Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There really aren't any competent people around here anymore, thought the impostor grumpily as they strolled down the elegant hallway, appearing much more calm and collected than they actually felt. Well, except for me, of course. And the Commander realizes that.

A few moments earlier, after reviewing the records and statistics of the last missions (which were abominable as usual) they had been called to a private meeting with Commander Grey. It wasn't often that they did this, they usually just communicated via the recently added messaging system in The Hub. The impostor personally thought this was a horrible idea; having an app on their stolen iMiras was risky enough, complicated calculator unlock code not withstanding. It could still be hacked; they, of all people, should know that.

This is what they ruminated on as they headed for Commander Gray's office. They had to think of something apart from What this could possibly mean for them. Better to think of the misdeeds of others, so as not to wallow in their own (possible) ones.

All too soon they arrived at the office, and knocked at the door. Their stomach churns (if only they hadn't eaten recently so they could shift it away) because of their anxiety, and it seems like forever and only a second simultaneously when an authoritative but calm "Enter" is heard. With a deep breath, the impostor reaches out a trembling hand and turns the knob.

Impostors' natural names are strange [and impossible to pronounce] for their human prey, so instead they follow the tradition established by MIRA, and go by the human name of their natural skin coloration. This word, their alias that feels more like their primary name than that, is the first thing the commander says after they gaze upon them.

"Cyan, I am pleased that you were able to come in such a timely manner." They didn't sound pleased, in fact, their tone was quite frosty, but that's how they always spoke. Maybe that's why they ended up having a stationary but respected job here on planet Moogus; they certainly have the right mindset to be an impostor, but there is just something uncanny about them that would make it impossible for them to fit in with the human crewmates.

"It is my purpose to please you, My Liege, to make you and our people proud." Cyan manages to say one of the many lines they had practiced while getting ready this morning. It's not that it wasn't genuine, but Supreme Commander Grey's presence was one of the few things that intimidated them. Cyan was one, if not the top-ranked impostor, killing more humans and returning unscathed from more missions than anyone else in recent history. They would sooner throw themself out of an airlock than embarrass themself in front of the Commander.

"Indeed," Grey purred lowly, and Cyan couldn't tell if they were impressed or mildly irritated. "Have a seat. I have a proposition for you."

Cyan hadn't known what to expect when they were called to meet with Grey personally. They knew from the whisperings of their classmates in the dead of night back at the Impostor Academy years ago that you were only called upon in such a manner for something very bad or extremely good. And Cyan… they didn't know what to make of this… mission? Was this a new mission?

"Red is alive?" They can barely keep themself from shouting. How could Red, the hopeless whelp of a trainee, who followed them around like an earth animal hoping for a treat, survive? "B-but they—I thought for sure that they would perish!"

"So did we," The Supreme Commander sighs. "But we have received evidence that would have us believe that they are still alive and well aboard the MIRA vessel." They said the word 'MIRA' as if it were bad food they were trying to spit out. "They are still active on The Hub, and I doubt that any of those humans could've gotten into their iMira."

"Luckily for us, there will soon be a new crewmate joining their ranks: a cyan crewmate, to be exact. This would be a perfect opportunity for you to inspect the situation. And even if they are dead, well, it is a perfect opportunity for you to finish what they started. You are an excellent asset to our cause, and I have no doubt that you will succeed where they have failed us." They lean forward in their chair, their gaze intense, but still unreadable. "Will you do this, Cyan? Will you bring honor to your people?"

At those words, Cyan could feel a fire starting up inside, burning away their prior indigestion. It had been a while since they had struck fear [and knives] into the hearts of humans… and it would be nice to see what had become of that weakling Red… Was there even a question here?

"When do I leave?"

Chapter Text

"Psst, Red?" Yellow whispers, barely louder than the low humming of The Skeld. She turns her head sideways, just enough to get a hazy view of the bed across from hers. "Red, are you still awake?"

At first, all there is to respond to her voice is the quiet rustling of sheets, and yellow worries that she may have woken her vent buddy. But then they speak, and their voice is clear of sleep.

"Yes," They say simply. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good." The girl says quickly to ease the impostor's worry. "But, I can't sleep. I know that I really should, but I just can't!"

More rustling. Yellow can't be sure since it's so dark (it tends to be that way in space without lights on) but she's pretty sure they're rolling over to face her. They can probably see me just fine, she muses. However similar their species might look or act like humans, they're not, and they're stronger in many ways.

"I can't sleep either." This is a surprise for Yellow; usually they're up late into the night, fiddling around with their stolen iMira. Unless they weren't choosing to do so and were staying up because of insomnia, but Red would tell her if that's the case, right? They hadn't been doing this friendship thing [for real] for very long, but seeing as they'd spilled their entire sad backstory to her days earlier, she was relatively certain that they knew they could confide in her.

When it became evident that the impostor wasn't going to keep the conversation going, Yellow decided to take it on herself to do so. A crewmate's work is never done, so it seems. "Are you nervous? I know I am, I mean I've been concentrating on well, stuff and wasn't really thinking about the mission. Now that it's done, I'm not sure what comes next. We'll be stopping by one of MIRA's space stations tomorrow for them to check up on us and maybe get a new mission, but I don't know what it'll be, and neither does White. Moreover, I don't know if MIRA'll keep our crew together."

Silence reins in the duo's shared quarters for a second, but it's not the semi-relaxed sort of silence of before. Nope, definitely more like the 'in space, no one can hear you scream' type of silence. Yellow joked to herself.

Did she ramble too much? She did tend to do that sort of thing when she was overtired…

"I was afraid… that… that might be a possibility." Red's voice, thin and wavering in the dark, like the last ray the sun would ever emit. With their words, a terrifying truth began worming its way into Yellow's heart, and it was all she could do not to gasp like the oxygen had been sabotaged.

Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!

If MIRA decided, for whatever reason, that Red should go to another crew… Even if they were always on their best behavior, Red didn't know diddly squat about performing tasks. They'd get caught as an impostor, for sure. And then… Well, needless to say, there was a lot more than social anxiety at play here for the poor alien.

She'd barely registered that she'd started moving when she was almost at Red's bedside. Axie and Lottie swam towards her in their tank as if to say, "Clingy much?" But she wouldn't let her pets' perceived judgement stop her. It was her job to complete tasks, and complete tasks, she would! Even if said tasks weren't assigned by MIRA or Captain White; that was a mere formality!

Basically, her sleep-deprived brain had decided that this scary situation caused for some cuddles, and she agreed with that. Furthermore, she tended to be paranoid when overtired, and thus thought her axolotls to be judging her. When she woke up the next morning, she would think back on this and realize: that's totally out of character for those two! More than likely, they wished to join in on the love. Which they couldn't do as they were unable to stay out of the water for long and would probably get crushed. And their jealousy because of this would result in their slightly spiteful aura as she was making her way over to Red's bed.

But presently, Yellow wasn't thinking about any of this; she just wanted some cuddles. And judging by how Red scooted over and lifted a corner of the covers, they agreed with the sentiment.

And so, she found herself lying down on her left side on Red's bed, curling up against the warmth of the impostor's stomach. They draped their arm around her waist, gently pulling her even closer with a contented little sigh.

"I don't know why," they begin softly so as not to hurt Yellow's ear. "But I didn't expect you to be so soft without your suit. I mean, I can feel your—ribs? Is that what they're called?"

Yellow's about to answer in the affirmative, when Red moves their arm! Yellow lets out a whine of disappointment before the alien's hand is gently prodding at her side, probably feeling her ribs. It felt somewhat like a massage, so she decided to let it slide for now. They'd better start spooning me again soon, though, or we might have a problem.

"They're hard, but so thin! If you fell wrong, they'd snap. Not to mention the gaps in between, you could just slip a knife right through and—wait, wait!" Red stops abruptly, catching themself doing something. Yellow's brain is too much in need of sleep [and oxytocin] to really know what this was about.

"Crap," They say, a word learned from her no doubt. 'Crap' was her favorite semi-swear.

Wait, are they rolling away from me? Oh this won't do, no this won't do at all! Yellow quickly rolls as fast as someone in her state could, grasping onto her vent buddy's middle before they have an unpleasant encounter with the floor. Apparently, they had forgotten how small the bed was. "Mmh!"

"S'okay, Red." She murmurs as she hugs them close. 'It's okay' is a good phrase to use when someone's upset, Yellow knows. And it'd be good if Red wasn't upset anymore; that meant they could go back to snuggling properly. Proper cuddles could only happen if both parties were enjoying themselves, after all.

Red shutters slightly in her grasp, gently clasping her hand in theirs. Yellow notes that there's not any bone or vein under their skin that she can feel' more like this unidentifiable rubbery sort of mass stuff holding their shape together. She liked the feel of it.

"Yellow," they say, voice small. "You know that I would never hurt you, right?"

Red didn't know that?! It would seem that the middle of the night wasn't the best time to have a conversation like this one, as Yellow found herself clinging to Red tighter and trying to blink away the burning in her eyes. "Of course!" She says, almost a bit too loudly. "We're friends, of course I know that you wouldn't hurt me!"

Red must've heard the tears about to come, for their grip on her hand tightens.

"I believe you." They say, with a tone of finality. They seemed to also pick up that this was a conversation best left til morning.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE, LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!"

"GAH!" Red and yellow both jolted into wakefulness at the sound of Green's yelling. He had barged into their room, shouting at the top of his lungs for a reason neither could fathom.

"Er, what are you two up to?" The crewman asks, thankfully at a much more reasonable volume.

"We could ask you the same," The impostor grumbled, trying to disentangle themself from the blanket burrito they and Yellow had accidentally wrapped themselves in during the night.

Yellow lets out a massive yawn as she rubs her eyes, displaying the abyss of her throat for all to see. "Well, we were sleeping before you barged in here. That was super rude, by the way."

Green gets a skeptical look. "Together?"

Yellow looks baffled and a little disgusted, while Red is just confused. "Yes?"

Yellow manages to untangle herself at that moment, standing up to be at eye-level with Green. "Look, man, we kinda had a rough night and you're not helping. Would you mind leaving? … Please? We need to get ready, anyway."

Ah, wonderful Yellow. Red muses. Never afraid to say it how it is.

Green sighs. "Fine. Get your suit on. Captain White wants to talk to us over breakfast."

"What's his problem?" The impostor grumbles once the crewman has left. Green had always been the most hostile towards them, and impostors in general. On one hand they couldn't blame him for that, but on the other, hadn't they proved themself to not be a threat (or at least not as much of a threat) by now? They supposed they would just have to be patient, but it was hard.

"Beats me." Yellow says as she begins pulling out her suit and other things she'll need to start her day from the storage unit. "I understand why he'd want to wake us up, but did he really have to do it like that?"

Red sighs. They had just remembered what day it was, and nervousness was beginning to bubble up from deep inside of them. They hoped that if anyone was watching from above, they'd be on their side.

Chapter Text

Breakfast started out silent and awkward. Maybe it was because this was the first time the crew had sat down for a meeting since the time Red was exposed, or because nobody had acknowledged the elephant in the room, or something else entirely. Whatever it was, it’d hardly been going on for a minute when Yellow was sic of it. It was messing with her ability to enjoy her food, and anything that did that was clearly the spawn of Satan.

“So, uh, captain?” she begins, her mouth dry even though she’d just taken a drink. She’d told her vent buddy the night before that it’d be okay, that she could keep them together and safe (maybe not those exact words but still), but now that the time had actually come to discuss it, she was nervous as all heck. “You said we were going to have a meeting.”

“What?” The captain seemed startled, as if he had wanted the crew to forget. “Oh, yes. Of course. As you know, our mission is coming to a close. You all did very well. But this will be no ordinary report to MIRA.”

“Because of the impostor.” Green blurts, earning himself a scowl from Yellow, and odd looks from everyone else.

“Because of Red, yes.” Yellow doesn’t know whether to be upset with White for not reprimanding Green, or happy that he didn’t just agree with him.

“Couldn’t we just act like Red’s just another human crewmate like all of us?” Blue asks.

“That won’t work,” purple replies. “MIRA already knows there’s an impostor onboard.”

“But couldn’t we just say the message was a false alarm?”

“There are no false alarms.” Green says, sounding quite ominous. Which made yellow snort because the crewman just so happened to have a milk mustache at the moment. “That just doesn’t happen.”

“Well, we can’t just go to MIRA and say ‘Hey, we befriended a murderous alien. Can we keep it?’”

Green bursted out laughing, while Red muttered, “…What?” With a blank expression.

“Red’s not murderous,” Yellow defends, but no one paid her any attention. Not that they would have taken her seriously, since she was trying to hold down a fit of giggles and not choke on her toast.

“Unfortunately, I’m inclined to think Blue is right.” The captain informed grimly once they had all calmed down. “I doubt MIRA would understand if we tried to explain this to them. I don’t even know if I fully understand.”

“Even if we do try to keep this under the radar,” Purple cuts in. “What will happen if they split us up?”

“Red doesn’t know much about tasks, they’ll be exposed for sure.” Yellow really didn’t want to say it out loud, as that would make it more real. But what choice did she have? Her crew needed to know how serious this really is.

The six of them sat in grim silence for a few moments. Well, all of them except Green, who just looked constipated.

White sighed as he idly stirred his coffee. “This isn’t an easy situation.”

“You’re telling me.” Green mutters.

“I think the best thing we can do for now is simply do our best not to call attention to Red, and deal with problems as they arise.”

“Oh, look at this!” Yellow squealed as she gawked at a display. She and Red were hanging out in the little shop for MIRA employees they had in the spaceport the mission report would be taking place in. It was perched precariously on a little asteroid in the middle of nowhere, but Red supposed that was for the best. It wasn’t likely for any impostors to stumble upon it, or actively search for it.

Currently, the two were in the cosmetics department, browsing the various odds and ends that could be added to a crewmate’s spacesuit. “I used to wear overalls all the time when I was little! I can’t believe I didn’t know about this before!”

“Um, are those grease stains?”

“Doesn’t matter, it builds character!” And before Red can get in another word, Yellow has already snatched a pair of greasy blue overalls from the shelf and is practically shoving them into the face of the woman standing behind the checkout counter. “Hey! I wanna buy these, how much?”

“Twenty credits,” The woman mutters as she takes the clothes and eyes them, along with Yellow herself.

“HOLY CRAPSICKLES!!!” Red’s vent buddy hollers, causing them to feel second-hand embarrassment, as everyone in the room is now staring at the scene. Yellow either doesn’t notice or just doesn’t care, because she just keeps shouting. “You’ve gotta be kidding me! Lucky I’ve got my heart set on this outfit, or there’d be no way I’d pay this much. Seriously, MIRA, you’re killing me, man!”

The cashier stares. Her eyes slowly widen as she looks the girl over. “…Aurie?”

“W-wha?” Yellow gawks, and Red can’t help but let out a little gasp at hearing this stranger say their friend’s real name. Well, nickname, but still.

“D-do I know you?” Yellow stammers, looking absolutely bewildered.

At this, the cashier looks crestfallen. “You don’t recognize me, Aurelia? It’s me! Rose!”

Who? The impostor wonders, still baffled. Yellow, on the other hand, has an entirely different reaction.

“Rose!” She squeals, jumping up and down and waving her arms. “I can’t believe it! Wow! It really is you!”

“Same, girl!” The cashier, whose name is apparently Rose, puts the overalls on the counter so she can come out from behind it and give Yellow a hug. “You did it! You’re working for MIRA!”

“You too! Man, I wish you were on our crew, we’ve had all sorts of amazing stuff happen so far. Oh!” Just then, Yellow seems to remember Red’s presence, and she whirls to face them. “Rose, I’d like you to meet my best friend from the crew: Red! Or Rowen, if you’d prefer. They’ve helped so much with my adjustment to life in space, and I definitely wouldn’t have had as easy, or as good of a time without them.”

“Is that so? Well…” Rose meets Red’s gaze, and they freeze. Something in her expression, her posture changes slightly as she reaches out a hand to shake. Is it their imagination, or did she squeeze a little harder than necessary when they shook?

Or, am I just being paranoid? I mean, I’ve been nervous lately, and Yellow trusts her. Then again she trusted me at first, could she…

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, and I’m thrilled little Aurie had someone like you along for the ride.” Rose smiles, and it looks totally genuine. But before Any of them could say anything else, a stern voice cuts them off.

“Ms. Parker, please get back to work.”

“Oh boy,” Rose mutters as she steps back behind the counter. “These guys don’t mess around.” She picks up the overalls, and the girls resume the odd process of buying something. It has multiple steps: scanning a card, placing an iMira into a strange machine, among other things. Red doesn’t understand why it needs to be so complicated.

“There ya go, they’re all yours, Aurie!” Rose says cheerfully as she tosses the clothes to their new owner, much to her delight. “By the way, are you here for the mission report?”

“Yup,” Yellow replies. “And honestly? We’re both pretty nervous about it. We’re scared they’ll split us up.”

“Awww, they won’t do that. And if they do, just give me a ring. I’ll fix it right up for you. Or if you have any other problems as well. I’m always ready to help a friend.”

“Thanks, Ro! Oh my gosh, these are soooo awesome! I wanna put ‘em on right now!”

Rose, who before seemed a bit put out, seems to be catching some of Aurelia’s enthusiasm. She smiles in a sort of wistful way as she motions towards a small, nearby door. “You can. There’s a dressing room right over there. I wouldn’t mind keeping your friend company while you go change.”

“Yes! Thank you! I’ll be right back, guys!”

As Yellow skips away to put on her new outfit, Red starts to realize something that makes their stomach drop. They actually don’t know that much about their vent buddy. They knew some things: she was raised by her uncle, her mother was killed by their people, she’d always loved the idea of the supernatural. But even though it felt like a lot, even though they felt like they knew her really well, there were still a lot more things to discover.

Rose was the proof of that. She and Yellow interacted like they were old friends, yet Red hadn’t even heard of her before this.

There were things Yellow didn’t know about them, but the impostor didn’t want her to know. There was no reason to, and it would only make her sad. Red hates it when Yellow is sad.

“So, Red.” Rose’s voice jogs them from their musings. “Have you worked for MIRA long?”

“Huh?” Oh, come on! Why a question like this now? Quick, Rowen! Come up with something on the fly! Make it casual and natural, like the Academy taught you—oh, why didn’t I make a backstory before? I knew I’d forgotten to do something—well, better fix that quick! “Oh, not really. I’m actually not that much newer than Yellow. Heh. One of the reasons we get along so well, maybe.”

“Mmm-hmm…” For a split second, Rose’s eyes seem to narrow, but Red soon realizes that her gaze is directed towards the display of the machine she’d had Yellow put her phone into. “We seem to be having an influx of new employees lately. Luckily, the new addition to your crew is not a newbie; they’re supposedly a veteran. Survived through countless impostor attacks; definitely what you need during these hectic times…”

'New addition to your crew’ was pretty much the only words Red registered before their brain almost blue-screened. “A new crewmate?”

Rose gasps, her face flushing the color of her name. “Ugh, I wasn’t supposed to tell you that… forget I said anything.”

Red wants to pry, but they also don’t want to get Yellow’s friend in trouble. In the end, they decide to ask something else they would like to know. “So, uh, how long have you known Yellow for?”

Rose is very eager to move past her embarrassment, and the answer comes easily. “Oh, me and Aurelia? We go way back! We actually met in first grade. Aurie wanted to sit on the R on the carpet because ‘the letter’s in my name!’ We got into a fight over it and both started crying, but then we bonded during recess because neither of us had anyone to play with, and the rest is history.”

Red gapes. They have no idea what the cashier is talking about.

Yellow twirled in front of the mirror. She wasn’t sure what exactly it was about overalls, but she just couldn’t get enough of them. Maybe it was because she wore them a lot as a kid, and they made her feel safe? Maybe it was because they had a lot of pockets? Or maybe they were just super comfortable? Whatever it was, she was in heaven, and the grease stains really did give the outfit character. Red will think so too, once they see them on me! She thinks gleefully and bounces out the door.

“Excuse me, miss?”

“GAHHHH!” Yellow jumps at the unexpected voice right behind and slightly to the left of her. She whirls around to see a stranger eying her, and her stomach lurches in a funny way. “W-where did you come from?”

The stranger takes a few steps back. “Oh, my apologies.” They say, in a slightly quieter tone. “I simply wish to know if I am in the right place.”

Dang, a little on the fancy and formal side, aren’t ya bud? Yellow thinks to herself once her heart returns to a normal rhythm. “That depends,” She begins, putting her hands in the pockets of her new overalls. “Tell me where you wanna be, and I’ll let you know the best I can.”

“Wonderful.” The stranger is smiling now, but at the same time, they’re eying Yellow as though she’s an ancient scripture written in a long forgotten dialect that they were trying to puzzle out. “I’m here for the post-mission report for Crew 456. I am answering my summons from MIRA to join them on a follow-up task.”

At those words, Yellow’s anxiety melts almost completely. They weren’t getting split after all! They were getting a new member. “Oh, no way!” She squeals, jumping up and down. “That’s my crew! The meeting isn’t starting just yet, but it will be super soon. How about we go join my friend, and we’ll all go.”

“Perfect.”

“Yay! Come on!” Yellow reaches out to take her soon-to-be new crewmate’s hand, decides it’s too soon, and instead uses it to motion for them to follow her. “I’m the yellow crewmate.” She says excitedly as she trots along, the new person following along at a slower pace. “But you probably knew that because, y’know I’m… wearing a yellow suit—what about you? I’ve seen that color before, but I don’t remember what it’s called.”

“Ah.” Suddenly, they’re right next to Yellow, even though they’re not really going any faster. “You may call me Cyan.”

Chapter Text

"And just like that, the whole kitchen was on fire! And Aurie started trying to put it out by throwing baking soda at it, but she kept missing, and then her uncle picked that time to show up."

It turned out that even though they seemed a bit different at first, as Red was finding out, Yellow and Rose did have quite a bit in common. One of those things being that once they started talking, there was a good chance that it would be awhile before they stopped. Not that Red minded, of course. They'd never been the most talkative sort, always preferring to listen and absorb information. This particular info wasn't helpful for survival purposes, but it was interesting.

Rose had been telling them stories about when she and Yellow were younger. Apparently, the retelling of their meeting had put her into a reminiscent mood. This particular one was about when she and Aurelia had tried to surprise Yellow's uncle with a home-made birthday cake, but instead surprised him and themselves with a house-fire.

Red had been worried that Rose would be scolded for not working at first, but for some reason it hadn't happened. Maybe it had to do with the three of them being the only ones in the shop. Which begs the question: where was everyone else, anyway? This spaceport wasn't that large; it's not like there were many places for them to hide.

"He didn't get mad or afraid like I thought he might, though. He just grabbed the extinguisher and put it out like it was an everyday thing. We had to do odd jobs for a while to pay for the stuff that got damaged, but that's a lot tamer of a punishment than I'd expected we would get. Turns out, Aurie had actually been banned from cooking when no one was around to supervise."

Before Red knew what they were doing, they found themself chuckling a bit. "Oh, that actually makes a lot of sense. A while ago, Yellow tried to heat something up for me in the microwave, but forgot to take off the foil first. Metal foil."

Rose laughs too. "Oh no!"

"I thought it was because she was sleep-deprived, though. I never thought it was because she was bad at cooking."

Rose sighs. "Yeah. Aurie's good at many things, but that girl could mess up microwave macaroni. Wait…" Suddenly, Rose had stopped doing whatever she was doing with the odd machine in front of her, and her gaze met theirs. "Why was Aurie sleep-deprived? Is MIRA working her too hard?"

Now, realistically, Red knew that Rose was just concerned for her childhood friend, and wasn't accusing them of anything. But her tone and the intense look in her eyes—they transported Red back to a less pleasant time in their life. Back when they were scared and alone, and all they wanted to do was make their people proud of them, be a successful impostor and don't get caught, don't be killed!

She knows, a voice in their head said. She knows yellow couldn't sleep because she found out about you, and now she knows what you are. Not only that, but she's going to tell the higher-ups, and they'll get you. But you would deserve it, because you were so needlessly cruel, because you were too weak to—

"Heya~ I'm back!"

Yellow! Red jumps, and Rose straightens up. Just like that, the moment has passed, and the voices cease.

"Hi again, Aurie! Wow, those overalls look great on you. Reminds me of when we used to go to the park together after school. Say, who's the new person you brought back with you?"

Red turns to look, and it takes all they have within them not to choke on one of their hearts. No.

Red hadn't seen this suit color often. It was rare, much less common than the usual reds and blues and greens. In fact, there was only one person they had personally interacted with, one person who they associated this particular hue with. It can't be…

"Oh, this is Cyan. They're gonna join our crew! Cyan, this is Red, another of our crewmates. I'm sure that we're all gonna be great friends~"

But it could just be a human with a cyan suit; it couldn't actually be—

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance." Yet they sounded the same as Red remembered and as they stepped forward and offered their hand, Red was able to get their scent, and it soon drowned out all others. It, along with the feeling of their hand placed firmly in theirs—it was unmistakably impostor. And if the oh so subtle change in Cyan's body language was anything to go by, they were coming to the same realization.

Cyan continued speaking, but it sounded far away, as if they were underwater. "Will she be accompanying us, too?"

Yellow sighs. "No, unfortunately. Rose works here at the spaceport."

"But worry not," the cashier adds in a dramatic tone. "I will be constantly cheering you on from the sidelines."

What am I going to do? Red yells internally, using all their willpower to keep their fear from showing. Cyan's no pushover; they've been on so many missions while I was still scrambling for my degree—the whole crew's in danger! Okay, Red. One step at a time. First, I have to tell Yellow. But how? Maybe…

They turn towards their friend and say, what they hope is a normal sounding request, to Cyan anyway. "Hey, so those overalls do look good, but I still don't think grease spots are a good idea."

Yellow huffs at first, but must have picked up on their desperation, for she sobers quickly. "I don't really agree with that, but I guess we could, like, discuss it? But uh, we don't need to bother these lovely people with this crap, so we'll just… go talk. Over there. Just the two of us. Just have a lil heart-to-heart and stuff like that."

It takes all of Red's willpower not to facepalm at their vent buddy's conspicuous response, and good thing too. If they had, they would've missed her pointing at a little sitting area a ways away from the shop that they hadn't noticed before. It had two semicircle-shaped couches arching around a little coffee table with a potted plant and a box of tissues on it. Best of all, no one else was there!

Cyan looks thoughtful for a moment, but thankfully they don't seem suspicious. They give a small nod. "I need to prepare for the meeting, anyway. I will meet you and your friend at the conference room. I'm confident that you will be in excellent company until then."

Yellow beams. "You got that right!" She almost shouts, clasping Red's hand securely in hers before leading them away.

Red plops carefully down on one of the couches, Yellow scooting in beside them. "You okay?" She asks, her voice and expression softening.

Red opens their mouth, but nothing comes out. They have no idea how to explain this. Yellow moves closer, putting a hand on their shoulder. "Is it because of Cyan?" They nod, vigorously.

"Yeah. I know it's weird, because they're new, so they don't know about… stuff, but hey. You're still with us, so it's only one person and not like, five or more that you need to worry about."

"It's not that." They manage to get out at last, immediately feeling ashamed of how small their voice was. It was a wonder Yellow could hear it at all, given the quiet but still there noise of the spaceport.

"Mmm? Then, what is it?"

Red takes a deep, calming breath. Though, it's probably only as effective as it is because Yellow's scent is in it. It's one that they've become quite familiar with now, a sort of vanilla and also slightly floral smell with the tiniest hints of leather and something uniquely her. It gave them strength.

"Cyan—" Their voice cracks at the name they hadn't spoken in so long. They take another deep breath, and try again. "I… I know them."

Yellow cocks her head, confused. She doesn't say anything though, and Red gets the impression that she wants them to elaborate. So even though the remnants of panic are still clawing at their mind, they try. "I first met them during my early days in the academy. We were dorm-mates, and we had several classes together. They were… at the top of the class. I tried to learn from them, and I think they also tried to teach me? But…" What Red danced around was that Cyan had actually been the closest thing to a friend they had had. Impostor society didn't really do friendships; it was more shaky truces and competitive rivalries that could and would come crashing down when it came time to vote someone out. For what was now an embarrassing amount of time, they had thought that's all there was to friendship. That the more touchy-feely, sentimental one was something that humans deluded themselves into believing was real to distract from how bad life was. But now, they knew better.

They pulled themself from their brooding thoughts to meet Yellow's eyes. The girl stared for a moment, uncomprehending, until the realization hit her at once. She jerked and let out a small gasp, as if she had been slapped.

"

Wait. You don't mean that… that…"

"Yes, Yellow." They breathe, more serious than they had probably ever been in their life. "Cyan… Cyan is an impostor."

Chapter Text

What are we gonna do? The question had been living in yellow's head rent-free for the past twenty minutes or so, with no good answers in sight. It was making it difficult to concentrate on the meeting; a pretty high-ranking MIRA employee (she was apparently the color Ecru and Yellow entirely understands why it hadn't been used on missions) had been giving a speech practically singing their praises and how their crew was shaping up to be the best one currently, and normally she would be eating it up (and probably joking about how her alias sounded like a sneeze.) But currently, she was incredibly preoccupied.

Cyan was an impostor. And not just any old impostor, but one of if not the most ruthless ones out there.

"They always win, and they never give up." Red had said, their voice grave. "No crew has survived them. They're extremely strong and intelligent, and very mmm—patriotic, let's say. Once they find out about our arrangement, I'll also be on their hit list."

Yellow could feel her heart sinking into her toes at that admission. From how Red had described them, the two aliens had had a bond somewhat similar to friendship, without much of the emotional bits. So, maybe more like an alliance or truce. But to think, Cyan was willing to throw a fellow member of their species under the bus, to the point where that person died. It made Yellow sick. Funny how a being with more than one heart (it was quite cool when she scanned Red and discovered that; they didn't even know that about themself) could be so heartless.

And to think, that same person was now sitting in the same room as her. They had their hands folded on the table in front of them, sitting with perfect posture, but still managing to give off a relaxed yet professional and reserved vibe. It was nowhere near how Yellow would expect a killer to be like, but that was the point of an impostor, after all.

She averts her eyes. It wouldn't do to give Cyan hints that she knows who, or rather what, they are. If they're anything like Red had described, it wouldn't take long for them to figure out that there was something sus going on. But Yellow wanted their ignorance to last as long as possible. She felt in her gut that the most effective plans relied on that.

"With the success of your last mission," Ecru was saying when Yellow managed to tune back in. "We are confident that you will succeed in the one we now assign to you. Especially with the new addition to your roster. This is Cyan. They have been a member of the MIRA family for longer than most. Furthermore, they are one of the leading researchers of the planet Polus, which is where your mission now takes you."

Cyan smiles slightly, and maybe it's just Yellow's mind playing tricks, but she swore that for a second that what little amount of teeth showing between their lips looked sharper than a human's should be. "It's a pleasure to finally meet all of you." They say, and their tone betrays no signs of anything untoward, even when Yellow knows to listen for it. "Though it's true that none of you have been working with us for very long, I've seen the success of your first mission, and I'm confident that we will achieve great things when we work together. I look forward to working with you."

"We're glad to have you." The captain replies. He then proceeds to introduce the rest of the crew, hesitating for a second on Red, much to Yellow's horror. They can't afford to be doing things like this!

Yellow was tempted to expose Cyan here and now, but decided it wouldn't be a good idea for many reasons. If she exposed Cyan to the crew now, she would end up exposing Red to Ecru, and by extension the whole of MIRA. And she had a feeling that would not go well. So she held her tongue, for now.

After the meeting, she would find a way to talk to her crewmates without Cyan present, and they would figure this out together as a team. As they absolutely should, in Yellow's oh so humble opinion. Ever since the whole Red being an impostor thing, the crew hadn't Ben as tightly-knit as it had been before, not that everyone was the best of friends before Red's big reveal or anything like that. They were all complete strangers, put together by circumstance, but there was a bit of camaraderie and team sportsmanship between them. There had to be; you didn't survive out in space and get things done without getting along with people, after all. But since the not-really-emergency meeting that changed everything, everyone had been shaken. It was hard to find their rhythm again. And Yellow wasn't stupid; she knew that this revelation would not help with this, but dealing with it together certainly would. It would make them all stronger. And probably get the others to like and trust Red more, she added hopefully. It would really be nice if they could all be friends.

Mind made up, Yellow forced herself to keep listening to what Ecru had to say. When she finally dismissed Crew 456 to the temporary rooms they would spend the night in before setting out, Yellow immediately put her plan into action.

Yellow💛 invited Red, Captain White, GreenAvenger, Aquahead and Purple to a private chat.

Purple accepted.

Red accepted.

Aquahead accepted.

Captain White accepted.

Captain White: Yellow💛 What is it?

GreenAvenger accepted.

Yellow💛: I need u all to meet me in the little sitty area by the shop 2night.

Yellow💛: Midnight would be best i think. B quiet bout it PLS.

GreenAvenger: Why?

Yellow💛: It's important.

Aquahead: shouldn't we invite Cyan then?

Yellow💛: No.

Purple: why?

Yellow💛: It has to do with The Thing.

Captain White: What thing?

Yellow💛: U know the thing we talked about at breakfast yesterday.

Yellow💛: I need u all 2 b there.

Yellow💛: Red I guess u could stay in ur room if u wanted?

Red: Thanks, I think I will.

Yellow💛: everyone else pls come!

Captain White: We will.

Red tossed and turned in the unfamiliar bed. Well, actually it wasn't thatunfamiliar; it was exactly like the one in their room aboard the Skeld. So it probably wasn't the bed that was keeping them from falling asleep, but the turmoil within their mind.

Red was ashamed of letting Yellow tell the others about Cyan without them; it was far from the best idea they had had. But they were dreading the crew's reactions, so the moment Yellow had given them an out, they'd taken it. They hadn't even thought about it.

Now, though? They couldn't stop thinking about it. Couldn't stop thinking about them.

They hadn't thought about Cyan since they'd graduated from the Academy years before Red had, which had been a shocking transition. One day they were dormmates, studying together for the future, and the next, they were headed off on their first mission with only a smirk to serve as a goodbye. With Cyan gone, no one else was willing to work with them, except for the times when a fellow student was having a bad day and decided to take out their frustrations on them. Red curled up tighter, those had not been pleasant days.

But the absence of Cyan's company had pushed them to work harder. Pushed them to finally rise up and graduate, so they can once again join their role model, their mentor, their…

Red had had doubts. They had seen Cyan's posts on the hub, and the longing to join them was accompanied by an odd, squirming feeling. Yes, killing and sabotaging human crews was their purpose, but Cyan's enjoyment of the job seemed to surpass that of fulfilling their duty, to say the least. And it had made them wonder. Am I supposed to be like that? Is there something else that should make me want to go forward, more than wanting to have a decent life?

Red wasn't blind; they saw how seriously their classmates, and just about everyone in their community took beating the humans. They knew that they were the odd one out, in not sharing in that passion, that drive. But they thought it had been okay, as long as they could do the job right.

But it had never been okay. They realized that now. They had always been different from the others, never good enough, no matter how hard they tried to be. Deep inside, they had always known that from the start, but they refused to accept it. Not even when the evidence had been right in front of them.

In one of the practice runs, Red had been given a red card, meaning that they would be the impostor, while their classmates would pretend to be crewmates. They had been pretending to clean a vent when a purple classmate walked by. Seeing their chance, Red had gone for it. They pulled one of their death balloons from their pocket and threw it. Somehow, even though their fake crewmate was only about two feet away, they missed. The balloon hit the wall next to their classmate, showering them both in fake blood. Or at least Red hoped it was fake. The texture was real enough, and it took all their willpower not to vomit as they chased their classmate.

"Emergency meeting! Emergency meeting!" They shouted, not bothering to press the button, as they had already gotten everyone's attention. "Red's the impostor! They just tried to kill me!"

"I knew it." Cyan grumbled, approaching the two of them. "They are doing as terrible a job as usual. Look at you, Red. Not only did you fail to kill the crewmate, but it is more than obvious that you are to blame."

Before Red could get a word in, they found themself being hoisted up and thrown none too gently out of the window with a crash. Cyan hadn't even bothered to open it before they "ejected" them.

"Aaaaaahhhh!" Red screamed, both from a piece of glass stabbing into their shoulder and from the fall. And just when they thought things couldn't get any worse, they found themself tumbling through the courtyard and directly into a rose bush. A hairy rose bush, to be exact. Their eyes immediately streamed with tears, and they began coughing and sneezing uncontrollably. The thorns pricking all over their body weren't pleasant, either.

"*cough cough cough* Cyan!" They shouted. They did their best not to get angry, but this time they thought it was more than warranted. "Dis wasn't part of the lessond!" They yelled, the effect dwindled from their congestion. "You were supposed do—achooo!—det a teacher, and den, dey would tell you if you were right or dot!"

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I didn't understand that." Red jumped at Cyan's voice; they hadn't expected the other impostor to reply, or be so close. It didn't keep their frustration at bay for long, though.

"Stop baking fund of be." They grumble, trying gently to pull the glass and then the thorns out of themself. "You Dow I'm allergic do dese dings."

"Yes, and what a pity." They reply, not sounding remorseful at all. They do try to help with the glass and thorns, though. "If I were you, I'd be grateful that my consequences for losing were so light. Because I'm sure you are aware by now, but in the unlikely scenario you aren't, the consequences for losing a real mission are much more severe than a little allergic reaction."

"And glass, and dorns, and embarrassbent."

"Yes, those too. But what you don't understand, Red, is that I am helping you. I am helping you to understand what's at stake, because you clearly do not. I am on your side, here."

Red doesn't say anything. They just want this day to end.

"We will be graduating soon." Cyan continues. "Or at least I am, I don't know about you, at least at the moment. If you want to continue fighting by my side, I suggest you shape up. Now."

Red huffed, shaking themself out of the memory. That had been a horrible day, and Red still didn't understand why cyan had done that. Oddly enough, the thought that Yellow would never do such a thing to them popped into their mind seconds after that one. Which just brought them back to their guilt.

That's it Red decided, getting out of bed. I'm going to join that meeting.

Or at least, that was the plan. But who else should be standing outside their door than the person they least wanted to see.

Chapter Text

“So.” Cyan begins, their voice much too loud in the quiet corridor. “Here we are at last. Frankly, I had my doubts that you would ever reach the deployment stage, but somehow you managed to pull it off. Tell me, Red. Is it everything you hoped that it would be?”

Red can’t even begin to form a response to this; they hadn’t thought that they’d be alone with Cyan nearly as soon as this, if ever. It was a bit ironic. Not too long ago, they had wanted nothing more than to join their fellow impostor on a mission. But things had changed.

Luckily for them, cyan wasn’t planning on giving them a chance to respond. “Because it’s not for us.” They take a step forward, causing Red to instinctively take one back towards the door to their room. “Do you know why I was sent to this crew in particular, Red? I know it’s out of character for you, but think. I have been working for quite a while now, and I have more than proven myself capable of eliminating the most competent crews.”

“Not so loud,” Red whispers loudly, their blood turning to ice in their veins. “What if someone overhears?” Not that Red would mind that, per se, but they’d rather find a way to deal with Cyan that didn’t cause them both to be exposed to the entirety of MIRA.

But the other impostor just smirks. “Unlike some people I could mention, I scouted this place out when I first arrived. The security is extremely low, but I could take out everyone here if I had to.” At Red’s skeptical gaze, Cyan scoffs. “That isn’t the point, though. Have you seriously never once wondered why I have been assigned to take out a crew whose members have barely been working for a year?”

With a jolt, Red realized that Cyan had a point. To keep them from being taken out too quickly, less experienced impostors were sent to less experienced crews, and vice versa. Now that Red had remembered that fact, it was a bit odd that Cyan would be put on this mission instead of someone closer to Red’s level. Unless…

“That’s right.” Cyan continued to advance as they spoke, and Red continued retreating. They hadn’t felt so defenseless in a long time, and they hadn’t missed the feeling. Even though they logically knew that Cyan wouldn’t dare attack them (attacking another impostor was explicitly forbidden) their fight or flight response did not get the memo. “I was sent because of you. The fact that you have been with this crew for quite a long time now, and no one has been killed, human or otherwise… Well, it is, as the humans say, sus.” Their smirk widens, revealing their sharp teeth, before they suddenly become serious. “So, I have been sent to babysit you, and clean up your mess as per usual. And to be perfectly honest with you, it’s getting old, Red. It is getting very, very old.” They put their hands on their hips, sighing as they gaze at Red with a world-weary expression.

Red’s back is fully pressed against the door now, and despite Cyan’s non-threatening demeanor at the moment, their hearts ceaselessly pound in their ears. They wished they could put the door between them and cyan, but they knew they couldn’t. Not without raising alarm bells, or possibly alerting the other impostor to the crew’s midnight meeting.

“We’re graduated now, we’re on a real mission, so I expect you to get your act together. I refuse to coddle you any longer.”

“What are you saying?” Their voice came out quieter than they intended it to, but somehow they managed not to stutter.

“Simply put, I’m saying that I will not allow you to be the reason for my ejection. As you should be aware, rarely do both impostors survive a mission, and when they do, it is rarely pretty. I simply want to ensure that you know I will not go out of my way to defend you should you end up humiliating yourself, and if there’s a situation where it’s you or me, well… Oh, don’t look so shocked, Red. You knew what you were getting into when you decided to become an impostor.”

But Red was shocked. It was irrational, and they knew it was, but somehow there had still been a part of them that hadn’t been expecting it. Yet they knew how their society, and thus Cyan, thought. To them, relationships were fickle. Surviving to see another mission was everythingto them. And Red had always known deep down that Cyan could and would throw them under the bus if that’s what it took to win the day. But somehow, they still felt betrayed, even though they were technically the one who had switched sides.

Either way, they never got a chance to respond because their conversation was interrupted by a sudden, familiar: “Heya, Cyan. Red. What’re you guys doing up so late?”

“For the record, this is highly irregular, Yellow.” Captain White said as he got comfortable in the only seat that wasn’t yet occupied. He had been the last to arrive, which Yellow had thought was a bit odd, but shrugged it off in favor of dealing with the more important issue.

“Are we even allowed to be out here right now?” Blue asked skeptically.

Green shrugs. “The doors were unlocked.”

“It’s pretty out here.” Purple adds in her two cents, gazing out the window. Since the main part of the spaceport had closed for the night, the lights had been turned off, so you could see outside into space a lot clearer than during what passed as daytime out here.

“I have to tell you something.” Yellow says, getting to the point. “It’s really important, and I thought it’d be a good idea to talk about it in person because—well, it’ll make more sense once I tell you. I just don’t know how to word it.”

“You’re wondering what we should do about Cyan and Red being an Im—” At Green’s warning look, Blue quickly shuts their mouth, taking a deep breath before trying again. “A you-know-what. Sorry.”

“Real inconspicuous, Blue. If anyone hears us, they definitely won’t know what we’re talking about.”

“That’s enough.” White thankfully intervenes, and everyone’s attention goes back to Yellow. This doesn’t help at all to calm her nerves.

“So uh, yeah. About Cyan? They’reanimpostortootheywenttoschoolwithRedandthey’reverygoodattheirjobandweneedtofigureoutawaytodealwiththemsotheydon’tkillallofus!”Yellow blurted out in a rush, breathing hard. “You guys didn’t get any of that, did you?”

“Nope.” Green says, popping the p.

“You seem really anxious about whatever it is, though.” Purple added.

“Okay, okay, lemme try again.” She takes a few deep breaths, and then just goes for it. “Cyan’s an impostor too.”

Judging by the heavy silence, she was perfectly understood this time. And honestly, Yellow didn’t know whether to be relieved or terrified. Maybe both? Is it possible to be both?

“What.” Green said flatly.

Blue looked nervous. “That’s… a pretty serious accusation to make.”

“They don’t seem like an impostor…” Purple muses.

“Neither did Red; that’s kinda the point of being an impostor.” Green points out.

“How can you be sure about this, Yellow?” The captain interjects, getting the conversation back on track.

“Red told me. They went to school together, but Cyan graduated a long time before they did. They’re one if not the most deadly impostors there is. So that’s why it’s super important that we make a plan for how we’re gonna deal with them.”

“There’s an impostor school?” Blue wonders, looking fascinated. “Neat!”

“It makes sense,” Purple muses. “I’ve heard that impostors can tell each other apart. That’s why you only find bodies of crewmates and not dead impostors.”

“We don’t have enough evidence to report them to MIRA.” White says gravely. “Not unless we also expose Red.”

“Then why don’t we?”

Everyone goes silent, staring at Green. The crewman looks more than a little agitated, but that doesn’t stop Yellow from getting angry.

“What? Have you lost your mind?” It took all of Yellow’s willpower to keep her voice at a loud whisper, but Green had no intention of staying quiet.

“I could ask you the same thing! I put up with there being one impostor onboard since you could keep it in line—”

“It!?”

“But this is too much! I will not just sit around and do nothing when innocent people could be killed!”

“Red is an innocent person, Green.” Surprisingly, it wasn’t Yellow that said this, she wouldn’t have been able to stay so calm.

“Purple?”

“It’s not Red’s fault that they were born into a society that’s built upon taking the lives of others. What was them, though? They chose to spare Yellow, spare all of us, even when that meant failing their very first mission and not being able to return to their people.”

“H-how do you know about all that?” Yellow asked, slack-jawed. She was shocked, and also a little betrayed, seeing as she thought Red had only told her about all of that.

Purple blushes. “Er, well, I actually overheard the conversation you had with Red. I didn’t mean to; I was just on my way to get some breakfast. You fell asleep before you saw me.”

“They could have lied,” Green tried, but he didn’t sound very convinced.

“Trust me, they definitely weren’t.” Purple declared. She sounded just as sure of this as she would if she was telling someone that Earth’s sky is blue. “If you don’t believe me, I have security footage. There’s a little hidden camera in the cafeteria.”

Ignoring the oddness of that for now, Captain White brought the conversation back to its original topic. “Okay. So we need to get enough evidence to prove to MIRA that Cyan is an impostor without exposing Red, and also keep everyone safe. Any ideas on how we could pull that off?”

“We need to catch them in the act before they actually kill someone.” Blue says seriously. “Venting won’t be enough since Yellow can do that, and she’s not an impostor. … Are you?”

“Nope.” Yellow confirms. “See?” She pulls her very much human arm out of her suit and waves it around for all to see.

“MIRA will probably give us an alert about a second impostor as soon as we board the ship,” Purple thinks aloud. “That might be enough evidence, but if it’s not, we need a backup plan.”

The five of them grew silent for a while, all lost in their thoughts. Yellow couldn’t help but reminisce about how simple life was mere weeks ago When she thought she’d just be hanging out in space, exploring planets and axolotls being her only non-human friends. Never had she thought she’d meet aliens, friendly or otherwise. And she most certainly never thought that she’d end up accidentally sabotaging the plans of a now reformed impostor.

It was kind of funny, now that she thought about it. At the time, Yellow just wanted to hang out with her vent buddy; she’d never given much thought to how frazzled they had seemed back then. But now… how funny would it be if she did it on purpose? And she was able to look for the reactions since she knew what she was doing. Maybe the crew would also enjoy doing it? Green probably would; his hate of impostors seemed to run deeper than it normally would…

“You’re smiling, Yellow.” Purple says, taking the girl out of her musings. “Did you think of a plan?”

“Mmm I think so, but I’m not sure if you guys will approve.”

Blue shrugs. “Well, let’s hear it. It’s not like we’ve thought of anything yet.”

“I was thinking: maybe we could deal with this similarly to how I accidentally dealt with Red.”

“How did you deal with Red?”

“Honestly? I think most of it was just luck, but I kinda followed them everywhere and kept asking them to do things with me. Like this one time, I went to the cafeteria during the night to get a sandwich, and Green and Red were both there. At the time, I didn’t understand why they were so annoyed when I asked them if they wanted anything, but now…” yellow began to giggle, and Green looks horrified.

“I was gonna get murdered in the night! That’s not funny!”

“Not that part of it, silly!” Yellow says, addressing the others. “I know this is a risky plan, but anything we try is gonna be risky. If we never go anywhere alone and always have someone watching through the cameras or maybe the map, we should be able to pull this off. Besides.” She turns back to Green. “From what I’ve heard, Cyan’s like the best of the best. It could be really fun to knock them down a peck or two.”

Green’s about to respond, but Blue beats him to it. “And, hey! We already know who the impostor is. That’s a huge advantage, if you ask me. And we could learn a lot about how impostors work to help other crews.”

“That’s true.” Purple adds. “If we really play our cards right, we might even be able to come closer to ending impostor attacks altogether! Wouldn’t that be a dream?”

Green sighs. “Personally, I think this is an insane plan, but I can already tell you guys are set on it.”

The Captain nods. “Can you discuss this with Red, Yellow? They may have further information that can help us.”

Yellow nods with a massive grin. “Sure. They almost certainly do; they have an app on their phone that has all sorts of nifty features.” And taking that as her cue to leave, she begins skipping towards Red’s room.

When she arrives there, she’s surprised and worried to see Cyan standing outside the door, looking rather intimidating. Whatever they’re saying or doing to Red must not be good, because they look like a cornered animal.

Yellow can feel anger bubbling up inside her when she sees this. First Green says awful things about them, and now this? Yellow refuses to let this go on a second longer, but she knows she has to be careful.

Eventually, she decides that the best thing to do was get their plan started. It was never too early after all. So after thinking some calm, happy thoughts, she puts on her best smile and makes herself known to the two impostors. “Heya, Cyan. Red. What’re you guys doing up so late?”

Chapter Text

Cyan turned at the sound of Yellow's voice, mask firmly back in place, and it took all of Red's willpower not to sigh in relief. Or warn Yellow to leave. Even though they realistically knew cyan wouldn't dare try anything until they were back on the Skeld, they didn't want to risk their vent buddy being within kill range of their former classmate at all.

"Ah, hello, Yellow." Said impostor says with a smile that looked, for all intents and purposes, relaxed and collected. "I simply thought that it would be wise to get to know my new crewmates better. When we are back on the ship, we won't have nearly as much time to talk as we do here at the spaceport."

"Yeah, that's true." Yellow's gaze grows concerned as it locked with Red's then moved back towards cyan. "But Red, well—they look a bit freaked out about something. I hope you haven't said anything mean to them."

Red jolted with surprise at Yellow's words before they could stop themself. Why did Yellow mention that? She was up to something, she had to be, but what?

"Yellow, I assure you that Red and I have had a perfectly civil conversation."

Yellow frowns, clearly not buying it for a minute. "Cyan, you should know that Red is a very good friend of mine, and I won't have you or anybody else treat them badly. I'm not saying that you did it on purpose or anything like that, but it might be a good idea to apologize just in case. If not for anything you said, then to show us that you're willing to be a good sport."

Red blinks. Cyan also blinks; they look taken aback for a fraction of a second before their expression of calm indifference returns. And Yellow was she… smirking? But It's not in her nature to smirk.

When Cyan doesn't say anything for a few seconds, Yellow pushes the issue. "Come on. Just two little words, three, depending on how you wanna phrase it. You can do it."

Red, realizing they're still squished against the door, takes a few steps away and closer to cyan. Their eyes meet, and the other impostor has the most bewildered look for the slightest of moments before it fades like all the others. "I apologize," they say. "If anything I have said upset you. I will try to be more mindful in the future."

"There we go~" Yellow says, and her smile, though open and friendly, has an edge to it that they had never seen before. "I really appreciate you doing that, even though you didn't think you needed to. And I'm sure Red appreciates it too, didn't you Red?"

"Wha?" Red blurts, not expecting all this attention on them all of a sudden. A blink and you'll miss it expression from Cyan demands them to say yes and end this odd interaction, so they do. "Oh y-yeah. Definitely. Thanks, Cyan."

"It's not a problem. And with that, I'm afraid I must be off to bed. I suggest you two do the same."

"What was that?" Red hisses to a beaming Yellow as soon as Cyan was safely back in their room. This was apparently Yellow's breaking point, for she doubles over with uncontrollable giggles.

"Their face!" She wheezes out, slapping her knee as she laughs. "I wouldn't have seen it if I wasn't looking for it, but I was looking for it; they looked so shook!"

"What are you talking about?" Red all but demanded; they hadn't felt so out of their element since they first arrived at The Skeld.

"Just a little something we talked about during our meeting." Yellow explains, not helping the impostor to understand in the slightest. Noticing this, she elaborates further. "We were all stumped as to what would be the best way to go about this, then I suggested we all tried my approach? Y'know, like when we first met, and I kept accidentally sabotaging you, but with Cyan instead. And the whole crew's involved. And it's not accidental. For science, and the lols."

"What."

"Oh, it's an abbreviation from the internet, it stands for—"

"Not that." Red grumbles. They feel a headache coming on.

"Oh, you mean the plan. I know it sounds stupid, but that's what's so brilliant about it! See, Cyan's super smart and confident, they would never see something like this coming, especially if you also helped out. Besides, I know they were, like, your friend or something like that, but they were treating you pretty crappy when I came, and you seemed to be used to that sort of thing from them. Wouldn't it be funny if they, the best impostor there is, ended up having the same problems you did? I don't know about you, but I think it'd be pretty hilarious."

Red found themself smirking at the idea. Yes, this was not the most foolproof plan they'd ever heard, but they could see why it had its appeal. Thinking back to what had happened a mere few minutes ago, Red found that they did find Yellow making cyan apologize to them pretty humorous. Cyan was always so cocky; Red didn't think they had ever apologized to anyone before this day. Well, maybe they had apologized to instructors for being slightly late due to studying, or breaking a window in the training room, but those were casual little apologies with little weight behind them.

"And you agree with me~" Yellow singsonged, eyes flashing with gleeful triumph. "This will be the best mission ever!"

Chapter Text

"Cyan, no!" Yellow begged, they loved it when humans did that. "Please, don't do this!"

Cyan let themself smirk openly. They had nothing left to lose. They had won. Yellow was the only one left now. All they had to do now is deal with her, and they would claim yet another flawless victory. They pull out their wonderfully sharp knife and advance slowly, savoring every moment.

"Oh, Yellow. Sweet, naive Yellow. Hopefully, this teaches you a lesson about trust." They almost purr as they creep within killing range. "Shame you won't live long enough to utilize it."

Wasting no more time, they plunge the blade directly into the human girl's chest. It slices easily through her suit, and then her flesh. Her body spasms as blood bubbles out from the wound.

Yellow gasps and her mouth wrenches open. Cyan grips the knife tighter, eagerly anticipating the agonized scream. "Cyan! Rise and shine, it's time to get up~"

"What?" Cyan is so taken aback by Yellow's cheery tone that their hand comes away without their knife in it.

The human's paling face contorts into the most crazed and bloody grin Cyan has ever seen. "C'mon! Wake up! You don't wanna be late~"

Cyan jolts into wakefulness with a gasp; they are absolutely drenched in sweat. They had been in the middle of a wonderful dream, before it took a terrifying turn. The impostor can't help but groan lowly when they hear the source of their torment continuing to pound on their door. "Cyan~"

"Alright, alright." they say, managing a relatively civil tone. "I am awake." They roll over, glancing at the clock beside their bed. They were fortunate that their native planet had a similar time cycle as Earth.

04:30

Their anger grows ten-fold when they see the time. Taking several deep breaths to calm themself, they speak in a slightly less civil tone. "Yellow, are you aware that it is four o'clock in the morning?"

"Yup!" Their currently least favorite crewmate cheerfully chirps from outside their door.

"And we don't need to leave for our mission until six?"

"Yeah, well, about that," Cyan is slightly pacified by the sheepish tone in the human's voice. Not nearly pacified enough to stop imagining the many ways they could kill her, though. "Captain White decided that, since we have a new crewmate and want to celebrate, instead of warping directly onto the Skeld, we'd take the scenic route in a mini shuttle!"

"What."

Cyan's flat tone is either not enough to dissuade Yellow from her excitement, or she was simply that oblivious. "I know! Isn't it great? It'll be like we all get to go on a roadtrip together, but in space! Oh, and yesterday you were saying how we wouldn't have much time to socialize before our mission, but that's not a problem anymore~ We'll all get to hang out and learn more about each other, it's gonna be so great! So come on! Get up and get ready so we can go!"

"Hold on—wait a moment. I want to be certain I'm understanding this correctly. You decided, last minute, to take the impractical, long route rather than the instantaneous one, because there is a new person on your crew?"

"Uh, pretty much, yeah." Yellow's slightly muffled response comes, completely nonchalant.

"And disregarding that, the alternative would be utilizing a complex manipulation of space when you could simply land the ship at the spaceport?"

Yellow's response takes a little more time. "Uh, no, we actually couldn't. See, taking off and landing a big ship like the Skeld is a lot harder than a little thing like a shuttle. You have to make sure everything's calibrated right, and that nothing will explode. Or implode. Or catch on fire. It's one of the first things we learn about ships, y'know?"

Cyan has to put their fist in their mouth to hold back the frustrated cry that wants to come out. It's not like them to make mistakes like this! Fortunately, though, they know what to do to salvage the situation. "Mph. Well, excuse me for not being at one hundred and two percent whilst being abruptly awoken at four in the morning!"

"Just drink ungodly amounts of caffeine," Yellow replies, not sounding at all sympathetic. "It's what we all did to wake up. WE're not good enough friends for me to share my soda with you, but I'm sure you could grab some coffee or tea on the way. Course, you might not be able to do that if you don't get out of bed already!"

Cyan grumpily rubs their eyes as the ship soars away from the spaceport. They were still feeling groggy, even after downing three cups of strong coffee. This was far from the ideal start to a mission, but they would persevere. They had before, and they would now. Although, they thought to themself maybe I can squeeze in a short nap before we arrive at the Skeld?

"Hey guys!" Yellow calls, much too loudly for this hour, and in this small of a spacecraft. "Wanna sing some traveling songs?"

Or not, Cyan thought with great annoyance, and something similar to anguish.

"What sort of songs did you have in mind, Yellow?" The captain asks, seeming not at all perturbed. Although that would somewhat make sense, given that this whole disaster was his idea.

"Well, the crew anthem, of course!"

To Cyan's relief, they didn't seem to be the only one confused about this. "We have a crew anthem?" Blue asks with a raised eyebrow.

"We do now. I wrote it last night. Well, more like I heard it in a dream, but that's kinda the same thing, right?"

"You wrote it in a dream." Green deadpans.

"What, you mean to tell me that I'm the only one who has incredibly vivid musical dreams with choreography so awesome and songs so catchy that no broadway show could ever compare? … Ugh, whatevzies. The point is, ordinarily I forget the way the songs sound as soon as I wake up, and just remember their awesomeness. But this time I remembered one, and I want us to sing it."]

"How?" Green asks, though he seems just as done with this whole thing as Cyan already feels. "We can't learn the words and tune of a song that doesn't exist."

Yellow actually looks a bit offended at the crewman's statement. "It does too exist! And I'll sing it for you right now! Then you all can sing along!" She clears her throat, and begins.

"There's no need to make a fuss, cause in our crew there's nothing sus. We do our work, complete our tasks, every mission done, efficient and fast! We're careful who, we choose to trust, So you can always, count on us. Don't blow your top, don't make a fuss. We can be sure, there's nothing sus. No scary plans, no funny tricks. We're just your average, crew 456."

Yellow's voice cracks shrilly on the final note, causing her to trail off and burst into giggles. Cyan winces, and they see Red doing the same out of the corner of their eye. Everyone else claps. "That seems like a pretty good summary of what our crew's about, yes." Purple surmises, letting out a soft giggle of her own.

'I don't know, I feel like the rhythm of the song could use some work." Blue states, staring off into the middle distance. "A little more length wouldn't hurt, either. A chorus and a few more verses. About what our tasks actually are, maybe?"

No, Cyan thinks with an inner-smirk; they have perfected the art of not showing the expression on their face. Let her think she's safe.

"Speaking of tasks," The captain cuts in. "I'd like to take this time to be certain you were all given the list of tasks needed to be performed on the way to polis. They won't be as extensive as your last batch, seeing as this is just maintenance needed to be performed on the Skeld as we travel."

Everyone, except White, pulls out their iMira and begins tapping through it. "Finally!" Yellow cheers, still much too loudly for Cyan's liking. "Someone else gets to empty the trash for once." Given the smoldering look on Green's face, the impostor guesses that he is the one assigned that task.

No uploading or downloading data for any of us, either." Blue adds, looking very relieved. "It's not a hard thing to do, don't get me wrong, but it's so boring!"

"You'll probably have to do it again once we reach Polus," Red remarks, still mostly focused on their phone. "Oh, crap."

"What is it, Red?" Yellow asked, looking up from her own device.

"It looks like Cyan's tasks didn't go through."

Ice flows through Cyan's veins. What are you planning, Red? They wonder, making a conscious effort to keep their breathing even. Because if you intend to betray me, I will hijack this ship and drive it into the nearest black hole. This wasn't the ideal way to complete their mission, but it was a way. DON't get them wrong, sacrificing themself wasn't on their bucket list, but if that's what it took…

"Oh, no worries." The captain assures. Compared to his serious behavior the day before, he was oddly jovial today. But that could've been because it was just the crew around, and no higher ups.

"I still have the files, I'll just send it again."

White takes out his iMira and taps on it for a while. Moments later, Cyan's phone pings. "You should check to be sure it's the right one," Purple advises. "Better to be safe than sorry."

Cyan complies, opening the notification. Immediately, something seems off. Rather than the document they expected, a video file had been delivered to them. It was called Cyan_Tasklist though, so they open it. As soon as they did, a strange song began playing. Although they'd never heard it before, Cyan couldn't help but think it sounded a little familiar.

Everyone freezes. Then, Yellow starts to laugh. The others join in moments later. Even Red is chuckling.

"Blue!" White exclaims once his chuckles disguised as a coughing fit subside. "Have you been renaming my files again?"

"Maaaaaybeee?" Said crewmate draws the word out, trying to look innocent, but failing miserably. Cyan feels a hint of gratefulness that they are not an impostor; they would be worse than Red.

"No matter how many times you do it, you won't change my mind about downloading video games on the Skeld's computer."

At this point, a deep masculine voice began crooning over the music, and Cyan found their attention divided between listening to the bickering and the lyrics. Once they realized the song was some mushy drivel about romantic love, they decided the former was more worth their time.

"Not that this isn't Blue's fault," Yellow was saying. "But why do you have a copy of Rickroll saved on your phone, captain? That meme's been dead for at least a hundred years."

"Says the girl with a twenty-first century sense of humor!" Blue scoffs before the seemingly flustered captain can respond.

"Hey. My memes are fresher than our food rations."

"That's hardly an achievement," Green scoffs. Nonetheless, Cyan spots that he is subtly bobbing his head to the music.

"They're not that bad," Red puts in their two cents. Yellow's eyes dart to meet theirs.

"The food, or my memes?" She asks, in a lower voice than usual.

"Both." They reply flatly, but are quick to add "Hey, I haven't seen enough memes to make an unbiased judgement!" When they see Yellow's eyes narrowing.

She sighs. "I guess that's fair, but come on, guys!" She turns her attention back to the rest of the crew. "You've got to admit, twenty-first century memes were pretty darn good."

Purple nods. "I like the ones where they joke about there being flying cars in the future, and then cut to something random and weird found on the internet."

"It's a little infuriating, though." Blue cuts in.

"Why?"

"It's been a long freaking time since those memes were made, and we're almost to the point where casual space travel is a thing, yet there are stillno flying cars!"

"They have a point," Yellow eyes her crewmate with a sudden interest. "I mean, we've definitely got the tech for it now; so why no flying cars?"

Red sighs. "Yellow, if they won't allow you to drive a normal car, they definitely won't let you have a flying one.'

Yellow scoffs. "As I've said a million times before, those garbage cans were just begging to be smashed!"

"Yeah, I was wondering why you weren't given a license, but that answers that," Green mutters. His foot is now tapping to the beat. He is definitely enjoying this "rickroll" song.

The conversation devolves into more chaotic territory from there. Highlights include what sort of garbage cans raccoons preferred to steal food from, the possibility of black holes being sentient and the methods of establishing communication with them, why it was so hard to find quality rubber ducks these days, and the correct way to hang a toilet paper roll. Cyan contributed the best they could, but they were beginning to get an odd feeling. A hunch that, maybe, there was more going on here than Red failing to do their job correctly. What that was, though, remained to be seen.

Chapter Text

Cyan thought it would never end. They knew this was an irrational thought, they were bound to make it to the Skeld eventually, but it had taken such an agonizingly long time. They were beginning to think they had actually died in their sleep and got sent to Hell.

"Woo!" Yellow cheered, her energy remaining ridiculously high, even after the hours spent cooped up inside the shuttle. "Here we are, home sweet Skeld!"

"We weren't really gone for that long, but I'll admit I missed this place." Blue says, running their hands over the nearest tabletop. The crew had gathered in the cafeteria, but no one was sitting, much to Cyan's begrudging thankfulness. Though the shuttle was relatively comfortable, the elite impostor was not one for idling, and did not wish to sit down again for a long while.

White clears his throat. "We will take a few minutes to settle in before we begin our tasks," he informed. "Cyan, your quarters are the last door on the left."

"Thank you," they respond, and to their slight surprise they find they really mean it. But it probably isn't that shocking in hindsight; they were willing to do almost anything to have a little alone time. With that, they were easily able to excuse themself and head towards their new base of operations.

An impostor's life was mostly solitary. They'd socialize for their missions [and so they wouldn't go extinct] yes, but it was mostly only for show. Any emotional attachment they might form to another was a brief moment of enjoyment at best, a liability at worst. In Cyan's opinion, it was all a big waste of time. People, both impostor and human alike, were stupid, and they died a lot. What use is there to care about them beyond what they could do for you? What they could give you? How they could be manipulated, turned against one another, and push you towards your goal?

As the impostor made their way to the living area of the ship, they went over what they'd learned about their crewmates as much as their sluggish, sleep-deprived brain would allow. So far, two of the humans stuck out to them. Yellow obviously, for her obnoxious scent and even more obnoxious attitude, who seemed to possess an odd affinity for Red. Impostors would often befriend the crew to ingratiate themselves with them, of course, but Cyan knew Red enough to know they likely wouldn't think about doing that. And anyway, this seemed different somehow.

The other human who intrigued them? Green. He was a grumpy sort, not a fan of people (Cyan could relate), and enjoyed listening to old music. Or, at least, one old song. But that wasn't what gave them pause; it was his scent. It had an uncanny resemblance to one they had encountered several years ago now. Was it possible that Green was…

Cyan shook their head, frustrated. They were having a hard time holding on to their train of thought. Blast it all, they needed sleep!

Still, when they finally reached their room, their brain was still just alert enough to notice that there appeared to be only six rooms. So, they muse. Two of my crewmates are now also roommates. That ought to be interesting.

If Cyan were any more awake, they would now be plotting to turn the two roomies against each other. They quite enjoyed the challenge [and the aftermath] of breaking apart the most tight-nit humans. But they weren't, so they simply swung open the door, and headed inside.

A massive yawn which they didn't bother suppressing seeing as they were alone revealed to the tired impostor that there was not a trace left of the previous occupant's scent. Had this room even been used at all by the current crew? Was there a couple onboard? Or had the quarters been coincidentally cleaned prior to Cyan's arrival, and the oxygen circulation and purification system took care of the rest?

Cyan groaned, dropping their modest bag of belongings uncharacteristically onto the floor. Unpacking (and everything else) could wait until later. They had to rest now to avoid becoming as paranoid and clumsy as Red.

Cyan quickly shifted to make themself look like they'd changed into more comfortable clothing, crawling into the uncomfortable little bed. They'd always detested MIRA beds, [yet another flaw of the human race] but they were so incredibly exhausted they could sleep on a pile of corpses. Actually, that might be interesting to try one day.

They likely would have fallen asleep the moment their head hit the pillow, but it hit something else along with it. "Agh! What the…"

More irritated than anything else, Cyan scrabbled at the pillow, feverishly trying to locate what had felt so hard when their head fell on it. Finally, they managed to grip something cold and metallic, and pulled it out. When they realized what exactly it was they had found, they froze for a moment.

It was a knife. But not just any knife. Long, black, so sharp you could barely even see the tip, this was undoubtedly an impostor blade. And seeing as Cyan had only just arrived, and their own blade was inconspicuously on their person…

Cyan began to chuckle. It was only intended to be a short, bitter thing, but it soon escalated in intensity. Of course. Of course Red would be so stupid as to not only leave a weapon unattended, but hide it by stabbing it into a pillow. Even now, there was a bit of foam dust clinging to its edges. They shake it off as they continue their borderline manic giggling.

When they woke up, they would realize that this meant Red had stayed in this room, and was now sharing with someone else. But currently, they were too delirious to realize just what that could mean. So Cyan simply shoves the knife under the mattress, and laughs themself to sleep.

As soon as Cyan is far enough away, everyone sags like deflating balloons. Even yellow, who had seemed completely awake seconds earlier, put her head in one hand, yawning massively. "We might need more than just a few minutes," she manages, voice deeper from the yawn.

The others yawn in agreement. "I'll try to maintain the ship on my own for a bit. I will rest once everyone else has." Not even Purple, one of the most altruistic of the group, has the energy to argue with this.

Yellow feels the need to tiptoe to her room, given that Cyan's is right across from hers. When the door opens though, she has to stop herself from gasping loudly. "Where did your bed go?"

Indeed, Yellow's bed is the only one remaining in the room. Red sighs. "I guess it's Cyan's bed now. But it's fine. It's not like we never shared a bed before, right?"

"Yeah," Yellow yawns again. "I guess they sent someone here to get things set up while we stayed at the spaceport."

Red nods in agreement. "They're actually quite efficient. Surprising, given how awful the security is."

Yellow giggles, a high-pitched, sort of crazy thing that comes with not getting enough sleep. She soon sobers. "Hey, uh, you don't have to answer this if you don't want, but I've always wondered. How exactly did you infiltrate our crew? I mean, there was a human Red who would've been in our crew, right? So…" Yellow stops, she can't bring herself to finish the sentence.

Fortunately, Red is quick to reply. "Yes, there was—is. There is a human Red, but he called in sick. All I had to do was intercept his email to MIRA alerting them of it, change a couple of details on his employee profile, lock him out of it, and I was golden."

"Ooh!" Yellow knows she probably shouldn't be so eager about her vent buddy's illegal activities, but it intrigued her. Especially since they had found a way to start their first mission without killing anyone. "So, we were going to get a human Cyan on our crew?"

Red thinks about this. "Maybe, but I'm not so sure. After all, why would they add a seventh member to a ship only intended to house six people? They didn't even add a seventh bed."

Yellow nods along with her friend's observations. "There's a lot to unpack here," she muses, her words beginning to slur.

"Yeah," Red says. "Maybe we should leave it until we're more awake."

Yellow agrees. She feels like she might fall asleep standing up. The caffeine was wearing off, and wearing off fast.

Yellow takes off her suit, and puts on some more comfortable sleeping clothes. As she and Red lay down, practically on top of one another in the tiny bed, her last thought is: only one bed? What is this, a fanfic? And then she's dead to the world.

Chapter Text

"Brother! Brother! Guess what? Guess what?"

Aspen put the book he was reading upside down on the bed as his energetic little sister bounded into the room. He loved her, but she could get incredibly loud every so often. "What is it, Ivy?"

"I did it, brother! I've been accepted!"

Aspen's blood ran cold, although he desperately tried to hide it. As mean as it might sound, he'd hoped his sister would fail. He hoped she'd not get accepted into MIRA. Hadn't the poor girl gone through enough danger and heartbreak in her life? The cold shoulder from their parents when she was diagnosed at such a young age, sneaking away just to be herself every once in a while. Even disregarding the massive rumor mill generated by that company, space exploration is a highly dangerous line of work, even with the major advances in technology.

At least if Ivy was denied, they could sue MIra for discrimination, report it to the news, do something to get that death trap of a company taken down. But no, MIRA was known for their inclusivity and accommodations, although Aspen had a sneaking suspicion they were only so generous as a desperate attempt to convince someone, anyone to work there.

Aspen would've tried to talk her out of it, heck, he'd already tried. But Ivy had her heart set on the stars, and she'd probably take a lukewarm reaction to the news of her acceptance as a lack of support.

So, for his little sister's sake, Aspen smiled. "That's great," he said.

Ivy is bouncing around so much that she has to hold on to her dark protective glasses to keep them from flying off her face. "It's gonna be so awesome! I'll get to be me all the time without anyone saying anything, and I'll make new friends! I might even get to meet an alien!"

Aspen holds back a scoff; he always tried to hold back the more unpleasant side of his personality around his sensitive little sister. Aliens didn't exist. He was almost certain of that fact. Or if they did, they were a long way off from finding them. But he wouldn't crush Ivy's dreams more than the world already had; let her come to this discovery on her own.

He listened to Ivy's excited ramblings for a few more minutes until she finally exhausted herself and went into her room to research and prepare. Aspen let out a long, heavy sigh and headed over to his computer. He knew what he had to do. So much for being a librarian…

Yellow woke up with a groan. Everything hurt. It felt as if she were run over by a truck. Maybe it was the unholy amount of soda she'd downed the day before, might be it was because Red was lying on top of her? Yeah, that was probably it.

"Red, Red," she called into their ear, poking and shaking them. "Red, wake up. You're crushing me."

The impostor jolted awake with a startled snort, rolling off Yellow, and the bed. They fall to the floor with a thud. "Owwww…"

Yellow quickly peaks over the bed at them, or she would if her limbs weren't tingling like crazy. So it was actually a more slow, slightly floppy peak in reality. "Are you okay?"

"Mmph… wha time's it?"

Red still sounded half asleep, so yellow rolls over to check her iMira for them. "Holy crap! It's past 3:00 in the afternoon!"

"What?" Red seems slightly more awake now. They push themself off the floor and back on the bed, perching on the foot of it. Yellow has to squish her legs against her butt, so her feet don't get sat on. Okay, what excuse does MIRA have to make these beds so flipping tiny?

"We slept late," Yellow groaned. "We slept very, very late. And this isn't even the first time we've done this."

Red grabs their own phone. "Is anyone else up?" Despite the tumble they'd just taken, the impostor still didn't sound quite awake. But their mood quickly shifted when they suddenly seemed to realize or remember something, and shot straight up as if electrocuted.

This sent Yellow's brain into overdrive, and soon, she was also awake. "What's wrong?"

"Is Cyan up?"

"Oh, crap!"

White was sitting at a table in the cafeteria, nursing a cup of black coffee. Blue, Purple and Green were also there. Cyan was nowhere to be seen.

White gave the vent buddies a tired smile when he noticed their arrival. "Good morning, Yellow and Red."

"It's afternoon, actually," Green corrected. He sounded even grumpier than usual.

Blue shrugs, they'd stuffed so much cereal in their mouth that they looked like a chipmunk. They motion for the duo to take the two empty seats next to them.

Red sits next to Blue, Yellow taking the seat near Green.

"So," the impostor began tentatively. Green was giving them a hard stare, which the impostor was doing their best to ignore, but yellow could tell it was unnerving them quite a bit. What is with him and impostors, anyway? It was normal for crewmates to dislike impostors, of course, but the crewman always seemed to go above and beyond. Yellow was very tempted to confront him about it, but barely held herself back, for she knew Cyan would almost certainly hear and that just wouldn't be good for anyone. So, she asked the more relevant question, saving her vent buddy the trouble.

"Has anyone seen Cyan?"

Everyone tensed. "Not this morning," purple replies. "I don't think they're up yet."

"You don't think?" Green's voice is hard as steel. "You don't know for sure? Purple, Cyan is—"

"A hard-working, reliable person that I'm happy to have on our crew," the captain finishes. Was it just Yellow, or did he just stab the other crewman in the side with his elbow? "Nonetheless, we should work out the buddy system of the day. I'm sure Cyan has had more than enough interaction, so for today we will allow them to work alone. That just leaves the rest of you…"

"Well obviously Red and I should be together because we're vent buddies," Yellow says immediately, throwing her arm around the impostor and earning a timid little smile for her trouble.

White nods. "That works."

"I wanna be with Purp," Blue pipes up. "She has that whole aura of calmness going on that I could really use at the moment."

Said medic looks a little bemused at this comment, but nods in approval.

"And that just leaves us," Green says through a sigh.

"That it does," the captain agrees.

This couldn't have been better timed in Yellow's opinion, for who should come confidently striding through the door than the current bane of the whole crew's existence. Besides the fact that they apparently slept even later than the rest of the crew, you'd be hard-pressed to tell Cyan had had a rough first night.

"Good morning everyone, the impostor greeted politely.

"It's afternoon," Green corrects yet again.

"Ah," cyan says simply, with no audible change in tone. "So, I suppose we will all be having a late start today."

"Yup," Blue replies, their mouth full of food yet again. "Cereal's over there if you want."

It felt like a bomb was about to explode as the crew waited for their newest member to fix themself breakfast. When they returned, there were three bowls in their hands, two of which they placed before Yellow and Red.

"Oh, thanks!" Yellow's voice sounded fake even to her ears. Only when Red took a bite from their bowl and gave her the tiniest of nods did she begin eating. The cereal was bland and a little stale, but besides that, it tasted fine.

"I sent you your actual task list a few hours ago, Cyan. If you need any help completing them, don't hesitate to ask."

Cyan gives the captain a polite nod as they sit down to eat their own cereal. "I couldn't help but notice the pantry was a bit bare bones," they casually remark, or as casually as Cyan could be anyway.

"Yeah," blue says with a pout. "For some reason, MIRA didn't bother to refill our food rations while we were at the spaceport."

"Perhaps we should've considered purchasing some snacks from the shop?"

"Are you kidding?" Yellow blurts out before she can stop herself. "All that stuff is completely novelty. Ancient astronaut food in tubes there hasn't been a need for in centuries. And the price? Don't get me started on the price! You're basically giving away your life savings to projectile vomit for hours on end."

"Really?" Red asks, genuinely curious.

"Yeah, I had some during training. It was disgusting! I wouldn't be surprised if it was the actual stuff from a while ago, it tasted expired."

"You know what expired food tasted like before that?" Blue butts in. "That's a little sus."

"Not really, I mean, little kids will put almost anything in their mouths."

Yellow was beginning to feel sick to her stomach at the memory of that awful astronaut food. This will be a long day…

Chapter Text

"Did you find them?" Green asks, pacing back and forth restlessly. He and White had set themselves up in Admin for a while to observe the map.

White rubs his eyes, trying to focus. He probably should've taken time to rest, but he was the captain. The crew needed him. There was simply no time.

Green groans. "You know what? Just let me do it." And he shoved the other man away from the map, quite rudely. Normally, White would've scolded him for this sort of behavior, but it was probably for the best he took over. Even if his methods left much to be desired. "Ah, there they are!"

"Are you sure?" White asks, looking over his shoulder. "None of the markers are labeled…"

"Yeah, and I don't know why the hell that is. I mean we have high-tech suits, couldn't MIRA use that to label 'em, or at the very least color code them I will never know…" The crewman shakes his head. "They're the only one alone, so it's a pretty good guess that's Cyan, I think."

White continues scanning the map. "Where are they?"

"There." Green points. "No wait, they just—oh, that sneaky little…"

"What?" White asked, his heart speeding up at Green's sudden venomous tone. He always got anxious when he was sleep-deprived, which got all the worse when there was actually something to be anxious about. Namely, his crew being stalked by a murderous alien.

"That—they—" Green spluttered angrily, clearly trying not to say something unprofessional. "They vented," he finally settled on, saying it as though it were a terrible crime.

"To where?"

Green's eyes dart frantically about the map before finally stopping. "Shields," he says at last.

White lets out a small sigh of relief. So, they weren't in a place they could perform a critical sabotage, yet. "What do you think they're planning?"

"To kill us all, obviously."

"Yes, yes, I am aware of that. But I meant, what do you believe their first move is?"

Green tenses. "Yellow. She's the youngest, the least experienced. They probably think she'd be a good first kill. Likely think they could get away with it, too, considering…"

The captain isn't sure what, exactly, makes his blood run cold. Is it Green's words themselves, or the tone he said them in? White is about to reply, but Green keeps going.

"Why did you let them stay, Captain?" At first glance, the question was out of anger, accusatory. But beneath the surface, there was an undertone of desperation and pleading. Even though Green was on the slightly older side like him (late twenties at the youngest, thirties at the oldest) the captain couldn't help but think Green sounded like a child at that moment. A frightened, confused child that wanted to know why the one meant to keep him safe was seemingly putting him in danger.

White can't help but let out a soft sigh. He wasn't sure if Green was referring to Cyan or Red, but he decided to answer for the latter. "They may be an impostor, but… they have not killed."

"Says them!"

"If we had ejected them, we wouldn't have known about this even greater threat."

"Which might not even be here in the first place if Red was gone!"

A tense, cold silence fell between the two for several seconds, the longest seconds in the captain's life so far. He didn't know what to say. What if he's right? A little voice piped up in the back of his mind.

Green lets out a bitter little sound between a cough and a chuckle. "It makes sense, doesn't it? One impostor didn't take us out, so they sent a second one to help get the job done."

White takes a deep breath before responding. "Even if that is the case—"

"It definitely is!"

"Even so, I cannot, in good conscience, eject an innocent person—"

"You don't know that!"

"We don't know they're guilty for sure, either!" White says this louder than he meant to, his emotions pulling him in numerous directions at once. Green looked gobsmacked. He opens his mouth to retort, but White beats him to it. "I am not going to punish someone because of their species,alright?"

"Captain—"

"I am aware of your strong distaste for impostors, we all are. And though it is understandable, and I do not blame you for being wary, this is beyond mere wariness. No. At this point, it has gotten to the point where it is downright racism. Or speciesism, whichever word you want to use."

"I—you—" Green is reduced to incoherent spluttering at this point. White continues.

"I did not say anything at the time because I thought Purple had talked sense into you, but clearly I was mistaken."

"Purple was—"

"You referred to Red as it, when you know full well that Red's pronouns are they/them. That is very disappointing, especially coming from you,who had been so adamant about never misgendering people."

"But this is dif—Red isn't—"

"And though it very well may be possible Red has committed crimes in the past, though I doubt it, we don't punish people for speculated crimes, Green. There must be evidence. So, if you can show me undeniable proof that it is not safe for Red to be aboard the Skeld, then we'll talk. Then, and only then. Do I make myself clear, Aspen?"

Green glares. He seethes, and even puts his hands on his hips like a petulant child. But White stands firm. With that speech (Where had it even come from? His mind certainly does odd things when he's tired…) all doubt had melted away, and he stood resolute and unyielding. So eventually, the other man had no choice but to relent.

"…Fine."

"I'm going to let Red and yellow know Cyan may be coming their way."

"You do that."

White could feel Green's eyes staring a hole into the back of his head as he took out his iMira. He thought about telling the other crewman to look back at the map, but ultimately decided he had reprimanded him enough for now.

But apparently, Green had other ideas. "Just so you know, if someone dies because of your choices, I won't forgive you."

"Neither will I," White replies simply. "And neither will Vida."

"Who the hell's Vida?"

White jumps. Had he said that last part out loud? Well, he supposed he couldn't avoid it forever. "My wife."

Green gasps as if White had said something scandalous. "You have a wife?"

"Indeed I do," the captain confirms. "And she makes the best home-made tomato sauce."

"Wow, I… you never mentioned being married before."

"It never came up. And is it really that big of a deal? I mean, many men our age are married."

"Yes, but… isn't it difficult for—what's her name? Vida?" White nods. "Isn't it difficult for her when you're out here in space so much?"

White shrugs, rubbing his stinging eyes. "I mean," he begins, but he's cut off by a massive yawn and has to pause for a moment before continuing. "She misses me, of course, but she has her boyfriend to keep her company."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Her boyfriend? And you know? Does she know you know?"

White sighs. This is why he hated talking about his romantic life. "We're in an open, polyamorous marriage. Now, can we get back to the task at hand, please?"

"O-Okay okay, sure." Green finally, mercifully directs his attention back to the map. "Jeez," he mutters. "What a bombshell to drop just like that."

White tenses. "Don't tell me you take issue with this as well…"

"What? No, no, of course not! Your personal relationships are none of my business. It's just, you always seemed so… uptight. I didn't think you'd like that sort of thing."

White suppresses a groan. "People tend to act differently when they are at work verses in their personal lives, Green. And me being the captain, I have to be more serious than the rest of you. It's a lot of responsibility."

"And I understand that, but…"

As if on queue, White's phone chimes. He could've kissed whoever it was who sent him a message. Nope, never mind, it was MIRA. "Apparently there are two impostors among us now," he relays.

"Oh, who could've guessed."

"Us, thanks to a certain someone," White can't help but say. He usually wouldn't make quips like this, but the lack of sleep was doing odd things to him, it would seem.

Green just scowls.

Chapter Text

It would seem that Cyan's troubles were only just beginning. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't seem to get a single crewmate alone. They were all working together, in groups of two, and would not separate.

They acted fairly normal, greeting them politely, and asking them if they needed any help completing their tasks. "We know you're a veteran and all, but seeing as long-distance travel doesn't happen as often, we thought we'd ask," Blue had said with a friendly smile.

There was, however, one detail that got them thinking. Every so often, when they'd come across a duo, they'd get this odd, dear-in-the-headlights look about them, as if they were caught doing something they shouldn't.

Do they suspect me already? Do they know? But the impostor quickly shoved that thought out of their mind. The only way the crew could possibly know for certain they were an impostor is if Red had told them, and there was no way that would've happened. Red was a coward, but they wouldn't betray their species like that, not after being so determined to become a true impostor. And even if they had, the humans would never allow them to remain. The moment an impostor was revealed, they were voted out, and that was that.

They were just being paranoid and irrational. Cyan had spent far too much time around Red, and their anxiety had rubbed off on the older impostor. Well, not anymore.

So Cyan shut this line of thinking down completely, and decided that a short break could do them good. Maybe if they took some time to just exist for a moment and grab a snack from the cafeteria, they would be calm enough to navigate the situation properly. If anything else, I can always eat up all their food so they'll starve, they thought with a snort. But what a horrid, drawn out endeavor that would be. I can just imagine the wining, mostly from the yellow one.

Cyan was thankful the room was empty when they arrived there. They had already had enough of this crew for a lifetime, so much so that resorting to a critical sabotage was looking more appealing by the second. With a world-weary sigh, the impostor swung open the refrigerator door, only to be greeted by a rather pathetic sight. They hissed out a short curse at the nearly barren shelves. For the love of—did none of those idiots bother restocking supplies at the spaceport?

Luckily, they had thought ahead and brought a bit of food of their own. They grabbed a slab of meat wrapped in foil and plopped it unceremoniously into the microwave.

As the impostor stood there, letting the low hum of the microwave cleanse their brain, they began thinking back on what had brought them into this insufferable predicament. Not just Commander Gray or Red, even before that.

Cyan didn't like to think about the past. Mostly because the only thing they could remember were the less pleasant things. Impostor society was really odd when it came to what it expected of its members. Cyan remembered not so much the person themself, but the way the sight of the little green youngling's blood intrigued them when it oozed from the newly created cut in their rubbery flesh. The shock and pain in their eyes… cyan hadn't intended to injure them, it was only a play-fight. But the moment they'd seen it, they immediately wanted more.

But Cyan was far from a mindless killing machine, oh, no. They were intelligent, patient (although that was really being tested right now.) They found pleasure and thrill not just in the hunt, but in the hard work and planning it took to see it to completion. And they knew the hardship and frustration would all be worth it when they saw this to its gruesome, bloody end.

That should be all that mattered. So why couldn't they stop thinking about the past. Of how when many of their peers were reluctant to kill at first, they'd always leaped at the chance? When other children were disgusted by the blood balloons, Cyan relished in the bloodbath? Their eagerness to stalk and kill was praised by their instructors, and they were always at the top of their class. But the others seemed to have to learn to love the carnage, never embracing it from the get go.

Maybe that's why I spent so much time hanging around Red, they mused. They were an even bigger outcast than I ever was, and having us so close together distracted our peers from my abnormalities, and their resentment of them. Or perhaps they just reminded me of a puny human with their weakness, and a part of me wanted to eliminate them. Who knows at this point?

One thing was for sure, their instructors definitely paired them up so often, hoping Cyan could fix Red, shape them and mold them into a ruthless impostor, like themself. And they tried, really they did. But at this point, they were pretty sure it was a lost cause. There was nothing that could be done to change Red, just like nothing would ever truly satisfy Cyan's lust for blood.

Bzzzzzzzzzt! Bzzzzzzzzzt! Red jumped when the loud buzzing noise cut through their thoughts. This time, they swore loudly.

They had forgotten that metal can't be put in a microwave, and had heated their snack with the foil still wrapped around it. And of course, Red and that stupid yellow crewmate had to pick that exact momentto arrive on the scene.

"What the—oh, holy crap!" It was difficult to tell if Yellow was laughing, or gagging at the stench of electrified meat and metal.]

"Again?" Red asks. They had a look in their eyes that had always driven the other impostor mad, a wide-eyed confused stare that made it clear their brain could not comprehend the situation they had found themself in.

"This has happened before?" Cyan asks as they stopped the microwave and opened the door. This time, Yellow definitely gagged at the smell, but Cyan actually didn't mind that much. Red seemed similarly unfazed.

"Yup." And of course, the girl didn't sound any less cheerful despite her disgust. "Red did it."

"Hey!"

"Of course they did," Cyan replied, sighing heavily. Actually, no one else was here besides themself, Red and Yellow. This would be the perfect time to strike. Cyan begins getting into range.

"Ack!" And promptly rams into Red, who had moved into their path for some inexplicable reason. "What are you doing?"

"Uh— ooh, lemme see it," the other impostor stammered.

"See what?"

"The food. The meat, let's see the damage. I-I'm surprised the microwave's not broken at this point."

"MIRA appliances are tough," Yellow explains. "MIRA doesn't wanna replace them often, so they're built to last."

Alright, so they don't want Cyan to kill her? Disappointing, but fine. Red can do it themself, and actually be useful for once. They give them a look, but Red either doesn't notice, or doesn't comprehend the meaning. Typical.

"Do you still want it?"

"What?" This time it was cyan who was uncomprehending.

"The meat. Do you still want it?"

Cyan is about to respond, when a vibration from their pocket diverts their attention. It was their iMira. At first, they snort, believing it to be yet another message from an enamored fan, and can barely suppress their shock when they realized the true author of the text.

Commander Gray: Find a place where you will not be overheard, and call me as soon as possible. I have something of utmost importance to discuss with you.

Cy666: Understood.

They left the cafeteria so quickly that they didn't notice Yellow's bemused glance, or Red, devouring their snack with their second mouth, not even bothering to hide it.

"Why'd you do that?" Yellow hissed. She couldn't, for the life of her, understand why her vent buddy was being so careless.

"They didn't see me."

"They very easily could have, and what would you have said?"

Red sighs. Yellow can tell by the look in their eyes that they knew the crewmate was right. "It's just… well, I don't want to go back to the way things were?"

"What do you mean?"

Red comes closer, speaking barely above a whisper. "Sneaking around. Lying. Hiding what I am. It was exhausting, and stressful, and letting myself be, well, myself felt so freeing. I don't want to go back to the way it was before." Red sighs. "But, I know that was careless. It was stupid. If my instructors knew, I'd never hear the end of it."

A wave of understanding hits Yellow. Of course, Red didn't like all this secrecy. She remembered how much happier they seemed after their secret was out, how much less anxious and paranoid. Being allowed to be themself really had done them good. And now, they had to push it all back inside.

Yellow felt guilty. She wished she hadn't suggested this plan. She saw the way Cyan looked at her. It was like nothing she'd ever seen in the eyes of a humanoid before. The cold, hungry stare of a predator.

Cyan wanted to kill her. They wanted all of them dead. This plan, as fun as it was most of the time, was incredibly dangerous and risky. There were so many ways it could go wrong.

Red seemed to read her mind. They took her hand, and gave it a squeeze. "It's not your fault."

"I was the one who suggested it," she insisted.

"And I went along with it. I know cyan. And I think this is the best bet we have to get out of this alive. Well, all of us except Cyan… which I don't quite know how to feel about that."

"What was your guys' relationship like anyway, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I don't mind. It was… strange. Cyan and I were partnered up a lot, and even roommates and dormmates."

"Oh my god, you were roommates. … Sorry."

Red snorts despite themself. "But I can't be sure if they actually wanted to help me, or our teachers put them up to it. They might have hoped Cyan's naturally aggressive nature would rub off on me. Well, so much for that."

Yellow tried for a smile. "Well, I, for one, am glad it didn't work."

Red soon does the same, though it's smaller. "Yeah, me too."

Too fast. "Ugh!"

Too slow. "Come on!"

"Do you need some help?" Purple asks. She had never seen Blue this angry before and was becoming concerned.

"If you think you can do better," Blue snapped, but Purple could tell they were just mad and didn't mean it in an insulting way.

Purple gingerly takes Blue's card and heads over to swipe it. "Yellow taught me how to do this. It's very difficult to master, but once you figure it out, it becomes easy."

Blue gapes when Purple gets the card successfully swiped on her first try. "That's… incredible!"

Purple giggles. "You'll get it someday."

But they both sober quickly, returning to the task at hand. "Any news on Cyan?" Blue asks warily.

"White and Green are watching the map at all times, and Red and Yellow are distracting them while they get the remaining tasks for the day finished."

"Thank god there's not that many; could you imagine dealing with this and a normal-sized task list?"

"To be fair, many crews have done it successfully," the medic points out.

"Not without casualties," blue responds.

"True. We're very lucky to have Red with us."

Blue laughs. "Sorry, sorry. It's just i betcha no one in the history of MIRA has ever said they were lucky to have an impostor among them. Well, not knowingly anyway."

Purple can't help but let out a small chuckle of their own. "This is a strange situation, I know. But, it's better this way. Now that our tasks are finished, I think it could be a good idea to check the cameras and door logs."

Blue punches the air. "Right behind ya, Purp!"