Chapter Text
Now it was Lime’s turn to pause. Then they finally realized what Blue was saying. They took way too long to do that. “Waitwaitwaitwaitwait. Me?!”
“Yeah, you.” Blue got more nervous by the second. Not in a sense that Lime was going to reject them or something, but nervous in a good way. “We don’t exactly need to call ourselves anything but, uh, I just wanted to say that so hopefully I can think about something else for a day.”
“Blue, I don’t give one shit if we call ourselves anythin’, I just don’t understand why you’d choose me.” Lime questioned, shaking a little.
Blue didn’t have an answer to that, cause they honestly didn’t know why either. They shouldn’t be picking anyone in the first place, but even if they could choose anyone, they’d still choose Lime. “… Lime, would you give me the honor of being my partner?”
“Of course I would, that’s a lot better than thinkin’ you hate me!”
Hate them? Had they really been that cold? Lime must be more socially anxious than they’d guessed, which was saying a lot based on how they already acted around others.
Blue noticed how genuinely happy Lime looked. It made them even happier, too. “Well, I’m the luckiest person in the world, having you by my side.”
“Naw, I’m the lucky one. I never imagined myself with someone so pretty, you’ve always seemed outta’ my league.” Lime admitted nervously, almost like they thought this was a joke. That comment about being pretty felt so special, even though they constantly heard it.
It was special because Lime had never said it to them. That realization put them in the same position Lime had been with the swooning.
There was a knock on the wall, and Purple carefully peeked into the room like a bomb could go off at any second. “Are you two done with… whatever you’re doing? We’re having a meeting.”
“Err— Yes, yeah, yes. We’ll be right out.” Blue answered, snapping back to reality. Purple looked at them funny, but left anyway. Blue adjusted their tie even though it wasn’t messed up. “Let's go, this must be important.”
Lime nodded and followed Blue to the cafeteria. The whole crew was already there, and Blue assumed they went there straight from the med-bay. Had they just been waiting on them and Lime? How embarrassing…
The second they stepped into the room together, everyone turned. What a price they were paying for a moment alone with Lime… whatever. Red cleared their throat. “Alright, we’re all here. Now, I just wanna clear the air, this could still totally be a freak accident and not aliens!”
Everyone just glared at them. They all knew this was no accident.
“... Anyways, we should take some precautionary measures, and split into groups. Just in case.” They stated. What a coincidence that Blue thought of that first… they didn’t eavesdrop on them and Lime, did they? Hopefully not. “Scramble, everybody! Pick your groups!”
Blue and Lime just stayed where they were. With the uneven number of crew, Blue wondered who would end up alone. Brown was with Yellow, that was obvious, but they were surprised to see Cyan pairing up with Black. They would never have guessed those two to get along. Purple reluctantly paired up with Red.
“Hey, do ya’ think I could join you two?”
Green. They didn’t think about them.
“Wouldn’t rather join, uhm, Red and Purple?” Blue hinted. They barely liked working with Green in the first place, why torture themselves with being around them all day every day? “I thought you wanted to become a captain.”
Green stared at them with a touch of annoyance. “I already get along with those two. I wanted to make a few more close friends on this ship, y’know?”
“Right… I suppose that would be fine.” They spoke with indignation. Of course they’d do this. Blue began to suspect they liked being a little pest.
Everybody was split now. Red spoke up again. “Perfect, everybody found a group! I am so good at this.”
“Sure you are…” Purple grumbled. What an odd duo, they clearly had more going on between them that Blue didn’t know about, based on how much Purple seemed to hate Red. Red ignored their comment.
“Everyone, continue working on whatever it is you were working on before. Stick with your groupmate!”
They all listened, heading back to their various workplaces. Blue turned to head back towards medbay before Green’s annoying little voice chimed in. “We should check on the engines, and maybe the reactor, too. The captain was saying something about possible malfunctions?”
“I just worked on them, but it beats sittin’ around doin’ nothin’.” Lime agreed, and Blue could sense their annoyance with the situation, too. The three of them headed down the hall and to the reactor to grab Lime’s tools. Green lingered behind with Blue.
“Nice job buttering them up,” Green praised, but to Blue it was more of an insult. It sounded like they were implying that Blue was going to do the same freaked out shit that Green had done before killing. “Thought you’d never get to killing.”
“I’m not killing them.”
“What?” They hissed. Blue was going to explain, but Lime was already walking back.
They backtracked to the upper engine first, though none of them were very happy about it. Blue and Lime were both annoyed with Green, and Green was staring at Blue like they wanted them dead. While Green and Blue angrily stared at each other, Lime checked all around the engine, checking wires and panels, but nothing was wrong.
“Just like I thought. Maybe the captain should check things themselves next time.” Lime muttered, clear disdain for Red in their voice. Though they had no clue how Red could have ended up on Lime’s bad side, it was funny. “I’m sure the other engine is fine too. These things are pretty damn resilient."
“Well, check anyways. I don’t doubt the captain, so something has to be wrong with either the engines or reactor.”
“Don’t put so much faith in them, intern. Just ‘cause they got a job you want doesn’t make ‘em smart.”
Green mumbled something to themselves and began walking to the other engine. Lime sighed and followed with Blue at their side.
“I guess we need to have a bit more patience with them.” Blue suggested with clear exhaustion in their voice. Green must’ve heard, considering they started walking even faster. They acted like such a child…
They got to the lower engine, and Lime did their same little inspection on it. Nothing. Green looked shocked when Lime told them it was running fine, then speed-walked to the reactor. Now this one for sure was perfectly fine, Blue knew because they had helped.
Lime was grumbling to themselves as they walked in. Blue, once again, stayed back with Green. Why did they do this to themself?
“If you don’t kill them, I will.”
“...Lay a finger on them and I’ll tell the entire crew.”
“And why would they believe you?”
“Cause I’m the hot doctor to them. You? You’re just an intern they’ve known for a couple days.” Blue spoke with a quiet anger they hadn’t felt in a long time. That silenced Green, but Blue didn’t trust the way they were staring at Lime. They were right to, because they saw tentacles rise from Green’s back at an instant. “LIME, WATCH OUT!”
Lime turned, confused, then darted back when they saw Green’s tendrils. Blue ran towards them, grabbing their hand and bolting out of the reactor as fast as possible, but Green followed.
They weren’t scared of being caught. They just wanted Lime dead.
Blue wouldn’t let that happen.
Green would catch them if they just tried to run. Blue let go of Lime’s hand and turned back towards Green, shaking. “Lime, run. Don’t stop, just go get someone.”
Lime wanted to object, but seeing Green get closer, they ran as fast as they could for help. The second Green caught up, Blue lunged at them without hesitation. Their rage was enough to beat them.
They shattered Green’s visor with one punch, and they tried to swing back with no luck. The alien puppeteering their body tried to leave its host in a pitiful attempt at escape. They stomped on it as hard as they could, and they heard it yelp. They didn’t stop stomping, hearing its screams get more desperate, seeing its tentacles try their very hardest to grasp at Blue and throw them aside, but it couldn’t manage against Blue’s own tentacles.
After enough stomps, the shrieks got weaker. The tentacles stopped reaching.
It was dead.
Blue had killed them.
They heard footsteps running towards them, and quickly retracted their tentacles as they stood up. They heard Red’s voice, sounding unsure and disbelieving. Lime shouted something at them, desperation drowning their anger. They turned the corner faster than Blue had ever seen them move. “Blue, I-I got help, are—”
Lime went silent. Blue turned to look at them, feeling tears well at their visor. “I… I handled it.”