This Place We Called Home

#2 1/2 split

GUYS I'M SO SORRY I THOUGHT I HAD ALREADY PUBLISHED THIS!!! I swear I'll be more consistent once I seeker into the routine lol. I'll post the first part of Chapter 3 tomorrow to help us catch up.

Oh, but where are my manners? Readers, half-chapter. Half-chapter, readers. Half-chapters will happen occasionally and are a short segment from a POV other than Three and Eight. In this case, it's from Four's POV!

Also, fun fact about this half-chapter: while I've been making minor edits to my backlog chapters before posting them here, this chapter was almost entirely rewritten.

Oh, and happy Easter as well as Trans Day of Visibility! 🏳️‍⚧️

~

"Agent Four... I thought you were told to leave."

The rogue agent sighed in defeat. "I'm not going to try anything."

"I know," Marie responded. "Come, sit."

They sat down on a bench outside of Cuttlefish Cabin, and Four began fidgeting with her thumbs. She clasped her hands together to make herself stop. She took a deep breath and let it out before starting. "You know what surprises me more than the fact that we've apparently made an alliance with the Octarians? The fact that you were the one who reacted the most violently out of everyone. If no one else, I thought you would be on my side."

Marie let out a heavy sigh. "There's a lot wrong with what you just said. For one, this isn't 'an alliance with the Octarians.' It's recognizing that not all Octarians are the same—that, in fact, most are completely innocent. Many of them are refugees, trying to escape the tyrannical rule of the very Octarian leaders we're fighting. Eight is on the same side as us.

"Secondly, don't talk to me about violence. There's a world of difference between a dagger and low-tide ink, and you know it. Don't victimize yourself."

"I—"

Marie cut her off. "Thirdly, you grossly misjudged me. If there's anyone in the Splatoon who would let you off easily, it's Cap'n Cuttlefish. You're lucky he's in charge."

"What do you mean, I misjudged you?"

"I suppose you think I wrote Fresh Start trying to convince my deviant cousin to start over and change her ways?"

"Well, when you say it like that..." Four grumbled.

"It's the popular interpretation among Antiocto conspiracy theorists. But they're wrong. I wrote the song because I was the one who needed a Fresh Start. Because in the weeks after Callie returned, she told me about what she had seen. Because, somehow, she managed to take my stance on Octos and completely flip it on its head. Callie may seem silly and clumsy, but she has her own kind of power... I've never met anyone else who could have changed my mind so completely. But she's right. And I feel so guilty now for everything I've done in the past. I don't want you to feel more of that than you have to. But it's not too late to make things right. It's never too late."

Never too late. It was a nice thought. But in her panic and impulsivity, she'd assaulted that poor Octoling boy. She'd seen the fear in his eyes. And if what Marie was saying was right, that had been a completely innocent person she had pulled a knife on. Not to mention Three...

She wasn't welcome here anymore, she could feel it. She had never seen Marie glare at her so angrily like that before, and truth be told, it scared her. None of them would be able to trust her again after this. And a big part of her didn't think she would be able to trust any of them anymore, either. As much as she would love to be able to say that the Octolings didn't affect her, she still thought of them every time she saw one. Still wondered if she could have somehow prevented it by being better prepared. That was why she had the knife.

"You don't have to pick a side, you know..." Marie finally said.

But Four didn't see how that could be true. Not with the look that Marie was giving her. If she had learned anything in her short life so far, it was that true second chances didn't exist.

"He seems to have handled it surprisingly well, you know. You still have a chance to mend this and get to know him."

He had taken it surprisingly well. Had even begged Three not to harm her. In his position, she would have choked the life out of her assailant or died trying. Did that make him a better person than her?

This wasn't fair. No fourteen-year-old should have to deal with these kinds of thoughts. It was too much. She wanted out. She never wanted to have to think about this day again. She never wanted to see that Octoling boy's face again. And that meant she would have to go somewhere far away from here. That was an easy decision; without the Squidbeak Splatoon, she only had one place left to go.

So she bolted. She barely heard Marie's cry of "Four, wait!" And her last bit of hope that things could ever work out with the Squidbeak Splatoon vanished as Marie's next words were: "Stop her!" Of course they would just assume that she was going to try to attack the Octoling again. That was all they saw her as, now.
A bewildered Callie locked eyes on Four and raised her Hero Roller, but Four was more than ready to sidestep the wave of ink as she brought it down. Four dove into the manhole and Super Jumped out the other side, watching Inkopolis Plaza recede from her as she jumped as far as she possibly could, with no regard for where she would land. She landed on top of some apartment building, where she pulled out her phone and tapped on the second-most recent contact after Marie. She didn't even wait for the person on the other end of the line to respond.

"Hey, Uncle Steve. I changed my mind."

~

Yes, his name really is Steve. I am so sorry.