If I Never Existed (Octonauts)

If I had Never Existed

A/N) Hi there! This is a new story that I originally attempted writing as a multi-chapter fic, and it didn't get very far. The idea has been sitting in my head and in my story list for a really long time, but the inspiration has only just resurfaced now. Therefore this is my entry for the Wattpad Fanfic 'A Different World' Contest. I haven't written anything like this for Inkling before, and I feel like I need to give him a role in some of my fanfiction, as I never seem to write about him and he is the founder of the Octonauts after all! I hope you enjoy!

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It had been a long day.

A very long day.

Inkling had only been able to watch from the large window of his library as his crew tried to fix up a reef after another of the many storms that they typically dealt with, helping injured creatures, rebuilding smashed up homes and reuniting families and friends who had been swept away in the rough tides that a storm always brings along with it. Today had been a particularly destructive one: pink and yellow coral fragments still litter the sand as evidence of the broken coral reef and families of shining, golden-scaled fish huddle together, worrying and pining for their lost.

Sometimes it annoys him that he can't be of more use on these missions, that he can't go out and help with creatures who were hurt. That's what Octonauts do, that's basically their role in life. It's too dangerous for him, of course, his big fragile brain is easily susceptible and there are still rocks being swept around that can crush him easily, but even so it is hard watching his crew put themselves in danger again and again while having to take a back seat.

He loves his library - of course he does - but sometimes he gets very sick of its walls, of its stony silence, while there is so much action going on outside. Inkling doesn't wish for danger - what Octonaut would wish for it? Apart from the daredevil cat Kwazii of course, who in fact sometimes seems to relish dangerous situations. Inkling would never hope to be anything like Kwazii. Of course, everyone has a different part to play - he founded the crew in that knowledge, choosing the crew members after much deliberation and many days of interviews. That's over eight years ago now, of course, and he has never had any doubt that he made all the right decisions way back then.

But sometimes, nowadays especially, Inkling just feels so useless.

Even so, he supposes it is right to be cautious. After all, the last time he had ventured out on what he had thought would be a fairly easy, low-profile mission to plant some coral, his octopus tentacles had been trapped under falling boulders and he was nearly crushed - not to mention having put Kwazii in danger due to the cat's obstinate refusal to leave him. Ever since then, that event had been a constant crushing reminder of his weakness in the crew.

"What use am I?" he says aloud to the isolated library, almost expecting to hear a response. However, the room stays obstinately silent. 

Inkling moves to the screen on his wall, looking at it with dejected eyes as he watches his crew all pitch in together to help move a huge rock off a reef. It takes a while, but by working together they manage to complete it. He watches Barnacles and Kwazii do their trademark fistbump, watches Peso bandage up a squid's injured tentacle, watches Shellington give instructions to the group of eager Vegimals gathered around him, watches Tweak sling a casual arm around Dashi's shoulders.

Not one looks back up at him, in his lonely confines alone in the Octopod. It's not their fault, of course. It was him that could never help, not them excluding him purposefully. They're too nice for anything like that. He just sits in his library, time and time again, giving the occasional support when it was needed. Even then, Shellington practically does his job anyway. Being a scientist, Shellington knows lots of the facts that the crew would need, and it was often him who they turned to now, not Inkling.