Agent 38: I Never Forgot You

Chapter 9: Messed Up

The duo walked home in silence. There wasn't much to say, not that either of them wanted to say anything. It was awkward, really. However, Three didn't notice that much. He was too busy thinking about Eight's newly-formed plan. It had a lot of bumps in it, for sure.
     First off, Gabriel had tried to kill Aaron. Literally. Did she not remember that her own brother had given her best friend a black eye? Second off, who knows how stable Gabriel was anymore. He'd seemed like a nice guy when Three rescued him, but given what he'd done, the Octoling was likely to snap at any given moment.
     He didn't want the team walking into that sort of danger. He didn't want Eight walking into that danger! As their captain, wasn't it his duty to keep them safe? Wasn't it his duty to make sure they didn't get hurt?
     He unlocked the door and winced.
     I... prooooooobably shoulda cleaned up before I went out.
     The apartment was a bit of a mess.
     Surprisingly, Eight didn't seem to care. She waltzed right in and took a seat on one of the chairs in the living room. Three pulled one of the chairs in front of the counter and sat down as well. It felt odd to finally be in the same room with her; he'd been so used to only his own presence that, now that someone else was there, it felt a bit awkward.
     "So..." Three said, trying to spark a bit of conversation.
     She squirmed just a tiny bit. "What's up?"
     "What do you plan to do if we find Gabriel?" He asked.
     She was quiet for a second. "Reason with him." Eight responded. "My brother has always been a sketchy dude, but his hearts have been in the right place. I do believe he can be talked out of his current situation, if he's still alive. I'm willing to bet that his little gang took him even after he'd presented Aaron's belongings to them." She made a scoff noise. "Lyle was always a bossy little jerk. The kid always got his way no matter what, and he ended up being the leader of that group. Gabriel must've been in for a beating when he returned. His 'friends' didn't take kindly to traitors."
     "So how do we come up with a plan to rescue him?" Three said, thinking. "Do you recall how many were in the group?"
     "Um... about 7 or 8, but it's been 9 years. I think they've got more people with them now. We should expect at least more than 15." Eight answered.
     Three picked at the scar on his eye. That would probably be too many for the Agents to fight. "Hmm... and there's only 5 of us. Granted, we're the strongest people out here, but I don't think even we could take on 20 at once."
     "I took on a lot more than 20 when we were bombing the Metro," She pointed out. "And I was hurt. I think we're stronger than we think we are."
     He glanced up and smiled. "You know, you might be right."
     "Thanks." Eight said.
     They were silent for a second, grinning at each other.
     "Or..." Three said, stepping off the chair in front of the counter and moving to the couch. "You're just stronger and better and way more amazing than the rest of us."
     "Extremely false." Eight argued, smiling. "There's no way I could ever be better than you. It's impossible."
     Three didn't know why, but his emotions suddenly decided this would be a fun time to take control.
     Practically against his will, he moved closer to her, took her chin, and gazed into her beautiful eyes.
     "I will never, ever be better than you." Three whispered sincerely. "You're the best thing that has ever happened to me. To the world. You're kind, empathetic, caring and loving. And I'm just... me. So don't you ever downgrade yourself again, okay?"
     He leaned in a tad closer, hearts pounding.
     This isn't the right time, not the right time, His mind cried, but his hearts and soul wouldn't stop, almost as if they couldn't resist.
     His lips brushed against hers with the softest of touches.
     "I can't," Eight breathed. "I'm sorry, I- I-"
     She turned and ran to the room, leaving him standing there, blinking. She slammed the door behind herself and locked it.
     Almost a second later, he could hear her sobbing, and seriously wanted to slam his head into a wall.
     "You idiot!" Three whispered. "What the shell is wrong with you?!"
     You told yourself you'd wait. You PROMISED YOURSELF you'd wait. What the shell, dude! This was not the plan! You were supposed to leave her alone! Look what you did, you utter, absolute idiot!
     He wanted to go in there and ask if she was ok, comfort her, but that would make things worse. It felt as though his soul didn't want to remember that they weren't in a relationship anymore. Like he wanted to resist, but his feelings didn't.
     Three stared at the door, torn and guilty. Finally, he walked to the kitchen, made himself a coffee, and sat down on the couch. He pulled out his phone and opened the Gallery app.
     Slowly, he scrolled through his photos. He hadn't taken very many of Eight and him together, but when Eight took them, she sent them to him. Three found his favorite very quickly; he hadn't taken a photo or screenshot of something ever since Eight's "death".
      It was a picture of the Splatoon, all together like one big, unlikely family. Marie, Aaron, and Gabriel stood on the left side of the photo. Callie and Cuttlefish stood on the right. He and Eight were in the middle, hugging tight. He missed the days where he was happy, just being with his friends. He missed the days where he could relax and unwind and know that all the great dangers had been dealt with already. He missed knowing his family was safe. What he really missed, though, was having a sense of stability and security wherever he went.
     It was sad to realize that that sense had fled a long, long time ago.
     Three didn't realize he was crying until he felt a warm tear slip down his cheek. He wiped it away quickly and put down his phone without turning off the screen. Three leaned his head back and sighed.
     How did this all go so wrong?
     If only I'd fought harder. If only I'd forced Aaron to let go of me. If only I'd ran down there to help. If only Aaron hadn't been so stubborn and hesitant. If only I'd tried. If only I'd gone down there instead of her, maybe then we wouldn't be in this situation. If only I'd been smarter and decided to have myself plant the bombs instead of her.
     If only.
     Three closed his eyes and bit down hard on his lip, sinking his two little fangs into the weak flesh.
     "If only, if only, if only." He whispered.
     Worries stampeded throughout his head, chilling memories swimming together with horrific imaginitive thoughts, echoes of battle crashing through his mind as he slowly drifted into a sleep of terror.

     *1 hour later...*
     Three felt a small, trembling hand gently shake his shoulder, and was startled awake to see Eight standing over him, pointing at something in her other hand.
     He quickly rubbed his eyes and sat up as his vision focused around him. Eight held his phone in her hand, and she was pointing at the picture he'd left on the screen. Her eyes were worried and slightly inkshot, and her hands shook as she moved them.
     "Three?" Eight said softly. "What's this?"
     "Don't you remember?" He asked. "We took that photo before... all this happened. It was something Cuttlefish hung in the Cabin, as something to represent our little family. We took it when... when we were happy."
     She examined it a bit closer, her eyes bursting with curiosity. "I... I think I do remember, actually. This was before Gabriel left and before our fight."
     She looked at him. "Right?"
     "Yeah," He said, letting a smile slip out onto his face. "Yeah, it is."
     He hesitated for a second, wondering whether he should ask if she was ok or if he should just stick quiet. "A-are you ok?"
     Eight's eyes flicked to the ground, as if she was embarrassed. "Yes. I'm fine. And I- I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. I guess I just feel like it's-"
     "No, no, no, I'm sorry," Three said quickly. "I don't know what came over me. I got ahead of myself and one thing led to another and next thing I knew it was all going wrong. I'm really sorry."
     She smiled a little, a beautiful smile he hadn't seen in years and had missed for so long. "Thank you for understanding."
     Eight sat down on the couch to his left and was quiet for a long moment. The silence quickly grew awkward, and he caught himself wondering if he'd have to restart the conversation.
     Just as he'd been about to say something, Eight broke the silence. "I wonder if Gabriel is okay." She said softly. "I couldn't bear it if anything happened to him."
     "I'm sure he's fine," Three lied. He himself wasn't very sure the Octoling was still alive.
     "But... what if he isn't?" She looked up, straight at him. Her eyes were filled with worry and fear. "What if he's dead? Gabriel is the only family I have left anymore; my mother died of a hearts attack, and I don't even know what happened to my father."
     "Gabriel is probably just fine. He's strong, like his sister. He can last as long as you, I'm sure." He said, trying to comfort her.
     Eight was silent for a long moment.
     "I'm scared." She said, so softly that he almost didn't hear her.
     Three tilted his head. "Of what?"
     "Of finding him." She explained. "If we go out there looking for him, what happens if we find his dead body in the grass? What happens if we find his gang? What happens if he doesn't want to come home? What happens if they attack us?"
     He let out a breath. She was right, as always. This could very well be a suicide mission.
     But he couldn't say that to her.
     "I... don't know." Three said. "But what I do know is that we're gonna find him."
     Eight met his eyes and smiled. "We're going to find him."

Oh my holy mother of pearls this took a whole month to write I am so so so so so so sorry that it took so long I've been writing out little story ideas so im deciding which ones I want to put in the book and which ones I want to scrap soooooooooooooooooooooooooo... sorry my dudes
Word count: 1830