(Author's note: I originally wanted to release every epilogue at once but, it's been too long and you guys can go ahead and have the first one, as a thank you for being so supportive of this story! while the last 4 chapters of this story are titled as epilogues, I personally consider them still part of the story, so it's HIGHLY recommended you read them too. If you want to consider the previous chapter the ending though, that's perfectly ok with me. Please also note these next 4 chapters will be a lot more longer than the previous ones.)
The boxes were heavy.
And comet chose to focus all his attention on that. Because if he didn't, his mind would drift.
It's been about 3 months since the rebellion had officially finished unsanitizing the whole city. Which, should of felt longer. But it didn't. It felt like everything happened only yesterday. They weren't even called the rebellion any more, because what were they rebelling against now? No, Marie, claiming the role as leader with Pearl's permission, chose to go back to the squidbeak splatoon, since that agency was for helping inkopolis because of threats and the description seemed more accurate to the after effects.
Buildings were torn down, the first being marina and tartar's office tower. The city was beginning to look like it used to. (At least, according to his friends. He had never seen more than glimpses from the islands far off of grizzco.) As marina had promised, salmonids and salmonlings were allowed to live among the inklings. Grizzco had gone out of business because of this, becoming nothing but an old warehouse tons of cephalopods looted for the abandoned rewards.
Comet was more than satisfied to see its downfall.
That being said: he had no where to go. He had nowhere to live, no money to make that happen (turf war was attempting to be modified for salmonlings, but that process would take a while so that method was out of the picture), and he sure as shell wasn't gonna bother his friends about it.
Yet Pearl had asked him the question, and not wanting to lie to the pearl, he murmured his fears and to his utter shock, the ex idol had offered him to bunk with her until she "finished some plans."
Not questioning things, he agreed. And now Comet, a salmonling who had grown up with absolutely nothing, was living in a mansion with the main person responsible for bringing balance back.
Temporarily.
The plan ended up being that Pearl was going to find and move in with her brothers ("you have brothers?" He had asked, not recalling hearing this before. He did remember pearl wanting to leave before they fully finished the unsanitization process so it made sense why she was eager to see them), and comet would get the mansion and pearl backing him up to get a job. In the temporary time they lived together they often ended up falling asleep in one of many TV rooms.
Sometimes comet would wake up in the middle of the night, see pearl, and be unable to move, remembering a time where the inkling's skin was a sickly pale green, and they were not in a mansion, but an arena, one with a look in her eyes that instantly showed she was ready to kill him right then and there. And he would end up walking into a random nearby room and collapsing into sleep there instead.
Not before locking the door first though. Just Incase.
And now comet had offered to carry a box for pearl on the way to her brother's home. It wasn't a box of her belongings, but stuff pearl wanted to bring to her brothers for them.
In the time Comet spent in Pearl's mansion they didn't talk to each other too much. Everyone had told him pearl was very talkative. That she was energetic and constantly wanting to do things, and she was one of the loudest people they've ever known.
And he was very grateful he instead got to know a more calm and quieter pearl. A pearl who'd often go and do her own thing and not bother him unless food was ready or she was going out.
They had one discussion a few days after he moved in though, about the whole messed up scenario they were thrown in, but that was it besides the brief small talk.
So the silence of the walking didn't bother him, and he just focused on how his feet ached walking down a pebbly road and the box was too heavy.
"You got a family comet?"
The salmonling froze, looking up slightly. "O-Oh, um.. no, not really. All our eggs are usually thrown in one hut by the time we're near ready to hatch? And uh, we just come into the world without knowing our family, heh.."
"Oh, got it." Pearl murmured, her hands in her pockets as they kept walking. Comet didn't feel comfortable leaving the conversation there. Working up the courage he began Speeding up his pace so he was next to pearl instead of behind her, and then spoke up.
"Anyone else besides your brothers?"
Pearl was quick to respond. "My dad, but he's dead to me, and my mom, who's literally dead to me. Eight counts but you already know her."
The salmonling blinked, not really expecting such a blunt answer. He chose not to ask for elaboration, instead focusing on her brothers, slowly loosing confidence.
"...What are your brothers like?"
She didn't look at him but he was silently relieved at the small smile that graced her features. "Emperor is full of himself and narcissistic, he's nice when you get to know him. Prince is a little angel but he's got his confidence."
Comet gave his own smile. "They sound nice."
It was obvious from how she spoke she was getting better. Pearl's voice was so much more clear and not stuttery anymore. She didn't limp at all either and the only hint she'd been sanitized was the patches of green along her face, tentacles, and body. She covered those with her long sleeved clothes though. The patches on her face and tentacles she could do little about.
It probably would of been mentioned more if nearly everyone in town didn't look similar. Doctors and scientists were working on ways to remove the patches. Agent three seemed ecstatic to not be considered a "scary weirdo" anymore.
Eventually the two stopped in front of a large house. It was too big to be considered a house but not big enough to be a mansion. Comet didn't know what to call it. He placed the box by their feet, and Pearl's finger hovered over the doorbell. "You ok?" Comet asked, fiddling with his own claws. Pearl let out a breath of air. "Yeah.. yeah, I just, I haven't seen them in ages. They might not even be home."
Comet was attempting to think of some words of reassurance but before he could open his mouth Pearl's hand went away from the door bell and to the door itself, rapidly knocking on the door.
A few seconds passed before the door opened, revealing a very tall inkling.
His golden tentacles were swept to the right, one hanging beside his pale face. He had the sanitization patches everyone had, a big splotch over his right eye, kinda like agent three's. The inkling had an intimidating aura, and a gut feeling told comet that this was probably emperor, because his name held up to how one would feel around him. The moment his yellow eyes locked with Pearl's though, his expression softened. He gasped, tears filling his eyes immediately as he bent down and locked pearl into a hug. Pearl hugged back, hugging tightly and a few sobs were heard from both. Comet awkwardly stood behind them, looking down in embarrassment.
He looked up when the inkling let go, and another one ran to the doorway. He looked very similar to who comet assumed was emperor. His golden tentacles were swept backwards, one dangling near the front of his face. The third pair of golden eyes locked with pearl and he tackled them with a shaky voice, already crying.
"PEARLLLL!!!"
The reunion was sweet, and comet smiled at them, flinching as emperor's eyes met his. "Pearl, who's your friend?"
Pearl broke away from her youngest brother, motioning for comet to come closer. He did, tail curling around his legs as he waved shyly. "Emperor, prince, this is comet. He's my friend."
Emperor nodded, smiling softly, a sight comet was already trying to adjust to. "Nice to meet you comet. Both of you please come in, pearl we got lots to discuss."
Pearl only nodded, comet grabbing the box on the ground and making his way inside. It felt lighter for a second, and he looked next to him to see prince helping to support its wait, a small smile on his face. Comet felt the ink rush to his cheeks as he smiled back shyly.
The box was placed on the table, and Pearl Emperor and Prince sat on the sofa. Comet leaned against the wall. "I um, I can go now if you want."
Surprisingly emperor shook his head. "If you want you can stay." The salmonling quickly nodded, taking a seat on the far edge of the couch away from them. There was a quiet and slightly tense atmosphere until emperor spoke up.
"..I'm assuming you know what happened. It obviously was a result from the splatfest."
Pearl shuddered and nodded, closing her eyes for a few seconds. "Y-Yeah.. Marina won, and this telephone named tartar we thought was dead manipulated her to take over inkopolis. I got captured but was luckily saved by the remaining chaos members. I didn't.. I didn't think she'd go as far as to sanitize you guys and the whole city."
Emperor had opened his mouth to speak but pearl cut him off. "I know what you're going to say. Marina and I are no longer together. She's not even living in inkopolis anymore."
Emperor closed his mouth after that, looking down. "I'm sorry."
Pearl raised an eyebrow. "For what?"
"Everything. We argued so much more before all of this. I made it obvious I didn't like Marina, heck I complained about her so much for someone on team order.."
Pearl blinked a few times but smiled. "It's obvious you're trying to change. I forgive you."
Prince gazed at the two with sad eyes but a smile nonetheless. "We missed you pearl."
It seemed Pearl couldn't hold back tears any longer as she sniffled, nodding. "I missed you both too, so much, I t-thought I wouldn't ever see you both again, I thought you could be dead, I t-thought.."
Emperor and prince had immediately wrapped their sister in a hug as pearl let out a few sobs. Comet got up from the couch, glancing at the three and knowing they needed their space. He would come back to bid goodbye of course, but for now comet exited the house, sitting against the door on the steps and gazing at the sky.
The shade of blue it was made him shudder as he focused on the concrete ground instead. It was going to be a long day.
* * *
Oh octo canyon.
The one place untouched by any of the craziness of the surface.
Being down there sometimes genuinely made Marie feel like it was all a bad dream. That these were the days she'd await the small anxious crazy inkling she befriended to assist her to find her cousin for another day.
But they weren't. Callie was found already.
Callie was dead still.
And it made Marie never want to leave octo canyon. Because the more hours that went by the more it was easy to forget, and it was so much easier to forget it all than remember everything above. And agent four seemed to have a similar train of thought, because the two squid beak agents had quickly found themselves living together in cuttlefish cabin.
Sadly Marie still had to leave sometimes. She was the leader now while pearl recovered, now living with her two brothers. She was in charge of directing orders to rebuild the city. Deciding what changes were made, and, under Pearl's orders (and to her reluctance), keeping cephalopods and salmons from discussing the whole marina situation too much. It was so stressful but she managed, always able to come home to four slouched over the side of the cabin, dozing off as she had been waiting for her.
And while Marie was leader she still didn't really know what she was going to do next.
The leader thing was temporary. When pearl was ready she'd resume the role, and then what? Go back to being an idol? The solo career pained Marie enough when her cousin was still alive, there was no way she'd do it now. She didn't have any motivation to do anything either though. On days when she was off she'd sleep, or keep up with the news on the tv they kept, or stare blankly into the broken snow globe that used to house octavio before he started attempting to be an actual member of society.
Four really was no better though. The yellow agent would really just do whatever Marie did. At least as leader Marie was doing stuff, four did nothing at this point. Typically she would of fussed at her to hang out with the other agents or do turf war like she used to, but the cuttlefish felt that was too hypocritical of her. She was still shocked the other cephalopod hadn't even the motivation to speed run through the areas of the canyon though, just to see if she could beat her old record. That was one of her favorite things to do typically.
Marie was lucky though. Today was a day off. So currently she was on the couch outside, watching the news again. Agent 4 was in her squid form, laying on her lap. Her eyes were on the TV but she didn't seem to be paying any more attention to it than Marie was. It was all the same stuff they both already knew anyway. There was nothing better on though.
Eventually the cuttlefish groaned. "Cod these two news anchors are so boring." Honestly, she understood they were just trying to keep it real and straight to the point. She really just wanted something to complain about. The squid on her lap did the best equivalent of a nod before sliding onto the seat next to her and transitioning back to her kid form, moving her hands to sign. "If they're so boring you should do it."
Not the same without callie. Was her first thought, but Marie quickly shoved it aside, shaking her head and making up an excuse on the spot. "No way, too much city work to do. I couldn't juggle both." Technically it wasn't too much an excuse, mostly the truth. She forced a smile and in a joking tone murmured "if you agree they're so boring why don't you do it."
Typically four would force a joked response and that'd really be all the small talk for the day. But they didn't respond. Marie stole a glance and saw the inkling's eyes weren't even on the tv anymore, but rather on the ground with hesitance. The cuttlefish raised any eyebrow. "Maya?"
The realization sunk in. "Do.. Do you wanna take over as the news anchor..?"
The inkling looked up, her face yellow as she signed, hands slightly shaky with nervousness. Marie was used to understanding her like that though. "Well I mean no way I could do it alone because I'm me. But I was think if I could get someone else to do it with me I could do the cool effects and stuff? It's dumb and stupid, I know."
Marie blinked, a genuine smile making its way onto her as she lifted a hand to ruffle the kid's tentacles. "Not a bad idea. I'm sure one of the other agents would be eager to help. Maybe you could find someone new too."
A little bit of the agent's old cheerfulness was present on her face, and that was enough to keep Marie's smile. Yet it quickly faded.
"Have you thought about what you're going to do after Pearl's ready?"
She blinked, staying silent for a bit. "..I shouldn't lie to you squiddo, I really don't know." 4 shrugged, her eyes trailing to the ground again. "That's ok, it took a while for me to realize it might be best if I actually did something. It's just taking a while for you too."
Marie nodded, her eyes following four's to the ground. "..yeah. Yeah you're right." The yellow squid nodded, standing up and stretching. "I'm going to grab some snacks. Do you want anything?"
"Shell chips. The non spicy ones though."
A thumbs up in her direction and the inkling was gone. Marie sat back in her chair, inhaling and letting out a breath, closing her eyes. Even though it was only seconds it felt like centuries before Marie stood up, took her phone out of her pocket, and dialed a number. A part of her didn't want them to answer but she knew that she needed to do this. She couldn't let her grief hold her down forever.
Callie would want this.
She'd be proud of her for this.
And that's what gave Marie the motivation to respond when the caller on the other end picked up.
"Hello!"
"Hey, it's me."
"Marie! Long time no see! How have ya been?"
"I've been utter carp. Listen, Sheldon, remember when you mentioned needing someone to help around the shop?"