I knew I'd heard that name before.

Moonlight seeped in through a break in the curtains as I raised my head. My room was clean-ish— nothing was really in a mess, but I'd neglected at least dusting the room. It was small, only holding my bed and drawers beside it where I kept my important stuff. Outside was the rest of my apartment.

After that girl there told me her name, I ejected myself from that conversation as quickly as possible. I hoped I didn't come off as rude. My hair slowly faded back to its usual purple.

But that name. I knew I'd heard it. Not just from Akash, anymore. The way she said the word—Annie—it felt familiar, but I didn't know where, when, why it did.

I shoved my face into my pillow again. Alright, so this girl was Annie. Why did I feel like I knew her? There was no way I had some sort of tie to Octrope, right? To her, at least, I felt some weird affiliation. But Annie was missing. She could have been dead! Was this even the same Annie?

The way she framed the question—she first asked if I'd heard the name before, then introduced herself. What the heck did that mean—

A booming sound interrupted the thought. I shot up, throwing the curtains apart and sticking my head out the window. I shielded my eyes from the light and forced myself to look in the direction of the noise. Luckily, I was high enough to see what had happened.

I saw a forest to the right, the one to Inkopolis's west. Somewhere out of what I could see, trees were collapsing, and it looked like it was out of nowhere.

What now? Don't tell me Octavio was behind this?

I threw on my clothes from Deepsea, then wasted no time in grabbing my room key, ink backpack from Deepsea—without any bomb this time—and Octo Shot replica. It wasn't much, but it was something.

I jumped out the window. Floors rushed by me in a matter of seconds, then I landed on the empty sidewalk. I broke into a sprint.

More people were waking up from the noise, looking out their own windows to see what the commotion was. Absolutely, some of them saw me, a random Octoling teen running through the city, but I didn't care. If this was a problem, I needed to shut it down quickly.

I ran until the suburbs finally opened up into something I could see. A long part of the ground across the length of the entire visible forest had caved inwards and broken apart, now filled with trees and loose dirt. A nearby excavator lay in what remained of the ground.

So it wasn't Octavio. Good.

I wiped my forehead and relaxed my pace, still proceeding to the newly-formed chasm.

The stars were better tonight than usual. I saw a dark, inky sky with lights piercing through like a blanket adorned with bulbs, each with its own unique size and radiance. The moon, tilted to the side, left an imperfection that made the image all the more memorable.

I realized I'd stopped. I shook off the daze and approached the excavator.

"Hey!" Someone cried. "You guys still there? Uh… Help?"

Oh no. Someone was in there.

Cautiously, I ran to it—the thought of falling and probably scratching myself on the rocks wasn't very appealing.

I clambered over a few large stones and found myself on top of the excavator's claw. From there, I made my way to the main body. The door was branded "CATFISH", its logo being, predictably, a catfish jumping out of… what I had to assume was a body of water. The reason being that I couldn't see the rest of the logo through the unusually large stone sitting on it.

A banging came from the door. "Anyone?"

I quietly stepped up to the boulder. The way it seemed, I would only have to push it a few feet. There was nothing around that I could use to lever it, nor was the boulder far enough off the side to fall off with time. There was no choice but to push it. At least it was fairly round.

I set my back to the rock and fixed my heels around a few loose bolts. Pushing, I heaved the oversized rock to the side, but only a minimal distance. Whatever. Progress was progress, and there was no way to speed it up.

Surely that guy inside heard me, or at least the boulder. It hung over the edge—just a bit more and it would lose its balance.

With one last push, gravity would take it the rest of the way. I stood up and jumped off the door. Before it opened, I dove off the main body and hid near its treads. The rock hit the ground before I did, drowning out my landing.

From above, I heard the sound of the door opening. Then a few more bangs of the metal. Probably that guy climbing out.

Whoever it was didn't move for a while, then jumped off the excavator, towards Inkopolis's direction.

I felt relieved I wasn't seen. Then felt puzzled at my feeling relieved. There was no use in hiding my identity, even with what little remained of it. Octolings were on the surface now, and I knew that. Some long-held instinct must have come over me. A six-month habit wasn't the easiest to break.

I stared at the rest of the rubble from the treads. This seemed to be what was left of the tunnel dug by the big spider bot that attacked us as we left for Sharktown. Some teens must have broken into the excavator and finished the job. What amused me was how little it took to make the whole thing cave in.

The spider was gone now. Most likely, they were having it studied, being a piece of Octarian technology and all.

I turned back to the city, then hesitated. Somehow, I had this feeling that going a bit deeper into the woods would lead me to some fraction of my… enigmatic past. The spider must have come from somewhere, right? If I were to just find wherever they had kept it…

I found a pile of dirt and rocks that led out of the chasm and climbed to reach its edge. A ring of leaves and branches now bordered the night sky.

Far from where I was, an entrance to something—a cave, maybe, or more likely, an Octarian facility—sat open at the other end of the chasm. I definitely wasn't finding anything in the rubble, so I set off towards it.

As I made my way, my mind drifted back to the concept of "Annie." Annie.

Were we friends? Enemies? I couldn't tell. I couldn't tell how well I knew her—if we were friends, allies, acquaintances. Heck, I could have just heard her name once in a conversation, and it had just happened to stick with me.

But no, that last one was less likely. Because the way she said it…

I came close to the entrance. Yes, this must have been where the spider came from. It occurred to me that the entrance I'd seen was just the end of the chasm, made by an overhang, and that the actual entrance was almost entirely blocked by a pile of more rocks and more dirt. I jumped over to the top of the pile. There was enough space for me to slip in.

But before I did, I crouched down, just barely peeking in. Someone was in there. Another one from the group that had collapsed the spider tunnel? No… whoever it was was using the frankly very loud keyboard, typing something on a monitor—too acquainted to be just some guy. And it was too dark to see anything else.

I checked behind me and to the sides. All clear. As quietly as I could muster, I took my Octo Shot in my hand and fired once, at the opposite end of the room. I stayed still, trying to blend with the pile of rubble.

This perpetrator turned around, alarmed. Then looked left, right, then up at where I was.

What.

"Annie?" I said. "Why're you—" I stopped myself as I jumped down.

"Shut up," she whispered. "They might hear you." She turned off the computer, covering everything in darkness.

I hoped she would go down the friend rather than the enemy route; the latter wasn't really the most desirable, considering where I was. And I barely knew her. Maybe.

"Who's they?" I whispered back. "The guy who broke into the thing outside? He's gone now."

"Not him," she said, slowly unplugging something from the computer. "That little gang he has."

"I didn't see anyone coming here." I raised my voice a little.

"Y— you didn't?"

I shook my head. "Nope."

A few moments of silence passed. "...So, what brings you here?" She shifted in place.

"Wai—" I began. Sighing, I realized there was really nothing else to talk about. "Heard this, got curious, came. You?"

"Eh—" Shuffling came from outside. Again, she dropped her voice to a whisper. "I'll show you later."

"Hey, someone in there?" said a man with a strong accent. I turned to the pile blocking the entrance. It seemed he hadn't made it up yet—he couldn't see us.

I gestured outside, then Annie pulled me by the arm to the back of the room. I made no move to resist.

She ran her hand across the wall, and I looked back and kept watch.

"Here," she said. She was pointing at a diamond protruding from the wall, surrounded by four dim, red lights.

Nodding, I reached behind me and uncapped my ink pack. She dipped her hand in and smeared it over the diamond. Something clicked, and the wall opened up. She rushed through, pulling me with her. Just before the door closed behind us, I glanced at the entrance again—nothing.

I recapped the ink pack. A hallway lay in front of us, but it was too dark to see the end of it.

"Did anyone see us?" Annie said. "That'd be bad."

I pulled my arm away from hers, and we started to walk side-by-side. "You think I'm stupid? No, nobody saw."

She looked down. "Sorry if that was... never mind."

I stopped as we came to a fork in the hallway. "Don't mind it, I've been having a weird day." The reason being, of course, her. Not that she knew.

"Go right," she said flatly. I looked at her again but couldn't see much. "There was a map in the computers there."

Shaking my head, I decided to trust her yet again. "Lead the way," I said. "I'd be lost without you."

Annie sped up to get in front of me. I kept following after her, mostly going straight but occasionally making a turn.

Eventually, we made it to a staircase. "Here's the way out," she said. "From here we need to just head through the forest and we'll be back at... Inkopolis."

"Sorry for barging in on… whatever you were doing back there," I said.

"You came at the right time. I didn't have any ink with me to get through that wall." She reached the top stair. "So, thanks for that."

I looked down and smiled, and it felt a little warmer. Ah, I'd missed that feeling.

As we left the building, the moonlight made everything just a little bit brighter. Several other short buildings dotted the area. Most looked like storage sheds. There was a large circle near a valley that, judging by the lines on it, opened like a camera's aperture, like the one in Deca Tower. A series of dirt roads connected all of it.

The heck was this place?

"You coming?" Annie said, pointing at the trees.

Without saying a word, I followed along.