Senia closed the freezer door humming a soft tune. The remnants of a smile etched on her face as she returned to the table and picked up her bowl of ice cream. She clicked the metal spoon against the bowl and began heading back to her room. She had a pretty quiet day. She didn't want to bother Luca during his time with Sebastian, so she decided to use the gift her brother gave her. She lounged around the house and recorded songs. She used the voice commands to edit them and add different music tracks to them as the day went on. She currently wore nothing but an oversized T-shirt and underwear, bobbing to the music in her head as she was creating more lyrics.

"You give a show, for their applause. Yeah everybody loves screaming out your name. But hear me roar, and boy you'll know, your name sounds better when it's whispered low," she sang, swinging her hips and imagining doing the dance for Luca.

As she prepared to head back upstairs, Senia glanced towards the door. She stood at the base of the stairs for a few moments and waited there before the door swung open and slammed shut. She raised a confused brow at why the door was so violently closed but smiled at her brother anyway.

"Well welcome home, brother. I take it your afternoon with Luca went well?" Sebastian flinched. Not that Senia saw it. The younger Inkling was huffing out breaths as he tried to put together words. He let out a dry chuckle and let his eyes drift to the ground.

"Y-yeah…everything went…peachy…" Sebastian took a breath and let it out slowly. Senia simply stared forward, placing another spoonful of ice cream in her mouth before letting out an icy sigh.

"Brother, it's very rude to lie to me to my face," Senia said scooping more ice cream into her mouth. "We talked about this, didn't we? If we're going to learn to do more than coexist and actually live as a family, we have to be more honest with each other." Sebastian flinched and held his head down. He chuckled lowly and couldn't help but drop to the ground and lean against the door. He ran a hand over his head and he fought back tears as his signature smile threatened to break.

"I…I really messed up, sis. I messed up bad." Senia paused, placing the spoon in the bowl and giving her brother a worried look.

"Well what did you do?" she asked as Sebastian held his head down in shame. He was quiet for a few moments. Senia shoulders drooped and her eyes softened as she waited for her sibling to answer. "Well?"

"I did something I shouldn't have. And I know Luca's mad at me for it," he explained.

"Did he tell you that you upset him?"

"Well…no, but…"

"Then how can you be sure he's mad? Luke doesn't seem like the type who would be mad over something." Senia stood and returned to her bowl. She scooped out more of her ice cream and put it in her mouth.

"I sorta…kissed him…" There was a soft clank sound, that for the most part went unnoticed by the Inkling boy. Senia held the spoon in her mouth as she looked down at Sebastian.

"You…kissed him?"

"y-yeah…"

"And…did he kiss you back?"

"N-no! I didn't even mean to! I-I was just caught in the moment, ya know? He was being so nice, and supportive and I sorta just leaned in without thinking about it a-a-and-"

"So you stole a kiss?" Senia interrupted. The house was silent for a second and Sebastian slumped even further against the door.

"Please don't phrase it like that…I already feel bad enough…"

"Well it's what you did. If he didn't have time to push you away or lean in himself, you stole a kiss." Sebastian was quiet as Senia twirled the spoon in her mouth, the ice cream placed on a table to the side. "How did Luke react to it?" Sebastian held his head down further.

"I don't know…He seemed shocked but I ran off before he could react…"

"So not only did you steal a kiss, but you ran away without explaining yourself."

"Sis…"

"I wasn't aware you were gay to begin with."

"I never thought of it. I've never been attracted to him before. I just…I don't know…Maybe I should try and talk to him."

"I don't know, brother. Maybe you should wait it out. If he isn't angry at you he would've called by now, or at least messaged you." Sebastian held his head down. "I think you should just go sleep it off, and maybe he'll message you later."

"Yeah…I guess you're right…" Sebastian picked himself of the ground. He slowly made his way up the stairs. Senia stood still as he made his way past her. After he was up the stairs, Senia picked up her ice cream again and made her way back to the kitchen. The ice cream, now half melted was unceremoniously placed in the sink. Her thoughts were racing and her hands were shaking. How dare Sebastian kiss Luke? He was hers. Nobody else's. Luke was the only thing good going for her and she would be damned if she let another brother take something precious from her. She made her way back to the living room, possessive thoughts and anxiety clouding her mind. What if Luca liked it? What if he left her for him? She threw the handle of the spoon in the garbage. With a distasteful twist of her head she spit the scoop of the spoon into it as well. She would not sit back and be the one left behind.

By the time Luca got home, the world was filled with artificial light, as the moon was absent and the stars nonexistent. He stepped into his house, too mentally drained to bother trying to sneak in. Not that he was skilled enough to. His mother probably heard him when he put the key in the door. He walked in ready to accept the tongue-lashing he would receive from his mother for coming home late. He headed towards the stairs and paused as he passed the living room. He was met with two sets of eyes, but they were…different than he imagined they'd be.

He pictured his mother in a mysteriously acquired spinning chair to turn around and go "Where have you been?" with narrowed eyes and a frown that wasn't exactly angry, but showed that she was disappointed, which was probably worse. Instead, his mom and dad looked at him with eyes that were more fitting for the teenager caught sneaking in. That alone grabbed his curiosity and he turned fully towards the living room. Cerata turned her back towards the door and said something into the phone she was holding and Inkay jogged over to his son.

"Hey, Luke. Getting home kinda late, aren't you?"

"Sorry, dad. Somethings happened, and I got caught up." Luca glanced over to his mom. Her shoulders were raised as if trying to conceal something, and she held the phone with both hands. "Is…everything ok?" Inkay followed Luca's glance to Cerata then turned back to his son.

"As long as you don't make this a habit. You should get to bed. We'll talk in the morning, okay?" Inkay said with a weak smile. Luca looked over his father's face and saw something. He wasn't sure what, but he saw it.

"Okay." Inkay's smile grew and he ruffled Luca's tentacles.

"Goodnight, Luke."

"Goodnight, dad." Luca turned and began going upstairs. Inkay watched him leave and waited, listening to the steps to make sure he actually went to his room. He stood up and went back over to Cerata.

"Okay…alright, thank you…I know you will…thank you." By the time he returned to her side, Cerata had hung the phone up and turned towards him.

"Well?"

"She's in critical condition. It's not looking good," she sobbed, leaning into Inkay's chest. Inkay wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed the top of her head. His voice was gentle but his eyes glared into the darkness of the room.

"It's okay…I'm sure she'll be okay. Let's try and get some rest, okay?" Cerata nodded between sobs as the two made their way upstairs.

Cereza groaned as the sunlight peaked through the blinds and assaulted her eyes. Instead of fighting it she simply sat up in bed and stretched all her muscles to get all the kinks out after a good nights rest. She looked over to Em's sleeping form and smiled. They had fallen asleep again from Em's late night planning on 'sealing the deal' with Matzuo. Cereza slowly made her way out of the bed to not disturb her roommate and headed outside.

Successfully sneaking out, she headed to the kitchen. If Em treated her to dinner then she might as well fix breakfast. Maybe she would make omelets. Or sunny side up? It was certainly looking to be a sunny day based on those sunbeams that woke her up. She gathered her eggs, butter, and all of her ingredients to prepare the meal. She prepped all the utensils and reached to turn on the TV for background noise as she cooked.

"We'll be back with more coverage on the matter after the break," the news lady said. In the brief seconds after she turned it on, Cereza caught a large group of people outside of some building. There were a lot of signs she hadn't gotten a good look at. Was there a protest on something? Cereza decided to keep it on the channel to find out what.

She continued making breakfast, focusing on getting them extra fluffy like she liked them. She set the table while the bacon cooked and moved the eggs to a plate on the table so she and Em could get their own share. It wasn't long before the house was filled with the aroma of a delicious breakfast, meaning it wouldn't be long until Em pulled herself from the bed to find the source. Once everything was set up, Cereza sat at the table and munched on a strip of bacon. She glanced over to the TV right as the commercials ended and the news report continued.

"We're back on the scene at Anemon Hospital, where the crowd has only gotten wild and more restless." Cereza tilted her head. There was a riot at a hospital? What could've happened to cause that?

"Authorities have yet to discuss to the public what has lead to one of the famous Squid Sisters to be in critical condition, but the crowd seems to be pointing fingers at terrorists, and are all riled up about their safety, and the safety of the heart of Inkopolis." Cereza sat up straight, eyes widened and any thought of breakfast erased. Callie or Marie were in critical condition? What happened? Why is that causing people to riot? Were they gonna be okay? She could feel her heart pounding in her chest and echoing in her skull. She stared at the screen and hoped for more information. The camera shifted from an aerial view to a ground one as the reporters were trying to get information from the crowd. The camera shifted to an Inkling female who held a sign that said "If the Hearts of Inkopolis aren't safe, then how safe are we?" She seemed extremely angry as she looked into the camera.

"Apalo said that they were doing everything to protect us from these threats, and yet an atrocity like this was allowed to happened. Now Callie's in there barely clinging to life and we still have no idea who's behind all these attacks. Now if Callie, a big face and star of the city can't be protected, then what hope do we, the little people have?" The camera switched to a couple, an Octoling boy and an Inkling girl, holding hands with frowns on their faces.

"I believe that everyone here is mostly looking for answers. We know Apalo is in there, and he's refusing to make any comments on the situation. We as the public have the right to know if it's still safe to stay in Inkopolis." Cereza watched with her hand over her mouth. Something happened to Callie? Was it really terrorists? Cereza was skeptical. She knew the people there were just scared and confused and were taking their aggression out on Apalo. She stood up and grabbed her keys. She had to go to her parents. They would probably know more on what happened than the news reporter.

"Something smells great," Em said with a smirk as she took a seat at the table. "You're gonna make Matzuo a happy man." Cereza ignored the implication and started heading to the door.

"I have to go see my parents," she called over her shoulder. Em noticed the distraught tone in her voice and rose up.

"In your pajamas? Everything okay?"

"God, I hope so," she said walking out of the door. The trip was nerve wracking, as everyone seemed to be talking about nothing but Callie, the situation she was in, and how Apalo seemed to be doing nothing but avoiding any and all questions. She was so confused and worried and prayed that her parents knew something to calm her nerves.

Meanwhile at the Squilliam residence, Luca sat down at the kitchen table. His parents had told him to get dressed and they had something important to tell him. So he waited for the news, twiddling his thumbs and imagining the worse. Eventually his parents entered the room with somber expressions and he swallowed. Instead of taking a seat at the table, they both crouched on either side of Luca, which only worsened Luca's anxiety.

"Luca, darling…there was an accident at work, and…Callie isn't doing too well." Luca felt his heart sink as he looked between his parents. Callie and Marie were practically family, but he had yet to see either of them in a hospital bed. They usually did minor recon, and studied items recovered. How could she end up hurt?

"Is she going to make it?" Luca asked, gripping his pants legs in an effort to sit still.

"We don't know yet. We're gonna go pick up your sister and go see." As if on cue the doorbell rang. Cerata looked at Inkay and gestured her head towards the door. The Inkling stood and walked out of the room. Cerata turned her head back to Luca and rubbed his shoulder. "I'm sure she's gonna be fine though." Luca squeezed his pants legs even tighter as he tried to believe that was the truth. Inkay and Cereza made their way into the room. Luca shot to his feet and made his way to his sister. Cereza practically sprinted to her brother and the two wrapped their arms around each other. Luca squeezed his sister as tears poked at both of their eyes. Inkay and Cerata watched the two for a second before the older Octoling placed her hands on their shoulders.

"Come on. Let's go check on her." The siblings separated and nodded to their mother. The family made their way out of the house and towards the hospital. By the time they reached the building, the crowd had gotten bigger since Cereza saw it on TV, and there was a certain hostility that you couldn't quite pick up over camera. The family parked behind the hospital, as the crowd seemed to be coherent enough to not block the way in or out of the building, but kept up their riots. Once inside, everyone seemed to be in a panic. Security was sent out front to no avail as nurses and doctors scrambled to calm panicking patients down.

"This is a mess…" Inkay muttered as he slowly came into a park.

"Security's definitely earning their pay today…" Cereta added. The group made their way out of their car and up to the back of the hospital. As soon as the door opened, several eyes shot to them and a nurse power walked over to the family.

"You aren't allowed in here. You have to leave," she screeched. The family didn't take it personally. They could tell by the look in her eyes that she was having a stressful day.

"Dr. Brainstein has given us permission to come in here." Inkay explained.

"Dr. Brainstein hasn't been accepting phone calls all day, and would have been unable to-"

"It's okay, Angel. They can enter." Angel looked back and the family's eyes followed hers. An older Inkling walked up to the family and Angel simply said "Okay," and rushed back to her duty. The Inkling stepped up to Inkay and the two exchanged handshakes. "Agent," he whispered as the two released their grip.

"Dr. Brainstein."

"As usual, I'm happy to see you, but I'm upset that it has to be here." Dr. Brainstein said. Cerata nodded as she stepped forward, shaking Brainstein's hand as well.

"How are they doing?

"We're making progress with Callie, but with all the commotion we're short on staff. Marie hasn't left Callie's room since she got out of the ER."

"So she's alive?" Cereza's relief was practically tangible as she squeezed her brother's shoulder.

"Yes, but we aren't sure how stable she is. We will most likely be keeping her for awhile."

"Can we go see her?" Luca asked, gaining a smile from the older male.

"Of course. I'm sure Marie needs the emotional support."

"Please, Miss, return to your room. You shouldn't be moving so much." The group looked over to the hallway as the doors were pushed open. Several nurses hovered around a severely bandaged Marie. She wore the standard hospital garb with a light green jacket draped over her shoulders. Bandages wrapped around the lower part of her face, down her neck, and peeped out around her collarbone. The nurses seemed almost scared to touch her as she moved forward. Her steps were soft and her eyes dull as she turned towards the exit of the hospital, all as she dragged her IV out behind her.

"Aunt Marie!" Cereza and Luca called out. The singer didn't respond. She turned towards the exit and stepped out of the door, nurses flocking around her begging her to return to her room. The crowd outside grew even louder at the sight of Marie, shouting questions and concerns about her, her cousin, and the state of Inkopolis. Marie quietly stared at them as their riot seemed to slowly grow in rage. The nurses and security formed a tighter circle around Marie to protect her if the mob chose to push any further. Marie was unfazed. She took another delicate step forward and her lips slowly opened.

"People, please," she spoke. Her voice was quiet, raspy, and strained, yet it was a soundwave that silenced everyone standing before her. "My cousin and I need our rest. Especially Callie. But not just us. This is a building, filled with sick men, women, and children who all need rest to heal. The people working here are using valuable time to calm you, when that time could be used to help those in need. We do not know who is behind this attack on my sister and I, but this behavior won't solve anything. Please, return to your homes. Return to your families. And please…stay safe." The somber tone was a stark contrast to the snarky remarks that usually exited the singer's mouth. The crowd was silent except for a few murmurs here and there, and one by one they all started to go off in their own separate ways. There were a few stragglers that lagged behind and gave Marie weary eyes. After a few seconds of silence and Marie's saddened smile, they too moved on.

Marie looked around to make sure there were no other people around. The policemen took a collective sigh and returned to their cars, and the nurses began thanking Marie profusely for her help. Marie simply nodded and began walking back to the hospital with the same ginger footsteps. As soon as the door closed behind her and the nurses, Marie fell to her knees. The nurses and the Squilliam family rushed over to her side. Two nurses lifted her up to her feet and she leaned towards Inkay.

"About time you showed up," she smirked. Inkay allowed her to lean on his shoulder.

"As snarky as always." Inkay's family surrounded her, and started to rapid fire questions. Cereza and Luca more so had to fight the urge to just wrap their arms around the singer, but were afraid to cause her further injury. When she turned more outward and opened her arms, they both immediately wrapped their arms around her and asked

"Are you okay?" Marie chuckled, holding the younger hybrids and giving a tight squeeze. Marie was quiet for a moment before her mouth opened.

"I'll be fine."

"How's Callie?" Cerata asked. Marie looked up at Cerata and the nurses still hovering nearby glanced at each other.

"She's…doing…." Marie murmured. She turned to the nurses and gestured towards the family. "I'll have them take me back up." The nurses nodded and went about their jobs. Marie shifted back to support her own weight and gestured for the family to follow her. The family was quiet as they entered the elevator, but Inkay began his questions as soon as the door closed.

"What happened exactly?" There was a cold edge to his voice. Completely business and the most serious tone Luca and Cereza have heard from him in a long time.

"You remember that mask that was retrieved? Callie and I began trying to decipher its contents. It was really a high tech piece of equipment. High tech enough that when Callie put it on it recognized her as someone other than its user and self-destructed." Inkay's fists tightened, Cerata and Luca looked at her shocked with various levels of worry, and Cereza's hands clasped over her mouth. The elevator opened and they walked to their destination in silence. The family followed Marie until she stopped a ways from the door. "It wasn't an ink bomb. It used…fire…"

"Fire?" Luca asked. Marie turned to the family, running her hand over the bandages covering her lower face and neck.

"Second-degree burns. Kind of hurts to breathe. Doctor's say I may return to singing, but it will definitely be awhile." She lowered her hands and her eyes drooped in sadness. "Callie got third-degree burns all over her face. They barely managed to save her, and even then, they weren't able to save her eyes. She's going to be hospitalized for awhile and I'm already dreading how she's gonna adjust."Cerata stepped forward and placed an arm around Marie. The worried Inkling looked into the eyes of the Octoling and she took a deep breath. She straightened herself and moved back towards the door. She slowly opened it and gave a loud knock on the door to announce their entrance.

"Callie? It's me." Callie laid in bed with the entirety of her face wrapped in bandages. She shifted a bit towards the door her arm slowly reached up. Marie walked over and held Callie's hand with both of hers. "I brought Inkay and his family. They've come to check on you." Callie perked up a bit as the family approached her. Their hearts ached as they looked at her. She raised her hand, and the family moved over to grasp it, each squeezed tightly as they greeted her.

"Aunt Callie…I'm so sorry this happened to you…" Cereza whimpered, wiping her eyes as Callie squeezed her hand back as if trying to comfort her.

"It's okay. We're going to stay with you awhile, alright?" Luca whispered. Cerata went around and held Callie's other hand.

"Desk jobs are more dangerous than we thought, huh?" she chuckled. Callie gave a weak one as well the sounds itself seemed scarred and raspy. Inkay stood in the back with Marie. Marie stared brokenhearted at her cousin and Inkay glared forward.

"He knew this would happen, didn't he?" He growled. "He even brought it up before we started fighting. He knew we'd try it on." Marie was silent. She gripped the fabric of her hospital gown and forced a weak smile.

"Hindsight is 20/20," she said looking at Callie attempt to interact with the others.

"I'll make him pay," Inkay said. Marie grabbed on to his sleeve to get his attention. He didn't turn towards her.

"I want the fucker dead, too. I want him to pay, and suffer for what happened to Callie and everything else he's done," she said as her voice wavered and shook. "But we can't rush into things. They are clearly very smart to not only create goggles that do what they do, but they seem to have a lot of things planned out in advance." Inkay turned towards Marie.

""What they do"? What did the goggles do, Marie?" Marie shrunk down a bit and turned back towards her cousin.

"They can scan ink. They could see targets through the walls, and staring at one long enough would give information on that person. I'm not completely sure how much detail. Callie was extremely surprised on what showed up." Inkay ran a hand over his head. "Then they either have data stored on everyone in the city, or at the very least, people in the agency." Inkay stared forward, watching his family comfort the wounded Inkling and his chest ached.

"You think there's an spy on the inside?"

"I'd like to not think that, but it is possible." Inkay thought for a second and his eyes narrowed.

"Have you heard from Apalo?" Marie shook her head.

"There were rumors that he was inside the hospital, but none of the staff have seen him. I think it was just a rage rumor that the mob started." The two went silent.

"So you aren't quitting the agency, right?"

"Of course not. At least not until the bastard behind all this is behind bars."

"Good. I need more eyes on Apalo. I don't really trust him."

"I've been thinking on that myself. We should talk later. Right now, I just need a breather and to be with Callie." Inkay nodded.

"Of course. If you ever need anything, just ask us. We'll help you."

"Thank you." Inkay and Marie looked over to the group and watched Luca drawing something on the palm of Callie's hand. The people in the room weren't the only one watching the hybrid boy. A pair of sea green eyes locked onto Luca from the top of the building across the street, then the bandaged Inkling he was interacting with.

"Seems like my new friend is having some emotional distress. I think I can definitely help with that." A sinister grin spread over Dao's face as he pulled out his phone.

Hey, buddy! Your first de-stresser is gonna be later today. Think you can meet me at the training center at liiiiike, six maybe? See you then

...Yeah, I'm terribly sorry for the wait. Things started picking up and then suddenly things went to shit. A manipulative now ex made me feel like shit constantly and had a few..."thought" run through my mind. My mental health deteriorated rapidly over a few months and I attempted seeing a therapist, and the usual school load and trying to find a job. Things started to pick up, a few months ago when I met a lovely person that helped me fix my head. Unfortunately I then I got into a car accident. Wasn't anything too bad and everyone came out okay, but there's the paper work, and insurance and no longer having a vehicle regularly available to get me on/off campus. Just a whole lot of things piling up and ruining me, which is why this chapter is a bit shorter than the usual length. I apologize for that but hope it's enough to satiate you guys until the next one. Sorry to keep you all waiting. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed.

Astalabyebye,

Bang