After hearing back that no one in the agency had a logged history of human knowledge, Cerata decided to investigate the museum itself. After a somewhat heated back and forth with the tour guide, Cerata was escorted back to what she labeled as "The File Room" by the manager. There were file cabinets flanking her on both sides and a small desk on the back wall covered in papers, folders, and other messy clutter.

The Inkling woman escorting her scanned over the files before she stopped at one. She pulled it open and withdrew several large folders from within and sat them on the desk.

"These would be the records of all the donations and information given to the museum. If you're looking for language specifically-," she handed a folder to Cerata, "then you would be looking through this folder. It contains the human exhibits, so you'll have to scan them for ones with translation credits." Cerata thanked the woman and opened the folder. She flipped a few pages, scanned the contents and paused. When she looked up, she met the eyes of the woman still staring at her.

"Sorry, but we never were trained for "agents demanding information", so while I'll give you the information you want, I'm going to have to watch you to make sure you don't pocket a piece of paper or something." Cerata chuckled.

"Alright. Fair enough. I'll let you take the chair then. Hopefully I won't be too long." The manager took a seat and Cerata continued flipping through pages. The pages were mostly filled with in detail descriptions of museum exhibits along with who donated them to the museum, the condition they were in, and a lot of other things that were not Cerata's concern at the moment.

After a few more pages, Cerata reached the human exhibit. She scanned over the donor list, her eyes narrowed more and more before they started widening as she saw the same name repeated on the majority of donations.

"Are all the documents correct? Are you sure the exhibits were donated by the same person?" she asked the manager. The manager adjusted her glasses a bit and nodded.

"All documented at the moment the donation was made, in case a squadron needed to look up a missing part. We'd need to donated the owner for either the exact location the exhibit was found or access to continue looking." Cerata closed the book and handed it back to the manager.

"Thank you, that's it. Sorry for any inconveniences," Cerata said with a low bow as she began to leave.

"No problem, happy to help," came her response, the eyeroll basically transferred with the words. Cerata closed the door behind her and her eyes furrowed in thought. Hopefully this was all just a coincidence, and best case scenario this coincidence was an advantage and this would end with a positive outcome. With a deep breath her eyes became resolute as she marched to her next destination. Maybe things would go great and she could have a nice conversation with Apalo about why so many of the human exhibits were donated by him.

Sebastian laid in bed, bouncing between staring at his phone and staring at the ceiling. He had gotten a few messages from some of his Grizzco buddies, but none of their conversations were really holding his attention. That honor was instead given fully to Luca and his relationship with Senia. Had this gone on since they met? He didn't think it would develop into a relationship.

Senia was all over him immediately, but he chalked that up to her mask of being a tease. His brother explained that Senia was most likely simply "masking her trauma" with her behavior. Maybe he should call his brother and tell him.

As if responding to his thoughts his phone rang. It didn't do the small beep saying he got a message, or the jingle saying Grizzco was open to do business. His phone sang a song that made him lunge towards the device. He looked over the caller I.D. to be sure that who was calling was the same person he thought it was. Maybe he was always looking over them.

"Hello?" he said, trying to contain his excitement.

"Hi, what's up?" came the voice of his brother.

"Oh you know. Just, chillin'. Home alone,"

"Ah...sorry the place is so quiet…" his brother trailed off towards the end. Sebastian chuckled.

"It's fine. It's good for thinking."

"Thinking seems to be the only thing I have to myself these days...How have you been?" Sebastian thought for a second. This was the perfect opportunity to discuss Senia. He had just contemplated doing that. It was like the universe wanted him to expose what Senia was up to.

"I've, uh...I've been good. Hung out with a friend and Senia and I have gotten a little closer. Speaking of…" he paused for a moment, unsure of how to properly move forward. "Did you...know she hooked up with someone?"

"Oh, was it that boy she told me about? I don't think I asked his name, but she seemed to really like him." Something in Sebastian's chest dropped. He already knew about Luca? She had told him? When did this happen? How long had he known? Sebastian tried to will the words out of his mouth, but instead it flapped silently to an invisible audience. "I hope they work out."

"Yeah….me too…" It felt as though someone else had said those words. Like an outside voice refused to let him disagree with his brother, and something was pushed deep down. Further down than the pit he felt in his stomach. "So how busy have you been recently?" There was a low sigh on the other end and Sebastian's shoulders somehow slumped just a bit more.

"A lot of planning. Some minor projects, some big ones...a lot of hassle."

"Ah, so you must be tired, huh?"

"So tired."

"Well, I really appreciate you calling, but you should definitely get some rest. We need you at your best, right?" The voice was quiet, and for a moment Sebastian wondered if he caught on. If he knew something was wrong and would shove his foot in the door.

"You're right. Gotta be at my best." Sebastian didn't say anything. "I'll call you the next time I get a chance. I love you, little brother." Sebastian felt a burning behind his eyes as his jaw ached.

"I love you, too." There was quiet, and then a click. Sebastian placed his phone on the bed and laid down. The silence was oppressive. Every in-take of breath was strained and every exhale seemed to pull his chest deeper and deeper into a void. For the first time in a long time, more so than he ever had before,

Sebastian felt alone.

Cerata stood in front of the door to Apalo's office. She wasn't sure why she was suddenly so nervous. She had interacted with the older Octoling many times before, and they were actually pretty close. This was just a standard meeting. At worst he simply had some findings from his time serving Octavio and he donated them after the tyrant's fall. That would make this a dead end. At best he studied the language and could crack the code. Taking a calming breath, she knocked on the door.

There was the sound of rummaging, then silence. As if there was someone inside who wasn't supposed to be. She knocked again. Nothing. She decided to call out to him.

"Apalo? Are you in there?" The noise returned getting closer to the door and she heard the lock come undone. The door swung open and on the other end Apalo stood, color drained from his face, heavy bags under his eyes, and just a very exhausted look about him.

"Oh, Cerata, I'm glad it's just you."

"What? Why are you-" the Octoling was yanked into the office by her arm and Apalo closed the door behind her and locked it. Now fully inside the room, Cerata could see how badly in disarray the room was. Papers were scattered everywhere; unfinished cups of coffee were strewn across the various desks, some even on the bookshelf; chairs were in the middle of the floor; and a conspiracy theory-styled board hung on the walls with various locations of Inkopolis photographed and mapped out. Pins and strings connected seemingly unconnected locations. Photos of the missing people connecting where they were last seen to where they were found if they were found at all.

"What happened here?" Cerata asked in shock. Apalo stepped past her, picking up a few more papers and tacks to add to the wall.

"I'm simply doing what the people want of me and looking for an answer to these terrorist organizations assaulting Inkopolis," he said. "Clearly said people calling me a lazy fraud, rioting outside my home, and demanding I find a solution to a problem I don't even have all the context to is an excellent, unstressful motivator for me to get the job done." A piece of paper ripped at his grip on it as he tried to tack it to the wall. A low growl of "fuck" hissed from his lips and he turned and pressed a few buttons on his computer to print another copy. As he stood impatiently for the machine to give him his paper, Cerata came over and sat him down.

"Well, lucky for you sir, I have a breakthrough that may help us get a lead on the case." Apalo's eyes widened and he would have shot out of his seat again if Cerata had not held him in place. "Tell me, what do you know about humans?"

"Humans? What do prehistoric creatures have to do with-"

"We think that the terrorists encrypted their data in a human language. Agent 4 found their base and got some data. We think that they may be located underwater. Do you or anyone you know have any idea how to translate it?" Apalo took in the information then his tired eyes narrowed in thought. Without a word he stood and moved to one side of his desk. He rummaged through some maps looking for a particular one. "What are you searching for? A map of the ocean? We don't have one of those since the ocean is, you know, death." Apalo grabbed a map and moved it to his board. He spread it near the corner of the board.

"The Islands. Closest thing we got. Underwater. I should've known, but it's so outrageous," he muttered to himself.

"One thing at a time. Do you know anything about humans or what any of these symbols mean?" Cerata took out her phone and showed Apalo the pictures. The older Octoling scanned over the images presented to him.

"At one point, while I was under Octavio's rule, I was extremely interested in humans. They had to have been a very advanced species. A lot of our technology is reverse engineered from human devices. I was enamored at the thought of what could cause the mass extinction of such an advanced creature. I learned some of their languages to see if they left behind a dying message or a warning or something. I never found anything." He let out a sigh. "Humans had a plethora of languages. It's been decades since I've so much as glanced at any of them. Then there's still a chance I don't know what this one might be." Cerata's shoulders slumped in disappointment.

"I'll send the pictures over to you. Surely you didn't do all your research alone. There has to be someone who might be able to translate it." Apalo let out a sigh.

"You're right. I had a small team that searched for human remains to learn as much about them as possible. Octavio believed if we found a human weapon and reverse engineered it we could take the Great Zapfish by force. I was assigned to finding remains in Octovalley. Being Octavio's right hand, I wasn't to stray too far from the tyrant. I had a partner known as Frill who set up on the islands. He was in charge of seeing if there were any remains off the coast. With rising waters there was a chance he'd find burials as the island sloped into deeper waters." A small smile crossed his face as he remembered simpler times. "Another friend, Pho, was sent to infiltrate Inkling areas. See if they had human information or relics they were hiding or simply hadn't found in the mainland. We did our best to learn as much about the creatures as we could."

"Did you find anything interesting?"

"Everything we did ended up at the museum. Everything less interesting and more practical was studied back at Octovalley. That is until Octavio shut down the program. He needed my full attention on his music based weaponry, and the human research wasn't getting us much more than knick knacks and forgotten stories and languages." Cerata glanced at the pictures of the missing women on the board.

"I can't imagine your group took that well."

"We were extremely upset. Humans had become a beloved hobby of ours. We practiced their dialect when we met up. Compared how the symbols may have sounded and what words meant from what each one found. When Octavio shut it down, the group fell apart. I'm pretty sure that Pho may have died during an Inkling raid, and Frill went to the islands and I never heard from him again." Cerata paused in thought as she took in the answer.

"If the culprit is using a human language, do you think it could be one of your partners? Frill?"

"If they're not dead it's a possibility. Though it wouldn't narrow it down completely. Though it was a small fraction of the Octarian army, there were countless, excuse my wording, nameless grunts assisting us in figuring possible locations, decoding, and the like. All of them had various amount of loyalty and motivation, so who knows what they could've done with the knowledge they own." Apalo took a tired breath and moved over to a crate in the corner of his room. He threw aside some miscellaneous items that sat on top of it and started rummaging through the dusty, web covered files. "I may have a few of my rough translations here. I could possibly use them to decode the words you have." Cerata beamed but looked over his composition and darkened a bit.

"Agent 2 and I are still working on cracking the code. I understand you want to solve the problem but you still have to rest. If you work yourself into the ground you get sloppy."

"We're Octarians," Apalo replied with a weak smile. "When are we known to rest?"

"I'm serious, sir. You need to rest up a bit before you dive back into your work." The younger Octoling stared into the tired eyes of the older male. For a moment they simply locked their gaze. It was Apalo who relented first and let out a sigh.

"I suppose a quick nap is long overdue," he said taking a seat at his desk. Cerata smiled.

"Thank you, sir. I'll leave you to it then, tell Agent 2 the good news, and be back later." She waved goodbye as she exited the room. Apalo sat in silence for a moment, watching the door as if he was waiting for her to return and poke her head through it. When she did not, he took in a big breath through his nose and let it out through his mouth.

"There is no rest for the weary," he muttered as he stood up, locked the door, and began looking for the symbols Cerata gave him.

*two months later*

"He's still in a coma, but his vitals seem to be returning to normal," a doctor said as he marked notes on his clipboard. "Are we still able to draw blood?"

"Yes, sir," said the nurse at his side. "We drew some blood earlier today. The sample had a lot less of the mystery substance than it did yesterday, and a visibly noticeable decline from a month ago."

"Excellent. Any breakthrough on the mystery substance?"

"A lot of the samples we collected are deteriorating before we can get a good analysis of it. We have managed to find out that when administered into the bloodstream, it pushes out against the inside of the blood vessel and hardens."

"So it blocks it?" The doctor asked as he stepped into the room still housing Kelp. He looked over the Inkling who had just recently regained color.

"Not really. When enough of it accumulates it actually helps blood flow. With it blocking the lines of the vessels, ink can't be transferred in or out. The needle couldn't puncture the veins and the body can't absorb liquids. This led to the skeletal look that he had."

"Fascinating. I wonder what put him in such a state." Kelp coughed a bit into his mask. The strange substance speckling over the inside of it. The doctor made note to continue cleaning the inside of the mask hourly. He then coughed again. Then again a bit more violently. He then fell into a coughing fit, raising his hand to his mouth in an attempt to cover it. His eyes shot opened as the coughing intensified and the doctors scattered in a panic.

"He's conscious! Get him out of there!" Someone yelled as the doctors opened the tank and he shot out, yanking off the mask and coughing into his hand. A more liquidy version of the substance leaking through his fingers as his body lurched. As the coughing subsided, doctors were immediately on him, strapping things to his chest to monitor his breathing and heart, one shone a light in his eye checking how his pupils dilated, while another bombarded him with questions about how he felt and his level of consciousness.

"Get Agent 3 here immediately, and call the family," the doctor instructed a nurse, who nodded and rushed off.

"Yeah, I'm headed there now," Cereza said as she walked towards the hospital. "She's improving. She's still eating through a straw at this point, but she's sitting up on her own. She's been bedridden for awhile, so the doctors said she's probably going to need to go through physical therapy to not only get used to walking, but get used to doing it blind. Yeah….they couldn't save her eyes. She still has the bandages on. Yeah, I'm sure she'll love the smoothies, too. Alright, Matzuo. I'll talk to you later." A blush covered the hybrid's face. "I love you, too. Alright bye. Enjoy your trip to Shell City. " With her call ended she smiled to herself at how affectionate Matzuo was towards her. With her variety of smoothies in her containers, she looked forward to spending the day with Callie and having her try them out.

Sebastian sat in the booth and stared out of the window. He studied the people walking by with a dull look on his face. He had been waiting for roughly half an hour. It wasn't too bad of a wait and he didn't have anything else to do, but he still found himself irritated. A familiar voice slightly distorted by the glass caught his attention.

"Don't be hard on yourself, Luca, darling. You do an amazing job. But if you want more practice, there's always next weekend. I definitely won't mind," came the sultry voice of his sister. Sebastian watched as Luca's face colored and the two made their way past the window and into the store. By the time the two made it to the booth Sebastian had a small smile on his face.

"Hey, Sebastian. How are you?" "Good morning, brother," came the greetings from the couple.

"Sup, guys. I'm doing fine." They sat in the booth across from Sebastian and the Inkling boy looked over them. They both seemed to be practically glowing, and there was ample space on both sides of them in the booth. Instead they were quite literally joined at the hip. Senia had her tentacles braided behind her in a hairstyle she hadn't had before she left for the weekend.

"You look kind of tired. Did you not sleep well?" Luca asked. Sebastian looked at the hybrid's face and watched it dim ever so slightly with worry for his friend. Mustering up a smile he answered

"I'm just tired. Woke up a lot through the night. No big deal." Luca continued to look worried.

"You're not too tired to walk around with us, are you? Luke and I were looking forward to the three of us picking up ice cream." Sebastian looked at his sister. There was a small smile on her face and she seemed to gradually shining brighter and brighter after Luca took her out those months ago. The Inkling boy could look down her arm and tell that even now the two were holding hands under the table. The pit in Sebastian's stomach deepened and his throat tightened up.

"Yeah, I'm pretty tired. After this I might just go back and try to get back to sleep." Senia's smile faded.

"Oh...well, we have all week to go. Luca and I will just postpone and we can all go together," Senia said a bit perkier.

"Don't have a bad time on my account. Go ahead and get your steps in and some ice cream. I'll be fine." Luca raised an eyebrow.

"You sure you don't want us to wait for yo-" Luca was cut off as the waiter popped over to the table and asked if they were ready to order. Sebastian didn't give time for the other two to decide as he quickly pointed out his breakfast order on his menu and handed it to the waiter. After ordering, Sebastian looked at Luca expectantly. The hybrid kept his gaze for a moment before picking up the menu and reading off some of the items to Senia.

Sebastian watched the two interact. As fast as it came, the grey cloud of worry that came over Luca vanished as he spoke to Senia. He'd read off an item and Senia would "ooo" and "aaa" and joke about the items. The two laughed and glowed with each other and with every word Sebastian felt further and further away from the two.

They made their orders and the waiter thanked them and walked away. Sebastian regretted not ordering earlier. The sooner he could leave the better. The two across from him probably thought the same. He ordered something simple hoping it would be out quick and allow him to leave as soon as possible. Watching the two interact had put a bigger and bigger toll on the Inkling boy. He was just tired. Maybe a bit depressed, but he would support his sister and friend. Senia had been through a lot. Unlike him, she deserved this.

Inkay was so relieved to see the Inkling up and about. Granted he had a lot of wires and straps on him monitoring his vitals, but that wide smile on one of his closest friend's face nearly brought him to tears. He approached Kelp and gave him a firm hand clasp and pulled him into a hug. Lyra watched the friends unite, dried tear stains on her face and a new set threatening to spill from her eyes. Wakame put his arm around his mother to comfort her.

"I can go down as the first Inkling to swim through the ocean and survive now, right?" Kelp joked.

"Like a damn cockroach. Don't you ever scare me like that again!" Inkay shot back. Kelp laughed but it was immediately cut off by Inkay smacking him upside his head. "What were you thinking?! You went on a mission alone?! How the fuck did you end up miles underwater in a submarine of all things? Why didn't you tell me where you were going beforehand? It doesn't matter what info you get if you're drifting at the bottom of the sea like a damn corpse in space!" Kelp chuckled.

"I'm starting to think you and Lyra just show me kindness so I can let my guard down."

"Gotta make sure you're okay before kicking your ass," Inkay responded. As if a switch was flipped, the two Inklings turned serious. "What happened?" Kelp looked over to his wife and son and they gave a curt nod. The doctors and nurses exited the room with Kelp's family close behind. Kelp took a deep breath and explained the events that led him to his situation. Inkay was silent, not giving his opinion on matters until the complete story was told.

"So a giant cult that operates under the water? If I didn't know you I'd say you were crazy."

"I think me shooting from the debts of the ocean makes my story a bit more believable. Wait, the jumpdrive!" Kelp called looking over his near naked form. "Clearly it's not on me. Do you have it?"

"Marie has it. We've been trying to decode it for months. Hopefully it'll have some more useful information on it."

"Hopefully. Otherwise I would have gone swimming for nothing." Kelp stared at the ground for a moment and Inkay watched him.

"What was it like? Swimming in the ocean?" Kelp took a deep breath and put his hand on his chest.

"Overwhelming. There was just nothing. An abyss waiting to swallow me up with no direction of where to go. I was terrified. Honestly though, that terror is what kicked me into gear. That and the pain. Just existing was pain. But it kept me moving. There was nothing to fight so I had to choose flight and just go." Inkay shuddered.

"I wouldn't blame you if you chose to retire after this. Just looking at you after you resurfaced…it was terrifying…" Inkay looked away, as if the skeletal form of Kelp still sat in front of him. Kelp chuckled a bit.

"You calling me ugly?" he joked.

"Kelp, I'm serious. I can't imagine you going through anything else after this ordeal. You were out of commission for two months. Lyra was basically in shambles. I can't imagine what was going through her and Wakame's heads. Maybe it's time you become that family man we always joked about." Kelp held his head down, shoulders slumped as if he was tired.

"Trying to put me on the bench, huh? Retirement does sound good. But I've seen the scale. I saw how many people are in this cult operating under our noses. I can't just put my fin between my legs and run away and leave you guys to handle this. I'm going to help you shut this thing down. Then honestly I might see if Lyra's willing to go to a nice quiet retirement community. It may be clichéd to say, but I am getting too old for this." Inkay chuckled and the two exchanged smiles.

"Yeah, me too. But we gotta do what we gotta do. If you wanna be any help you gotta rest up and get back to one hundred percent." The two clasped hands again and Kelp reclined back on his table.

"Sure thing. What are you going to do in the meantime?"

"I'm going to go see if Marie and Apalo made any progress on decoding. We got some leeway, but not much last I checked."

"Well, good luck with that. Can you send Lyra and Wakame back in on your way out?"

"Of course," Inkay said. The two waved each other off, gave supporting glances, and Inkay left the room.

Marie and Apalo were scanning through another file. They were happy to say they had made some progress, but they still couldn't get through the password.

"I think I have found more insight on this 'Rapture' place we keep seeing. I believe it is what they call their base of operation. Where it is located, I do not know, but it seems like it is very important to their crimes." Apalo nodded, still looking at the screen. Marie's eyes were dull with the making of bags she had been fighting off beginning to form.

"I feel like we're so close. We're just missing some piece of the puzzle and then we'll be in," Marie said as she bit into her thumb. They had moved their base of study into Apalo's office by the Octoling's request. It was less of a hassle for them to move than him to move his matter of human information across town. That and the public was still harassing him every time he showed his face to "fix" the situation.

"Yes, though it's disheartening how we've made so much progress while still at square one." Marie groaned. "But I feel we're going to make a breakthrough. Really soon, I know it. It's just a matter of-" Marie's phone went off. She looked at the I.D. and put the phone to her ear.

"Hello?...He's awake? That's great," Marie said. She placed her phone down and turned on the speaker. Inkay's voice flooded the room.

"Yeah, and he's given me a bunch of information about the cult. It seems to be some type of rebirth cult. There was a lot of talk about straying from our ancestors and being "reborn into perfection" going on."

"That's always unsettling. Must be some wackjob pulling the strings of the masses," Marie said, turning her attention back to the computer in front of her.

"Must be. It's too bad that Kelp's helmet didn't survive. I'm sure the recording for it would have been useful," Apalo added.

"I have some people in the facility trying to restore it, but it's not looking too good. The most we get is a flicker and it doesn't seem like it can connect to anything else."

"Anyway, this cult that Kelp mentioned. Did he say anything of use? Some deity that they worship or some place that they need to go?" Apalo asked as he shifted through papers.

"No, nothing like that. He only managed to catch the tail end of the presentation. They were taking people to 'be queens of the new world'." Marie and Apalo grew silent.

"Maybe the password has something to do with Royalty?" Apalo suggested. Marie brought her finger to her mouth and looked over the ever shifting words on her screen.

"Maybe...but...what if... the reason that we can't get into the password is because the password is in the human language?"

"I mean...that is a great thought, and would make sense. But wouldn't that mean we're shit out of luck? We don't really have an Inkling to human computer translator."

"What if we use the changing lines to copy characters into the box? It might take awhile but it could work."

"Agent 2, that would take more time than we have. Even if we managed to copy the symbols for the password we wanted, there's no telling if it is even the correct answer to the question. I suggest we find another way." Apalo's eyes had narrowed at the idea. There was no way they had time to invest in a solution not guaranteed to work.

"I feel like the answer has something to do with Rapture."

"Their base of operation?" Inkay asked over the phone.

"Not their base," Marie continued, "whatever 'rapture' is. Is it just a name? Does it reference something? If we figure out what 'rapture' is, we may be able to figure out where Rapture is." Apalo let out a low growl.

"I'm sure it's just a name. Even if it does mean something more, there's no human dictionary. My Cod, I-" Apalo froze, eyes going wide for a moment. "Cod…" Apalo moved to a section.

"Was that the sound of an epiphany?" Inkay asked.

"The human species were scattered all across the planet. Because of this, they had a plethora of different customs, languages, and beliefs. If the cult is using human language, and they're seeking some kind of perfection, then maybe they found and translated some human religion and are trying to follow that."

"Do you have any information on various human religions?"

"I have a few down, but I don't necessarily remember anything about a place called 'Rapture', but maybe we can find a mention of it and be back on finding out something." Apalo said.

"I'll make a spreadsheet of all the characters. Have it ready for any answer we end up with," Marie said. Inkay thanked them both and said if he found out anything else he would let them know. The group said their goodbyes and got back to their tasks.

Cereza smiled at the muffled laugh of Callie. Well, she said laugh, but it was more of a chuckle. The star's voice was still raspy, and she couldn't make any words. Her upper face was still wrapped in bandages, and her mouth was barely poking out enough to take the straw of Cereza's new smoothie concoction. The hybrid was ecstatic that the doctors allowed her to experiment with different smoothies to give the idol since she couldn't eat solid foods yet, and the idol was glad to have daily company.

Company time was winding down, however, and Cereza was preparing to go home. She waved at the idol on her way out and said her goodbyes. She made sure to smile the entire time despite the gesture being lost on the idol. She figured Callie needed the positive energy. On her way out she started greeting the nurses she had gotten to know on a first name basis. She made contact with another guest. For some reason, this guest in particular caught her eye. He had dark purple tentacles with sea green eyes that seemed to be staring through her, and a smile that wasn't soft and welcoming like the rest of the staff, or the struggling smile of someone with an injured or sick loved one. The smile he had was a predatory one. The smile of a shark cornering a carp. Even as she passed, the two never averted their gaze. His smile seemed to widen as she got further away.

It took a bit of effort, but Cereza finally broke sight and she shuddered. There was a chill as she felt his eyes on her back. Her stride was a bit wider and her steps came out faster. Once she was a distance away, she took a deep breath and allowed herself to calm down. She didn't know why the person freaked her out the way he did, but she had a really bad feeling about him. He let off a sadistic aura that she hoped she'd never feel again.

Meanwhile, as she rounded the corner and stepped out of sight, Dao set his eyes elsewhere. He stepped through nurses and patients and entered the room Cereza had exited.

The popstar turned her head slightly towards the door as it opened again. She wasn't expecting a nurse so soon, but it wasn't a problem. It was when the door closed behind them that she got suspicious. It was quiet for a moment before she heard slow footsteps approaching the bed. The complete opposite of what the jovial nurses who entered the room did.

"Hi, I'm a big fan," came the unfamiliar voice. It was low, gruff, and immediately sent Callie into fight or flight. But she kept an air of calmness. She slowly moved her hand towards the emergency nurse button under her blanket. There was a snip sound right before the click of her fingers. "I really enjoy your music. You and your cousin make a great team. Almost like sisters." He chuckled at his own joke. Callie strained her ears. She had dealt with crazed fans before, but she could always see them and had bodyguards at the ready. How did he even get here? Her room was closed to the public.

"Despite your current situation, I know that you'll once again be up in lights," The voice said. Straining her ears even more, she could swear there was a dripping sound, like something was very softly being poured on tile. His voice vaguely masked it. "I'm kind of a singer myself. I'd like to demonstrate some of my skills if you don't mind. I know your sister is more of a behind the scenes worker and you're more of a...on the field type agent."

Callie went into a panic. Whoever this was was not an ally. She lunged towards the alarm lever at the top of her bed. Before she knew it the person was on her, holding her wrists and forcing her away from the lever.

"Insane. Inside. The danger gets me high." The person yanked her off the bed, her feet meeting the cold, slick floor as she tried to kick and scream at her assailant. He spun her, disorienting the agent before flinging her into the wall. "Can't help. Myself. Got secrets I can't tell." She swung a punch, fist hitting air as her assailant had backed off and left her to stumble in her blindness. Her foot slipped and she crashed into the floor. She was right when she thought she heard something be poured onto the floor as she fell face first into it. The steps got further from her and she heard the window to the room open.

"I love the smell of gasoline," the voice sang. Callie froze as realization dawned on her. "I light the match to taste the heat." There was the sound of a spark, then a flame being brought to life as Callie tried desperately to get to her feet and find her bed, the chair, anything to get her bearings and figure out where she was in the room to try and escape. Someone knocked on the door and the knob jingled and clicked. "Ms. Cuttlefish? Are you okay in there?"

"I've always liked to play with fire." There was a fwoosh, and then agony.

Cereza had made it across the street before the thoughts of the strange Octoling had dispersed. With him out of her mind, she could think back to what else she would do with Callie. Maybe getting her an ebook, or something that could read to her would be nice. She didn't know if music would be a nice memory or a painful reminder of her situation. Before she could get a block away, there was a thundering boom and the sound of shattered glass.

She turned around to see flames exploding from the hospital. People began to panic. Screams echoed through the sky. People rushed to their cars and those already in theirs punched the gas. In an instant everything devolved into pandemonium. At the realization that the room was Callie's, everything slowed down for Cereza. The looks of fear on people's faces, the way the flames danced out of the window and reached towards the evening sky, and most of all, the person standing on the building opposite the hospital.

He held a mask to his face as he looked over the flames from the hospital. A sadistic smile poked out from underneath. The same smile Cereza saw mere moments ago. As if singling her out, or to say 'you could have prevented this', he turned directly towards her, and fully placed the mask over his face.

He turned his back and in that moment, he was gone.