Red in the Night Sky (Splatoon fanfiction)

Chapter 2

"How the heck is this supposed to be scary," Pearl asked and took a sip of her juice. "This story ain't scary at all."

Everyone in the living room looked at her. "Scary or not, it's really enjoyable," Sean said. "And it might get a little scarier if you didn't interrupt me," Marie said with a cold voice. "And you're obviously the only one that thinks it's lame."

Pearl looked around the room. Four stared at Marie with excitement in her eyes, clearly eager for her to keep going. Eight hugged her knees and stared at Marie with fear in her eyes. "Thou shaltn't interrupt ye tale," Jelfonzo said. "Yeah, I was quite enjoying it," Marina said where she sat in her chair with Lil'l Judd in her lap, who was playing with her hair. "Alright, alright, alright, keep going then," Pearl said and relaxed in her chair. "Thank you," Marie said and rolled her eyes. "Alright, where was I?"

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Octostein stared at the ink in disbelief. Could it have worked? He looked again and saw the same results. He jumped up with excitement. "Finally," he shouted and jumped up and down. "It worked!"

He picked up the broken bottle and poured the insides into a new bottle in case it would crack. Then he stared at it for several minutes. He couldn't believe it. Was this just a dream? Had it really worked? Then he jumped up from his chair. "What am I doing," he asked himself. "I should put it in the container and make sure it works."

He dashed to the big container in the middle of the room and turned it on. Water started to fill it and the heat increased. "Everything is in perfect order," he muttered to himself. The container was built to help it take physical form, to help it stay alive. He dashed back to the table and picked up the bottle with shaking hands. If the container failed, everything he had worked for was lost. He climbed up the ladder and opened the container up. He held the bottle over the container. After a moment of hesitation, he poured the inside into the container and closed it.

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Months passed. Octostein walked down the stairs into the basement. His creation had been taking form in the last months and was nearing its final steps to completion. It took the form of a person hugging its knees. He had been watching over her and making sure everything worked. She had been stirring and he did not want her to wake up alone. He still had to come up with a name for the species and her. 

He sat down at his desk and took up a bunch of notes he had taken down to help him decide. He skimmed through them but didn't find anything he thought fitting for his creation. "I need a name, a name," he said to himself and threw all of the notes away. She can't be nameless. There he sat for minutes, maybe hours. "Name, name, name," he muttered to himself. Then he froze. An idea had just formed in his head. He remembered reading something from a script that was from all the way back from the times of the "ancient ones."

"The ones that were before," people called them. But they were mostly known as "Humans."

"Coleoidea," he muttered to himself. "A word they used for us when we were still in our primal days."

"Coleoling," he whispered. He took up a notepad and wrote it down. "Yeah, it fits," he said and smiled. At that very moment, the Coleoling in the container started to thrash around. He turned around and jumped up. It was time. She couldn't stay in the container any longer. Otherwise, she would drown. He dashed to the control panel and pulled a big lever. The water immediately started to drain from it. 

When the container was empty, he pressed a big red button and the glass started to lower into the ground. There, on the ground in front of him lay the Coleoling. She had stopped thrashing and lay still. He ran and knelt next to her and checked her pulse and breathing. When he saw both were normal, he picked her up and carried her to a bed, and lay her down on it. She was taller than him, taller than any Inkling or Octoling he had seen in fact. Her hair was red and one thing he noticed about it was that two of the tentacles that made her hair were the tentacles of an Octoling but the other four were the ones of an Inkling and her ears looked like the ones of an Octoling. 

Octostein walked to a closet on the other side of the room and took out clothes and a white dressing gown. After he had dressed her and put a blanket on her to keep her warm, he sat on a chair next to her and waited. He knew it would take some time for her to wake up but he would wait there, no matter how long it took for her to wake up. Hours passed. The Coleoling did not wake up. Yet, Octostein did not panic. He knew he had to be patient. When the sun was starting to disappear behind the horizon, the Coleoling coughed. Octostein looked up and stared at her. 

After a few moments, she opened her eyes. They were completely black, like looking into an abyss, and a few red dots in the dark, like red stars in the night sky. She stared up at the ceiling for a few moments and then started to look around. She did not notice Octostein sitting in the chair a few feet away. She tried to sit up but struggled a bit and lay back down. Octostein stood up and walked to her. When she noticed him, she did not cower in fear but looked at him curiously. When he reached her, he sat down and looked at her. She stared back, observing every detail of his face. After a few moments, Octostein offered her his hand. She stared at it but did not take it. "It's okay," Octostein whispered. "I won't hurt you."

She did not seem to understand him, but the calm tone of his voice seemed to work. After a few moments, she took his hand and he helped her to sit up. She looked around the lab, observing everything she saw. When she had looked around the lab, her gaze fell on Octostein. They stared at each other for a few seconds, but then she reached out with her hand and touched his hair as if to feel how it was. Octostein chuckled. "She's like a newborn baby," he thought as he examined her. "Everything is so new to her"

After a few minutes, he offered her his hand again and stood up. She stared at him, but this time she did not hesitate to accept his help. Octostein helped her to stand up and when she stood on both legs, she struggled to keep her balance. He took her arm and waited until she found her balance again. She stared at her feet like she had not noticed them until now. She looked at Octostein. 

The two octo tentacles in her hair fell down her shoulders, while the other four fell down her back. "Want to try to walk," he said in a calm voice. She just stared. "Look," he said and took a step forward. She looked at him and took a step forward. With Octostein's help, she walked across the room but her feet were unsteady. When they reached the end of the room Octostein let go of her arm. "Walk to me," he said. She was ten meters away from him and looked terrified. "Come," he said calmly and gestured to her to come. She took a step and almost lost her balance. "Come," he said. She started to walk towards him. She had difficulties keeping her balance and when she was halfway there, she stumbled and fell to the ground. He walked to her and knelt beside her. "You can do it," he whispered and took her arm. "Just try again."

He helped her to her feet and walked a few meters away. She looked at him with determination in her eyes. She took a step and almost lost her balance. She regained it and started to walk to him, slowly but surely she walked across the room. She reached him and grabbed his outstretched hand. Octostein smiled at her. "There you go," he said. I knew you could do it!"

She looked into his eyes and smiled back.