The Only Hope For Me Is You - A Oneshot for a Splatoon AU

idk what to put here there's only one chapter

Three didn't know how to react. She thought it was gone for good after she was told Pearl had literally obliterated it with her massive Killer Wail. Hell, she thought she obliterated it the first time when she knocked it off of the blender. She also thought it was obliterated again when Eight shot it off of her when it had taken over her mind.

So to see chunks of it in her vomit was distressing.

Did she swallow some of it accidentally? Was she infected and slowly being Sanitised? Why was she hurling up Sanitised ink?! Thoughts raced across her mind like billions of cephalopods superjumping across an arena. She was beginning to panic, her breathing hard and rapid with little to no breaks between breaths. Tears formed in her bloodshot eyes and rolled down her pale cheeks. She was weak, shakily leaning on the sink just trying to stand up properly. She felt another spew coming, and quickly darted to the toilet bowl to let out the vom...

...but it never came. She sat for minutes, waiting for what she thought was the inevitable to come, only for it to never even come close to coming. Heck, she could feel it dissipate in her body; the feeling of regurgitation just up and left like that. She was left puzzled and confused, left to solve a sudden mystery while she could barely even get words out. That's when she heard a voice that terrified her.

"Get up."

Her eyes widened... it couldn't possibly be... ...but... ...it sounded so identical... Her initial hypothesis was that her mind was simply playing tricks on her. She wouldn't doubt it. After all, she had heard more distressing things before; having anxiety and depression would do that. It's only when she heard the voice a second time in a louder, more angry tone that she began to get more concerned. She looked around to see if anyone else could hear this. A little stupid, though, as Three lived alone and certainly didn't have anyone around right now. Maybe it was instinct. The poor inkling tried their best to get up on their feet, but with how panicked and shaky she was, the task seemed impossible at the moment. That's when her body lurched and jolted in a way Three never intended to do. Like someone was controlling her... oddly reminiscent of when she was hijacked by Tartar... either way, the sudden jolts and lurches of her body had somehow gotten her standing up. She was incredibly confused as to why exactly her body was doing this.

"Look in the mirror."

She shuddered again, a sudden chill rolling down her spine. Fearfully, she raised her head and looked into the dirty mirror. Like any old mirror, her pale, frightened face looked back at her. Tear stains, well, stained her cheek, her skin as pale as ever without even a hint of red present. She looked physically ill, and she might as well be considering the vomiting earlier. Curiously, she had felt just fine up until half an hour ago, where she had felt physically uncomfortable by everything and the sudden need to eat. Not like "oh I need a snack" hunger, it was more like primordial feasting hunger. She had been literally stuffing whatever she could find in her cupboards and fridge into her mouth, including the scraps of meat from last night that lay in the bin. Not good for the stomach, obviously. Most probably why she had been vomiting.

There was something odd about her appearance though... A massive, turquoise stain had appeared on the right side of her face, covering her ear and up to her nose. It was like a rough circle, curving down her cheek before looping back to her nose in another curve by the ear. It felt cold and no matter what she did, Three couldn't feel anything where the turquoise had claimed. No pain, no touch, no heat. Just cold. It was unfathomably odd to the inkling, yet familiar in a sense... Curiously, it's shape and size was identical to the ooze that had appeared on her face when she was possessed... no... it couldn't be-

"That's exactly what you think it is, my dear host."

Three jolted. The voice... it read her mind...! She gulped and tried her hardest to not break down. After scraping up enough confidence, she weakly spoke.

"...W-What the heck is happening to me...?! W-Who are you, strange voice?! W-Why is half my face sanitised?! W-Why do I have a creeping suspicion that I'm going insane? ...Why do you sound like him...?"

Albeit weakly, she had managed to get out her words finally. That was an achievement enough for her. It seemed the voice had heard her too.

"Answers? Is that what you seek? I can provide what you want, my dear."

Somehow, Three could sense the voice making a cunning, almost creepy smile... That's when her stain started bulbusing and glowing. The turquoise skin was almost ripping in a sense, as holes appeared in the skin to make way for a glowing mass of sanitised ink. Three was too panicked to do anything about it, frozen in fear as she just watched this... thing emerge from the right side of her face. Strangely enough however, she didn't feel a thing. No pain, no sting, not even a twinge; most likely due to the skin it emerged from being sanitised.

It continued to grow, currently just a bulbous mound stretched out. No defining features whatsoever. That would change, as the front of the mound itself began to hollow out in some areas, becoming somewhat mouth shaped with spiked fang teeth and a black void behind it. Two stalks began to appear on the top of the mound, but said stalks didn't last long as the mound itself reshaped into something completely different... ...then again... ...and again... ...whatever it was, it couldn't decide on a form to take. Three felt a little bad, watching it struggle to take a shape. Whatever form it took, it quickly twisted and contorted into something completely different, as if it was unhappy with the form it wanted to take and instantaneously decided on a new one. She just watched as the mound tried it's best to form something to represent itself.

"...Do you want a suggestion? You seem to be having trouble finding your own..."