*( mood song: "UNSECRET - CAN YOU HEAR ME")

As Erik went to sleep, Rose connected to his dreams 'let's see what that big deal about an eye was about' she sank into his mind, appearing in a gigantic dark cave, she could see Erik operating a military-grade top of the art cruiser titan armor from his world, an enormous hunk of metal controlled by a human pilot using his brain, she could even hear Erik shouting through the speakers "TODAY IS THE DAY I WIN BEAST! NOTHING SHALL EVER HARM MY FAMILY! POR ESPAÑA Y POR LA GLORIA!" his armor shooting dozens of missiles at the being, even plasma cannons and lasers, but even then... the darkness was everlasting, it was just pushed back momentarily, seeing that, Rose quickly connected to his subconscious mind 'i need to help him win... this is not a normal nightmare'

[Erik! can you hear me?!]

Erik: [Rose?! how are you in my dream?!]

[i was worried, we will talk about that later, I don't know what that eye is... but it's definitely not an illusion, we need to banish its connection to your mind!]

Erik: [what do you think I'm doing now?! inviting it to tea and cookies?!] his titan armor being pushed back, as the darkness ripped off one of the titan's arms, seemingly devouring it, as enormous gatling guns poured torrents of 100mm plasma explosive bullets into the darkness.

[Think Erik, what drives the darkness away? what makes the universe a bright place?]

Erik: [...a... star?... right! I need a star! thanks Rose!] his armor dissolving and turning into a star around him, its flames scorching the darkness in all directions but it still wasn't enough [Rose... I won't hold on for long...]

[you have to hold on Erik! I will try to look for a way!] thinking 'ugh, if only I could connect to that creature's mind... wait, maybe I can if it didn't evolve on this world and was lab-created... its worth a shot!' she then tapped that creature's connection and it went through 'success!'

Creature: "w..h..o..? this... prey... MINE!" a vision of an eye surrounded by darkness and tentacles transmitted to her.

Rose got angry [kukuku~ do you know loneliness beast? expending millions of years alone in pure darkness... you expect to scare me with just that? laughable...] her voice changed and became ghostly the combination of millions of voices in unison [*I WILL SHOW YOU HOW A MONSTER TRULY LOOKS LIKE!!!*] her mind sinking into the link and following it, at the end of it she saw a big abyssal beast that looked like a football fish, with a big enormous eye on her head, and a tumor husband attached on the side, its brain already dead, having thoroughly fused with the female long ago, and nothing but a source or sperm by now.

*( https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/57800/horrors-anglerfish-mating )

creature: [ha... ha... ha... my mind... I... invincible...]

[oh yeah?, WE WILL SEE ABOUT THAT~] her form changing from a white dot to a gigantic amalgamation of millions of creatures, the wall of flesh so tall not even the clouds could pass atop it

The creature was scared: [you... can't hurt me... I invincible... GYAAAAAHHH] right then a thorn shot from the wall of flesh and stabbed it.

[*YOU CAN FEEL PAIN... THEN I CAN KILL YOU!*] thorns stabbed and ground apart the beast again and again as it endlessly regenerated, making it beg before long.

creature: [please... mercy... you can keep that creature, but please no more...]

[*HE HE HE~ SOME THINGS... HAVE CONSEQUENCES! YOU DARED HURT MY FRIEND AND THAT... SHALL COST YOU YOUR LIFE!!! ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡BEGONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*] millions of thorns erupted, blocking the sun in all directions, as also millions of mouths shouted in unison, the combined air blast so powerful the mental world itself trembled.

creature: [this is... true darkness... GYAAAAH-] it said horrified before being ground to dust over and over again, lasting only one hour before she died from shock, deep in the caves, her body lying dead, her tumor husband dying too, having long ago fused with the female.

Rose came back to Erik's mind seeing him still struggling to keep up the sun [it's fine now Erik, that thing won't annoy you any longer! (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)ﻭ ]

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Erik opened his eyes tiredly [really?... is it finally over?]

[yes! it is over! ヽ(^o^)/]

The sun dispersed as Erik stood up tiredly [Rose... I... I owe you one]

[hehe, don't worry, I like helping you so-]

Erik cut her off [i mean it, I owe you one, thank you Rose]

[o-okay... but geez, don't talk so formally to me, you are making me feel weird...]

Erik sighed [you are right, you are a big help Rose, I wouldn't be able to survive without you...]

[awww Erik...]

Erik: [if only you weren't a pervert... sigh...]

[oi, what's with that last part? (・へ・)]

Erik avoided her question [anyways, since we are on my subconscious mind, can I see you?]

[see me?]

Erik: [yeah, don't you have a body?]

[i do..., but it's not humanoid by any means...]

Erik: [well, this is my mental world, so think of the body you would like to have]

[okay...] right at that moment, a body like Inky appeared "oh my~ it really worked... I... have a body..."

Erik: "why Inky, are you jealous?"

Rose: "...yes, but enough of that, there's something I've been dying to try, I wanna hug you" and she spread her arms "come!"

Erik shrugged: "well if that's it then it's easy to do" and hugged her, with Rose instantly starting to cry and hugging him strongly "what's wrong Rose? are you feeling bad?"

Rose: "n-no... it's just... for you it's just a hug but for me..., I had to spend millions of years in total darkness, I've wished for this for so long... when you arrived here I was so scared you would die and I would be alone again... I'm just... so glad.... just to have someone..."

Erik was moved "Rose... don't worry about those things okay? I won't go anywhere, you will never be alone again" the world then started dissipating "seems like I'm about to wake up" he lifted her chin and smiled while looking at her eyes "see you on the real world, my friend"

Rose nodded and gave him a kiss on the cheek "yeah, friend... thank you for being there for me Erik"

Erik smiled at her "always" and the dream world finally dissipated, moments later, Erik opened his eyes and woke up on his bed with Inky hugging him, he kissed her lips as she woke up "good morning my love"

Inky smiled and replied the same "good morning my love" burying her head on his chest as she rubbed her head on it.

[good morning my friend (≧▽≦)]

Erik smiled [ good morning Rose, do you actually sleep?]

[no, I just rest different parts of my brain]

Erik: [cool, like a dolphin]

[yeah..., more parts though, anyway, can't wait to hug you in real life (✿╹◡╹)]

Erik: [Yeah, anytime friend, lot's of things to do before that though] he carefully pushed Inky off "you can sleep some more if you want"

Inky: "no I *YAWN* I wanna help to..." and fell asleep again.

Erik kissed her forehead fondly and went away, walking down the hallway and taking a peek at Crabinas room, seeing her typing on a laptop he smiled "hey sweety!"

Crabina jumped in place "you scared me!" coming to him and hitting him with her small fists as Erik laughed loudly "you meanie! hmph!"

Erik reigned in his laugh and said "wanna see daddy cook?"

Crabinas eyes shining "yes!" she quickly climbed his leg and back, reaching his shoulder "to the kitchen daddy!"

Erik loudly laughed, patting her head "you are so cute, sweety"

Once in the kitchen he cut strips of abyssal skin with some fat below and patted them dry, having already prepared hot oil, then dropped them in and saw how the skin inflated, taking them out once they were brown and crispy, he was making torreznos, a dish from his land ha had made moray before, but this time using the thicker and fattier skin of an abyssal.

*( https://images.app.goo.gl/59wYquPY27Knm4tD6 )

The end result a curly and crispy treat, Erik picked one and was about to eat it, but was quickly snatched from his shoulder "careful, it's still ho-" but before he could warn her, Crabina ate it.

Crabina: "arg!! it's too hot!"

Erik: "spit it then!"

Crabina: "but it's too tasty..."

Erik facepalmed "well, that at least will teach you to just eat when I tell you it's fine to eat" he grabbed another one and blew air on it "see? now its fine to eat it, try it"

Crabina took it and bit on it, her face illuminating from the taste of the crispy treat "it's so gooooooodd!!! I want more!"

Erik chuckled "don't worry there's more than enough" and ate one himself 'it's tougher than a pig torrezno but crunchier than even moray... I like it' he made an entire bowl of them and carried it out, after also leaving a plate full on the kitchen table.

Crabina was confused "why you leave food there daddy?"

Erik: "it's for Inky when she wakes up, she will be happy eating it, the same way it made you happy too" and touching her forehead when saying that.

[i also wanna try it... (T⌓T)]

Erik: [well, nothing I can do about that, read my memories about the taste then?]

[It's not the same.... (⋟﹏⋞)]

Erik: [no more ideas then]

--- octopeople city ---

Erik arrived with Crabina on his shoulder, both of them eating torreznos from a bowl he was carrying. Erik looked at Shana and asked "are the preparations ready?"

Shana was a bit amused by the duo but replied seriously "yes, the rocks are ready to be lifted"

Erik nodded "that's great, we must start soon after all" he then looked at Timberly "was the... experiment successful?"

Timberly nodded with a smile "if she can get pregnant then she is, hehe~ I pumped her plentiful and-"

Erik stopped her, signaling at Crabina focused on eating torreznos on his shoulder "I'm glad it went well, I will check on the... subject in some days, we will know for sure then" thinking 'i also need to check on Trutk and the others... I left them food for some days but Trutk probably already ate it all..., sigh, I need to find ways to make him stronger so he can be a better vessel too, and faster muscles too, he would be more versatile that way, and a humanoid head would be amazing too... so many things to change...'