"Natalie..."

"Mmnh."

"Natalie?"

Warm sunbeams baked radiant comfort under a gentle breeze of cool air. "Feels so good..." she mumbled happily, a lazy smirk on her half-asleep face.

"It does feel good to sleep in your bed again, doesn't it?" A slitted peek revealed Carrie's warm, beaming smile. Her hand rubbed the wolf girl's side rhythmically, sending happy little feelings- not to mention rumbling little growls- through her. Cat chuckled soundlessly at her girlfriend's short tail as it wagged with a cheerful rhythm. "It must be, anyway, because you've been asleep for... twenty-eight hours."

"What??" she asked groggily, squinting and rubbing bleariness from her eyes. Why did something feel amiss? "What happened? Ohmigod I have to pee, hold on."

Carrie only laughed as Natalie excused herself to the bathroom connected to her bedroom. She picked up a familiar stuffed octopus and gazed with amusement at his smiling face. "I bet you're happy to have her back, aren't you, Mr. Squiggle?"

 -
- -
 -

Natalie sighed with relief, throwing on a pair of dirty gym shorts and an undershirt. As she emerged from her room to descend the stairs, she regretted not finding something more suitable. 

"Hey!"

"There she is!"

"Look at her, up and at 'em!"

"Nothing keeps down our Natalie!"

"Wha...?" The confused highschooler stared at what could only be described as a mob taking up the living room of her house. Friends, schoolmates, people she recognized and some she didn't quite had gathered and were now crowding the place. "What are all these people doing in my house??"

"Who wouldn't come to see a genuine, real-life hero?" Murphy asked, smirking from her seat on the couch as she ruffled the hair of a young labrador boy who hugged her closely.

Natalie blushed. "I just did what I had to, General-"

"It's... just 'Officer Murphy' now," she corrected with a weary smile.

"And you did far more than what anyone would've expected," Jordan insisted.

"How does it feel to be a super badass celebrity??" Milly asked. "Are you tired after all of that butt-kicking? I bet you're gonna say a cool one-liner! D-" she winced, noticing others' stares. "Ah, I'll... save the interview 'til later."

"You and your friends... you kids saved us, Natalie." Ms. Hendrix smiled, dimples framing her glasses. "All of us."

She held her breath. "All of-..."

"Yes, all of us." Lorna appeared in the doorway, a mixed look of weariness and joy on her face. "And I'm so proud of you."

Natalie didn't wait for anyone to make way. Her feet moved of their own accord, bringing her to her mother until she practically crashed into her, wrapping her arms around the woman. "OhmigodI'msogladyou'reokay!!"

"Hng!" She laughed, hugging her in turn. "It's great to see you, too, Natalie."

"... Wait." Nat looked around for a moment. "Outshell, Exit."

Lorna shook her head, smirking. "No bullet. It's real." 

With this confirmation, Natalie squeezed her once more, breathing a sigh of relief. "... So I remember Osoth being peeled off of you, but after that it gets a little fuzzy. How did we survive?"

"How many times do I have to tell you..." Carrie began, walking over and getting her girlfriend in a playful neck lock. "... Before you get it through that thick skull? I'm always gonna be there to catch you when you fall."

Natalie reversed the neck lock, holding Carrie in front of her. Her competitive smirk softened to a grateful smile as she kissed her gently. "I should've known, I can always count on you. But what happened to Osoth?"

"Now that, I can help with," Milly noted. "Your, um. She... wanted everyone to see this as soon as possible, but here it is, just for you."

A hologram of Echelon appeared on the coffee table in the middle of the room. She stood separately from Natalie, stroking her head gently as the wolf girl lie in bed. "Hello again, citizens of Locksmouth and, really, the world. It's me. Echelon." The inkling paused meaningfully. "Several hours ago, Natalie Grayswift and I teamed up to rid this world of the menace known as Empress Osoth. For the first time in my long, storied life, I was successful. Together with Natalie's friends and the help of the New Locksmouth Militia, the terrible despot that threatened both human and inkling alike was torn from her unwilling host. Using Mirror Slide, I sent her back to our world, Canvas, never to return.

"Osoth's reign of terror has ended. But even as I feel an incredible sense of relief and joy, I grieve for those of you who have lost so much. Your homes, your innocence, and though I hope against it despite all odds, perhaps even for some unfortunate souls, your lives. And though I accept all responsibility for this, my ultimate failure to protect you from her terrible wrath... it's my hope that you won't hold this against my people as a whole. For we, too, lived in fear of Osoth. We, as well, felt our bravery melt before her terrible power. Most of us have never known a life outside of kneeling before her, and all of those who have, were punished the worst, and barely resemble people anymore.

"Were it up to me, people of Earth, we would have contacted you. Worked with you. Tried to create friendships, and explore the endless new possibilities that joined life offers for all of us, with your permission... not terrified prostration. At the same time that I hope you'll forgive us, and even help us, I understand the reality that you owe us nothing, and that to ask would be a galling suggestion- an obscene gesture toward those we have wronged. Symbiotic life is something to be stepped into willingly by both human and inkling, not enforced.

"On that final note, I have one last thing to say, and that message belongs to Natalie. You are... the most incredibly brave, selfless, courageous person I've had the privilege of knowing. You stood up to nightmares both literal and not, fought away your doubts, and persevered where others would have quit, to no reasonable blame. It... would be easy to say at this point that the victories we shared, my role in saving your world from Osoth... entitle me to you. That I deserve a host, for my good deeds." She laughed sadly. "But that... would be the pinnacle of hypocrisy. You didn't choose me. You accepted me and took my mission despite this, but in the end, I forced myself onto you just the same as Osoth did to your mother. And it's for that reason... that I'm going back to Canvas."

The girl gasped softly. That feeling inside of her... the absence... it was Echelon.

"Please don't be sad, Natalie. My time with you was the happiest in my entire life. But you've got your own life to live, and I... need to forget... everything else." She paused. "Thank you, for everything."

Natalie looked to Carrie. "I-... Is Arus...?"

Cat nodded. "She went back with her." She looked down. "They all did."

The inkling's last few sentences played back in her mind. Don't be sad? How could she possibly? She hadn't even known she existed a week ago, but now, the idea that Echelon was just... gone... how could that even be? She hugged Carrie tightly, the two of them knowing the other felt exactly the same way.

"... Come on, kiddo," Lorna invited her. "You must be starving."

Natalie got as far as the first few tiles into the kitchen before she was accosted by a familiar little goat girl. "Natalie!!" She ran up and hugged her as tightly as she could.

For her part, the wolf girl could only laugh softly. "Heya, Gren." She saw her friends in various places around the kitchen, happy to see her. "Hey, guys!"

"You saved Grandpa!" If Gren's smile got any bigger, it would've popped right off her face.

"I-... I did??" she blinked.

"You did!" Erwin agreed. "When you defeated Osoth, everyone was freed from her ink pits. Not only that, but without her constant death signal going, people with inklings are no longer randomly attacking people." 

"Oh!" Natalie smiled. "So Kei's alright, too??"

The ferret frowned. "I... went back to see if Kei was still where we left him, but... he wasn't." He held up a single origami crane made out of paper-thin sheet metal. "He must have woken up while he was lucid and just decided to leave so he wouldn't endanger us."

"Oh." She put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll find him, Erwin. Don't worry."

Max nodded like a bobblehead, petting Gropey in his lap. "You bet we will! A lotta people are still scattered, but everyone's helping out. The ones from the ink pits were all pretty tired, but I didn't tell 'em it was prolly 'cause we did a super drain on 'em in the climactic final battle!"

"Well it was for a good cause!" Sam defended. "And more besides, I didn't notice anyone complaining when I was healing them later."

Jacent nodded in agreement, his eyes still black, but speckled with white as they cleared up. "The power you drew from the people of Locksmouth freed an enslaved people, rescued a terrified public, and saved my life," he explained. "Osoth's blow inserted a small mote of ink into me that tore at my wounds and prevented me from recovering. When you defeated her, I was delivered from certain demise." He smiled softly. "I am eternally grateful to you. And... by the looks of the plotted reconstruction efforts promised by your neighboring towns, I may just have to eventually find myself some school clothes after all," he admitted with some sense of amused defeat.

Natalie laughed. "Sorry, no heroic sacrifice this time." She patted the boy's back. "I'd rather keep you around. In fact, I'm glad to have all of you here."

"Thank you for saving us," Gren insisted. "I love you, Natalie, I wanna be just like you." She squeezed her tightly in her enthusiasm, causing the older girl to blush deeply.

"Better start reinforcing those pant seams now," Carrie cracked with a grin, earning a playful glare.

Grendolyn finally let Natalie go, realizing she probably would like to breathe in the near future. "I'm sorry about Echelon," she said with the kind of sympathy only a child could offer.

"... Me, too," Nat agreed somberly. "I'm gonna miss her a lot." 

"Maybe... Maybe you'll meet her again some day," Gren speculated. "You never know, after all."

"... Maybe," she responded, smiling softly.

Lorna returned from the fridge, carrying a little container. "I was saving the ingredients for a special occasion, but it's not every day your daughter saves the world from an evil alien queen." She smiled. "So, I made you some of that good old-fashioned pudding you like, with real sugar." With a chuckle, she put a cup of it down onto the breakfast nook. "Are you going to have some?"

Natalie looked around as everybody watched her expectantly- especially Carrie, who had a glint of the same mischief in her eyes from that very first day. "... Yes." She swaggered up to the stool, pulled it out, stepped onto the rungs and brought her big behind down on it with a brief jiggle, half of it hanging off the seat as she regarded her mother with a sanguine smile. "Yes, I am."

~The End~