Hey guys. Look. Cover art. I actually have cover art finally! It's pixel art 'cause, like I said, it's the only type of art I can do. Still isn't great, but it's something.

It took way longer for my other story, though. Didn't have any until, like, chapter 40.

Here we go, chapter time.

For some reason, the weapon Annie brought wasn't an Octo Shot—It was one of the Hero Shot copies made after the attack on Inkopolis. Was she allowed to keep that? I gave my Dualies back, so why…?

Eh, it didn't matter. There was no way they were going to get them all back, anyway.

Her outfit looked like it was thrown together in seconds, which it probably was. An old Octoling soldier uniform, with the tank top and useless belt with shorts. But under that was a lavender shirt and jeans. She didn't care how tacky it looked, and neither did I. It worked just fine.

I tightened my ink pack. I hadn't used it much since Deepsea, but it was the only thing I had that held the compressed combat ink.

I pulled the switch, then the wall to the right lowered once more.

"And here," I said, gesturing to the new area, "is where I almost lost my sanity." That was a joke, and I hoped Annie understood. She laughed lightly.

It was more than a little frustrating that freedom was a room away from where I first woke up, but it wasn't like I could have opened the wall from the inside.

We stepped in, and the weirdest nostalgia wave washed over me. I did not like this place. "Yeah, probably avoid the light before it sets you on fire," I warned. Annie almost stopped before it as it released a spark.

"And to your left, you'll see some fake doors," I said flatly. I stared, unamused, at the ceiling. I was really giving a tour of my least favorite place on the planet.

"You… weren't kidding, huh…" That lively attitude she had on the phone was gone. She seemed more… solemn. At least I had someone with me. I held back a smile.

"So from here," I continued, "I went through this train." Everything was the same. The broken-down subway, the dryness, even the mirror shard I first saw myself in.

I jumped out of the broken end of the train and onto the rail.

Annie made a noise behind me. I whirled around. "I— I'm fine, keep going," she said. She smiled at me, and I felt a bit warmer.

Annie and I strolled past the part where I shot some crates for a key, and then we reached the long, dark tunnel that led to the place with The Evil Phone.

"Yep," I sighed. "Still dark. It goes straight ahead, don't worry about running into anything."

"H— how long were you down here? I just can't imagine..."

I tried and failed to imagine what her expression must have been. "A few weeks at most. But it got better. There's a working train down here, and people in it. They were all stuck down here, too, and…" I stopped, both in place and in my speech. "We can get them out of here. We know a way out…"

I'd first thought to come down here to deal with the Sanitized again. There was the off-chance that Tartar had kept records on me, but I'd dismissed both the thought and the urge.

But the others down here took priority.

"We're almost there," I said, seeing a dot of light at the end. "Hey, uh, those people down here— Do you mind if we get them out before anything else?"

"H— Huh? Oh, yeah, fine." I could see her behind me, but only her faint silhouette.

"Thanks, Annie." I grinned in the shadows. "For… a lot of things. This place was like some maze that never let go out. Even after passing, you just get blended." I groaned. "Not many people know about this. About me. You're the only one I've told."

She didn't respond.

"I probably wouldn't have gotten as used to the surface l if it weren't for you." Even though I was up there longer than she was.

It was almost certain I knew her before the memory wipe, but there was no reason for her to remember me. I definitely looked very different than I had looked before—not just in the hair, but in the whole Octoling development cycle. And my whole personality… it was safe to say that had changed too.

So, that meant we were strangers. At least, that's what we were a few days before.

The light was within reach. We were about to reach the central… area… place that I'd forgotten the name of. I squinted as I stepped into the light. "Yeah, we're here. Don't make yourself at home, this specific place sucks." From the inside, the station looked like a tall, abandoned warehouse from the apocalypse. Dreary, gray, and cold. "And I guess now… we wait for the train."

I climbed onto the station platform. The remains of the blender from when Simon had punched it to bits were still there. The hole that he'd made in the ceiling, though, was not. It looked brand new, like it had never happened in the first place. As new as this place could look.

Behind me, Annie leaned against the platform's back wall and slid down until she was hugging her knees. I almost said something, but her eyes were so fixed on the floor that I decided to leave her be with whatever thoughts she was having.

I turned away and caught a glimpse of something glinting in a locker on the opposite wall. I checked on Annie again, but she still hadn't moved.

Squinting, I made my way over there, crushing the smallest shards of the blender beneath my heels. It somehow sounded… louder than it should have.

I peered inside the locker and found… I couldn't tell what exactly I was looking at, but it seemed to be some hybrid between a toothpick and a ball.

This wasn't a trap, was it?

I tested the rest of the lockers—none of them would open. I poked the ball with the nozzle of the Octo Shot, and it didn't explode. I rolled it out and let it clatter on the floor. And it did not explode.

Very lightly, I picked it up. It was as hard as a metal but way too light to be a bomb. Maybe someone had just forgotten it there?

For some reason, it felt like getting that monstrosity should have been harder.

Oh well.

The train had still not graced us with its odd noises, so it seemed it wasn't any closer. I crushed more glass on my way back to Annie. "Hey, uh…" I knelt down and held out the ballpick in my open palm. "Want this thing I just found? I don't really have a use for it."

"Hm? Uh, su— sure?" Annie took it and awkwardly smiled. "Thanks?" She clutched the trinket and tossed it in the air a few times, then shoved it in her pocket. A moment passed, and she dropped her head onto her knees. "You really remember nothing?"

Next to her, I leaned my back against the wall and propped a foot up. "Nothing from before six-ish months ago," I said.

"Oh…"

"But sometimes, I remember things. Nothing substantial yet." Other than the Eileen snapshot, everything I remembered was from the Mem Cakes. Which amounted to… well, nothing substantial. Nothing that wasn't common knowledge. Nothing about me.

Annie blinked at the ground. "Oh. Okay. You…" she let out a shaky breath. "That's…" Her voice started to break, and she pushed her head into her knees.

She was… crying?

I froze. Why was she— No, she wasn't the one that— Wait…

I didn't know what to do. Was I supposed to do something? Was there something to do?

All I could think to do was stand there with a wide-eyed stare at the ground. I fidgeted in place, uncomfortably listening to her sharp breaths.

The train was nowhere to be found. This was where I was going to be until it got here. I took one look at her.

No, I couldn't just sit quietly.

"Annie?" I said. "I'm sure you figured this out already… but I named myself. The Octarian language didn't have a word for it, so I had to use the Inkling word. Sky."

She quieted herself, and I took that as my signal to continue.

"The first time I saw it was after I escaped from here," I said. "Even after my memory was erased, the sky, I could tell, was completely new. I had never seen it before."

I stopped for a moment, and Annie had grown silent.

"Whoever I was underground, she doesn't matter to me anymore." I relaxed my head and looked to the single light on the ceiling. "Sometimes, I can't help but wonder who I was, but I don't want to go back to living underground." I reached a hand out toward the light. "I don't want to be who I was before."

Having someone actually sympathize with me to the point of tears was… weird, to say the least. After Marina dropped me off at Inkopolis, I tried to ignore Deepsea and focus on my life on the surface. Seeing Annie like this, I realized how terrible I had it, completely cut off from society and forced to live with a bunch of people the system rejected. Of whom I could speak with three.

"You don't get it," Annie mumbled. "Nobody else had to go through this. I'm—" She sank deeper into her knees and dropped her voice to a whisper. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you."

"What?" I mouthed. That didn't make any sense. "You didn't know about this place. You don't have to apologize for anything." I turned to look at her, but her face was still covered. "Annie— you're down here now, aren't you? I would never have come back here alone. You're already doing so much for me."

I almost said more, but I had run out of things to say. I turned away and left her alone.

Gradually, the station fell silent again. And gradually, it grew louder as the train finally came within earshot.

I looked up. It had been a while since I'd last heard that noise. The train thundering toward me, its wheels scraping on the tracks… and the light breeze from the opposite side of the station.

I didn't like it.

Annie stirred once it was close and stumbled into a stand.

"Annie?" I said.

Though it was fair to say we'd met only days ago, I felt like I'd known her my entire life. Everything that she did either felt familiar or didn't. And all that she had just said and done… didn't.

She stepped toward the center of the room, and I reached out to her. "Hold on, Annie. We can go back—"

The train drowned my voice out, and I ran toward her.

"No," she said, not turning around. She took a breath and tilted her head back. "You really don't know who you are, do you? Your memories…" Annie trailed off and looked down. "I don't want anyone else to go through this."

I didn't know what to say. Annie hadn't struck me as the selfish type, but I hadn't thought she was this selfless either. And, not a minute earlier, she was sobbing on the floor. What was with this girl?

I squinted as the train's light shone at the far end of the tunnel. Annie stepped back as it pulled into the station and screeched to a stop.

The door slid open. I glanced at Annie's unreadable expression and, taking the lead, went in.

What hit me first was the odor. It wasn't too dry or too humid, but it was just… old. It probably hadn't been cleaned in ages.

And it was the exact same odor I had subconsciously grown used to six months prior.

Other than that, the train, at least, was better kept than the station. The seats were cushioned, if only a bit, and the temperature was… better.

I looked around me. No one seemed to pay me any mind other than one guy to the left… Iso Padre, he'd called himself. He was peering at me. I waved, looked away, and rushed to a seat in the back.

"This is it," I whispered to Annie. "Just… we know a way out. We know a way out."

I opened my eyes to the sound of a faint squelch on the other end. Exactly the guy I was looking for.

"Hey… conductor," I said as Annie took the seat next to mine. "I'm here."