#7 - Sanitized

Broken

I didn't tell anyone about the memory. Instead, I said that I was feeling sick and had to go back to the apartment. They bought it.

As soon as I got home, I ran to my room and rummaged around. I needed...

Oh! There it was!

But it was the only one I had. I can't waste it... I thought.

Should I do it?

Yes. It's the only way.

I popped the Mem Cake in my mouth. It dissolved, and the world crumbled before my eyes. I saw Marissa... 

"Are you sure we should do this?"

"Yeah, why not? It seems interesting,"

"You know, there's a saying: Curiosity killed the catfish!"

"Aw, c'mon. You wanted to join me!"

Marissa sighted. "I guess you got me there," she said.

We kept walking through the empty concrete tunnel. I found it odd that Octavio had this huge tunnel here and wasn't telling anyone, but it didn't seem to have a use. Maybe he was keeping it for any future projects...

"Heheheh..."

"Marissa, did you hear that?" I asked.

"Yeah, do you know what it is?"

We were silent for a while. "Do...you think it sounded like someone laughing?" Marissa asked.

Well, it did. If you could laugh while drowning. "Kind of," I said. "But who would be down here?"

We continued until we saw...

Something? It looked like an Octoling, but its skin was pale cyan and its tentacles were blue. Neither of us had ever seen an Octarian like this before.

"Heheheh..."

She started chasing us with a needle. We screamed and ran as fast as we could, but it was no use. She caught us and pinned us down. Then she pulled a hidden lever in the wall and a bunch of Octolings and DJ Octavio appeared.

"Good work, #9!" Octavio said. "I'll have you brought to Kamabo soon. But these Octolings...they could use some Octoleet Goggles," he laughed.

And the memory faded away.

I blinked, and the present-day world came back. That...felt odd, but at least I had another memory back.

But I realized something: these new memories weren't lost. They were taken. And if I wanted them back, I couldn't just wait for a miracle. I had to get some Mem Cakes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So we're gonna have to go back to the Metro to find more Mem cakes?"

Pearl wasn't completely on board with my idea. "You don't have to come if you don't want to," I told her.

I had told them...most of the second memory. I didn't tell them that I was with Marissa, or anyone for that matter.

It was painful to remember, but I would have to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We walked through the eerily quiet tunnel. It reminded me of the second memory. 

Eight and I would search the newly discovered J line, while Three and Four searched the unfinished tests from the mostly-completed lines.

After a while, we both came back with a handful of Mem Cakes.

"All right, guys...we did it," I said. "Now, who wants some real cake?"

I bought the Agents some cake as a thank-you and went home. Here goes, I thought as I popped the first Mem Cake in my mouth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I did it. I pieced together the splintered memories. Each Mem Cake had given me a glimpse of the past, and when I put it together...

I couldn't feel anymore.

No emotions. No pain, but no joy.

All I could feel was this...fake loyalty? "You must serve Octavio. You will serve your leader," the goggles told me. But I didn't want to serve Octavio, and what was the point of 'helping my species' if everyone's mind-controlled or evil?

Marissa was doing badly too.

She had broken the goggles' control, but the only thing she felt was pain.

And one day, I caught her studying a Splat Bomb, full of Inkling ink.

"Mari. Where did you get that?" I asked.

"Ahato," she said. "Do you ever- do you ever wonder about the surface?"

"What do you mean by that?" I asked

"I...I can't see...why we're still here anymore," she said. "What good is being "loyal" if it's just...this?"

"Mari, you're not saying-"

"I'm done with this," Marissa had tears in her eyes. She started tossing the bomb up into the air and catching it. I swear each time she threw it, my heart almost stopped.

I didn't like this. I got closer to her, and grabbed it away. She seemed to snap out of whatever she was thinking about for a second...

 "Mari," I said. "Y-you're not thinking straight..." I walked up to her and took her hand. "Follow me," I told her. We launched ourselves to Tentakeel Outpost.

We switched back to our Octoling forms. Mari gave me a smile, still a bit teary-eyed. "Thanks for...reminding me. I- I know it's a dangerous thing. To leave. Even to just have those thoughts, Cod, I-

"It's okay," I said. "Just...promise me you won't do anything like that again."

"I..."

"Mari,"

"I...I promise."

But then our goggles took advantage of our emotional states and started working again. We went back to Cephalon HQ.

~~~

I wrote it down in a notebook. 

A sad memory.