[A/N] WHOOPS I LIED

I decided to add a bit of fluff here for the hell of it. Whet your appetites a little. Don't expect it to be too good. Or long. I'm working on the actual chapter 4 as we speak.

Tori sat bolt upright, her eyes wide and fearful and her breathing heavy. Tears stained her face as she took deep breaths.

She had a nightmare, and a pretty terrible one. She looked at the clock next to her. It read 11:25.

She debated about waking Jake up for a while, before slowly getting out of the bed, blanket still wrapped around her, and walking to his room. She brought her fist up and rapped on the door a couple of times. "Jake?"

She could hear blankets moving around as he got out of bed. The door opened slowly, revealing Jake, in only a t-shirt and sweatpants. He rubbed at his face before looking at her.

"Tori?" he asked groggily. "What's wrong?"

"…Never mind," she said. "Sorry I woke you up."

"I'm awake now. You might as well tell me."

"…I had a nightmare," Tori replied. "Can I sleep with you again?"

"Yeah, of course," Jake said. "You know, you don't have to feel bad about waking me up. You know I'll get you anything you need."

"I know, but I just figured you'd want your sleep, and-"

"Seriously, don't worry about it. Your well-being is more important to me than a bit of sleep."

Tori smiled. "Okay." She climbed into the bed, still wrapped in her blanket.

"Do you want me to put that back for you?" he asked.

"No, it'll keep me nice and warm."

"Would you mind telling me what the nightmare was about? Or do you need to wait a bit?"

"Um…" Tori said. She drew a shaky breath. "I think I'm okay. I can tell you."

"You and I were in the kitchen, eating, when your friends came in with that policeman. And they ratted me out, so he put a pair of handcuffs on me, and started pushing me out the door. And I tripped, and they laughed and started kicking me, and I was screaming for you to h-help me but you just sat there. And they kept kicking me, and you got up, and I thought you were going to help, b-but you just smiled and left, and I was screaming. And then you came back with a g-gun and pushed them away and started shooting at m-me and I was still screaming, asking you "why, why are you doing this, I thought you were helping me," and you just laughed and k-killed me…" She had managed to keep her composure during the story, but now she burst into tears.

Jake looked at her, shocked. When she started crying, he quickly wrapped his arms around her, trying to comfort her.

"It's okay," he said quietly, stroking her head. "Just let it out…"

"But it's not okay!" Tori cried suddenly, pulling away. "Don't you see? Something like this, I don't care if it was only a dream, I'm not sure if I can trust you anymore! How do I know that you aren't just going to turn me in? Or splat me when I least expect it? How do I know that you aren't just planning to keep me here for good?"

Jake was silent for a long time as he processed this.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Tori…" he started. "You don't. I could easily be planning to do any of those things. And you're probably right to be suspicious. I'd be the same way. But…" He took a breath.

"Tori, when I make a promise, I keep it, I assure you. There is nothing in this world that can stop me from helping you get back home. If you don't trust me while I'm doing that, then so be it. But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop helping you. Over the past week, you've become a truly wonderful friend, and I don't intend to do anything to get in the way of that. And I'm going to give you my word that you can trust me. I know that doesn't mean much right now, but it's all I've got. Look in my eyes." She obliged. He stared back into hers.

"Tori, I swear that I am going to do absolutely everything that I can to get you back home. Right now, you are the single most important thing in the world to me. And I'm not going back on my promise." He smiled at her.

Tori pondered this for a moment, before pulling him into a hug.

"So, you trust me, then?"

"Yeah," she replied. "I trust you. I don't think you were lying."

"Good."

They embraced for a while before the two slowly drifted off to sleep.

[A/N] What did I tell you.

You know, listening to various Splatoon music on volumes that are too high for mortal ears really helps to get the creative juices flowing.

Regardless, it's been four days since the last update, and I still want to keep this story going fairly quickly, so here you go.

Kudos to Etriuswimbleton, who convinced me to write a bit of fluff. Thanks, buddy! This turned out better than I expected.