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Chapter Thirteen

It had been five more minutes before either made another noise, sans Mesonii's continued weeps. Sankra's mind was racing, though. Why was the tall twit trying to save her?

She eventually had no choice but to take off her sweatshirt after a while, revealing a black undershirt.

Mesonii took holding of the clothes, almost as sweaty as a towel.

"You... you really tried to hurt yourself, y-y-you know that?"

"Yes, I did."

"That's why you're h-here, isn't it?"

Sankra nodded, shivering slightly as she saw Mesonii grip the sweater tighter and tighter, tears still forming at the base of her eyes and dripping.

"I-I was scared. I don't want you to do it."

"Me?" Sankra was still in denial.

The mint inkling couldn't take another second of the rambling, and threw it all out. "Yeah, who the hell else?! I CARE about you! I've seen people actually succeed in that kind of trick and it's not cool! It's HORRIBLE!"

She took a second to catch her breath, staggered and weak, but still couldn't stop. "You, of all people, don't DESERVE to die!!!"

Sankra didn't know what to say. They simply gazed at each other, eyes glossy, Mesonii's more than ever.

"I... oh, dammit. Sankra, I-I..."

She couldn't even bear to finish the sentence before pursing her lip and sobbing again. Still speechless but not in the sense of anger, Sankra attempted to offer a patient grin as she put her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Just let it pass."

She took the shirt back and let her friend fall to her lap. She'd never expect the tall twit to be this upset about it.

Another good five minutes went by, and Mesonii's state of mind slowly returned to normal. Through bloodshot eyes, she peeled her face off of the sopped clothes. After a couple more deep sighs, Mesonii looked at her friend's sweater and flashed a smile.

"I... I can wash that."

Sankra found herself blushing. "I--It's ok. Why don't we get you back home now?"

"What about you?"

"I'm fine."

"I hurt you, though, and you're not ok. Why not care about that?"

Sankra heaved out an obscenity and threw her hands on Mesonii's shoulders. "There's a thing called forgiving, you know. Come on. You'll get sick if we keep staying out like this."

She lead the way down the ramp, significantly easier than getting up onto the tower. They made their way through the gate, staggered a mile to Inkopolis Plaza, then took a right, two lefts, and a u-turn per Mesonii's directions and found themselves on the doorstep of the apartments.

Sankra looked away to check a nearby street clock, little hand fixed on the ten. Before she could remind her friend about the time, though, Mesonii had already turned around, sniffling slightly but still holding onto a grin as she opened the door.

"Hey, Sankra. Thanks. And sorry."

The mahogany inkling nodded and waved as Mesonii shut the door, minding not to slam it. She looked around once again, and caught sight of a pay phone. Mesonii had been right. She wasn't ok. Grabbing a bundle of coins from her pocket, Sankra sprinted over to the pay phone with a number in mind, a number that her father said could really help.
-

"I'm not turfing today, Auntie."

Mesonii had said so after Aunt Pesto woke up almost the same time as her, both of them too early to go to their jobs. There were visual cues to this, too, as the teen was not in her usual turfing clothes, rather, wearing a unkempt Zink zip-up hoodie and a pair of green rain boots.

"I can't see why you would, kid- you were out almost as late as I was. Pillowcases were wet, too, when you finally got off of them. Pro'lly a good idea to clean those guys soon." Aunt Pesto noticed her response getting out of order when Mesonii turned away with a look of distress on her face. "What happened to you, anyway?"

Mesonii attempted to focus on putting The Art of Squidbagging and multiple random chocolates in a Squid Sisters pocketbook. "I don't want to talk about it. I have to make things up today."

"Ok, your choice. I'll be in the restaurant, per the yoosh."

This only made Mesonii veer towards the door quicker than she anticipated. "Goodbye, Auntie."

After walking out of the lobby, her ticket was awaiting her outside of Flanker's. She was relieved that what he said at the restaurant yesterday fell true- the one thing that would mitigate this for her was help. However, what Guppi brought with him wasn't what she was expecting.

"Where did you get that car?"

"My mother is the one who bought it. A mean driver, she is!" The car was old and derelict, but it was still unusual for inklings to have cars of their own- most rode the bus. Despite Mesonii's confused, somewhat distressed look, Guppi popped open the car's back seat.

Mesonii climbed in, noticing the worn, but still cordial seats. It was almost like the sofa she camped on at home- except there was a blue tentacle using a tissue to shine the seat, heading towards her lap at a steady rate and causing her to scoot to the side.

Instead, though, the appendage waved and shortened back to the driver's seat, housing a small lady with a large blue head. A jellyfish was driving the car.

"Wh-?!? Guppi! Why is there a jellyfish driving this thing!?"

Guppi made his way into the back and heard Mesonii's bout. "Ah! It's my mom. We come all the way from Medusozoa, or, short, Miso County, where all the jellies live. Of course, we live here now." Guppi's mother started up the car and veered away from Flanker's.

Mesonii frowned with a sense of remorse. "Sorry, miss! Miso...? Hm." The name sounded vaguely familiar to the teen. It didn't occur to her until her mind was brought back to her and Sankra last night. The hospital! The noodle insignias. She was there at the hospital.

"So, you lived there? And you're half jellyfish? Your dad had to be insane."

"Shucks, thanks! It was a strange way how things worked out with my mooma and poopa."

Mesonii, not wanting to focus on conversation, looked away, outside at the mostly vacant road ahead. Vacant in the context of vehicles, of course- inklings, jellies, and all other sorts of marine fauna were making their way downtown.

"No talk? Ok. Let's hope Delpha talks, though."

Mesonii's zoned out brain finally kicked in as she saw the green villa in front of her. Delpha and Peppie's house. She really hoped Delpha would talk.