Eight-Sided Memories

The meeting-#2

The sweet sound of the zither filled the air of the courtyard and complemented the cheery chirping of the birds. He heard the bell ringing far in the distance, signaling another school day done. He ignored the longing to be a part of them and continued refining the pieces to his song.

The crunch of leaves behind him interrupted his train of thought, he had ignored it, thinking it was one of the servants. He touched the leather of the handle just in case, however. Council members have warned him people who may attempt to assassinate him. The reason why being a bit lost on him, however.
An unfamiliar voice greeted him, and Octavio was quick to react. It was a young pre-teen inkling, he would guess 12-13 ish. He wore the uniform of the local school. Black, black loafers, and black news cap, and gold buttons vertically across the jacket. He seemed to be rather cheery, despite being at the end of a (potentially) deadly weapon.

"What are you doing here peasant?" Octavio spat at him, par to his training
The inkling spoke back in broken Octarian, Octavio interrupted.
"I asked what you were doing here."
"Music good enough for me! totally berries!"
"...what?" What does totally berries mean?!
"Really good!"
Oh. It clicked in Octavio's head, he was attracted by the music. This fluffed his feathers in all of the right ways.
"Of course it was, I'm the prince," Octavio responded haughtily.

"Woah you are?! You young! Thought you be old!"
How ignorant could he be?!
"Why is your Inklish so bad?! I'm an octoling and I speak better Inklish than you!" He retorted huffing and crossing eyes.
"Me from United Sea federation!"
That sparked his interest.
"...... What's it like...?"
"Hm?"
"Never been outside octo valley. What is it like?"
The inkling stood at him with a blank expression, in deep thought. Octavio had already regretted the question and quickly realized that the council would have a few sour words to share with him if they had caught wind of him talking with an inkling from the outside. The obvious solution-

"Never mind. GUARDS!"
"W-wait!" he cried out, the guards had already taken hold and promptly tossed him out. Octavio thought it would have been over, but he then saw the notebook with the leather cover. He thumbed the pages and flipped through. Music lyrics, that were actually pretty good. Basic level, but they had heart and passion. In the back, the name of the inkling was written.
"Craig Cuttlefish."

"Octavius!"
Calpurnia called him from inside. Hastily, he stuffed it into the side of his kimono. The many layers of silk hiding it well.
He ran inside, the other council members nowhere to be seen.
The palace was very ornate and decorative on the outside. Many many many gold declarations to be seen. Many rooms as well, with on the finest of artists being paid for the painting and calligraphy on the walls, and the best materials used for the simplest of things, like the paper in the paper sliding doors and straw in the tatami mats.Father was both foolish and "gracious" in how he spent his money. If he was going to spend all that money, he could at least done something to get rid of the old country aesthetics. He favored something more like Ai's style. "Why have you just called the guards?" Calpurnia asked eyes narrowed.
He had no reason to lie, did he? "There was an Inkling. From the outside."
Calpurnia's white face changed from cold to shocked.
"An inkling?! Why-"
A bubbly voice interrupted them, "An Inkling? Inklings make such good friends..." Kotowasa chirped.
"Doesn't matter if they make good friends," Calpurnia snapped, "Why would an outsider come into here?"
"He said my music was good."
She rolled her eyes, "How idiotic."
"It would be good for the little prince to have friends." he hummed.
"Don't be ridiculous. He could have been arrested for entering this palace. He does not need friends, they would only distract him."
"Hm~ Okay~"
Octavius silently wondered what it would be like to have friends other than just Kotawasa. He wasn't sure if friendship was always like this, considering how odd Kotatwasa is...
"Now, go to... Ai for your lessons. You've been messing around for long enough."
"Yes, ma'am."

"Ai?"
"Hm?" She asked they were in the middle of their lesson. Today was on photosynthesis, it was very complicated when you got into electron chains and the such, of course, it would be for anyone but Octavio.
"What is it?"
"...What is it like... Nevermind."
"Are you alright Prince?" She kindly asked.
"...What is it like to have friends?"
"You have friends, you should know. All of the council is your friend, me, Kotawasa, General Snow, Mineta, even Calpurnia."
"..." he stayed silent, he didn't want to say he didn't really consider her or General Snow to be a friend. Especially Calpurnia.

Later, he was scheduled for a training session with Mineta.
"Heard you and uh' fu- I mean, shoot... " Mineta stammered, he tended to do that while thinking about what he was going to say.
"Heard some guy visited you in the courtyard. Ya, shoulda but yer skill to the test! Beat him up, ya know?"
Octavio stiffened, "I didn't think that was necessary."
Mineta chuckled, "Cal's rubbing off on ya huh? You were just a splittin' image a' her."
Octavio didn't know what to think about that.

The next day he noticed there were more guards around while he sat in the courtyard. Still, no one thought to think of sitting with him. Just when he had turned his back and reached the edge of the courtyard he heard the rustling of leaves and turned around. For someone who had sneaked past the guards, the inkling- "Craig" was surprisingly unobservant and didn't notice him standing right there.
"Where is it?!"
Octavio took this as the sign to make his appearance.
"Looking for this?" He raised up the notebook.
"Huh?!" Craig finally looked up, and Octavio made a mental note of his gold-colored eyes, and how they sparkled in the sun.
His face lit up and he eagerly took it out of his hands, eyes sparkling and shining even more and expression even more cheery than Kotawasa's.
"Thanks!"
"Don't come back here, Craig." Octavio coldly replied. He didn't know where he got this "friend" nonsense from when it's just some dumb kid who broke in a couple of times.
"How you know name?!" He asks this with the shock clear in his voice.
"It says it on the cover!"
Craig looks down, and back up at him.
"Oh yeah..."
" I can't believe you would come back after already being thrown out once." What an idiot.
"W-well I need to finish song!"
That struck a chord with Octavio, one that rippled throughout his soul, and tore down the walls he built.
"...Right... Now get out or else I'm calling the guards." He stated firmly.
"wait! what you think of song?"
"...It's not terrible I suppose..." He wasn't lying.
"What?! You read you like?!" He looked too excited for his own good.
"They need work. But they do have potential."
"Thank you! Oh! What your name?"
"Octavio." A thought that he should have already tossed him out was dismissed. Craig's hands clasped around his own, an unfamiliar gesture that confused him.
"Let's be band!"
It was unknown then that his decision would change the course of history.

It had taken some convincing, but the pair of them quickly grew as thick as thieves, sneaking in and out of the palace, building a tree house- well, Octavio did all the work, but he was happy enough taking his knowledge into practice and Craig handing him some screws was enough for him.
Kotawasa was happy for him, usually encouraging him by pointing out blind spots or lying for him and then bouncing off. General Snow seemed to be disappointed, but never outright said it. Mineta and Ai didn't like it, especially if he skipped out when they were supposed to have lessons. Calpurnia hated it. And she made it known that she hated it. Ai and her for once agreed on something and would be there to lecture him when he came back. He always came back, at least.

...

Octavio woke up to the same old scenery inside of his enclosed bubble. The cracks running along the sides spidery. He knew that if he was just to punch the glass it could easily break. He had a couple of reasons to not do it, one, he didn't really have a plan for after that, and two, he deserved to be held up here. He lost. He had lost the great turf war, and now he had lost the great zapfish not once, but twice.
He was sick of losing. He hated it, hate hate hated it! It wasn't fair! Why do they always win?! Is it because they have 10 tentacles?!
It's just unfair.
He stared at the face of his adversary. It always felt odd to him how... old. He looked. Then again, Octavio wasn't sure how he looked in adult form, it had been... years since he even transformed out of his octopus one. For all he knows, he could be just as old-looking.
But it still just felt... wrong. The Craig he knew was young and sprile and had bright eyes and rosy cheeks. Seeing him with dried-out skin and sunken cheeks and his eyes dull and black was just wrong.
He wasn't the Craig he remembered. But the Craig he remembered was long gone, and replaced with what was staring at him.
He stared back.