"Attention, all students and staff," Principal Mobula declared over the intercom. "Please make your way to the auditorium, ay, for the end-of-the-year assembly."
Finally, the school year was drawing to a close. Tori was eager to run into the playground and grab her creations, but she couldn't do that until later. Instead, she had to sit and wait as Principal Mobula made his speech. While he was very nice, Tori would rather be doing other things. Wrapping her braids around her arms, she followed Mrs. Bock and the rest of the class out of the hallway and to the auditorium.
She hated the auditorium. The air was sticky, and she had to sit on the ground so close to everyone with no one to comfort her. She put one of her braids in her mouth and started gnawing on it. The helpers hated how it ruined her hair, but she would rather ruin her hair than be uncomfortable. Though in this case, she still felt uncomfortable.
The microphone made a horrible noise as Principal Mobula tapped on it. "Ay." His voice echoed through the tiny room, silencing everyone immediately. "...Ay!"
"Can he start already?" someone remarked near Tori. "I wanna go home."
"Me too." another person agreed.
"Ay! No talking when the teacher's talking!" the principal announced. Clearing his throat, he began: "To start off, today marks the end of my fifth year as the principal of Ray Elementary School, ay also the end of my fifteenth year of teaching! It has been a delight to see everyone grow here over the years, ay I just know everyone will reach even greater heights! So, for every student and teacher here, keep growing! Keep reaching for greater heights! Ay, maybe you'll do something extraordinary one day!
"Ay…I may have gotten too excited. For some of you here, this is your last year here–next year, you'll be going to middle school! Middle school is a place full of exciting new changes, but it can be scary too, ay. But no matter what, the teachers and staff will always be there to help you. If you ever feel down, remember all the fun times you had here, ay aim to make new memories. By doing that, you can enjoy middle school to its fullest.
"The same goes for everyone else, ay! You have all the time in the world to make new memories. So get out there ay do your best! And remember–learn something new every day! No matter if you're seven or seventy, we're always learning. Growing up doesn't stop you from learning. I know I learn something new every day.
"Ay, I'll see you all next year! I hope it will be as good as this year. Have a fin-tastic summer, everyone!"
With that, Principal Mobula bowed and headed off stage. Replacing him was the librarian, Mrs. Recluse, who recognized some awards some of the students had earned over the past year. After some final words, the assembly was finally over, and so was the school day.
Instead of heading out the front gates, Tori ran the opposite direction, to the playground. She had to get her creations! The chaos provided perfect cover for her, with all the adults focused on the children leaving the school rather than elsewhere. In a blink of an eye, she burst through the back door and ran through the mulch and dirt, towards the tree where she kept the Violet Conch.
The only other person in the playground was a jellyfish janitor, picking up things off the ground. And they were getting dangerously close to the tree.
"Hey!" she yelled, jumping in front of the jellyfish. "Go away!"
Eyes wide, the jellyfish pointed towards the school.
"I need to get the Violet Conch." Tori reached into the tree hollow and took out the Violet Conch. The jellyfish reached towards her, but she turned away, shielding her creations. "You can't have it."
They pointed to the trash can in response, but Tori ignored them and ran off. She darted through the space between the school and the next building over, eventually arriving at the entrance. Miss Swallow stood in front of one of the buses with her phone out, reading something.
At Tori's arrival, she snapped the phone shut and put it in her pocket. "There you are." She headed inside the bus. "Let's go."
Tori followed her inside and took a seat by the window like always. Resting her head against the back of the seat, she watched the sights go by, comforted by the bus's rumbling. It would be the last time she saw them for a while. It was weird to think about. She had gotten so used to going to school that she had forgotten what it was like to not go to school.
She peeked at the Violet Conch. Everyone was there, but how would she play with them at the orphanage? Fiquid disappeared because she took him to the orphanage; how long until the same happened to the rest of her creations? At the thought, she covered the shell again. She would protect them, no matter what!
Once the bus arrived at Squall Orphanage, Tori hopped off, greeted Lady Squall, and headed to her bed. She pulled out the box containing her ball and set the Violet Conch down in the empty space.
"Don't worry," she whispered. "I'll be back."
She closed the box and slid it back under the bed. Next, she took out her wooden blocks and began stacking them up as tall as she could. When they fell down, she tried again. By the time she successfully stacked them all, she then tried to take them off one-by-one, only for the blocks to come crashing down again. Her original goal accomplished, she then placed the blocks next to each other, forming a long line across the room.
Miss Swallow eventually walked in, her arms crossed. "Hi Tori."
Tori looked up. "Hi Miss Swallow."
"Why don't you play with the others? It must be boring playing by yourself."
"I'm not bored." The adults always told her that, but she liked playing by herself. Why didn't they understand?
"But you must be lonely?"
"I'm not."
Miss Swallow sighed. "Could you at least play in the same room as the others?"
Tori's face scrunched up. "They're too loud."
"Loud?" She blinked. "I don't think they're loud."
"Well I do." Tori began gathering her blocks and building a wall out of them. Once Miss Swallow leaves, she can bring out her creations and play with them. If no one sees them, then they won't disappear like Fiquid.
The butterflyfish turned towards the hall. "Well…alright." She walked through the open doorway before looking over her shoulder, down towards Tori. "I'll see you later."
Tori kept building her wall as Miss Swallow slipped away. When she was sure she was gone, she pulled out the box she put her creations in and took them all out. Slowly, they slid out of the Violet Conch, and she turned them around to look at her.
With how sickly Leafy looked, she grabbed a block and rested the tangle of brown leaves on it. Seedot looked really sick too–black lines streaked his body, and the sticker sealing whatever was inside the seal was really dirty. She placed him on a block next to Leafy. She didn't have any more "beds" to put her other creations on. Then she would have to tear down the wall, which would defeat the purpose of building it in the first place.
"Octofish…" She tried squeezing the top of his head, but the gum that made up his body was so hard now. She didn't want to hurt him! "You're the doctor."
Tori placed another gumball with a bunch of seeds embedded in her next to Octofish, so tiny compared to him. "Puffy, you're the nurse."
She grabbed her newest creation, Paddle, next, carefully balancing him on the gum that made up his main body. "You're also the nurse."
Marking the rest of her creations as patients, she scattered them around the field she had created within the wall and began directing the trio she designated as the doctor and nurses around. Everyone was cured quickly, until she got to Leafy and Seedot, at least.
She didn't know how she could cure them. Leafy had looked sick for months now, and no matter how hard she rubbed Seedot, the black lines wouldn't go away. And patients that weren't cured would be sick forever.
She agonized over how to cure them so much that she didn't notice someone else walking in. Suddenly, the wooden blocks flew towards her, hitting her square on the face. Alarm bells going off in her head, she got on her hands and knees, pushing her creations under her and shielding them with her body.
"Hey!" she yelled. "Go away!"
A snicker. "Why? Whatcha got there?"
Tori lifted her head. Standing in front of her was the sea bass's urchin friend–whose name she now knew to be Theresa. She rested a hand on her hip, her expression unreadable with those spiky bangs in the way.
She squeezed her eyes shut. "Nothing! Go away!" She would protect her creations no matter what! She wouldn't let them disappear like Fiquid!
Theresa huffed. "Can you move?"
"Why?" She was at her bed.
"I already said why."
"No you didn't!"
"Yes, I did! Grow some ears!"
Tori paused. How would she grow ears? The adults had ears, but she wasn't an adult. Urchins like Theresa didn't have ears either. The adults said she had ear holes though. If she grew ears like an adult, would that mean she had four ears?
A hand reaching towards her snapped her out of her thoughts, and she did the only thing she thought she could do–bite. She snapped her teeth towards the hand, but it retreated back before she could bite. A few moments later, Tori opened her eyes and looked back up at Theresa.
"W-what the carp?!" Her mouth was gaping, her shoulders tense. "Are you still an inkling?"
"I-I am!" Doubt started to seep in. Had she ever been an inkling? But Lady Squall was really nice to her, and she was an inkling, wasn't she?
"Then why did you try to bite me? O-only animals bite, don't they?"
"You tried…" Tori's words faltered. She wanted Theresa to leave, but she couldn't leave if she didn't say something. But her mouth refused to cooperate, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Stop crying and say something."
But she couldn't. She searched behind Theresa, looking for one of the adults, only to find nothing. She and Theresa were alone in the living quarters, in a place where Tori thought she would be safe from everyone else. Yet Theresa had come to violate it.
Theresa started to reach her hand towards Tori again, and she lowered her body closer to the ground in response, but strangely, the urchin paused. A few moments later, she lowered her hand and thinned her lips.
"I'm getting Miss Luna," she declared, and before she could protest, she ran off.
Once she was sure Theresa was gone, Tori sat up, gasping for air. Her creations weren't safe, all because Theresa found them and went to tell Miss Luna. If anyone would yell at her, it was Miss Luna. And then maybe…
She shook her head. There was still hope! She just had to hide them and hope Miss Luna would believe her. Her hands were still shaking as she grabbed the Violet Conch, slowly pushing her creations back in.
But she didn't have enough time to put them back in the box as she heard the sound of footsteps. Tears still stained her cheeks as she met the terrifying gaze of Miss Luna, her wrinkly lips pulled into a frown. In the corner of her eye, she could see the tip of Theresa's spines.
"Tori." The lionfish craned her neck to look over the wall of wooden blocks. "What's that?"
She cradled the Violet Conch in her lap, her voice weak. "I-it's…"
"Speak louder."
Once again, she lost her voice. She knew she had to answer Miss Luna, but her mouth refused to make a sound. She was starting to hate that feeling.
"Don't look at me like that. Speak!"
Tori winced, shifting her weight to bring the Violet Conch into the spotlight. Shadowed by the shell, she hoped Miss Luna wouldn't spot her creations. If she saw them, she would take them away for sure!
Instead, the lionfish stared at the Violet Conch with some semblance of confusion. "A Super Sea Snail…"
"Miss Luna, could I eat it?" Theresa interrupted.
"There's nothing…" She trailed off, studying it for a few moments longer. "Hm."
As Miss Luna reached towards it, Tori frantically covered the Violet Conch back up and made a sound of protest.
Her eyes narrowed so much that Tori could hardly see them. "Tori, give me that."
Tori shook her head, tears forming in her eyes.
"If you don't give me that, I'll tell Lady Squall, and you will be punished."
She was scared of punishment, but she was also scared of losing her creations. She didn't know which she was more scared of.
"Or I can take it myself, if you don't want Lady Squall to know."
Was there really no way to protect the Violet Conch and all of her creations? She didn't want to be punished. Sometimes, all that happened was her toys being taken away. Leaving her lonely. Other times, she had to do a bunch of chores without any further direction. But rarely, everyone ignored her. Everyone she tried to talk to merely glared at her and walked away. She didn't get to eat either, so she spent the rest of the day in the dark living quarters, truly alone.
That felt worse than anything else. She never wanted to live through that ever again.
As the terror of those memories dawned on her, her arms jerked forward to reveal the Violet Conch in all its glory. Miss Luna promptly snatched it out of her hands, peering inside. Then, her lips turned down in a scowl.
"This is garbage," she snarled. "Who in their right mind would bring something like this here?"
Tori shrank back, her cheeks growing hot. Her creations weren't garbage! They were her friends!
"Tori," Theresa declared, putting her hands on her hips. "She even tried to bite me. Like an animal."
Miss Luna dumped the contents of the Violet Conch into her free hand and tossed it back to Tori. "You can keep that."
The lionfish started to close her fist, and all she could do was scream. Scream as loud as she could, begging for her to stop. Theresa covered her ears, but Miss Luna had the same look on her face, cold and unforgiving as she crushed everyone. Leafy, Octofish, Seedot…
That look was probably even scarier than any look she had ever been given.
She screamed and screamed until her voice grew hoarse. She barely registered Theresa running away and another helper coming. When she could scream no more, she curled up into a ball, her ears ringing and her body wracked with sobs.
She had broken one of the rules, hadn't she? She was too tired to question how. She felt someone pick her up and put her in her bed, but she didn't know who. But a soft, cold pillow beneath her head was all it took for her to go to sleep.
In her dreams, that memory played over and over. All the helpers, even Lady Squall, all took turns mauling her creations, stomping and tearing them apart. And once they were done, they tossed them aside with the remains of Bobby the Lobster, the stuffed animal she lost so long ago now.
When she woke up, moonlight shined through the curtains, casting a pale light amongst the dark room. She knew she would be punished if anyone saw her get out of bed, but she couldn't fall back asleep without knowing the state of her creations. Slipping out of bed, she reached under to grab the box she kept her stuff in, hoping the day before was just a terrible dream.
Opening the box, she saw the Violet Conch and her toys. For a few moments, hope surged through her chest, and she peered inside the shell. When she found nothing, it was crushed as quickly as it came.
She couldn't deny the truth any longer. Her creations were gone forever.
A/N: So, it's almost the end of the year. Sorry this took so long, my life has gotten really hectic, though I guess Thanksgiving and Christmas are always busy times of the year. But, with this chapter finally out of the way, I hope I can pick up the pace! I want to try to get back into my writing groove in general. Maybe I just burned out after the first half of the year, maybe I need to try something new, I don't know. But enough of that. I know Tori's been having it real rough this entire story, but I promise you she'll finally get a break next chapter. It wouldn't be a good story if it was all doom-and-gloom, right? I don't think I'd want to write a story where the main character is constantly suffering, either. Well, whatever happens, I'll probably see you next year, and Branchwing, out!