Once again, credits to cuddledot on Tumblr for making the Inkblot disease. :)

Day 1

"Sure is a nice day for a walk. Can't believe we were actually able to pull that final battle off, and even get the Octolings on our side. Integrated societies are a thing now, huh?" Matt was walking through the now-empty Octo Canyon, enjoying the scenery. "I wonder what made me ignore this whole place, it's actually pretty good." Going around the area, he noticed an out of place rock. He lifted it up, and it revealed a hatch. He cracked the lock on it open with his hands, and opened it up. He coughed a bit, due to the amount of dust that built up inside the hatch. He jumped in, and found the place to be, as expected, very dark. He took out a flashlight and turned it on, and began searching the surroundings. It looked like an abandoned lab, as there are numerous research notes and other scientific paraphernalia scattered about on the area. He picked one up, and the header of the file said it was about something called the "Inkblot Project". Judging by the fact that there was, oddly enough, black ink scattered about, something definitely didn't go right here. He carefully walked forward, and found broken glass, more papers, and even more puddles of black ink. "Jeez, what the hell happened here...?" Matt asked himself, disturbed by the current situation. He found a room labeled "Testing", and went inside.

There was a glass cube, and outside it was a bunch of desks and papers and stuff. Inside however, it was a black mess of ink, and scarily enough, one of the panes of glass is broken. He quickly retreated out, and looked for somewhere else. This time, he found a room called "Prison", and carefully went inside. He was met with a large room with cages, all having a few broken bars. At his feet were puddles of black ink, and he tried not to step in it. Looking around the area, there were lots more puddles, sometimes practical buckets of ink. Suddenly, he heard a strange splashing noise, along with some gurgling. If any horror movies and video games taught him anything, that meant he needed to get away from whatever's making the noises. He started going for the exit, but before he did, the noises got louder. Right as he was at the door, the monstrosity that was making the noises showed itself. The Cephamalgam, as it was named in a bunch of research documents Matt read, was a huge, mobile black inky monster. It had plenty of eyeballs as well, and had tentacles sticking out of it. Matt screamed, and dashed out, while the Cephamalgam followed suit. He ran as fast as he could, but the place was so big, it was practically a maze. The monster was following him, all throughout the facility. Every single dark spot was a possible area where the Cephamalgam could pop up, so Matt had to stay vigilant. In what was a blessing to him, he found the entrance hatch out of the area. He looked behind him and saw the Cephamalgam chasing after him, and remembering one of the papers mentioning that it was stunnable by fire, he armed an incendiary grenade, threw it down as he climbed up the hatch, sealed it off, and heard the explosion from the grenade, as well as a damaged gurgle from the monster he had just sealed away. "Phew... That was close." He told himself when he started walking, unaware about the black patch of ink that had gotten onto his leg.

Day 2

Matt woke up, feeling kind of weak. He was coughing a lot, and felt a bit fatigued from his actions. Even walking seemed difficult for him, and he was sweating a lot more than usual. He took out his phone, and called someone he could ask for help. "Kinzie... Can you come over please? I need your help..." "Oh? What is it? You sound kinda sad... I'll be there, don't worry." A few minutes later, Kinzie knocked on Matt's door. "You were here pretty quick." "Of course, why wouldn't I be? Hang on, why are do you look so... strange?" She was correct, as Matt's fingertips and ears were growing black, and his ink color was fading. "I'm not really sure, since this only happened today. Do you have any idea what's going on?" "No, but we need to get you to a doctor. Stat." Kinzie took Matt's car keys, and dragged him to the elevator. 30 floors later, they got to the ground floor. Matt could still walk, but Kinzie needs to help him so he doesn't fall on his face. After getting to the car, she got in the driver's seat, while Matt had to stay in the passenger one. They went to Inkopolis General Hospital, where she brought Matt out of the car, and into the building. Thankfully, it wasn't busy today, and there were no people in the waiting room. The receptionist took one look at Matt, widened her eyes, and took her phone from her desk. "We have a case of Inkblot! Get a stretcher and some doctors here now!" Some Inklings entered from the emergency room, carrying a stretcher. Kinzie helped put him down on it, and the doctors took him away. Kinzie looked heavy hearted, as seeing her love in that condition is always heart-punching.

She followed them to the next room, where it was a glass box, with a bed and other utilities inside. They rolled Matt in, put him on the bed with gloved hands, and exited quickly, making sure to close the door behind them. Kinzie slightly panicked at the sight, and started asking questions. "Why are you putting him in that thing?" She asked a doctor. "He's got a rare condition called the Inkblot disease. It affects anyone that comes into contact with a previous victim, or with black ink that comes from the victims themselves. We have to contain him to see if this gets any worse." The Octoling doctor responded, but Kinzie still was worried. She usually wasn't like this. Normally, she'd be the happy-go-lucky girl that was rescued from the picture frame. Now, she's severely taking a hit to her own self esteem. Unfortunately, this was only the start of her sanity's deterioration...

Day 3

Kinzie returned to the hospital, and found Matt awake in his bed inside the containment chamber. It wasn't that unusual to see the hospital empty, but seeing as they have a highly dangerous disease's victim in the basement, it sounds a lot more sinister. She entered the Containment Area, where Matt's cell was being kept. "Heya, Kinzie." "Hi Matt. How ya holding up in there?" "I'm doing fine; the stuff they put in here's actually useful. I haven't been to the hospital in a while, so this is a real surprise to me. How about you? Having any trouble without me around?" Matt gave a lighthearted chuckle, while Kinzie simply kept a frown. She was seriously worried about him, but Matt wanted to make the best of things. "Are they at least keeping you safe?" "Yeah, they do give me food at least. Being this dangerous has its perks, eh?" He chuckled again, and Kinzie finally smiled. She was glad that at least he was okay for the meantime. "So, have they found a way to fix you yet?" "Nope. But they did tell me they were working on it. Apparently, my condition's treatment is so damn unused; they don't even make it anymore. So, they still have to find a way to make it in time. I'm gonna be here a while due to that." Kinzie's smile quickly faded, and she started frowning again. "I just hope you'll be okay, Matt. I can't imagine living without you." "Aww, don't worry. I'm sure I'll be out of here in a bit of time. Just sit tight, okay?" Kinzie smiled and nodded, before slowly turning for the door. Matt suddenly called out to her. "By the way, I forgot to give you something." Kinzie walked slowly to a small window in the chamber, where Matt could hand things from inside. He opened the window inside, put in a small, rectangular box, and closed it. "Don't open it until the very end of things, okay? I wanna make sure you'd have something to remember me by, just in case." She opened the window on her side, and took the box. It wasn't too heavy, so she put it into her jacket. "I'll make sure of that, don't worry..." She gave a small smile, and Matt did the same. "I'll see ya later, I guess..." Kinzie told Matt before exiting. In reality, she wasn't as okay as she'd make you think.

Day 5

Matt's condition was getting worse. His ink color was now completely black, and his hands had become completely black. His eye color was now gone as well, clarifying his current situation. Kinzie was growing more and more worried by the second, even hitting occasional slips of sanity. But she's still able to keep herself together, as long as she and Matt get to interact. Kinzie returned to the hospital, only to find Matt unconscious on the floor. She was practically horrified by the sight, and called for a doctor. "That's normal, since we've noticed his legs have begun melting. It's part of the disease's effects." Kinzie couldn't listen to the answer, as he's making it sound like it's no big deal, when it obviously IS. "We can't do anything about it, as one touch and we'd be infected, making the whole thing much worse. She could only hold onto the glass since she'd be afflicted if she came into contact with him. Matt suddenly woke up, but when he tried standing up, he could barely do it. He needed to grab onto the bed, and sit down just to keep himself upright. He looked up, and saw Kinzie. She in turn saw the very sad look on his face. "Hey again, Kinz... How ya doing back home? Is the house clean-"His words were interrupted by coughing, and he had to get up and grab onto the sink just to vomit. His vomit was black ink, another symptom of his illness. Kinzie covered her mouth in shock, and couldn't look away. She turned to the doctor in the room who accompanied her there. "Can't you help him at all!? He's suffering in there!" "We can't, ma'am. We still haven't found the cure, or any treatment for that matter. He's stuck like this." Kinzie punched the doctor square in the face, and hugged the glass. Matt saw this, and hugged the glass in the same spot Kinzie did. "I'm sorry I have to worry you like this, Kinzie, but I... I can't stop this." Tears started flowing down Kinzie's face when he said that, and she ended up running out of the room, leaving Matt looking at the door she left from, worried for her this time.

Back at Kinzie's apartment, she had shut the door fast, locked it, ran over to the couch, and punched into it. She crashed down, and kept on crying. After crying for several minutes, something snapped in her. Suddenly, she stopped crying, sat upright, and a smile started to grow on her face. "Don't worry, everything will be fine... He's just sick, that's all! He'll be fine... The doctors are lying... He's not incurable... He'll be fine! Hahahaha! HahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Her insane laughter echoed through the whole apartment. Eventually, she started feeling fatigued, but it was due to her not having sleep for the past 5 days. She fell asleep shortly after...

Day 10

Several more days had passed. Daily visits from Kinzie had helped Matt keep his spirits up, even in his current condition. Kinzie on the other hand, wasn't holding up too well. She didn't look too good at home, due to withdrawal from Matt's presence. However, things were about to get a lot worse for her today... During her regular visit to Matt's hospital, when she arrived there, she was horrified to see Matt practically melting, with his limbs a mess of black ink instead of the normal blackness. She ran to the glass, and looked through in fear. Matt looked back up and tried to stand up, but he only fell back down due to his legs not being able to support him. He crawled to the window with his inked up and melted arms, and tried looking up at Kinzie. She was crying at the window, and it was the last thing Matt saw before blacking out. Kinzie buried her face in her hands and ran away sobbing her eyes out. Even the staff present felt bad for her, since it was obvious he was the most important in her life. She ran to the car, crawled inside, and drove off quickly. She somehow didn't hit anything on the way, and went straight up to her apartment. As soon as she entered the place and closed the door, she dropped to the ground unconscious. It was pitiful to see her like that...

Day 15

Two weeks have passed since initial containment, and Kinzie hasn't visited Matt since she saw him 5 days ago. She couldn't muster the courage to go back to the hospital and look at him again. She'd been trying to hold on to her mental health, but it didn't seem to work. So, tonight, she'll go back to the hospital and visit him, while the last of her inner sanity was running out. And so, she did. At 9:00 in the evening, she drove to the hospital and carefully went into the Containment Zone. However, she was unsettled by strange gurgling noises. Inside Matt's containment chamber was... A pool of black ink? Kinzie was surprised by it, and she got closer to it. Suddenly, out from the puddle was Matt's head, made entirely of black ink. Kinzie screamed and fell backwards, and crawled away. "WHAT THE SHELL IS THAT!?" "That's... him, ma'am. He's gone to the terminal stage. He's nothing but a pool of black ink. We're sorry." Kinzie's eyes started tearing up, before the waterworks started flowing. "He's been like that since yesterday, and standard protocol needs us to euthanize him to prevent further infections. But since you're his girlfriend, we thought it was best to let you know about it before we do the process." Through teary eyes, she could understand what the doctor was saying. "Thank you for letting me know, I guess you can go ahead..." The doctor nodded, and told the others to go for it. They guided the melted Matt into a different room from the containment chamber, and Kinzie watched through the glass. Someone in a hazmat suit entered the chamber, carrying a bucket. When what used to be Matt tried attacking them, they poured out the contents of the bucket: Hydrofluoric acid. The liquid drenched the monster, as it let out some very disturbing gurgles and muffled screams. All the while, Kinzie was crying uncontrollably. After the screams and gurgles died down, the ink stopped moving completely. It was dead. Matt was dead. Kinzie opened her eyes one more time to look at it, and she completely lost it. Now that Matt was gone, every last shred of sanity had left her. She got up, walked past the doctor without saying a word, and left the hospital. She got in the car, and drove home. She went up to Matt's room, and shut the door. She looked at the small box that Matt gave her, and remembered his words. She opened it up, and inside was something that really caught her off guard: a sky-blue bladed Bowie knife with a polished mahogany wood handle, with M + K inscribed on the handle in lapis lazuli. Alongside it in the box was a note. It read: "Kinzie, I know I'm not gonna survive this. I know that my fate has been sealed by this disease. I just want you to know, you're the best person in my life. And if you followed my instructions and opened this box when my life came to a close, then just know that I'll never leave you, even in the afterlife. I'll always remember you, and I hope you remember me as well. Just remember, you're the best girlfriend ever. I love you. – Matt" Kinzie broke down into tears, completely flooding her face and clogging up her vision. She took the knife, looked at it, and decided it was time to join him. She couldn't live without him, so she decided to go to him. She twisted the knife, pointed it at her chest, and thrusted into her chest. Over and over, she kept stabbing herself. She was smiling when she was doing it, as she knew she would join her love once more. She started slowing down in the stabs, and with one final shank, buried it deep into her heart. She held onto it, and with her final act, dropped onto her back. Her vision was blacking out, and with a final breath, let out her last words.

"I'll be there in a moment, my love."