A/N: Warning again, this time for self harm.
Now that was just great.
Marie really liked her grandfather. She really did! Although often oblivious and sometimes a little bit close-minded, he was a great man with many stories to tell. He had done so much for Inkopolis in the past, and wanted to continue doing so with his New Squidbeak Splatoon project, which she didn't hesitate before agreeing to join. She had been a ranked fanatic long before her career shifted to the art industry, so fighting off hordes of Octarian soldiers was but a simple task for her. Callie had to take the lead, since Marie wouldn't be able to survive in the front lines for long no matter how good she was with chargers. Together however, the cousins managed to overcome all the challenges that were given to them without any difficulty, and nothing was out of their comfort zone.
Except this.
Cuttlefish was usually the one who "guarded" the entrance to the Octo Valley at all times, but surprisingly, the old man had gone on a mission of his own this time. It was amazing to Marie that, despite being barely able to walk without a cane, the old man still knew his way around with rollers. He might not have the best speed anymore, but his positioning and spacing were always on point. He was very old indeed, but he had a communicator with him in case there was an emergency – or if he wanted to ask how Marie was doing for the twentieth time that night.
Callie would be busy with meetings with possible sponsors, which Marie was grateful for because she had no patience for business talk. And so, she was left with the most boring job there was: watching the manhole.
It was simple: just keep looking at the thing until someone passed through it. If someone ever came, she would try to recruit them as an agent for the New Squidbeak Splatoon. If they accepted, they could begin right away and she'd be able to take a nap at Cuttlefish's shack. If not… Well, Cuttlefish never told her what to do in that case. But she assumed it was safe to just let them go away. It wasn't a secret project, just not a very public one. If anything, the larger influx of people coming to the valley could bring even more future agents!
But… There was no one there. At most, pieces of plastic and other assorted trash were what came out of the manhole exit due to people littering in Inkopolis. Marie stopped caring after a whole hamburger somehow shot out of the opening. Not like anything could surprise her anymore after twelve cups of coffee. Hours and hours passed with nothing happening, and she was really starting to lose hope that there would ever be more than two agents in that sad little excuse for a Splatoon.
Until he came.
"Hm… The Octarians… Hey–"
Marie was fairly unimpressed at first glance. It was a young inkling, 14 years old at most. His "hairstyle" was one that was more popular in the Inkopolis Square than the plaza, a tentacle covering the right side of his face and two more tied in a small bun behind his head. Marie couldn't immediately recognize the brand of his clothes – mainly because they looked like they weren't manufactured in Inkopolis.
But, as she looked closer at him, her gut slowly began to fill with a sense of dread. His arms were littered with cuts and bruises. His eyes were swollen, red and still watering. It also looked like he had bitten his lip several times, due to pierce marks on them.
Both of them just stared at each other for a while, before the boy made a 180 turn and started running back. It was until he skipped over the Octo Valley entrance pipe that she realized just what he was going to do. Marie's instincts acted faster than her mind, and her legs and arms worked in perfect unconscious harmony so that she pulled the boy back just as he was about to fall off the edge into the abyss below.
"Hey, just what were you thinking?!" Marie huffed, practically wrestling the younger inkling. He had tried to turn into a squid as a last resort, but that proved to be his worst move as now she had him wrapped up in his arms and unable to escape or transform back. "You could have seriously hurt yourself!"
The squid didn't answer, but instead began to cry. Marie was panicking internally. She had never had to deal with that before. Sure, she had comforted Callie when they were kids, but Callie didn't usually try to jump off the top of a building before crying. This was a serious situation that called for serious and well thought responses.
"Do you want to fight the Octarians together with me and my cousin?" That wasn't one of them.
"No…" He sobbed, closing his eyes. "Please let me go, miss…"
"No, you're not going anywhere near the edge. You're under my supervision whether you like it or not." Marie got up with him still in her arms and started walking towards the shack. She then sat down in one of the chairs and looked down. "What's your name?"
"Sal…"
"Sal? I like it. It's charming and easy to remember." Marie hummed. "I'm Marie. You know, from the Squid Sisters."
Marie couldn't help but frown at his lack of reaction. "Nothing? Never heard of the Squid Sisters before? Geez, you must have been living in hell this whole time."
Another sob. Oh. Maybe that's what happened. She would have to ask for the details when he was feeling better. Or let Cuttlefish do it, he was great with kids. Well… Sal wasn't a kid, but Marie considered anyone younger than her one. The old man would be able to help either way.
"Can you promise me something, Sal?" Marie let out after some minutes of silence. "I want you to promise me that you'll never try that again, no matter how ugly things are."
"I can't promise that…" Sal sighed.
"Well, that's not an answer I'm going to accept. You're going to promise me that no matter how long I have to hold you. Someone out there really likes you, you know? Even if you haven't met them yet, they'd still be upset if you were gone. I'd be upset if you were gone… And not because this is kind of my responsibility now."
Sal remained in silence. Marie couldn't tell whether or not he was having a change of mind, but she could see it in his eyes that something inside of him was changing. All of a sudden, Marie started squeezing him tightly. It felt warm and comforting at first, but then she kept on increasing the pressure more and more until…
Sal started coughing as soon as he woke up, squirming and shifting on the bed. Before he opened his eyes, he could feel some of the pressure being relieved as well as hear hard objects hitting the ground. Opening his eyes, he was quite surprised to find that Marie was standing right besides the bed, and that it wasn't his bed.
"Oh, there you go." She let out a sigh, placing a finger on her cheek. "I spent thirty minutes trying to wake you up, then I got bored and started stacking Callie's Y.A. books on you. Ten is the magic number, I guess."
Wow. Way to ruin such a heartfelt dream and half accurate memory. Sal huffed and got up, pleased to find that he was now wearing pants, and unfortunately not wearing glasses. He tried recalling what had happened the night prior after Marie had found him, but his brain was still half asleep so he only recalled foggy images.
"Gramps kindly showed up and put some of his old clothes on you. I'm surprised they haven't disintegrated into a cloud of dust yet. Just try not to move a lot before we get you clothes less than a century old, I guess."
"W…Why… here?" Sal rubbed his still tired eyes, trying his best to mutter coherent sentences. "Apartment keys were with me. Don't wanna bother you."
"Well… No nice way of saying this. Someone posted your address online and now people are crowding your apartment so they can beat you up or something." Marie shrugged, turning her back to him and heading towards the living room. "You shouldn't really leave or even stand near any windows for a while. Also, I made some coffee."
"Ok." Sal simply nodded and followed after her, taking a seat by the wooden table and pouring himself a cup of coffee. Then another. Then another. It took five cups before he completely woke up and realized the situation he was in.
"Wait. What am I supposed to do? Do Kama and Fen know where I am? Are they coming?" Sal suddenly jolted up and searched for Marie in the living room, but couldn't find her. Her voice could be heard coming from one of the other rooms in the apartment.
"Don't worry, we're already sorting things out for you. We're scheduling you a public apology on TV where you'll be able to explain to people what really happened and all that. Pretty serious stuff, so you better start writing your speech already so you don't say something you don't mean in live television. As for the other agents, they know you're here, but I said it was better to let you rest for a while before talking to them."
Oh… Okay. Everything was that easy when you were ultra rich and famous. Sal sat back down by the table, this time taking a seat next to one of the windows. It was only possible to see the sea of buildings that was Coral Complex, as well as the side of some busy street. People going on with their lives as usual… Sal pursed his lips, turning away from the window. Did… Did everyone in Inkopolis suddenly hate him now? It sure would be a bit exaggerated if they did, Inkopolis was no small city and everyone had different opinions and views. But, to go as far as finding out where he lived… He must have really messed up.
Now what?
"So… You're just going to keep me here? What if I want to leave?"
"The keys are on the table. I'm not the one keeping you here, common sense is. Or at least should be." Marie sounded slightly worried, which contrasted with her usual sarcastic and casual nature. "There are basically two options. Either you stay in here until next week, or… Well, agents usually do undercover missions, right?"
Shortly after saying that, Marie walked back in the living room, pushing some plates and cups out of the way so she could put a big box on top of the table. She had changed out of her kimono, now wearing her classic (old) Squid Sisters outfit – as well as a medical mask and some rubber gloves. She opened the box and started taking out some objects: a multitude of small bottles containing chemical substances unknown to Sal, a set of medical tools including syringes and scalpels, contact lenses of all colors and a red bow.
"This is the part where I tie you to the chair and start experimenting on you." Marie raised her hands besides her head, shaking them as if she was a zombie. It kind of looked like the Off the Hook hand gesture. "I'm kidding. But it's probably gonna feel weird since I haven't done this in ages."
"Wait, you're not…" Sal took a step back, gulping. "There are… Professional tentacle salons that… No offense, would probably do this way better than you can."
"None that would agree to do it on you specifically, at least not right now." Marie shrugged. That kinda stung Sal, but she was right. "The choice is yours, really. Depends on if you feel like cross-dressing for a week or not. I'm just here to help and make sure nobody starts throwing rocks at my apartment if you walk too close to the window."
"Something tells me you're not going to accept a no."
"Up to you. I just feel like it's the best option since it covers both of our needs," Marie smirked, "you need to go out there and I need to see you in girl clothes."
"Marie, I'm home! Brought the stuff you asked and some food for you two!"
Callie chimed from behind the door, searching into her pocket for her keys. Unlike Marie, she had been unable to continue her music career after the Squid Sister's two year split because… Well, Octavio happened. Callie did most of the recordings for their new album Fresh Start alone, since Marie had already started on it way before Callie was even kidnapped. It always felt a bit off not to have her cousin by her side while singing, but hopefully this would only last until they were done taking care of Sal.
Speaking of Sal, is that his voice that's screaming right now? They did ask for the best soundproofing they could afford when adapting the apartment for their needs, so it was a big surprise to even hear anything coming from the inside. Callie waited until the screams paused before opening the door and quickly locking it behind her. It took only 0.2 seconds after she had done that for her eardrums to be almost blown out by the screaming. She pressed her tentacles against her ears, dropped her bags onto the table and hushed to the bathroom – the apparent source of the noise.
"Hey! Sal, is everything alright in there?!" She knocked on the door violently, trying to make her presence known despite the impossibly loud noise.
"Oh, hey Callie! Yeah, it's all good, I'm just doing Sal's tentacles. Just like old times, remember?" Marie shouted back from the other side of the door.
Oh, that was it. A shiver went through Callie's body as she immediately remembered the sensation. Yeah, maybe he deserved to be screaming that loudly. With a sigh, she walked towards her and Marie's bedroom and took out her old headphones, connecting them to her phone and blasting Off the Hook songs as loud as the machine allowed – which was still not loud enough apparently.
After some times, the intervals between the screaming increased, and completely stopped after ten minutes or so. Callie took notice of this and pulled one of the headphones in time to hear the bathroom door being opened.
"Can… Can I look yet?" Callie gulped. She wondered if Marie had gotten better after all those years. Or if Sal was even alive anymore.
"Hm… Yeah, I think it's okay. It's my best job so far, actually, you have to see this right now."
Callie hesitated. She took a deep breath and peeked her head out of the doorframe, gasping as she saw what had been done to Sal.
It was… Almost perfect! His tentacles were now arranged in a shorter style, with two appendages on each side of his face reaching down to his cheeks. The forehead area was flat and angular, almost resembling (human) bangs in a way. The back had four other short appendages that almost reached his nape. There was also a bandage on the top of his head. He was currently clutching his stomach and gritting his teeth.
"Woah, it sure is! You only messed up once!" Callie laughed, not seeing to get any reaction out of Marie whatsoever. That was good! "How are you feeling, Sal?"
"Like all the fluid in my body has been replaced with liquid plastic. An ancient vessel that has lost all of its value upon a failed restoration. The proof that we as a species should not play God."
"Eh, it's just the anesthetic." Marie shrugged, removing her ink covered gloves and mask and throwing them into the trash can. "Callie said worse before."
"Huh? Why was he screaming if you used anesthetic?" Callie raised an eyebrow.
"I told him his tentacles were never going to grow back and he was so high he actually believed. I dunno why he continued screaming after they grew back, though." Another shrug. "Not my responsibility anymore, gotta go to the recording studio. It's your turn to take care of the baby now."
Marie went to her room to change into her new outfit. Callie grabbed Sal by the arm and placed him on the couch, making sure he didn't put too much pressure onto the bandaged area. She then walked towards the table, taking out a small black laptop and placing it on Sal's lap. It had a few band stickers on the back and near the keyboard, and the painting on the keys was mostly worn out.
"Ta-da! We couldn't really get into your apartment just yet, but Kama had one of your older laptop."
"Cursed relic." Sal muttered. "Careful."
"Yeah yeah, whatever." Callie's ever-present smile was starting to exhibit a bit of worry on it. Not like Sal was conscious enough to notice it anyways. "I've disabled the internet access so you don't post bad stuff online while you're under the effect of the anesthetics."
"You place too little faith in me. I'm totally fine." Sal moved a shaky hand to open the laptop, turning it on. It was old, so it took a good ten minutes before it was good enough to be used. Sal then turned to face Callie. "I don't need help using computer. Also there's some naked pictures of Kama in here so go away."
Callie didn't need to hear anything else from him. With an awkward wave, she turned around and headed to her room. Was Sal telling the truth, or was that just the best excuse that his anesthetic fueled mind could come up with? There was no way to tell at the moment, and she honestly didn't really want to know. Marie came out of the room a while later, said goodbye to both of them and left.
Sal quickly found out that an old computer without internet access was basically an empty computer. Playing Super Pinball 3D was only entertaining for so much time after all. After a few minutes of mindlessly scrolling through the games list – which only had three games – he decided to revisit some of his old files. They weren't many, most of them had been consciously erased by Sal due to the bad memories attached to them, but some remained.
Sal was especially pleased to find that the music folder was still intact! It brought him fuzzy yet good memories of the first months of their relationship. Besides modelling, Kama was also trying to get into composing, so he'd send Sal small clips and unfinished songs to get his opinion on them. Who could forget such classics as "what I think a trash compactor sounds like", "frog orchestra but they only know how to scream", and even Sal's favorite song ever, "I'm very angry and I love drums"? He felt like remembering Kama of them, he reached out the inside of his pocket, only to remember that those pants weren't his and that he had left his phone at the backstage in Piranha Pit.
Also he felt really angry at Kama for some reason. But in his current state, he couldn't remember why that was. His brain, at the lack of information, decided to make up some backstory for him: He was mad because Kama had called him a bad composer. That sounded like a perfectly valid explanation at the time.
"I'll… Fucking show him who's the bad composer. He'll fucking see." Sal slurred to no one in particular. Opening his trusty old friend, Inky Tracker, he was prepared to make symphonies. Was, because his mind finally went blank and illogical as soon as he hit the create track button.
His body continued working, though.
