Authors note: Hi all! I have you another special long chapter today, and I hope you enjoy it! Have a good day, and take care!
"My little squirt wanted to see me?" Maize heard. He had a bright smile across his face. Standing before him beside his older sister was an older squid girl who had yellowish orange tentacles that were done up into an odd spiral style, some old hair style that the yellow squirt knew was going to fall out of style in a year or two. She was wearing a green dress that had cherry blossoms painted on it that had faded quite a lot.
"Mom!" Maize ran up to her, hugging her tightly, only able to reach her waist. He never had realized it until now that he was quite short for his age. Yet here she was, the mother he missed so dearly. Fallow was sitting on the couch, just letting their mother handle whatever the young squirt wanted.
"Oof! …You sure are acting odd tonight," Apricot smiled, rubbing her son's head before he broke their embrace. She crouched down to his height.
"Are you excited that dad's coming home tonight?" his mother asked. Maize shook his head. He had not even remembered that part of his memory that had slipped him entirely. His father often was always away trying to work on construction.
"No… I just missed you," Maize sniffed. He sure felt like the toddler squid he was back then. He felt his mother's arms wrap around him before picking him up. He felt nothing but calmness feeling her skin.
"Missed me? I barely left you with your sister for ten minutes, but I guess that's my fault for promising her you'd give her no trouble," Apricot giggled, finding her son so silly at times. He blushed, embarrassed, though his mother began to head back toward the stairwell that was two flights of steps just to get upstairs.
"I think we should take you to bed early," Apricot claimed. This was one part of the memory that always struck harder, when his family was giving him the chance to stay up an hour later than usual, and him sadly failing usually had him fall asleep on the couch or the floor from tiredness. He just wanted to fulfill that promise to his mother he had broken this very night as he was being carried off upstairs. The yellow squid wished this would never end. Even if it was just hypnosis or a dream, he just wanted it to last, but he doubted it would for long.
"Mom… why do you make so many promises?" Maize requested to know while they arrived to the upstairs hall. There was nothing up there but paintings lining the walls between the doors of each room. His mother seemed more curious by his inquiry of this. Her squirt had asked this a lot ever since he began to talk when he was very young.
"Well, honey… it's just what I chose to do for the Dagenhart tradition," Apricot stated while they went to the third door in the hallway. Upon opening it, they revealed a small room. Within it seemed relatively simple. With one tug of the string, a lamp was turned on, showing the room being filled with toys, a bed to the side right near a closet, and a small table used for mostly drawing.
"Our tradition… why did you make promises your tradition?" Maize continued his questions. The Dagenhart tradition was what every member in the family tree had one point in their lives, where they made a decision, and that was what they would swear would help what remained of the world. It sounded silly, but it was the determination that each decision brought was immense and endless. The young squid got put down on his bed, his mother making him rest his head on the pillow before she began to pull his blankets up over him.
"Honey, every Dagenhart wants to help make the world a better place. Your grandpa's decision for the family tree is helping squids reunite with their lost pets. I watched all of those smiles and happy reunions that were caused by his promises, along with his generosity. So I decided to help with my promises to make sure I never let anyone down if I could," Apricot exclaimed. She seemed to become saddened toward the end of her explanation. She felt her son's hand brush against her cheek. Maize hated seeing her upset. It was weird that his memory for this was vague, but everything was becoming clearer.
"Promises are really hard to keep, honey… but despite that, your mom does her best, but… I feel like I've let a lot of others down along the way," Apricot reassured that she had no regrets despite her past choices. She never liked to fail anyone with her promises. She found it hard to go even more than a day without making one to Maize. She kissed his forehead before standing up.
"And what was dad's decision when he became a Dagenhart?" Maize asked. His mother sighed. Thinking about her husband's decision seemed a bit of a tough topic. His father had gotten the last name Dagenhart once they married. Apricot decided to tell him anyway.
"Honey… your dad said his decision was to help build the world. But I don't think he ever meant it. I don't think he's meant a lot of things," she said beginning to go toward the door.
"Wait, mom!" Maize called out, sitting up from his blankets, seeing his mother's reassuring eyes look to him. This was the one time he never kept that promise.
"I love you… you know that, right?" Maize stated. He and his mother promised to always tell each other that at the start and end of the days, though this memory was going a lot different than how he remembered it. Maize knew this night all too well. Instead of the calm talk, the two had wound up having a fight and not speaking to each other for the night. He had to wonder was this the hypnotism at work, or was it what his mind truly wanted to happen tonight to fulfill that broken promise.
"Honey, I always love you no matter what. I promised you that the day you were born," Apricot smiled before she turned off the lamp and closed the door. Those words felt nothing but the truth. The yellow squid barely had rested his head on the pillow for one second as his eyes began to flutter and his eyelids felt heavy, seeing the bedroom beginning to become blurry. He rolled over and looked at a small cat shaped clock on the wall, its tail swishing back and forth each second that passed.
"Wa-wha?" Maize got right out of bed, upon seeing the time. It was now three in the morning. His heart was beginning to race. He knew what came next in this memory. He ran across the wooden floor to his door. He had to jump up to reach the knob before pulling it open. All the lights in the house were off.
"Mom!" Maize screamed while rushing for the end of the hall, running past Fallow's room. It was completely dark. When he ran by, that entire room seemed to change for a moment. It looked like the door had become a glass wall and was peering into a hospital room. His older sister lay on it with machines hooked up to her, looking like she only had just recently gotten out of surgery. Maize grit his teeth, continuing to run. He could not let his other memories stop him. When he ran to his parent's door he banged on it loudly.
"Mom! Open up, please!" Maize cried. The lights were on under the door, but all he could hear was shouting. Either he was being ignored, or the two inside could just not hear him.
"I don't care! I can't believe I did all that for you, just to find out it was a big waste of time! To know you're a good for nothing angler-" Apricot's voice chimed before a loud slap rung out.
"You should be thankful! I saved your entire family from bankruptcy over that stupid tradition. You can at least understand why I needed some relief from another squid," a deep male tone rung out. Maize knew it was his father, and he sounded annoyed at the moment and uncaring. The young squid had hear his parents fight many times, but it never got this bad. It seemed like one of the most painful things in his nightmare of what used to be a pleasant memory.
"Please open!" Maize bashed the door one more time with his small hands. Just like that, he began to hear a creaking the door slowly opened. However, all he saw was a completely dark room. It was his parent's bedroom, but all that he saw was a queen sized bed and one squid in it with big yellow tentacles, his back turned. He was Arylide, Maize's father, and he was deep asleep, but looked quite battered and bruised. The entire room seemed heavily damaged like a brutal fight had erupted. The young squirt began to feel his head throbbing in pain. He groaned, shaking, when he began to hear the sound of a car engine. His eyes wide, he darted out of the room, almost tumbling down the steps.
"No…" Maize panted. His head felt ready to explode. He was noticing missing pieces of the living room which were just replaced with an abyss of darkness. The glass on the front door seemed to show the same thing outside. More things began to vanish around him.
"No! …I can't let her go! Not again!" he screamed, holding his head in pain, noticing one of his tentacles beginning to vanish and return back to the stub it was. He was starting to turn back into his normal age, reverting back to an inkling. It seemed like he was reaching the end of his memory and he would soon snap out of it. He opened his eyes, grabbing the doorknob and jerking it open.
"Mom…" Maize weakly spoke. Darkness was everywhere outside. He stepped out of the door of his old home, when everything behind him seemed to vanish shortly after. There was nothing but the dark void. He fell to the ground weakly, the pain in his head seeming to be going away.
"Why… why couldn't I do anything?" Maize spoke to himself. A second felt like an hour as the pain in his head was vanishing. He grit his teeth, throwing a fist downward. To his own surprise, he hit something. He expected it to miss harmlessly, but he felt something soft against his knuckle. He looked down, fixing his glasses now that they were back with him. Maize saw a small tuft of grass, and beneath his hand was somewhat wet with morning dew. Maize boy pulled one blade of the grass. He watched the small tuft suddenly erupt into an entire huge patch of land. That calm feeling was back. He wondered what was going on.
"Some tradition… that I did nothing but fail…" Maize sighed, noticing a light begin to shine from his left side. He looked over, seeing a vague car parked there. He recognized it quite easily as his mother's.
"I wouldn't think so," an all too familiar tone spoke beside him. Maize looked to his right, seeing his mother once again. She was on her knees beside him. He hugged her tightly, just glad to see her again, but he never had any recollection of this memory. It was all confusing. There was no faded thoughts to it, almost like it was newly created.
"You always were momma's squirt," Apricot giggled, running a hand through his tentacle. She had a smile, but also seemed upset to see his present state, the missing tentacle and the cuts and bruises all over him was hard to see.
"You've grown up into a great squid," she claimed. Maize looked up at her, looking ready to burst into tears. There were a few trees growing up into the clearing around, like they were in a growing forest.
"I failed the Dagenhart tradition, mom. I failed our decision! …I haven't been able to keep my promise to you all these years… and I keep feeling like I'm failing everyone else," Maize sobbed, his head buried in her chest. He felt horrible, not ever being able to tell his mother he loved her daily, not seeing her for so long. She had left one night suddenly out of the blue, all after another disagreement between his parents that had escalated far out of control. And her young son witnessed her pulling out of that very driveway, it was deep in his mind still.
"Honey, I'm glad you took up my tradition to your decision… but the tradition only wants you to try your best. And I don't think you've failed at all," Apricot reassured, not believing it in the slightest. He saw her stand up before she held her hand out to him.
"Come on. Let's go for a walk," she insisted. Maize happily put his hand in his mother's, their fingers interlocking with each other as he followed her, the two of them beginning to walk along toward the trees. The forest seemed to get thicker the further they went.
"I know that things get tough, and I feel horrible that you made your decision to change the world with promises for the tradition, all because I had gone. I never wanted to influence it like that. But you're doing far better at it than I ever did," Apricot claimed. Maize did not even know if this was his mind talking to him or his mother anymore. Everything was so confusing. He still was upset, but he wondered what she meant.
"The promises… these promises made me feel great. I've broken a good few and they really hurt other squids… but I felt like they all were pointless, since you and dad aren't around now…" Maize stated. He was glad he took the promises as his decision for the tradition. There was no turning back on what was selected in the Dagenhart tradition. Otherwise it would be a great act of shame.
"You really think they've all been pointless?" Apricot could not help but tilt her head as the two stopped walking. No matter how far they got, they felt like there was a lot more to the forest than he knew. He could only look at his mother, unsure how to respond.
"…I don't know," he shook his head with no real thought of it. His mother pointed ahead.
"You need to remember all your promises have done. Walk a bit, I'll catch up," Apricot motioned him to continue without her. Maize was reluctant to leave his mother, even if this was an insane hallucination. He wanted to stay with her, but he hesitantly nodded, beginning to walk on his own. He did not get far before something caught his eye.
"I promise, cap'n! I'll complete this mission!" Agent 3's voice chimed, but he did not say anything. Maize looked over, between the two trees he saw looked almost like a projected image displaying Octo Valley. Captain Cuttlefish stood before Agent 3. Maize recognized this as a good while ago. It was when the great zapfish had gone missing, and he had become a new agent.
"Squiddo, that look in your eye shows nothing but determined spirit. Nothing'll stop you!" Captain Cuttlefish saluted wishing him good luck on the mission. Maize watched his past self on the video, who went onward to climb into the kettle for a mission. Shortly after, the projection suddenly vanished.
"What… is this?" Maize asked, continuing to walk forward. The next two trees began to show another projection that showed Agent 3 standing before Callie and Marie, though back then he had no idea who they were. He only knew them as Agents 1 and 2, a not so subtle pair with their identities.
"I can't believe gran… I mean, the captain let his guard down…" Agent 1 spoke, her big black sunglasses not doing the best job of hiding her obvious upset feeling.
"I can," Agent 2 shook her head, wearing a medical mask that covered her nose and mouth, even though she was not sick. She wore it for her disguise, as well as a green hat.
"I'm sorry. I should have been here," Agent 3 apologized with his splatterscope on his back. Maize recalled the times on this projection quite well. Callie and Marie were both just as in sync back then as they were now. The yellow inkling remembered how it felt like when the captain got squidnapped by the octarians while he was off on a mission.
"Hey, it'll be alright," the disguised white inkling stated, the other agents confused by Agent 2's claim. She was oddly calm about everything.
"You sure are optimistic. That's really nice to have around," Agent 3 chuckled. Maize really could not believe he said that at that very time. Those were not the exact words he would use to describe Marie nowadays. She tended to keep good control of herself to stop from getting over excited, but that optimistic mindset was still around.
"I'm not hoping the captain will be fine. I know he will be. It's practically a rule of war to not hurt someone unable to fight back since he is really old," Agent 2 declared. However her disguised cousin seemed a bit more concerned at that.
"Those rules are old… like really ancient! I doubt the octolings of today even know of it…" the disguised Callie added. Those rules of war were new when their grandfather was probably only twenty years old.
"I promise, I'll make sure the cap'n alright," Maize bowed to the disguised Squid Sisters. They both looked to each other before looking back at him.
"We're not letting you do this alone. We're agents too, after all! If there are going to be any promises of heroism, it'll be from all of us, together!" Marie declared, a smile showing underneath her medical mask. The projection ended shortly after the three agents put their hands together like some kind of motivational chant. Maize chuckled, seeing these memories. They felt so old, but he loved recalling them, but he wondered how long this walk would be. He was worried about his mother abandoning him once again. He had to keep reminding himself he was in his own head to try and stay emotionally in control.
The next projection Maize saw was the dramatic scene he recalled quite well, watching the great zapfish itself get sucked up into a machine and seeing the giant device lower, unveiling DJ Octavio within a special mechanical weapon resembling a DJ booth, with two large metal fists on it. The sides of the turntables had at least hundreds of wasabi sticks, some of which the octarian leader himself was holding in his tentacles. Off to the side was Captain Cuttlefish who was tied up to a metal post.
"Back down now and return the great zapfish!" Agent 3 angrily called out, alone with his splatterscope in hand his yellow ink tank on his back. Maize could not believe how cheesy he sounded like, almost like some dime store action movie hero.
"You annoying inkling! Who do you think you are?!" DJ Octavio laughed mockingly at the empty threat before spinning his turntables hard, watching one of the two metal fists go flying. The yellow squid charged his charger before letting go of the trigger, blasting a strong burst of yellow ink which sent the fist flying backwards, hitting the DJ booth and DJ Octavio in it, sending the entire machine back. Some the projection cut off once the fight was beginning to get rougher.
"Whoa…" Maize saw the projection start back up. Now it was displaying another segment of the great showdown. Maize was panting, his ink tank near empty. He was trying to refill it, but DJ Octavio was refusing to go down, no matter how hurt he was.
"How dare you!" DJ Octavio growled, having just received another strong blow to his DJ booth. Suddenly, his own personal beats began to change quite drastically to another type of music. He stomped angrily trying to fix it back.
"What's this? Where mah beats?!" the DJ octarian roared in fury. This was not his kind of jams. Suddenly Agent 3's radio rung out.
"Agent 3? Can you hear our song?" Agent 1 asked over their frequency.
"Radio override activated!" Agent 2 chimed in. Maize could see in the distance that Captain Cuttlefish was breaking out of his bindings. That music gave him some odd strength. The yellow squid could not believe what he was. Watching the scene itself again was quite nice to revisit.
"Incoming!" Maize heard, stepping aside to see two blurry squids, super jumping in and landing beside him. Agents 1 and 2 were now alongside him, one wielding a krak-on roller and the other wielding a squiffer. They were both ready to go with Agent 3.
"Final push! Chaaarge!" the projection ended as the three of them charged toward the evil DJ. Maize could not help but realize it. After that final battle with DJ Octavio, they wound up returning the great zapfish to its proper place.
"Saving Inkopolis… my little boy," Apricot said. He felt his mother's hand on his back. He looked up at her, feeling embarrassed.
"Yeah… without DJ Octavio around, the octarians decided to go try and live in peace," Maize claimed. These projections were nice. He never could recall these memories as perfectly as they showed. His mother seemed to enjoy seeing these projections as much as he did. The next one however looked all too familiar.
Maize and his mother saw the projection show another familiar memory to the yellow squid. It was his first mission he was in, and this was the part where he was standing in Auburn and Cobalt's apartment. The female squid was sobbing after she had exclaimed about how her life would be in ruin if her missing brother never came back.
"I will find him for you. I promise," Maize swore, seeing the dark red inkling drying the tears from her eyes. She seemed all too thankful for what he was doing.
"And how did that promise go for you?" Apricot asked. Before the yellow squid could respond, the projection displayed the club that he had paid a lot to get into. Even now his coin card still hurt. It was showing the part where the yellow inkling had just shot Rose off the counter with his splatterscope and broke her ink tank shortly after. The club owner was requesting him to splatter her already.
"I'm not the type to hurt squids without reason. Even if you tried to splat me, I'm not going to do it to you," the projection of Agent 3 spoke. Shortly after, it changed fast to the apartment once more where Auburn and Cobalt had been reunited.
"It… well, it went nicely," Maize told his mom as the projection showed Auburn turning over the nice crescent moon shaped earring as a reward for doing it. After this mission was accomplished, the Special Squid Services website began to gain some popularity.
"So, do you still feel like your promises do nothing?" his mother joked. He sure did not think one example really made a difference. Then again, as far as he was aware, she was in his own head, so he wondered why he was showing everything to her. He just played along, not minding the spiritual journey. A hunch told him though that this hypnosis session was going to be expensive.
"I like helping everyone I can out. The promises I make give good motivation," Maize said as the projection began to change. It showed the three original agents at the Squid Sisters' home. Marie was leaving the room to change out of her disguise and left the other two agents with Bondi. Agents 1 and 3 were discussing what to do now.
"Everything we do, small or big, no matter what, will change some squids life for the better, if that is what we choose to do… and I choose to do it with my promises!" the projection of Maize stated. Hearing himself, Maize could not deny the Dagenhart tradition was deep inside of him. He felt his mother hug him, watching the scene where Callie agreed to adopt Bondi.
"Aw… you gave a girl a squishie? I thought it would be with Aero…" Apricot admitted. Maize rubbed his head, not bringing up the divorce he was happy to have gotten, though he was noticing the projection was showing oddly specific key points or briefly flashing over other ones. He wondered what it meant.
"Heh… yeah… Callie loves him a lot. Marie does too, even if she does not show it," the yellow inkling declared. However he noticed the projection come to a halt. No more were being displayed.
"You said your promises were failing. How do you feel now seeing those?" Apricot requested an answer, Maize then noticing that the surrounding area was beginning to get darker. That abyss was coming back and he knew what that meant. His mind was either beginning to go nuts, or it was the end of the line of meeting his mother in his own mind.
"…I still like to believe my promises help. I do make a lot and a lot of the ones I complete change lives entirely! ...and you only got to see not even a quarter of them," Maize exclaimed. He was beginning to show that fiery passion in his heart. His mother hugged him, happy to hear her son's flared spirit once more as the ground around them was beginning to slowly vanish.
"But… I killed a squid… and I can't remember much about it," Agent 3 sighed. He was anticipating another trip into his mind because he spent the first one just to revisit his mother, and that had turned into a nightmare.
"You couldn't have, Maize," Apricot stated. Her son was confused. Everything was so vague, but the contradicting evidence was the only real thing that made him have doubts about the murder.
"Why? I may be a good squid now, but murder is murder… if I did it, then I'm just some repressed monster," Maize responded, beginning to grow depressed. Before he noticed it, the last two trees began to play another projection. It seemed to show Maize when he was a six years old squirt, his older sister Fallow only ten. She did not have any medical equipment attached to her, but they both seemed to be sniffling, looking beaten and upset, standing in front of their mother.
"You two are brother and sister! I shouldn't have to say this. You two are supposed to protect everything you care for. I know you care for each other, and I won't be having this kind of rough housing," Apricot's projected voice spoke. Fallow was keeping quiet as she walked away, leaving the little yellow squirt to their mother.
"Honey… why did you two fight again?" Apricot asked her son to speak, though he just was not the best at it yet.
"Fwallo kept pwulling my tentacles! Swo I shoved her down the hill…" young Maize sniffled. Things went to a rough fight from there. The yellow inkling watched his past self, unable to remember this at all. He could never see himself hurting Fallow at all.
"I want you to promise me something, Maize. I want you to promise never to hurt anyone as long as you can help it, no matter how much they upset you in these situations. You have to show how strong you are inside," Apricot continued, wanting a promise from her son for that. Maize looked to his mother, the young squirt nodding, aware that fighting was a last resort unless the situation demanded it.
"Yes, momma… I won't hwurt anyone if I can hwelp it," he agreed. The projection began to vanish on an image of the two hugging. Before he knew it, the entire forest was gone, and it was just him and his mother standing on a small piece of grass.
"You… you really believe I couldn't have killed Cyan? Because of a promise I made thirteen years ago?" Maize couldn't deny how ridiculous that sounded, but his mother had a smirk as she kissed his forehead.
"You're a Dagenhart. You have a spirit just like mine. I know my son could never kill no matter what. I hope you believe it, too. Take care, Maize," Apricot stated. Maize watched his mother begin to slowly vanish, much to his surprise. He stood there, tears forming in his eyes. This hypnosis session really was messing with his head. The last of the grassy land under his feet was beginning to vanish, and he was alone in the surrounding darkness.
"…Yeah… I believe it mom! I'll find the truth! I promise!" Maize called out as the grass finished vanishing. He fell into the dark abyss, seeing his few teardrops fall slightly above him off his face. Before he knew it, he lost all vision, and everything went white.
"Ahh!" Maize screamed, sitting up, panting and sweating. He had been lying on the chair of the hypnotist's office. He looked around.
"How did it go?" he heard, looking over to see Ao, the psychiatrist hypnotist, just sitting at his desk and drinking a cup of tea. The yellow squid wiped some of the sweat off his head before standing up.
"…it went… well, traumatic. Horribly traumatic… how long have I been out?" Maize truthfully answered, looking around to see his splatterscope and his ink tank resting nearby, the one ECO and Octoronia had put quite a lot of effort into assembling. He picked it up and put it over his shoulder, putting the full yellow ink tank on his back.
"Oh, you've only been asleep for an hour," Ao claimed. Maize felt shocked.
"What! An hour?! No way!" he responded.
"Yes way," the psychiatrist nodded, smirking. It was unbelievable, Maize thought, as it felt like he had been asleep for an entire year. He rubbed his head, glad to have done it anyway. He wanted to face this as much as he could. Now Maize had a new perspective to tackle this murder from; with nothing but confidence to prove that he was not the killer. He felt greater than ever.
"Err… how much do I owe you?" he hesitantly inquired.
"Hm? Oh, only a million coins for the expensive medicine and me making sure your friends did not interrupt your session."
Maize almost had a heart attack, hearing how much he owed, rubbing his one tentacle nervously. He was left in a position, unsure what to do. He only had one real option left; to request financial aid from the Squid Sisters, and Maize hated to take advantage of his best friends like that. He stepped outside to try and request their help and tell everyone his new revelation.