Eternal Tears

Book One: Morun

Chapter I—Responsibility

The sky on the morning of the funeral was clear as a bell. Warm and pleasant, with a slight refreshing breeze blowing in from the north, not too warm or too cold. This was the kind of day where people would be outside enjoying the sun, instead an ocean rescue team had packed on a thick layer of arctic ice.

Standing in the front row, Kwazii glared up at the cloudless sea of azure, as if wanting to yell at God, "Why did you took the Captain away from me and my friends?! Do you know how much he means to the ocean, his friends and me? Bring him back right this instant!" However, he knew that the Captain was gone forever and would never return, no matter how much he screamed, cursed and hollered.

Kwazii could hear Barnacles' family and friends' sobbing in the background. It was not only them, the crew also mourned silently for their leader. The somber atmosphere made Kwazii wanting to huddle in a corner and cry, but instead he stayed rooted to the ground.

Kwazii was asked to make a speech to open the ceremony, but he declined. How could he, whenever he tried to speak, only choked sobs came out? Professor Inkling took the role in making the speech. During the speech, Kwazii allowed his memories to wander off.

He tried to visualize the Captain's face, and gripped on the memories that were still lingering in his mind. The time when they entered a whale shark's mouth to rescue Dashi. The time where they used the Gup F, with the help of the Sailfish to round up the runaway gups. The time where they searched for Calico Jacks' hidden treasure, which turned out to be an Octopus. There were so many memories, that he gripped on so tightly in fear of them vanishing forever, as there wouldn't be new ones.

Kwazii just let his memories and his tears flow, smiling inwardly at each one. While every single one, be it family member, relative or close friend, spoke their prominent love for the late polar bear. After Inkling voiced a closing prayer, the Vegimals lifted the casket to be interred in his homeland proper.

When everyone had cleared out, Kwazii stayed rooted in his position, his tears landing on the hard ice.

It seemed like years before he felt a paw being placed gently on his shoulder and a melodic voice murmur into his ear, "are you Kwazii?"

He turned his head to come face to face with an aging female polar bear. A mixture of anguish and shock was written clearly all over her face. He was guessing this polar bear was Barnacles' mother.

"I... I'm sorry me hearty, about what happened. It must have been a huge blow to you."

The polar bear nodded grimly. "Yes, yes it is. He has been such a filial son. When I heard the news of his death, I almost fainted right on the spot. How could something terrible like that happen to him? He's such a strong and healthy one. Plus, he's still so young. By right, he's supposed to live for another twenty years."

"Aye. We still don't know the reason behind his death, whether it's a natural or unnatural death, Peso is thoroughly investigating the situation."

She sighed deeply. "How would I know that our first parting would be our last moment together? He even promised in his recent letter to visit next week! But... this, THIS of all things happened! Why does fate love to make such fun of us innocent mortals? Maybe this is some sort of punishment for the sins I've done in my past life."

Kwazii gently placed a paw on her shoulder and a reassuring voice murmured in her ear, "don't be so hard on yourself matey. Death is a natural thing; every one of us has to die at some point of our lives. Just take this as an experience and move on."

The polar bear managed to stiff a giggle, much to Kwazii's surprise. "Ha, it's easier said than done. Do to know how much my heart aches right now, to lose my one and only son? Do you know what it feels like to lose your family one by one?" She lifted her head up to make eye contact with the cat. "My parents died when my son was only five. My husband was eaten up by an Orca when my son was only ten. Now, what's left of my heart is a deep, emotional scar that no amount of time can heal."

Kwazii was shocked beyond words to hear that. No wonder the Captain was so tough. "I'm... Extremely sorry. I wish I could help you, but I just can't, just like how I watched the Captain's life slip away as I sit there and couldn't do anything at all."

"You... were the last person to listen to his final words? Is it not? Tell me, please!" She pleaded, her voice desperate.

Kwazii felt a massive wave of guilt rush over him. "He... he said that I made him very proud. I really wonder what that means."

Upon hearing this, she bowed her head down in disappointment, realising that her beloved son choose to remember his crew mate over his mother. "Well, that probably shows that Barnacles regards you as a hardworking and loyal crew mate. You should be proud of it."

"Don't say that. I'm positively sure that he treats everyone in the crew the same." Besides, he is proud of the crew."

The polar bear mother nodded grimly and replied, "very well then. Very well."

…

With the absence of Captain Barnacles, the Octonauts were at a loss. Without the guide of a leader, nobody knew exactly what to do, where to go. Pretty soon, chaos erupted between the Octonauts. Bickering, arguments, misunderstandings all started in a flash. Bitterness, distress, disorder, all unknown to them surfaced. It wasn't long before the relationships between them were all distant and callous.

...

"Get outta my way!"

...

"Watch where you're going!"

...

"What's your damn problem?! Are you deaf or something?!"

...

"Yeah, yeah! You're always right, and I'm always wrong! Happy now, smartypants?"

...

"Why should I take the blame? You started it, and its your fault, so you should apologize!"

...

Kwazii wasn't in the mood to leave his room at all, as he didn't want to listen to or get involved in his friends heated arguments any further. However, Professor Inkling called Kwazii to see him in the library.

Kwazii strolled wordlessly through the many octochutes and just as silently through the winding corridors, all the way to the professor's library. It was a humongous room with a large array of shelves and a mind blowing number of books about marine biology. The walls were painted in a relaxing shade of orange, covered in swirly patterns, making it a conducive place to study.

At first, he stood rooted to the entrance, almost afraid to move, as the octopus glanced up from a book that he was reading. "Ah, Kwazii! Its good to see you again. Have a seat." Inkling gestured him to one of the chairs at the near side of an armchair. Kwazii obediently took his seat.

Inkling cleared his throat and began, "now, let's get serious, shall we?" Everything about the professor, from his tone, to his expressions, to the way he moved told Kwazii that this wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation.

He silently waited for the octopus to speak. "Kwazii, you were the only person to hear the captain's final words, am I correct?"

"... Yes."

Inkling leaned forward, with a concerned look on his face. "Please, I need to know what he said to you."

The cat's throat clogged, unable to speak clearly. He only managed to say, "he... was... p-proud... me..."

"How do you feel about his plan that changed everything?"

Kwazii was officially confused. "What plan, exactly? Is there something that I'm kept in the dark of?"

Inkling let out an audible sigh. "He never told you, did he?" Kwazii nodded. He sighed again, longer this time. "Did you remember the latest mission where the captain went to save an injured dolphin? Unfortunately, a box jellyfish approached. He got stung while trying to protect the dolphin. Luckily, Peso tagged along with him during the mission and gave him some medicine that would temporarily ease the pain, but not curing him though."

"Then... then why wasn't I informed about this?" Kwazii said in disbelief.

"We actually wanted to inform you, Kwazii, but then Peso realised that there was no antidote for curing box jellyfish stings, and his days were limited. However, he was one of the small percentage of the lucky people that survived rather than dying on the spot. Upon hearing the news, the captain decided to make you his replacement."

Suddenly, it was as though the puzzle pieces on his mind clicked into place. So that was the reason why the captain had been opting out of missions, constantly shoving his captain manual in his throat, lecturing him about working on his flaws whenever he had the chance.

"But, he seemed fine just a week ago."

"I know," Inkling whined with a shudder, "he was always so strong. I can only imagine how much strength he really had."

Kwazii had lost track of his emotions. Anger, despair, sadness, bewilderment had all blended into one dizzying feeling, but Inkling's face had only one emotion: pity. Suddenly, he grabbed a sea blue envelope from the coffee table next to his armchair and handed it over to Kwazii.

Shaking, Kwazii opened the envelope and took out the letter in it.

I Captain Barnacles, captain of the Octonauts, do herby my title to the Lieutenant, Kwazii Cat. After a time of no more than five days following my death, he is to be positioned as the Captain of the Octonauts and granted all attached responsibilities and privileges.

At the bottom of the letter was the signature he recognized as the captain's.

"By rights, the title of the captain is yours, but so is the choice as to whether or not accept it."

Kwazii took a deep, confident breath. "I'll do it."

"Are you sure?"

"No, but I'm going to do it anyway."

"But-"

"Professor, I have to do this!" Kwazii jumped out of his chair as he interrupted Inkling. "Listen, I know what it all means. That'll I have to leave my old life behind to enter a role that I really don't believe I'm ready for, but if I back down now I know that I'll regret it for the rest of my life. The captain did so much for me and if his last wish was for me to lead the Octonauts, then I'll gladly do it, even if it means hanging everything."

Defeated, Inkling hung his head. "Very well then. Thank you, Kwazii." He paused for a short while, before he left his seat. "Let's us do this, before our doubts cloud our judgments." Without another word, he left, not looking back to see if Kwazii was following.

Both of them walked in silence, before they approached a painfully familiar room. "We're here."

The duo forcefully swallowed lumps of sorrow down their throats. "I'm going to miss him." Inkling murmured as a happy tear escaped his eyes.

"Aye, me too."

"The captain's belongings are all here. Feel free to use whatever you need. If you have any questions, you can always approach me for help."

Kwazii nodded in approval.

The minute the professor left, Kwazii admired the room for a moment. The walls were a very pale shade of blue with white stripes. On the walls hung four pictures: one was the captain himself playing the accordion, the other one with him next to an igloo, another one with him measuring his height with a rainbow coloured measuring chart, and the final one was a rectangular shaped photo with the captain's family photo.

Kwazii reached out a paw and carcassed the glass frame of one of the pictures. His heart ached as though it was being slowly compressed by a crusher, his heartache growing every second. Tears were beginning to collect in his eyes and blur his vision, until he couldn't contain then anymore. Sobs choked his throat as he shrank into a ball on the floor, wishing that the ground would just swallow him up.

...

"Captain, are you sure this will work?" Kwazii asked peculiarly.

"I'm one hundred percent confident. Now hurry up and follow me!"

The cat obeyed as they prepared their deep sea diving suits and swam down to a narrow, deep ocean trench. As they swam deeper and deeper, it got darker and darker and it was getting tougher to see where he was going, even with the light source provided.

Suddenly, the captain began to accelerate in speed, making it a challenge for Kwazii to catch up. "Captain! Wait for me!"

As if ignoring Kwazii, Barnacles kept on swimming, not even flinching the least bit or looking behind to make sure that Kwazii didn't get lost.

Kwazii started to hesitate as he hollered, "Captain! Please slow down, I can't catch up!" However, Barnacles ignored him yet again.

Something's not right, Kwazii thought in disbelief. The captain's not like this; he doesn't ignore me just like that! I'm gonna find out what's the problem.

All of a sudden, Kwazii couldn't feel his legs anymore, as if they've gone numb, but he was still able to swim. He just shrugged off the strange feeling and let the water pull him in.

As he went deeper, Kwazii couldn't feel his body anymore; he didn't even remember having one. With that, he was able to swim faster, and maybe even catch up with the speeding polar bear which was almost out of sight.

Now, he couldn't even feel his head, face or brain. Everything in his body felt numb. Kwazii couldn't describe this strange feeling. He felt so light that he felt like a minute piece of plankton floating in the water. That wasn't the only thing though, the captain was nowhere to be found!

Kwazii shivered as the icy, deep sea water draped over him like a thick, wet blanket. What to do now? He couldn't move, nor find the captain. Confused as ever, Kwazii was on the verge of tears, but refused to shed a single tear.

"Kwazii..."

He heard it! It was a voice that Kwazii couldn't make up who it was. It was a mixture of a male and female voice, luring him to follow the direction of the voice.

"Kwazii..."

The voice cooed as he felt he was swimming towards the direction of the voice. No, no! You mustn't go! You don't even know what danger lies out there! However, he still followed the peculiar voice.

"Kwazii... Kwazii!"

That... that voice. It belonged to the captain! He sounded desperate and in need of help. "Hang on captain! I'm coming!"

"Stay back Kwazii! Don't come any closer!" Barnacles warned.

The cat tilted his head in confusion. "Why not?"

All of a sudden, he heard the captain yell in pain. His shouts became more loud as the seconds went on. Kwazii heard the crushing of bones, making him turn as pale as a moonflower. "No! Captain! Hang on!"

"N-no. I-I-I can't..." The captain said in a strangled, raapy voice as the sound of crunching bones got deafening.

"Captain! No! NO!"

Kwazii felt a warm, sticky liquid splatter on him. It was... blood. No... I don't believe this. The captain can't be dead, it's just not possible!

There was no past, no present, nor future. Only darkness and the warmness of blood...

...

"Kwazii?"

"Kwazii! Wake up!"

Kwazii jolted upright in his bed, breathing heavily, perspiration covering his body and soaking his pajamas. He furiously blinked away the afterimages of the gory nightmare.

"Are you okay Kwazii? It seems like you had a horrible nightmare." Kwazii shifted his body to face a very concerned professor Inkling.

The cat waved his hand nonchalantly. "I'm absolutely fine professor. Nightmares are natural. How can I be a captain if I can't handle a nightmare?"

Inkling frowned, as if not buying his story. "Even the toughest people need comforting once in a while. Tell me, what was your nightmare about?"

Kwazii swallowed. "You know who."

"The captain?"

He nodded.

The octopus sighed as he placed a tentacle on his shoulder. "I know that losing the captain is a huge blow to you, so as to the others. The next few weeks is going to be tough, but you're not alone."

"But what about the others?"

"You'll need to reunite them together as a family once more. I'm confident that you can do it."

"Thanks professor. I know that I can always count on you."

Inkling flashed a warm smile across his way. "Anytime Kwazii. Anytime."