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Arriving at MIRA HQ wasn’t the best, Purple didn’t quite like the idea of going back there. At least they could look for their twin, seeing as they are the only family they have left if they're alive. It was hard enough to hide the fact they were a different species of imposter than whatever killed everyone on their delivery. Red didn’t seem to notice they never ate with the others, let alone question the electronic disc they carried everywhere. The silver plating lay heavy in their hands as they looked at the very thing that turned them into an imposter in the first place. It felt too out of place in their hands as they looked back at Red, who was focused on steering the ship.
Seeing ghosts was something that always freaked people out in some way, but it allowed them to continue speaking with crewmates they were close to who were dead. Cyan was always nice to chat to in private, the first time Purple acknowledged them in their ghost form Cyan had jumped and screamed at the top of their lungs, alerting the other ghosts of how Purple could see and talk to them. It was nice talking about the meaning behind dreams, of course Black would question whether they were real or not. But Purple learned to ignore it for the meantime. It was made even more awkward when they confessed to all the ghosts what they were, imposter and crewmate. Lime was the first to jump to conclusions that they had killed people, but everyone confirmed they hadn’t and wouldn’t kill anyone. Though they always seemed so protective of keeping Red alive.
Of course, there were many questions about how they could see ghosts, and they were answered by showing the device. They all seemed quite shocked that they had the resource to lock any of the doors without being on the side of the ship, along with the lights and the reactor. Of course they rarely ever used the device to do that, only ever using it in dire situations.
“Looks like we’re here, Purps,” Red said, landing at the dock. Crewmates began to pool around the sides to take the nonexistent Ore+. “How are we going to explain all of this to them… We can’t be separated again after all.”
“I don’t know… but promise me you won’t sign another NDA?” Purple asked, scared to even show an ounce of their true form to Red. “I don’t want what we went through to be covered up.”
“I promise I won’t Purps,” Red said with a nod as they opened up the doors and put down the ramp. Leaving the duo to greet everyone alone. “We must stick together okay? I don’t want to be alone.”
“Me neither,” Purple agreed, walking down. They were most certainly taller than last time as everyone else had to crane their head up higher to look at them in the face. Red held their hand, and Purple just held it too.
A team walked up to the ship and were confused about the lack of fuel, before turning to the hole in the wall. A few trust balls still lay in the storage room and some of the broken ones lay stuck in the cracks. Evidence of their attempt to stop the Ore+ from flying out when the nightmare began. But they continued to walk.
It was the same as always, clean white walls and hundreds of colours filling up the halls of MIRA. Hundreds of lives saved thanks to the two killing the fuel source, they were able to stop that dream from coming true. But would they be able to next time? Purple hoped so, they couldn’t lose more family.
Walking towards the cafeteria, Red pulled out their wallet to pay for both of their food. But a familiar face lay in the crowd. Purple couldn’t believe that Pink was there, let alone showing their mouth for all to see.
Dragging Red along before they could even get food, Purple walked towards Pink. Who looked at them with surprise, hiding their mouth.
“Purps?!” Pink asked, looking up at the much taller imposter. “It’s been forever! We thought you died!”
“I was worried about you too, we were attacked by some rogue imposters,” Purple said, whispering the rogue part so only Pink could hear it, the natural born imposter nodded to the imposter. “They tried to kill Red and I, also, meet Captain Red. We were met as interns way back in the day, but they signed an NDA and ruined my life for a while. Red, meet Pink, they are an old friend of mine.”
“Its nice to meet you,” Red said, reaching a hand out to shake Pink’s, they shook it with their claws out which stressed Purple out a bit. “A friend of Purps is a friend of mine, we nearly died together so it's the least I can do.”
Pink looked like they were about to push the topic further before being interrupted by another crewmate. Purple heard them before they saw them.
“Hey, there you are Pink! You can’t just run off without me!” A blue crewmate said, the individual was covered in bandages and appeared out of breath. “Hey, may you excuse the two of u-”
“Hey Purps, this is Blue, the mechanic of my crew, Blue, this is Purps, the security guard for Captain Red’s crew and Purple’s twin!” Pink said, doing their best to hide their mouth, they sounded quite excited to introduce the two. Which meant that either Blue was an imposter or fed Pink, or both. “Don’t worry, they don’t bite. Why don’t you two come with us? We were going to go and meet up with Purple, White, and Red.”
“We wouldn’t mind at all!” Purps said, Red pouted a bit about not being able to get food. But Purple wanted to see their twin again. “Say, how have you been lately Pink? The last time we spoke was when you went on your trip to get Ore+.”
“We ended up stranded on Polus, some nasty parasite shapeshifted into this Fortegreen guy and killed everyone that was stationed at the outpost, we barely got it out alive thanks to MIRA,” Pink said, though growling a little bit at the idea of being saved by the greedy company. “We almost saved Doctor Tan, but the parasite imposter was so dead set on keeping them. They also voted out Yellow since they got there before all of us, I bet Red feels real guilty about it. They’re the one who took in Yellow’s kid by the way, though it's more of a group effort with all of us.”
“Is it just Purple, White, Blue, Red, Yellow’s kid, and you left, Pink?” Purple asked, knowing how bad they must feel if they are taking care of a crewmate's kid. Pink wasn’t very fond of them.
“It is, but we make due. Also, somehow the Red of our crew became an imposter, don’t worry, they don’t kill,” Pink said, the duo were taken off guard by the comment. “It was done the same way I know someone close to you was turned as well, Red’s still mentally and physically there. Just… not the same as us anymore.”
The word “us” felt wrong, it could only apply for Captain Red. Pink and Purple were both imposters. The fact that Pink mentioned it meant that it was public knowledge of sorts, which meant that maybe they could show Red that they weren’t a bad imposter. But would Red believe them..? That was the real question.
It was very crowded, but for some reason the crowd began to disappear before they were in front of a restricted area. They weren’t sure if they were allowed over there, but it appeared they were as they followed the two into the area. They were led to a room where some short Crimson dude just glared at them. Well, more specifically Pink, but they were also shot a glare or two.
Walking inside the room, they were met with four crewmates (two imposters, one kid). Only of their faces did Purple recognize, and it was that of their twin, Purple. Looking at the imposter, it was so nice to see them alive.
The two ran to each other and brought themselves into a tight embrace. It was so nice knowing the other was alive. They were all they had left, so losing each other would be horrible. It was enough so that Purps couldn’t hide their mouth anymore as they cried at the fact their sibling was there with them.
Looking at their friend Red, Purps could see a look of betrayal and fear on their face as they looked at the twins hugging. Red looked like he was about to go and report to someone before Blue put a hand on their shoulder.
“Looks like we aren’t alone in having a friend who is both an imposter and purple,” Blue said with a smile, which didn’t appear to help Captain Red at all. But the captain just shook more like they were about to die at the hands of both of them. “But why are you so scared? I thought…”
“You're an imposter..?” Captain Red’s voice was shaky as they looked at their friend. “Why… you… I-”
Before they could run away from their problems again, the Red that had been turned into an imposter the same way as them put a hand on their shoulder. Showing their own teeth, that lacked the same large fangs and tusks that Purps had.
“Look, there were many times that Purple had the chance to kill you, but did they?” Red asked, looking at the crewmate who looked like they were about to bolt to save their own head. Purps wouldn’t be surprised if they did. “It may be hard to accept at first, but Purple here doesn’t want to kill, I don’t know if I can call their twin my friend, but they too had plenty of chances to do that but didn’t.”
“What Red’s trying to say is that,despite your friend being an imposter, that doesn’t change who they were or are,” Blue said, they didn’t look like Dr. Blue, but they could be related based on how they both spoke. “Plus, you turned by a device and not those Ore+ stuff, they don’t got the mouths you guys have.”
“If MIRA tries to separate you two, I got connections to the higher ups,” White said, which did sound like something the contest winner would say if they were friends and alive. “Only because I hacked into their systems when I was younger on a different planet, it's more or less a fearful relationship.”
“You did what?!” Purple said, quite shocked. Purps and Captain Red were also left quite perplexed by the statement.
…
“So… you're an imposter..?” Captain Red asked the other Red, man was it confusing when your names were the color you were. “How did you become one..?”
“A metal disc that allows me to sabotage things from any location, though it wasn’t originally mine,” Red said, holding something half broken in their hands. “Of course, it ended up being broken in half, Purple, not the one that you came with, has the other half. They were the owner before me. And from what I know, your friend Purple has one too.”
“I don’t know how to take all this in… there's just so many different imposters, all of which MIRA is hiding!” Captain Red said, rather annoyed. “I understand why Purps hid it from me, but I wish I knew sooner… Maybe we could have stopped the reactor from blowing up back then…”
“Ah, so I was right about that being you two,” Red said with a laugh, being happy with their status of being whatever they were. “There was nothing you could have done there, I will admit. But MIRA really got on your two’s cases despite you guys just doing what you could as unpaid interns.”
“I should have done more, you know… maybe then we could have stopped it…” Captain Red said, looking down at the ground. “If we had been faster and better, maybe we could have stopped the deaths of our crew as well… None of us would have to deal with this if we had just been better…”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it, if anyone was in your situation, they would do the same as you,” Red said, giving the crewmate a light punch in the arm as they looked out at the clouds from the balcony they were on. “Blue and I were barely able to fix it on our own, and we’re professionals. No one should blame you for such a tragic accident as that, Captain. After all, you did the best you could in that situation.”
“Thanks for… all of this,” Captain Red said, it felt weird getting advice from an imposter. “You know, I thought all of you were all bad.”
“Most of us only kill to survive you know, I would rather fight my own kind than kill someone, and that's deeply frowned upon amongst imposters,” Red said, it was new information. “I guess that's one thing that imposters and crewmates have in common, they kill each other out of fear and survival. It's a never ending cycle, you know.”
“Maybe we can be one of the first ones to break it,” Captain Red offered, knowing that they were probably the worst person to say that. “I mean, Purps and I killed an imposter with salt out of self defense, but let's forget about that for our sake.”
“Maybe we can be the first to change things, even if you are a killer,” Red said, the last bit was said in a bit more of a joking manner. “Come on, let's get something to eat, Captain. I bet you haven't had anything to eat yet.”