Their Broken Bond

Author's Note : Hello guys! Welcome to my first fanfiction! It took me a while to decide if I really wanted to write and publish something, but the clear lack of stories that focus majoritarily on the Squid Sisters pushed me to give it a try. Honestly, they're by far my favorite characters in the splatoon universe, I find them so interesting both individually and as a pair. Such a shame that there is so little content on them. So I decided I should do it myself. "Be the change you wish to see" and all that, right? I apologize in advance for any spelling error and the likes that might be present in this fic. This was not Beta'ed, and english is far from my main language, so yeah. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it! I'm gonna include another AN at the end of this chapter to explain several things that I feel like I need to, or at the very least should, explain.

Disclaimer : I don't own Splatoon, even though I wish I did. It is the property of Nintendo.

Marie successfully sniped the Hypnoshades off Callie's face. With this, we can turn things around! "Now Agent 4! While Callie is stunned! Make DJ Octavio Pay!"

However, DJ Octavio was already coming back for another round.

"Time to turn the tables! Spicy speed mode!"

The Octobot II dashed to the side with a speed that surprised the Agents.

"He's fast! Watch out for his dash punch!"

He may be faster, but he's still just as predictable, Agent 4 thought as he quickly used his Hero Shot to ink the ground and get out of the way of danger while also reflecting the Octobot's fists back.

"Agent 4, keep it up! I'm gonna sing from here!"

This cycle continued on for a while. Agent 4 dodged another spinning fist, and reclaimed the center of the area, covering it in green ink, deciding to wait for Octavio's next move. Meanwhile, Callie and Marie were engaged in a singing contest, with Marie trying to reach out to her cousin with her music. With the glasses off, it seemed Callie was fighting the remnants of the brainwash.

"WAKE UP, CALLIE!"

"Hhhuugh…"

Eventually, Agent 4 expertly deflected yet another fist back the the Octobot II, finally sending DJ Octavio flying over the edge and back down to the ground.

"Octavio's down! Get him, Agent 4!"

Agent 4 shot DJ Octavio who was sent back flying to the Octobot from the force of the splatting.

"My… My Head…"

"The low tide ink is working!" Marie noticed "Callie, please! Come back to your senses already!".

She went to retrieve her radio to play the remixed Spicy Calamari Inkantation she had prepared for this, hoping it would finally get through to her. Though, it would prove to be useless as Callie finally got herself back together and stopped clutching her head, coming back to her senses. She opened her eyes and looked straight at Marie. Her face settled in a calm expression, however, at this moment, her eyes reflected an underling anger and hatred. Marie, who was fiddling with the radio, hadn't yet noticed her cousin and was about to hit the play button, when her cousin's voice interrupted her, shocking her.

"I'm fed up with this."

"Huh?"

"I'm not coming back, Marie."

"C-Callie ? What do you mean?"

" I'm sick of you, Marie. I'm sick of having to put up with your constant insults and bullying on live TV, of your superior attitude, like you know everything, like you're so great! I'm through with you."

" Callie! Callie, please! I never meant any of that, it was for the show! I'm so sorry, please! I love you! Please forgive me!"

"It's a little late for apologies, don't you think? The Squid Sisters are done. I quit. Finish it, Octavio. I don't care what happens to them." And with that, Callie superjumped away, leaving behind a stunned audience, and a tearful Marie.

"Wait Callie, please listen to me! Please! Callie! CALLIE!" Marie fell on her knees, crying openly. She couldn't believe her ears. Never had she thought that her cousin took her seriously, that her words would hurt her this deeply. That this was all her doing all along.

"Hahaha! This is the best! Finally, I will get my revenge!" DJ Octavio cackled gleefully. The Squid Sisters were separated forever, the octolings will not leave his ranks anymore, and he could deal the finishing blows to the remaining agents himself right here to ensure they never got in his way again. His dream would come to fruition. Brainwashing Callie had proved to be the best move he could have made.

The building hurt, anxiety and fear she felt in the months that followed Callie's squidnapping, along with the pressure of her fame and the guilt she felt for her and her cousin's straining relationship before that, and now the despair she felt at Callie's words, and her anger towards Octavio for his actions. It all came together within her and imploded. Marie felt herself completely lose it. At this moment, she saw red.

"This is YOUR fault! Callie is like that because of your brainwashing isn't she? You're going to PAY!". "Sheldon! Get me the rainmaker out now!" She yelled. She would put an end to everything herself.

"W-wait, are you sure? This could be dangerous for everyone here, it's still heavily unstabl-"

"I said NOW!"

"A-Alright! I'll get it ready for you."

At the mention of the rainmaker, a modded, unstable version at that, Octavio started to pale " Wait! You said rainmaker?! You can't seriously be thinking about destroying this entire plac-"

Marie cut him off, telling Agent 4 to retreat to the flying truck. He was shocked by what he just heard, however.

"To do what?! What about all the octolings here?! Marie!" this is getting completely out of hand!

"I'll finish it! Get back, Agent 4!"

Agent 4 was about to protest, but Marie had already gotten a hold of the rainmaker and built up an immensely powerful shot. As she aimed at a fleeing Octavio and got ready to shoot, Agent 4 had no choice but to superjump to the truck as fast as he could to not get caught in the incoming blast.

"It ends now!"

She released the shot.

It hit the Otcobot II straight on, creating an immense explosion, engulfing the entire area.

The battle was over, and they had won. But, the victory was bittersweet.

…

It's been over a year since, Marie thought. She was currently in her dressing room backstage, getting ready for her concert. Her last concert, she mentally added.

If she had to describe how she felt after the battle with DJ Octavio in one word, it would be miserable.

The NSS had returned to Octo Canyon, imprisoning the Octarian leader in his snow globe again. Callie, true to her words, had not come back with them. Instead, she had made an announcement that she would be pursuing her solo career, officially splitting from Marie, releasing along with it a remixed version of Bomb Rush Blush, her solo hit (and Marie could never get that tune out of her nightmares, it was the same one she had sung during the battle with DJ Octavio after all) that once again catapulted her all the way to the top, after her 2 long years of absence. She got opportunitites to appear in various films and TV shows all over the world, went on several solo tours, and released a whole bunch of new songs. When asked in an interview about her continued absence and her not performing along with Marie again, she had said that « There were some personal things that we had to take care of, both Marie and I. As about why I'm not performing with her again… We had a fall out due to creative differences, and we will not be performing together again. ». Of course, it was all a lie. Though, Marie had decided to go along with that same excuse when she was asked about it. They couldn't reveal that the octarians were behind Callie's disappearance without it having severe consequences, and there was no use trying to refute what Callie had said and stir unnecessary drama that would probably ruin both of their careers.

Well, not that Marie minded much about her own career. She didn't care about many things these days.

At first, she had been unconsolable. The overwhelming guilt she felt from Callie's words drowned her and she couldn't even leave her room for a many weeks. Eventually though, she was contacted by her manager. He couldn't keep delaying the planned releases, and they were running out of material. She was needed for new rehearsals. Faced with this, she managed to convince herself somewhat. You can't just throw away everything you worked so hard for, Marie. Not like this. Wasn't this supposed to be your life?

Faced with this choice, she managed to be convinced to try again. It took a while, but eventually she excused herself to her manager and her staff, telling them she just needed a small break, that she was fine. Of course, she couldn't actually tell them what was going on. She went on many tours and released her own set of new songs. However, it was just a façade.

Inside, Marie kept sinking deeper and deeper into depression. Her thoughts always kept going down the same road : that everything was her fault, what a terrible family she had been to Callie, who was her cousin, her best friend, her anchor in life, who always did everything for her, who always was there for her when she needed it, until she wasn't and Marie couldn't bear it. Everywhere she looked, everything she did, it was always a reminder of Callie's absence and before long, she grew tired of her work. It only brought her pain, there was no point to it without Callie there.

She soon realised that this could be said about her entire life. There was only pain and misery, and she grew tired of it all.

But no more, she thought. No more.

She had thought about this for a while, and had brought it up to her manager. After discussing long and hard about it, they had reached an agreement.

After this concert, she was going to retire. There would really be no more Squid Sister, no more Marie the Idol, no more… Marie.

"After this, I'll… finally be…", she whispered to herself as she eyed a small bottle full of white pills hidden in her purse.

She looked at herself in the mirror. Tired golden irises looked back at her.

"Heh. I look terrible. I kida let myself go. I lost some weight as well… Not that it matters. Not anymore."

A knock came at her door. It was Agent 3.

"Marie, are you ready? They say preparations are finished, you're to go on stage in 10 minutes." He called to her.

"Yes I'll be there, thanks."

"No worries. Do your best out there. I'll be waiting for you. Have fun."

She sighed and got ready.

A magenta inkling opened the door to her appartment, throwing her stuff inside before plopping on the couch with a big sigh.

"Phew, I'm exhausted. That's another good day of work done."

As she was relaxing on her couch, she decided to turn on the TV. While she was mindlessly skimming through channels to find something interesting, however, she came across a white-tentacled squid dressed in a black dress with three green stripes on the front singing and dancing on her screen.

Marie… Callie frowned. It seemed her concert was reaching its end. Just the thought of her cousin was enough to send her in a bad mood…

Not that she could help it.

She shook her head. " No, don't think about that right now." But as she was about to switch channel again, something her cousin said caught her attention.

"Everyone, I have a… big announcement to make."

What could Marie be wanting to say ? Callie wondered. Her curiosity eventually got the best of her and she paid attention to her screen again. She knew her cousin very well. They had lived together for their entire life (well until recent events). As such, she could read Marie very well. That's why, as she observed her cousin, who let the silence hang for a moment, more closely she noticed several key things.

For one, her cousin looked tired. She had heavy bags under her eyes (though somewhat masked thanks to her makeup, but Callie was no fool, she did the same after all) and she seemed like she had lost some weight. Her shoulders were drooped, and her eyes looked sad. She looked like she had given up.

I wonder what's wrong with Marie, she thought with concern, until her brain flared and she felt a massive wave of hatred towards cousin that was almost enough to send her over.

"Uuuugh… Not again…" She groaned as she caught her head in her hands.

Meanwhile, Marie took a deep breath and continued :

"This will be my last concert. After today, I will retire. I want to thank everyone for their continued support until now, it really means the world to me. Thank you very much." She said, as she bowed.

The crowd was silent for a small while, but then it exploded into applause.

Marie smiled a little bit, then bow and turned to leave.

"… What? She's quitting? Why? She was always so happy to perform…" Callie couldn't wrap her head around what Marie said. Her puzzlement was such that even her brain couldn't catch up to her this time.

"What happened to her?" She wondered.

But in truth, she knew what happened. Or at least, she could guess. She just didn't want to realise it, didn't want to face what she knew.

Callie knew, deep down, that it was her fault her cousin was quitting. That it was her fault her cousin looked so sad. She had been very unfair and harsh on her.

She recalled the events that happened up until now.

"I know it's my fault, I know she never meant any of what she said, and yet… And yet…"

And yet, she could not stop feeling anger, hatred and jealousy towards her cousin. No matter what she knew, what she told herself, she couldn't control it.

She often felt like she couldn't control herself anymore these days.

"All because of that brainwashing…"

Callie knew all this deep down. But the brainwashing had changed her. Corrupted her. The octarians were very smart, they were much more advanced than the inklings in the domain of science, especially medical science like psychology. They had broken her down, turning her insecurities after the last splatfest against her, to better brainwash and control her. She had grown a little bit jealous of Marie's success over her in the last splatfest, and although she was still plenty successful, even though it wasn't her cousin's fault, even though she still loved her cousin… They used that against her. Her cousin's more successful career, the hurtful comments she made (even though she knew she never meant any of it, that Marie loved her just as much as she loved her) and them growing more and more apart as their solo careers took precedence over their life…

They used that all against her.

And even though she broke free of the brainwashing and hypnosis she was under, she didn't come out of it whole.

It was like she wasn't herself anymore. Her old, peppy, happy self, that always looked at life optimistically.

Now she was barely a shell of that person, that person she oh so desperately tried to become again.

Nowadays, she mostly felt bitter, angry and cynical. Emotions that weren't her own, that felt so wrong coming from her… But she couldn't help it.

It disgusted her, it scared her, but as time passed… She got used to it. She could mostly hide it under fake smiles and pleasantries from everyone else in her life but…

But never when it came to Marie.

She knew that she should love her cousin, that she *loved* her cousin, but when she thought about that… Torrents of anger and hate, of jealousy, always overcame her until she was reducing to a thrashing mess in her bedroom. She couldn't help it or control it.

In the end, that's why she chose to stay away from her cousin. She didn't like this, this feeling of not being in control, of not doing or feeling what she wants, and she wanted to spare her cousing the pain of dealing with her in that state. And who knew what she could have done had she stayed close to her ? She probably would have tried to kill her. Callie gulped at that and shook her head.

She still regretted her words right after Marie rescued her, she was still disoriented from the brainwashing and mind control at the time. And to be honest, at times she wonderde if she wasn't still under its influence even now.

Only when she sang, forever her true passion in life (and even when she was under Octavio's control, even then, she still sang and danced like her life depended on it), did she ever truly felt like herself, like she was whole again.

"But now… " She thought as she looked back at her TV screen, now Marie was in pain. She had to do something about it, despite everything. The thought was enough to sober her up enough that she could swallow past those destructive feelings (not hers, she would never consider that side of herself as *her, she refused to) and dialed Marie's number on her phone.

Marie didn't pick up.

"Huh? That's weird. Maybe she's busy ? I could see that happening after such an announcement…". Thinking quickly, she decided to call Marie's manager, who also used to be her manager until she left.

After a short while, he picked up.

"Hello, Ross Goldfish speaking. Who is it?"

"Hi Ross, it's me, Callie."

"Callie? It's been a while! How have you been?"

Heh, chipper as always, she thought. Ross Goldfish was an excentric man.

"I've been fine, though I'm usually really busy nowadays so it gets a bit tiring sometimes haha. It's fun though."

"Yeah, I can imagine that. So, did you need anything? I thought You and Marie were through with each other…"

" About that… Yeah. I saw her live concert. She's quitting? She seemed kind of…" Tired? Sad? Depressed? " …Upset. What's this about ?»

"Oh… Yeah. We talked about this a lot. Though, I believe it would be better if you talked with her directly. I'm not really the best suited person to tell you this."

"That's what I'm calling you for, actually. For some reason, I can't join Marie. She's not answering her phone. Is she busy with the cleanup or something?"

"No, actually. She left directly after the concert, about a few hours ago now. That's what we had agreed upon… Although…"

"Hm?"

"… I got a report about her… situation, a short while ago…" He muttered.

"?"

"Actually, you should call…Wait what was his name again? Ace? Yeah. Marie told me you guys used to be good friends. He would be more suited to tell you about this than me."

Agent 3? What did he have to do with this? "What do you mean?"

"Just call him."

"Okay, then. Guess I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"Good luck… God knows you're gonna need it…" He muttered as he hung up.

As she dialed Agent 3's number and waited for him to pick up, she thought : Huh, that sounds ominous. I wonder what that « report » that he received was about ? That didn't sound like a good thing. I hope Marie is okay… She grew more and more worried as the seconds passed.

Her brain flared again at that thought, almost making her drop her phone as she clutched her head again until Agent 3's voice came through and grounded her.

"Hello? Who is it?"

"Ace! It's me, Callie!"

"Callie?! You haven't called in over a year! What's up?"

"Nothing much. I'm sorry for not calling. I had to deal with… personal things. But enough about that, do you know where Marie is? I can't get a hold of her, how is she?" Callie asked, going straight to the suject.

"Oh…" Ace sounded depressed.

"What is it? Ross told me you had news about her." She pressed.

"Yeah… I don't know how to tell you this, but…" she heard him take a deep breath "Marie's at the hospital right now." He said.

"What?! What happened?!"

"She tried to kill herself."

Author's Note : Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this story! If not, feel free to tell me why in a review (or in DMs, whichever you prefer). I'm a beginning writer that's looking to improve his craft, so really anything you might have to say, good or bad, is appreciated. Though, please be constructive with what you say, regardless of if you want to compliment or criticize this story. It would be a huge help to know what I did right or wrong. I'm still very far from "quality writing", so to speak, but I'm going to practice. I really do want to get better. So, without further ado, some explanations:

This story is something that just came out the top of my head. The initial premise was "What if Callie and Marie didn't make up after Hero Mode in Splatoon 2 ? What if Callie rejected Marie ? What would a "Bad" ending look like ?". It's hardly a unique idea, but as I just sat down and told myself to write something, this is what came to my mind.

However, as I began to write some things down, I realised a huge problem: see, I like to think I read at least most of the stories that focus on the Squid Sisters that exist out there (I'm talking on the major fanfiction sites like Ao3 or this one), and one thing that often comes back is Marie's "harsh" behavior towards Callie on the news Broadcast. So without thinking, I naturally started going down this route as well, since it's an easy explanation to make things go wrong while not adding events that are "not canon".

The problem with that is that, in my opinion, it doesn't actually "fit". There are multiple reasons why I think that:

First, Marie's "mean" behavior only ever happened in The US version. In both the European (which is the one I own) and the japanese version, it doesn't happen. Of course, I don't mean to say they're just nothing but kind to each others, Marie is still sassy and takes a few "jabs" at her cousin (like in the Boke vs Tsukkomi splatfest for instance) but it's nowhere near on the level of the US version if you see what I mean. It is definitely not harsh, or mean, rather it comes off mostly as something said in good fun. A fun, harmless joke.

I believe it is the same for the US version as well. While it is definitely a tad more intense, they did also add a few underlying comments that show that Marie definitively cares about her cousin and that what she says is all in good fun as well (like in the Naughty vs Nice splatfest, or the final one as well).

That is not to say it completely doesn't affect Callie (as evidenced by that same Naughty vs Nice splatfest, or in the Early Bird vs Night Owl one) but I do believe she realizes that Marie isn't serious.

What I'm saying is, I believe the best way to describe their relationship would be "Unconditionnal Love". They care a great deal about each other, and would never harm the other willingly. If something were to happen to one of them, the other would also be greatly affected by it. Almost as if they were bound to each other. Call it just my own interpretation, my headcanon or whatever, but that's how I see it (and what the Squid Sisters Stories lead me to believe is "true").

With that in mind, you can see why I don't think it fits. But I also didn't want to completely start from scratch. So I started to think up of a reason on "Why would Callie reject Marie ?". But then it came to me. I started thinking "What if Callie's brainwashing went deeper than just a simple pair of shades ?". This is how this story was born.

Of course, by "deeper" I mean "darker/more sinister/disturbing" haha. I'm definitely going to elaborate more on that in future chapters (yes, I do plan to update and finish this, however rocky the start may be).

Really, I can't help it. I'm just a sucker for Angsty and Hurt/Comfort stories and the likes, and Callie and Marie's relationship is just completely perfect for that kind of thing.

Anyways, thanks again for reading (and listening to my rambles lol). See you in the next chapter!