Micheline ran through the last hall of the Presidio. She desperately moved her feet like the wind.
"I have to get there." She repeated to herself between breaths.
She came to a ladder, and jumped down. The team followed suit.
They were now in the lower area of the Presidio, where only the highest-ranking Octarians were allowed. But they wouldn't be here for long. Micheline had one last ace up her sleeve.
She entered a large room. It was mostly made of glass tiles, giving a clear view into Octo Valley.
And the abyss below.
The team entered the room. It seemed to be a stadium of sorts, almost like a meeting place. Their eyes locked onto Micheline who was standing at a panel at the far end of the room.
"Sis, please! What more needs to happen for you to stop all this!?" Michael cried.
"Nothing."
Michael was confused.
"You've destroyed my last resort. You even unwittingly destroyed the last power source here. Nothing needs to happen anymore. Well, no, that's not entirely true…"
The room tilted, throwing everyone off balance.
"You all still have to die here."
With the final source of power the Octarians destroyed, the Presidio was nothing more than an organized pile of steel. The sound of screeching metal pierced the air, the support beams that had held up the Presidio's lower area were falling to pieces.
"We have to get out of here, NOW!" Angela cried to the team. Everyone broke into a run for the exit.
"None of you are going anywhere!" Micheline yelled, slamming her fist onto a button on her control panel. The doors to the room hastily locked shut.
The team looked back to their captor, a rabid smile on her face.
"Even with the Presidio's power gone, I can still kill all of you. The seven of you have doomed me to die in this facility, and by God I will bring you all down with me. I will go down as a hero who killed the biggest enemies to Octavio."
"Micheline, please! There's still time to get out of here, we can save you!" Michael desperately yelled.
"NO! I have failed too many times today, I cannot face my comrades now. If there is one thing I can do before my life ends, it's to stop you from ever hindering the Octarians again!"
Marie started yelling to her "Micheline, listen to me! Your so-called 'comrades' captured you, forcibly turned you against your own brother, and have made you do horrible things to your original race! Please, think for a moment! You don't need to do this!"
Micheline's smile partially faded, uncertainty clouding her mind. "I do need to do this! They are my brothers-in-arms and you are their enemies! W-We may have done some horrible things, but it was for the greater good! It must have been!" Sweat started to bead her forehead.
Michael was about to say something again, until the room tilted downwards. The support beams weren't going to hold for much longer.
"Sis, you don't have to die here, none of us do! And… and if you really are going to take us with you, think about it, who is going to know that you killed us?"
"They will know! I'm sure that they will!"
"But what if they don't?" Michael tried a scare tactic. "What if they forgot that you were down here? What if you end up just being a corpse that's in a forgotten pile of metal at the bottom of a cliff?"
Micheline's smile had completely disappeared, instead replaced with a frown of uncertainty. She couldn't deny that the Octarians had shown little regard for soldiers who died in battle. What if she really was forgotten? The thought scared her, more than anything else had recently. The only thing that had scared her more was when…
When she was captured by those who she now called her comrades.
She hesitated… her brain was being strained trying to make a decision. She looked at the various people in the team, all of them were scared, like she was. Michael was watching her intently, tears beginning to form on his eyes.
A cord in her head snapped, and she hit the button again, opening the doors once more. She jumped over the control panel and ran to the team.
All eight rushed out of the room, running through the hallway that was falling apart. At the end of the hall, they started climbing, just as they heard more ear-piercing sounds of metal breaking apart. They picked up their pace, climbing the ladder as fast as they could.
Soon, they reached the top. All of them scrambled to the next room. They could clearly hear the disaster happening down there, up until the whole lower half of the facility gave way and fell to the bottom.
They didn't even hear a crash.
Micheline was terrified to think about what would have happened if she hadn't opened the doors back up.
She was trembling, falling apart inside. She almost got herself killed, and worse, almost killed the brother she loved, as well as his friends. She cupped her face in her hands, she held back her tears, taking in sharp breaths.
She felt the tightness of her mask loosen, and lifted her hands from her face to let it be removed. She looked up, and saw that Michael had dropped the mask on the floor.
"M-Michael, I…" She didn't have any way to explain herself.
"It's okay, sis."
"N-No, it's not okay. I-I almost killed you, and your friends. And I brainwashed you and made you fight them too. I… I don't know what I was thinking. I'm so, so sorry." Her voice was choked up, she could barely get the last word out.
"I understand, sis."
There he was, calling her "sis" again. Even after all this, he still considered her his sister. Even when they weren't even the same species anymore. She was still his sister.
And he was still her brother.
Micheline began to cry. Sputtering out multiple apologies. Michael pulled her into a hug, and she hugged back twice as hard. Her tears stained his shirt, but he didn't let up. The team didn't intervene, they needed the time together.
Soon Micheline calmed down. The two siblings were still holding each other.
"Michael..?" Micheline said, her voice hoarse.
"Yeah, sis?"
"I'm tired… Tired of all of this…"
"Me too, sis. Me too."
Michael carried Micheline the way home. Captain Cuttlefish was thrilled to see her again, but would speak to her later. She needed rest.
The team entered Inkopolis again. It was now midday.
A crowd formed around the team as they walked through. Most eyes on Michael. Questions were thrown about.
"Who's that?" "Isn't she an Octoling?" "Who're those others?"
While curious, the crowd could tell the team needed space. Their expressions practically begged for rest. Bags were under all of their eyes.
They walked the rest of the way, back to the team's house.
"Hey, Shell? Is it alright if sis sleeps in your room? She can take my bed."
"Yes, of course."
"Thank you." Michael took Micheline into his room and set her up on the top bunk bed. Everyone crashed and burned, all of them falling asleep in various places of the house.
Michael was able to stay up just a bit longer.
He didn't think of anything. He couldn't.
He could only feel relief.
Relief over his sister's life.
Relief over his friends' lives.
Relief over everyone's lives.
He could finally rest.
And rest he did.