Red Ink: Human versus Squid

The Prince and the Kraken

"I'm about to drop my latest hit... right on your smug little FACE!" - DJ Octavio

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I stood in darkness, snow covering all of Inkopolis. Out in the square, I could see Deca Tower, looking much taller than usual. I shivered at the thought of playing Turf War again. Ever since the failed match, ever since the glitch with the Deca Tower systems, ever since I had hurt Ace, I'd been feeling sick to my stomach.

Then Bryson showed up to make it worse.

"Was that training not enough for you?!" he screamed at me.

I stepped back, almost stumbling in the thick layer of snow. "N-No, I was just–"

"I trained you," he said. "Nem trained you. And it still wasn't enough?! You had to push yourself?!"

"I was panicking!" I screamed back, trying to rationalize everything. "Don't yell at me!"

Ace appeared next to me, bright yellow eyes staring daggers at me, glowing with anger. "You told Ezra to push you to the very end of your transformation. Such a stupid mistake. Was it worth it?"

I moved away from him, my heart pounding, my blood chilled and my stomach doing flips. "N-No, no, no! I just wanted to stop Ana!"

As I walked backwards, I bumped into Nem-Nem, who looked down at me with utter disappointment. "You didn't even think," she said. "Safaia would've. I knew you couldn't be any daughter of mine. You were always just another screw-up."

I stared up at her with wide, tearful eyes. "Nem-Nem...?"

"Why weren't you thinking?!" she screamed. "WHY DIDN'T YOU WAIT?! YOU JUST RUSHED IN THERE AND IGNORED EVERYONE ELSE!"

I couldn't face any of it, so I just ran. I ran far away, still hearing their voices in my head, telling me all how I'd messed up. As I ran past the city limits, the only noises eventually left were the sound of my shoes crunching the snow and my heavy breathing.

Looking back, I opened my eyes wider as I saw Inkopolis was gone, the buildings all crumbling down and leaving nothing but rubble and snow. I stepped back, dumbfounded at how it was all gone, but my dumbfoundedness was interrupted when I heard someone behind me.

"Did you think it would go smoothly?"

Turning around, I saw the teal glow from Bryson's housesitter, Alex, his afflicted eye brightly shining like a spotlight aimed right at me.

"This isn't real..." I mumbled.

"Of course not," said Alex. "But it could be."

"Go away!" I screamed. "I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE!"

And then came the familiar voice of Bryson behind me. "Then why did you leave the safety of your home?"

"You could've lived your entire life without learning about Ana," said Alex, his eye glowing brighter. "You could've stayed inside and you wouldn't have been injected with that serum. Sure, you might have never met Ace, Bryson, Liv, but... was it really worth it?"

His eye lit up with a sudden flash that blinded me, and after my vision returned, I saw that the world around me had vanished, leaving me in a black void. I could hear the incessant voices of everyone I'd ever known, all scolding me, all yelling at me.

"A complete failure!"

"Why are you still around?"

"You don't belong here!"