One year.

One year since the world fell.

And Delta still couldn't believe it – a world she'd never known, yes, but it was gone, the world she wanted to know.

For that whole year, she'd been stuck in this statue, day after day only able to watch the world try and heal itself from the wound of Daal's cannon. Moss, vines and other greenery had begun to creep up the outsides of the statue, nature reclaiming it up to its waist now. The only things Delta had left of the friends that had helped her after waking up in the Metro…she couldn't even remember their names anymore; even their faces were beginning to fade.

"Why?" She questioned, once again staring out into the grassy plains around the statue, the crumbling remains of a once proud city barely recognizable after all this time "WHY CAN'T I REMEMBER YOU!?" She slammed her fists into the stone railing, her scream echoing into the horizon. She buried her face in her hands, sobbing into her palms.

Her ears flicked up at the sound of approaching footsteps. Delta wiped her eyes as she turned to face the source – Daal, his skin now entirely cyan with a matching glow, casually walked up to the young Octoling, his sadistic smug plastered onto his face "I've been looking for you, Delta." His voice ran down Delta's skin like a cold chill "I have something to show you."

Delta took a hitched breath before answering with a shaky "What?"

Daal turned around and replied with only a "Come with me" and starting to walk away from Delta – hesitantly, the girl followed, being lead through the statue and up to its crown, onto the very same platform that…she saw it all turn green from. Now, however, there was a pedestal holding a bronze coloured necklace, which itself contained a collection of glowing stones, in an instant, Delta's mind flashed back to the underground – the Gems of Eternity.

She finally spoke up after the two of them observed the necklace "…What is it?"

"This, my girl." Daal approached the necklace "Is a display of my ultimate achievement, making the world into exactly as to how my creators once dreamed of it being. Plus, if anything goes awry, then I shall always have these same Gems ready to reset it all."

"Reset?" Delta murmured.

Daal chuckled as he turned his head to Delta's position "Correct. These Gems are far more powerful than you think, with all this power I could reset reality itself, all universes would be bent to my will."

KILL HIM!

A warped, demonic voice screamed in Delta's head, the girl gasping as she flinched back. Another cold chuckle emanated from the tyrant "Shocked? I think everyone would be upon discovering there are many, many worlds out there. I may even try and conquer the next one over once I've decided this world is…finished, shall we say?"

Delta's vision scrambled and distorted as she shifted her gaze to the necklace once more, a rising scream filling her ears.

KILL HIM! KILL HIM! KILL HIM!

The chants filled her ears, completely draining out whatever it was Daal had begun to say as the scream began to rise, her mind being overridden by one message, one scream, amidst the overload she could swear she saw a mysterious hooded figure flick into existence and disappear as soon as she registered his existence.

I'll kill him.

Delta's mind went blank, only those words echoing through her brain. Slowly, her hearing returned to her, first a piercing ringing in her ears before it was replaced with the sound of wind, birds, and a distant ruffling of trees. She was still on the platform, Daal staring at her with a bored expression on his face.

"Are you done having a seizure?" He narrowed his eyes and lowered his brow, a sour frown on his lips. Delta's groans as she stood up was the only affirmation he needed "As I was saying – for now, these will serve as a trophy, I chose to place it up here to show the world below my grand power. Fitting for a god, no?"

Delta begrudgingly nodded her head.

Chuckling, Daal approached Delta once more, looking down at her with a sneer before going down the stairs that lead to back inside the statue "You are free to observe for as long as you wish. But I would not recommend putting it on, that would spell unfortunate events for someone like you."

Once Daal had vanished back into the statue, Delta carefully walked to the necklace's pedestal, it glimmered in the afternoon sun and once again, she heard the chanting, though now reduced to only a whisper instead of a mind numbing screaming. Her hand reached out to grab the necklace, but froze when another distant voice appeared in her mind, a voice she'd never heard, but one that felt so…familiar…

"Not yet."

She gently lowered her hand back down to her side, yet her eyes remained fixated on the necklace, like it just kept calling out to her. The whispers soon faded into the air, Delta's shoulders slumping as she sighed, trudging her way back into the statue.

Midnight

Delta stared up at the ceiling in utter silence, her room illuminated only by the moonlight that shimmered in through the window. Even now, she could hardly call it a bedroom, her bed was falling apart, cracks covered the ceiling and walls and dirt coated the floor. She hated it all, never even bothered to do anything about the state of it. Whatever life was like before the cannon fired, this wasn't it.

"Kill him." She repeated up to the ceiling, purple eyes almost vacant as she stared, muttering the words to herself over and over again. Her hands began to ball into fists, shaking from how tight she had them, nails digging into her palms.

Her boots slammed against the floor as she threw herself off her bed, making a mad dash through the halls of the statue, thundering up the stairs and throwing the doors open to the outside. Stopping to catch her breath, her ears pricked up upon hearing distant, yet heavy footsteps echoing after her. Daal. Without a moment of hesitation, Delta scrambled up the final set of stairs and towards the necklace, swiping it from its pedestal and stopping at the front of the platform, looking out over the distant horizon, the grassy plains alight with the world's glowing plants, the distant mountains looming at the very edge of what she could see.

"DELTA!" Daal shrieked, standing on the opposite side of the platform "Put it back!"

Delta looked at the necklace, her grip on it tightening as she raised it up to her chest "No." Was her only reply, taking each side of it in her hands and putting them around her neck. Daal began a mad dash over the platform, his hand only inches away from grabbing the necklace as Delta hooked it together. In an instant the spikes on the statue's crown were obliterated by a tremendous shockwave, Daal himself thrown to the opposite edge of the platform. Thousands of beams of light flashed from within Delta, lightning crackling around her and carving destruction into the platform. The Octoling grit her teeth as pain racked her entire body, constantly building to levels no one should be able to handle. Delta fell to her knees, screaming to the sky as a blinding white light erupted out of her, blinding the entire universe in an instant.

…

..

…

"Hey."

Where am I? It's…so dark. I can't feel anything. I can't…see…anything…

"Heyyy."

Is that my voice?

"HEY!"

Delta's eyes shot open, finding herself stood upright amidst a totally black void, surrounded on all sides by oblivion. As she tried to find…anything amidst the void, another Octoling appeared from within the darkness. Thick shades, a brown closed trench coat, black spats, and thigh high black leather boots "You got balls, kid."

"Do I know you?" Delta responded. The Octoling silently marched up to the younger of the two, taking her chin in her hand and examining her features "Hm…got the hair wrong, but it's like staring into a mirror."

"…What?" Delta took a step away from the Octoling as she released her "What are you talking about?"

Trinity removed her shades and placed them into her pocket, revealing her eyes were naught but entirely black with small white dots for pupils "Trinity. Trinity Betta."

Those eyes – the instant Delta saw them her mind flashed back to her encounter with Johnny and the reforming beast in the purple ooze.

"I see you remember the feeling." Trinity sighed, placing her hands in her pockets "Subject D, as he would call you, did you ever consider where you really came from?"

Delta shook her head "No – I couldn't remember anything from before I woke up and met…him…"

Trinity sighed and nodded "Right. Well, I don't know how to tell you this, but…" She stared directly into Delta's eyes, those white pupils boring into her soul "You're me. You, Subject D, are a clone."

"Clone…?" Delta muttered. Her mind went blank once more, but it all made sense. She rolled up her sleeve, the words engraved into her flesh had healed, but their impressions remained. Subject D. The reason why she didn't know anything about herself from before she woke up in the Metro "…No."

But she couldn't deny it.

"I was a sniper in the Octarian army," Trinity began, walking past Delta and looking out into the abyss "One of their deadliest, actually."

That explains why I was so good with that rifle… Delta thought, unable to tear her gaze away from her scars.

"However, I met my match one day. Never even got a read on who they were, just one moment I saw a flash and the next…"

"The next?" Delta finally broke her stare away from her arm, turning to Trinity.

"I don't know. Heaven, Hell, I know those exist, but I was trapped in this…world of infinite shadow. Everything was black but there was a thick white fog. Wherever it was, I was just stuck there for god knows how long." Trinity continued to stare into the void as she spoke "My eyes are the result of…testing, to make my vision better at all times. I think when you have that…feeling, your eyes become like mine and you take on part of me."

Delta answered with a quiet "You were watching me?"

"No." Trinity shook her head "I just…know that, for some reason." She then spun around to face Delta once more "The Octarians lived in awful conditions when I was alive – I imagine that hasn't changed. Delta, do me favour when we get back, will you?"

Delta adjusted her own jacket as she stood upright, perfectly matching her original in height "What do you want?"

"I may have had to do bad things in my life, but I always wanted something better for my…" She paused "Our people, by any means necessary. Even if that meant wiping out the Inklings. But I can't do anything while trapped here. Do me one thing – try your best to make the world a better place for them."

Delta took a deep breath, breaking eye contact with Trinity "I can't. I don't know how. I don't know anything about the world aside from the Metro."

Trinity chuckled, placing a hand on Delta's shoulder "You'll know what to do, both with them and in the fight."

"The fight?"

"Oh, and one more thing – try and forget about me. Be your own person, kid."

"Wha-"

Trinity shoved Delta away before she could finish, disappearing into the darkness as it consumed Delta's vision.

…

"…Come on! Some threat you are!"

Delta found herself back on the platform all those months ago, a large dust cloud on the opposite side of it to her. She was surrounded by…familiar people. Their names quickly came flooding back to her. Jack, Rem, Ix and…she looked to the man in the red coat with his arms crossed. He noticed her gaze, looking to her and smiling "Don't worry, kid, this'll be over in a minute."

"No it won't, Marcus." Delta gripped her rifle and broke into a sprint across the platform, a loud KERCHUNK sounding as she loaded a bullet into it.

"Wait, hang on, Delta! What do you mean!?" Marcus yelled after her. Jack placed his hand on the human's chest, chuckling "I think she knows what she's doing."

Marcus grumbled "And what makes you think that?"

"Kid wouldn't be running headfirst into certain death otherwise." Jack gestured to the Octoling as she ran past Remix, the fusion simply lowering his arms and crossing them "I think she knows something we don't."

Daal's green hand reached out for a button on the floor, the android groaning, outstretched arm shaking. Just as his finger was about to press down on the button, he found himself smacked to the side by a heavy chunk of metal, forced onto his back. Delta placed her boot firmly onto his chest, shoving her rifle into Daal's mouth, eyes having turned entirely black with white pupils once more.

"I've seen it." She said slowly and firmly "Your ideal world."

"Wadn't id beautifuhl?" Daal grinned, rifle pressed firmly between his teeth.

"It was a fucking nightmare." Delta responded, her voice dripping, whole body twitching and her head burning.

"To you." Daal smirked "So, wash gunna happen? You pull th' trigger? I know thothe eyes."

Delta's eyes immediately flicked back to their usual purple "She won't. I will."

Daal's head split open, scattering a mess of blood, fake guts and cybernetics across the floor, his blood coating the end of Delta's rifle and splashing onto her boots. Without a word, she simply dropped the rifle onto his body and turned around, dragging her feet as she walked out of the rubble. Remix gave her a simple smile – the look on his face, something about it told Delta there was more to him than she thought…

The two of them walked over to Jack and Marcus, Marcus staring at Delta in disbelief "How did you…?"

"…It's a very long story." Delta simply replied "And a story I don't want to tell you anyway."

"…Right." Marcus nodded "And, Delta, by the way…"

"Yeah?" Delta tilted her head, only to find herself pulled into a hug from Marcus.

"I'm proud of you." Marcus said softly. Delta slowly returned the hug, a gentle smile on her face.

"This is nice…" She muttered.

Jack let out a brief, soft laugh before turning his attention to Remix "So…why is it wh-"

His question was interrupted by a chain of explosions tearing through the statue, shaking the platform wildly "What the hell!?" Jack yelled "What's going on!?"

"Daal musta had some bombs linked to a suicide switch as a last resort…!" Remix hissed, placing two of his fingers to his forehead "Guys, grab onto me, this thing's about to go sky high!" The rest of the group gripped onto Remix's arm, vanishing in a flash of light.

The squad reappeared on a mountaintop that stood proud over the islands of Hawaii. Just as they appeared, Remix flashed a bright purple, the sisters that made him appearing beside where the warrior once stood. Rem's initial look of shock and confusion was swiftly replaced by her traditional smirk "It's finally over."

"Yeah." Ix nodded, hugging her sister from the side "We're home."

The sound of distant explosions caught the group's attention, walking to the edge of the cliffside to see the statue being riddled with explosions all over as it sunk into the deep ocean, its once highly held torch sinking beneath the waves "Never thought I'd see Lady Liberty turned on its own country." Marcus said as he crossed his arms, a gentle breeze blowing through the air as the group watched the distant sunset, the orange light cast upon them.

"So…" Delta finally spoke up "What now?"

"…We go home." Ix responded, looking to the city below them, hearing distant cheers of celebration from its citizens "I think that saying we're missed will be an understatement."

"What about you, Delta?" Rem asked, eyebrow raised "Where will you go? We have a pretty large house, you can stay with us if you want."

Delta smiled and looked back out the horizon "…I think I know what I'm going to do. Where do the Octarians live?"

"Octo Valley." Ix pointed out to a distant set of mountains.

"I'm going to make their world a better place."

5 years later…

"-zilla may return one day, but for now, we can rest easy knowing that Japan, and the world at large, is safe. And now, our top story – the Octarians have declared a new queen to their society this week. The young Delta Trinity, whilst seemingly appearing overnight, has quickly become popular amidst the Octarians, with it being an almost unanimous decision in their high council and populace that she be crowned as their 105th ruler." The image on the screen changed to that of a large gathering of Octarians inside a rather well made and lavish hall for the state of their buildings. An Octostamp and Octoling walked along a purple carpet that split the crowd in two. The Octostamp carried a cushion on its head, upon which rested an ancient crown made of gems and ancient shark teeth. At the end of the carpet was a throne made of numerous plates of metal and upon it sat the now adult Delta, her hair having grown out wildly over the years, now reaching down to her hips, she still remained in completely black leather clothing, now wearing a golden heart pin on the left of her jacket. The Octostamp and Octoling stopped a few feet away from the throne, the more humanoid of the two taking the crown and walking up to Delta. The green haired girl lowered her head slightly as the Octoling raised the crown up, then gently placed it on Delta's head. She stood to the side, allowing the hall to see the now crowned Delta, the whole room erupting with cheers and hollers. However, Delta was focused on one thing. Standing in the holes that the hall used for windows stood two familiar women – a tall woman with an extremely long ponytail and another with messy blue hair, both of them looking down at her with large grins on their faces. She gave them a determined nod in response. Rem chuckled and held up her hand as the two of them jumped out of the window and vanished into the sky of the valley.

Delta leaned back in her throne, staring up into the sunlight.

"Thank you."

SPLAT X: OCTO INSURGENCY

THE END