Inkblot [A Splatoon2 Fanfic]

Chapter Eleven

   Neli came across that box again; that damned wooden box with hearts carved in the top.

    She told herself not to open it again, not when she was getting ready to go to a place where she really had to focus. But she was opening it anyway. The first thing she pulled out were the photos of her and a male Inkling, who's name she refused to remember, along with a newspaper clipping about a horrible car accident; why do I still have this, Neli thought. The next thing was an old, rusted charm bracelet, the only three charms were a heart, a baby bottle and a ballet shoe.

Neli slipped the bracelet on her wrist for old times sake, almost smiling. That smile went away the moment she pulled out the last thing:

Two photos from an ultrasound.

The sight of those choppy images of a baby squid bundled in its egg and names for a baby girl written in sharpie below pushed Neli past her limit, and she hurriedly threw them back in the box and pushed the box back in the closet.

She put a hand over her mouth as she started to cry.

"No... no, no, stop crying, stop it...!" Neli told herself. She grabbed her jacket from the closet and shut the door.

"Don't cry... just smile... smile like everything's alright..."

Before she left the house, she peeked in Átta's room. For sure, the girl was still in bed fast asleep; Átta was never the one to wake up so early. Neli rubbed tears from her cheeks and sweat from her forehead as she stared at the sleeping girl. She wanted to go over and kiss her head, maybe whisper an 'I love you' to her so she continued to sleep with peace in her mind.

But instead, Neli shut the door and made her way out the apartment...

————

Hachi slept soundly all night, luckily for Tres. He managed to get a good nights sleep this time.

When he woke up, Tres went to make breakfast, deciding to let Hachi slept longer. While eggs fried on the stove, Tres leaned on the counter, looking through missed messages on his phone. Most of them were from friends that wanted to do Turf Wars with him; Tres would deal with them later. Another one was from Marina that made Tres groan.

    'Átta said Hachi was sick, am I still supposed to get him...?'

    It annoyed Tres how Átta didn't trust him, no matter what he did to prove himself to her. She never even once considered how Hachi felt...

    Tres told Marina they were fine. He'd deal with a tantrum from Átta later.

As he was turning off the stove, Tres heard Hachi coughing from the other room. The Inkling quickly got a water bottle from the fridge and went to the bedroom. Hachi still laid in bed half asleep, seemingly done with his coughing fit. Tres kneeled by the bedside to see slight distress on Hachi's sleeping face. Bad dream, Tres thought. He gently rubbed Hachi's cheek to soothe him.

"Hachiii~" He cooed. "It's time to wake up, you gotta eat something,"

The Octoling stirred and buried his face deeper in his pillow. Tres moved a little closer to kiss Hachi's forehead and whisper in his ear.

"C'mon, cutie. Wake up~"

Suddenly, Hachi was up and he pushed Tres away, crying out in fear.

"Don't touch me! Don't touch me!" He shouted.

"Hey!" Tres jumped back, startled by the sudden action. "Calm down, it's just me, goofball!"

Hachi stared at Tres shocked, as if he didn't believe his own eyes. Then tears welled up and he dropped his head, ashamed. Tres slowly sat by Hachi and put an arm around him, pulling the younger boy close as he cried.

"What is it, Hachi...? Was it a bad dream...?" He asked calmly.

Hachi balled up more, his voice trembling.

"I... I-I didn't want to..."

"You didn't want to what?"

"I... didn't want him to touch me...! I didn't w-want him to...!"

Tres felt something snap in his head. This wasn't some dream Hachi was talking about...

"What happened? Hachi, tell me what happened!" Tres urged.

What Hachi told him made Tres's heart break in half. At first he felt rage; a burning flame that was enough to urge him to commit murder. But then that flame was put out by a wave of fear. The fear of a horrible realization...

'Conway is infected... he's gonna get other people sick!'

————

"All things seem clear. How are you doing, Agent 4?"

Neli could barely hear Marie through her headphones. She felt strangely dizzy and hot today...

"Ah... I'm fine... I'm gonna check things out higher up..." She responded.

Neli hated the strange structures built by Octarians, they were weirdly built, confusing, and sometimes flat out impossible to navigate through. This specific structure looked like a parking garage, but there were so many weird hidden entrances and exits that it almost gave Neli a headache.

"Ok. Keep a careful eye, 4. I'm seeing some Octolings patrolling above." Marie said.

"And remember to fall back in your ink if you get tired!" Callie chimed in.

With how dizzy she felt, Neli actually didn't mind hiding in ink to rest for a while. But she brushed off that thought. She had to focus on work.

Neli made her way up to the next platform and stayed low. For sure, a few Octolings were keeping watch, some walking around others standing on top of cars. It looked like there were only five of them, it'd be no trouble for Neli to get through.

Just as she was about to make a move, she felt a sharp pain erupt in her stomach. The feeling made Neli freeze in her place and hunch over, gripping her sides.

"Agent 4? Are you ok?" Marie was asking.

"I... I'm—" She gagged.

Neli dropped her weapon and vomited black ink right then and there, the action immediately being followed by a coughing fit. Of course, one of the Octolings heard her and turned to see what was going on. Panicked, Neli forced herself to stand and grabbed her weapon, prepared for a fight.

But what she saw on that Octoling's face wasn't the regular intimidating stare she usually saw. It was pure fear.

"Inkblot..." The Octoling said. "Inkblot... Inkblot! There's someone infect with Inkblot!"

By then the other Octolings were looking Neli's way, and upon making eye contact they looked terrified too.

"Agent 4, what's going on down there?!"

Neli ignored the yells in her ears. She ran toward the Octolings without thinking. The girls all ran away from her once she got close.

"There's been a breach!" One of them was yelling in a microphone. "An Inkling infected with Inkblot is here, we need help!"

'Inkblot? What are they talking about...?'

Neli continued to give chase when, out of nowhere, a ball of ink hit her in the face, sending her to the ground. She tried to get back up, but more shots were being fired at her from all directions.

"Agent 4, do you copy?! They're all around you, what's happening?!"

    Neli couldn't answer. She laid dazed as silhouettes appeared around her talking nonsense; something about closing exits to another place, she didn't know. Something was pointed at Neli, but she didn't care. For a moment, she saw a very tiny baby squid crying and reaching out for her. Neli smiled as tears fell down her face.

    "Hi sweetie..."

    "Agent 4, are you there?! Can you hear us?! AGENT 4?!"