, it was as if the whole room came under a spell. Everyone just stared, completely wrapped up in the drama between the two old warriors.
"Remember the bio weapon you used that poisoned Soreela? Bet you were pretty upset when you found out she lived long enough to have two kids. The first time you saw Marie it must have seemed like her ghost coming back to haunt you. She has a lot of Soreela in her. They both do."
Octavio shook him violently. "There's no way you of all people would reproduce that bio weapon. You'd never risk it infecting someone else!"
"I didn't reproduce it," he wheezed out. "When Soreela died, I extracted the toxins from her body and concentrated them. I borrowed a Precursor stasis chamber from a friend, and when I figured out you were probably going to show up here, I took it out and put it in that dart."
Octavio squeezed the dart in his tentacle until it broke, his whole body trembling.
"Where's the antidote?"
Craig coughed and smiled. "There isn't one. You think if it existed I wouldn't have used it to save my wife? To keep my kids from losing their mother? I made sure this would kill you. You're finished, Octavio."
Reina thought Octavio's eyes would pop right out of his head. He started foaming at the mouth and some of the veins on his head actually burst as he howled in rage. Craig jerked as Octavio squeezed him again.
"I can still take you down with me."
The spell on everyone broke and the officers attacked, abandoning all precaution, kicking and punching Octavio for all they were worth, striking pressure points in his tentacles, but Octavio stubbornly maintained his grip, crushing his lifelong enemy, slowly.
Gradually, Octavio began to convulse, and more blood began to seep out from breaks in his skin. He jerked and Craig finally fell from his grasp, deformed and broken in the shape of Octavio's iron grip.
The officers carefully moved him away as Octavio thrashed and began to babble incoherently, putrid green bubbles coming from his mouth before he let out one last gasp. Then, the last of the Octo Lords finally died.
Reina turned away from the grizzly sight and focused back on Marie. She was still burning hot and her skin seemed to look less healthy with every passing minute.
"Someone call an ambulance! We need to get her to a hospital."
"She has her coach outside!" One of the officers called. "We already have an ambulance outside we can bring Mr. Cuttlefish to. Hey! Someone get the paramedics in here!"
Minutes later, Reina followed as Marie was carried outside to the coach. The driver grimaced at the sight of her and didn't object when Reina said she'd be riding too.
"I'll go with Craig," Mora said quietly. "Someone should be with him."
Reina flashed green. "I'll text you."
Not wanting to interfere with the paramedics, Reina climbed into the cab with the driver.
"I hope traffic won't be too heavy," she thought aloud.
The driver shook his head. "Traffic on the way there isn't going to be as big a problem as the traffic in the hospital itself."
Reina frowned. "What do you mean?"
He sighed and gave her a disappointed look. "Matriarch, you have no idea what's been happening, do you?"
Author's Notes:
Glory to the Queen! Not the way a lot of you were hoping it would happen, I'm sure, but who else do they have to turn to? Do you think the troops would rely on the members of the Ravalda by this point when Callie was the one who did so much for them and fought on the front lines with them? Heh, I think not. What did you think of the fight between Octavio and Cuttlefish? Did you find it satisfying? What do you think is going to happen now? Not too many chapters left. Let me know what you think.
