Just keep running.

That's all Shiver told herself. It's all she COULD tell herself.

Don't look back. Don't think of...her. Just. Keep. Running.

How could all of this had happened? It was so simple; their supposed rivals looking for the treasure turned out to be the Newer Squidbeak Splatoon, trying to save the world from some giant evil bear who wanted to cover the world in deadly, fuzzy goop. Just a normal Tuesday morning, surely(!) They got to sing their favourite song with their favourite idols, while that Agent 3 guy slapped on a space helmet (that Big Man gave him. How long had he been holding onto THAT?) and flew into space to take on that bear. It was going so well!

But then...his line went dead. Static.

And it wasn't long before the bear and his payload crashed into the flooded Earth. The fuzzy goop was flying everywhere. Even deep within the crater, Shiver could hear them. The kids. Crying out as the goop transformed them into fuzzy husks. Slowly. Painfully. And she was running. Where? She didn't know. But standing still, jaws agape, was what got those other three. They cried out as they turned into fluffballs too. Even the mighty Captain. And...Frye. She had pushed them away so hard, urging them to run. To save themselves. Just before a wad of purple ooze slapped her in the back.

Shiver could still see her face. Her pained, despairing face. Screaming at them to get away. Before it was swallowed by the goop, and only dead eyes remained.

And now, there was only her and Big Man left. She held onto his flipper like she was dead scared it was going to drop off at any point. He could barely keep up with Shiver's erratic steps, his own plodding feet too slow to keep up with her quicker, pointed sprint. But he tried his best, fumbling and sometimes just being dragged along, through a world going mad. Purple goop rained from the sky, seeped through the ground, run through water streams and up trees, across phone lines. Some of the less fortunate Inklings who got coated exploded in a violent burst of goop, spreading it further. And all of the time, during every single second, that damned bear was watching from the horizon. Watching. Laughing.

"AY! (Shiver!)", Big Man yelled as he lost his footing yet again, "Ay ay ay!? (Where are we even going?!)"

"Away from here," Shiver said quietly, her voice haunted and pained, her breath shallow and fast, "Away from HIM."

"Ay? (Where can we go?)" Big Man asked, "Ay! (The entire city's been infected!)"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Shiver screamed, jibbering and hyperventilating, "Just AWAY. FROM. HERE."

Just keep running. Don't look back. Keep running...it's what Frye would've wante-

[CRASH Crumble Crumble Crumble]

Shiver only had time to yelp and skid in her tracks as the bridge they had stepped onto gave way partly. Sadly, Big Man wasn't so lucky. His giant mass sent him careening over the edge from momentum, punctuated with a quiet scream. Shiver still kept her vice-like grip on his fin, however, and she kept him dangling above a sea of newly-forming fuzzy goop. Far below, she could see it. Bubbling and brewing. Big Man's legs flapped around in the breeze as he tried to keep himself attached to Shiver.

"BIG MAN!" Shiver screamed again, grabbing hold of him with both hands, "Don't worry I got you!"

"Ay? Ay ay! (Are you crazy? I'll pull the both of us down if you keep holdin' on!")

"I don't care!" Shiver yelled. A quiet pause, punctuated only by sniffles from her and the bubbling of the ooze below them. Then, tears in her eyes, she spoke up, "You're all I have left, Big Man. There's no-one else left. Just us!"

Big Man paused. He looked down, then around. He could feel Shiver's grip slipping. That damned slimy skin of his. He sighed, his face twisted into sadness, knowing what was going to happen...and what he had to do.

"Ay... (I'm sorry, Shiver...)" he sighed, looking up at her one final time, "Ay...A-Ay... (We had a lotta laughs, huh...t-take care of yourself now, you hear?)"

And he slipped out of her hands.

"BIG MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" Shiver screamed at the top of her dying lungs (or whatever she had) as Big Man fell down into the chasm of goop. He gave Shiver one final little smile. And then closed his eyes as he slammed into the goop. Shiver stood up, staring into the horizon. Tears flowed from her eyes, her brain empty, her heart beating a million miles a minute. She looked upon the devastated Splatsville in the distance. She felt hollow.

Shiver...was alone.

/

[ON THAT DAY...A MASSIVE FUZZBALL WAS BORN IN SPACE...]

"Shiv. Hey, Shiv!"

"AY! (SHIVER!)"

Shiver awoke with a start, heart still racing, set in panic mode. The world was a blur, again. She couldn't catch her breath, she felt like she was suffocating! She was screaming still, quietly as her vocal chords were pretty sore, tears screaming from her eyes. She looked around, the world blurring further around her, including the two figures now in front of her face. She couldn't breathe. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't br-

"Snap outta it, Shiv!" came the first voice, grabbing Shiver and shaking her around like a doll. Mercifully, the world slowly came back into focus. Everything seemed...normal. No fuzzy goop. The sun was shining brightly, and not purple. She was in...the Splatcast studio. And in front of her? Frye and Big Man, in the flesh. Normal and alive.

Finally, FINALLY, Shiver's breathing returned to her. Frye! Frye was there! She was alive! She could barely see the Inklings and Octolings looking in from the studio, or the angry jellyfish staff telling her she fell asleep on the job and started screaming. All she could see...was her. A-And Big Man, of course.

"Ay? (Shiver?)" Big Man asked, more softly this time, "...Ay? (...Are you okay?)"

Seconds passed. And then, Shiver's composure broke down. She launched herself over her little desk, fan flying into the air from the jump, and she wrapped her arms around Frye as tight as she could. And she cried. Not sobbing, but quiet sniffles as she clutched Frye like she was going to suddenly float into the air.

"Woah!" Frye called out, nearly being bowled over by the force. Shiver never acted like this! She was the cool one. So...what, happened? She looked down at the mess of an Octoling. Her face was flush, her voice creaky and raw, whispering something that sounded like Octarian into her chest. Frye saw her eyes; they weren't even squeezed shut, but wide open and bloodshot, staring into nothing. Her hearts hurt to see her co-star like this. She brought Shiver into a close hug, and signalled Big Man to do the same. He wrapped his fins around them like the giant blanket he was, and Frye stroked her lover's hair, "Hey, Shiv. Ssssssh...it's okay. Whatever happened in your dream, it's over. Everything's okay..."

"Ay... (Yeah...)" Big Man smiled, hugging tighter as Shiver began to sob, ever so slightly. He turned to one of the jellyfish, who was about to start yelling about schedules or etiquette or whatever, "Ay. Ay ay. Ay. (No. Find someone else to do the Splatcast today. We've got more pressing matters right now.)"

"You don't say..." Frye sighed, "Come on, let's get Shiver home. Would you like that, Shiv? Hmm?"

Shiver nodded silently, her sob lowering back into sniffles. Big Man unwrapped his fins from them, but held one out for Shiver to hold. She did, just as tight as in her dream. And they slowly made their way out of the studio, and to the car park.

/

Shiver didn't remember much after that. She was put in the car, given a bottle of water, and sat silently as she was driven back to their shared apartment slash music studio slash old Human shark plush museum. That last one was on her. And at this point she wanted nothing but to just go back to that room. Thankfully, it didn't take long to get back. Shiver was shepherded back into their apartment by Frye.

"There we go. We're home now, Shiv," Frye said softly, "You go get dressed and I'll make you some Eel Grey Tea."

"Ay! Ay ay ay! (Yeah! And I'll make some of my special soup!)" Big Man chimed in.

Shiver finally said something. The first thing she said in Inkling since her dream, "...Thank you."

"Don't worry about it," Frye said, kissing Shiver on the forehead, "Now go on. Get dressed. We'll be right here. We promise."

Shiver nodded slowly, and then left for her room. It was nice and dark in there. Filled to the brim with shark plushes from the days of Humanity. She removed her shawl, her trousers and her sandals, slipping into a nice loose t-shirt with "Fish Fear Me, Eels Want Me" emblazoned on it. She slipped on some sweatpants, some nice fluffy socks and let her tentacles down a little. Looking thorugh the pile of shark plushies, she found the one she wanted at that point; her favourite, a navy-blue shark with "BLAHAJ" inscribed on the label. She took it, cuddling it softly as she made her way back into the main part of the apartment.

It was nice and dark in here, too; Big Man was just closing the curtains and Frye was making a little pillow fort on the sofa. Her smile was...Cod it was just so RADIENT. To think she dreamed of losing her to that...THING. She shuffled over to Frye and gave her another little hug. Frye smiled again and hugged back, "Shiiiiiiiiiiiv. You feelin' better, girl?"

"...A little," Shiver said quietly, "Now that I'm out of there."

"You wanna talk about it?" Frye asked. Shiver, honestly wasn't sure. She went to shake her head, but she saw Frye eyeball her, "Shiiiiiv?" she sighed back, and sat down on the sofa. Frye sat next to her, steaming hot mug of tea in her hands. Shiver graciously took the cup and sipped from it. The taste was as good as ever. The Onaga clan could make some damn good tea, even she'd happily admit that.

"Ay ayyyy! (Soup's ready!)" Big Man called out, bringing out a tray of three bowls of lovely orange soup. He placed them on the coffee table, alongside some spoons, and sat on the chair opposite the other two. He looked at Shiver softly, "Ay ay. Ay ay...ay? (So, Shiver. What...happened back there?)"

Shiver paused. Did she really want to tell them? Would they see it was a weakness? Would they see HER as weak? She closed her eyes and sighed, "Well...o-obviously I fell asleep at some point before the news. 'S what I get for staying up until 3AM checking SplatNet for shark plush postings, I suppose. And then...well...do you remember, back underground in that Alterna place? That fight with that giant bear?"

"Ay? Ay ay... (Honestly? Every single day...)"

"Yeah, me too..." Frye said quietly, her face for once melding into an unsure expression, "Like, sometimes, I have these weird dreams about that thing. Like, what could have been, y'know? Is that what you were dreaming about? Shiv?"

Shiver didn't respond. Her mind was already flashing back to the nightmare. Just her, in a sea of death and goop. She tried not to cry out again at the mere memory of it. She looked up to the two, eyes wobbling in their sockets a bit, mouth suddenly dry once more. Big Man looked incredibly worried;

"Ay? Ay ay? (Shiver? What did you see in that dream?)"

Shiver told them everything. Flashing back to the final battle in Alterna. Agent 3 dying in the battle. The world becoming covered in fuzzy goop. Losing Frye and Big Man. Being all alone in a dead world. All of it. She explained with horror, her voice wavering like she was going to break down again trying to recollect it all. Frye looked on, her own expression slowly shifting into one of worry, while Big Man inquisitively stroked his face (he didn't exactly have a chin) with a simple, "Ay. (I see.)"

"And that's when you woke me up..." Shiver concluded, "Me. All alone in a world gone mad. Without you..." she started crying, "It was HELL..."

"Oh Shiv..." Frye cooed, bringing Shiver in for a close hug, "Shiver, Shiver, Shiver. You don't need to worry about such a stupid little dream. We saved the day! With Boss Marie and Lady Assistant Callie!" this earned a snicker from the Octoling, and Frye grinned, "See? Got you feeling better already! But, don't worry. Me and Big Man ain't going nowhere. We were here with ya when we first teamed up in middle school, and we'll be with ya 'til the day we di-"

"Ay! (Frye!)" Big Man called out, swiping across his face, "Ay-ay ay ay ay-ay! (Ix-nay on the death-nay!)"

"Oh, right, sorry," Frye sighed. She brought Shiver's face out to meet her's. Shiver's face was a mess; makeup running with tears, eyes red and puffy, mouth dry and throat sore. She sighed sadly, "We ain't goin' anywhere, Shiv. We'll be right beside you. Always..." and with that, she planted a kiss directly on Shiver's lips. Truth be told it was like kissing sandpaper, but she knew she had to. Shiver, as ever, started flustered as all get out, before she settled into the kiss and they cuddled close. Big Man, as ever, wooped in support. Frye broke from the kiss and lovingly stroked Shiver's tentacles, "You know I love you too much to leave you behind..."

"I know..." Shiver said calmly, snuggling into Frye's embrace, "...Thank you. Both of you."

"Ay! (Don't mention it!)" Big Man beamed proudly, "Ay. Ayy. (Now drink your soup. It's gonna get cold and then I'm gonna be a sad manta ray.)"

Both girls giggled, took up their spoons and started eating. As ever, the soup was delicious and warming. Big Man would never have it any other way. Once they finished the soup, they had hot chocolate and watched some crummy movies over a few bowls of tortilla chips and another one of Big Man's recipes; this time, for a nice tomato salsa. Frye said she'd contact their new Boss in the Splatoon, see if there was anything in place for this sort of thing. And even if not, seeing the Agent that saved the world and their little fish guy might be enough to cheer her up. Shiver felt warm, safe and secure. Wrapped up in blankets, pillows, shark plushies and her girlfriend's strong arms. Safe from the bear. Safe from the goop. Safe from the world.

This was her family now. And she loved every part of it.