Chapter Text
Green entered the elevator, though more like a mechanical one than a fancy one that would be in a skyscraper.
Another bean was already in there, a white one.
“Hello!” Green greeted, sitting down next to White.
“Hey.” White replied, looking up as a crew member wheeled in a rickety tv and pressed the go button, tossing the remote at Green.
An orange bean appeared in the television, going over instructions and everything, before telling them to introduce themselves. Green press paused.
“I’m Green! What’s your story?”
“White! And I was going about my day one day, when my parents called and said I was going to take over their enterprise business! So, another day, I was on my yacht and a waiter, who’s name I can’t recall, handed me a wine bottle and on its cork was, you guessed it, a prize for a trip on this ship! What’s your equally thrilling life story?”
“I’m an unpaid intern!…oh and I also grew up on a worm farm!”
“…ah, rustic.”
Green pressed play back on the television, and the orange bean started talking again,
“And now, let me introduce you to—“
The door opened as the two looked past the television, to Orange themself.
“Me! But real this time!” Orange did little jazz hands, holding a ball in their left hand, “This is a trust ball! When you catch it, you have to tell a fun fact about yourself!” Orange threw the ball up, catching it in their right hand, “A fun fact about myself is that I have two pairs of shoes! One for normal wear, and the other when I’m feeling a little more mischievous~!”
Orange tossed the ball to White, who caught it with two hands, “A fun fact about me is that no matter the sleep, I always feel refreshed!”
White lightly tossed the ball to Green, who reached out but struggled to catch it. After an awkward amount of time, Green dropped the ball. He got down, picked the ball up, and got back up on the seat.
“My fun fact is that in my town, everybody knew each other and so when I wanted to be a captain, they saved up their meager money to help me get here!”
“Awesome! Let’s get going, I’ll give you a tour!” Orange replied, taking the ball back from Green. The three made their way to the main room, where all the ore + was kept.
“These are our two geologists!” Orange looked over at Black and Cyan, both carrying a box of ore +. Black set theirs down first.
“Actually, I’m a geologist. Cyan’s a gemologists.” Black corrected as Cyan put their box down.
“That’s not what the paperwork says~!” Orange replied in a sing song manner.
“Well, the paperwork is bull—“
“And off we go!”
Green and White followed Orange into the reactor room.
“Hmm…Lime should be around here some—“
Lime popped out from the vents, scaring the three as he grumbled.
“Those damn gremlins, changing the vents around on me!” Lime mumbled, looking up at the two new recruits.
“This is Lime! Our engineer!”
“Why’re you in the vents?” White asked.
“You’re not a cop, are you!?” Lime accused, pointing a finger at White.
“No, no! But I’m friends with cops! I’m friends with a lot of people, lawyers, landlords, influencers, politician’s children, people who watch live action, people who—“
“Bah! I don’t have time for this!” Lime disappeared back into the vents, slamming the vent down.
“Well, our security guard should be right in—….here. Huh. Wonder where they went!” Orange stated, turning right back out the door. Green and White shared a look before continuing to follow.
Yellow and Brown laughed, the hot steam of the fire enveloping them.
“Hey, what’s that one story again? About that wiener dog?” Yellow asked, looking over as Brown took the pizza out of the fire.
“Oh, that’s a good one. Remember before when we worked in that one seafood restaurant?” Brown started, setting the pizza on the counter.
“And here we have our chefs!” Orange’s voice rang out, even before they stepped into view.
Brown sighed, turning away to grab toppings. Yellow leaned over the counter, watching as Orange, Green, and White walked in.
“Oh hey. It’s the new recruits.” Yellow stated, looking back at Brown.
“Cool.” Brown replied, sprinkling pepper on the pizza.
“You should try salt next time.” Yellow stated right before the group of three walked up to them.
“This is Yellow and Brown! The two local chefs!”
Yellow and Brown shared a glance before walking out of the kitchen. Yellow walked up to Green.
“How much you gettin’ paid?” Yellow asked, squinting at Green.
“Nothing.”
“Same,” Yellow walked up to Orange next, taking the trust ball, “ My fun fact is that the exploitation of underpaid workers, like us, are imminent to the companies that pay us little!”
“Okayyyy, and that’s enough!” Orange interrupted, taking the trust ball back.
The three walked into the med bay next. Orange stopped in their tracks, looking down at Doctor Blue.
“What do I owe the pleasure to?” Blue asked, turning to face the group.
“Trust ball.” Orange mumbled, tossing the ball to Blue.
Blue caught it, standing up, “I used to build houses for the unhoused people and that is where I learned that trust isn’t given, it’s built.”
Blue tossed the ball back, it bouncing off of Green’s visor and onto the floor.
“You are the most attractive person I’ve ever seen.” Green stated.
“Let’s not objectify the hot doctor~!” Orange replied, grabbing the trust ball and the three were off again.
“Now, here’s the big one!” Orange said.
“Oh boy, you don’t mean—?”
“Yes I do! The captain!”
“Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! My feet are moving on their own!” Green raced ahead, slowing down just at the entrance. Red was standing in front of the screen, talking with the head of Mira HQ. Red ensured that the flight would be a safe one.
The ship took flight and Green watched as Red controlled it, confidently.
“Woah.” Green muttered, stepping forward.
Captain Red swiveled his chair, facing the crew. Orange handed him the trust ball.
“I am Captain Red. Captain of the skeld. Traveling across space to deliver Ore+. Me. Captain of the Skeld. Captain Red…me.”
They tossed the ball back to Orange.
“Oh wow!! My dream is to be a captain one day!” Green said, practically bubbling with excitement. Captain Red chuckled, getting down from his seat.
“Well, why not give it a try then? Who wants to steer the ship?”
Green took a few steps forward, time going slow as he stared at the steering console. It glowed, calling out for Green. He reached forward, about to grab it. Just as he was about to feel the cold metal, White sat down on the chair and grabbed it.
Green spluttered for a moment, before backing away, rubbing his hand. White moved the console like it was a toy.
Purple walked in, looking up at White.
“Hey, isn’t that the contest winner?” Purple asked, raising one part of their visor.
“Sure is!”
“He’s not supposed to be flying! Thats irresponsible!”
Red pulled out a handbook, flipping through it, muttering ‘irresponsible’ to himself.
“Doesn’t say anything about that in the handbook…” Red replied, closing the book. Purple sighed.
“You’re the Captain, you’re the one that’s supposed to fly the ship!”
“Now that doesn’t seem righ—“
The ship jerked violently to one side, an alarm blaring off and red lights flashing.
“Well, what did I just say!? C’mon! I think the bang came from this way!” Purple ran out, towards the Ore+ room.
About every bean was there already, the rest joining. Lime opened the door, falling forwards from the hole now in the space ship. He dropped his wrench, grabbing onto the doorway. The wrench flew out into the vast space.
Cyan followed in secondly, then almost everybody else as well. Green and Orange grabbed onto each other, panicking.
“We need to find a way to close the hole!!” Purple screeched above the whirling wind, looking over as Orange hits their back on a tarp covered box, dropping their trust ball.
The trust ball hit a smaller hole, deflating and covering the hole completely.
“Where are your other trust balls!?” Captain Red asked.
“What others!? I only have that one!” Orange replied, letting out a yelp as the box shifted slightly.
A lot of the crew groaned. Orange knew they had to. They pulled the tarp out, muttering a ‘okay, fine’. They tried to push the box over, though unable to. Black noticed, looking around before taking a chance and letting go of the wall she grabbed onto, joining Orange and helping.
The box gave, one hundred trust balls clogging the hole. Everyone let out a sigh of relief. The crew cheered for Red, holding him up. Blue got down from their spot, doing a flip.
All visors looked over at Blue.
“That was amazing crew. I love the trust we had in one another, terrific work.” Blue stated, to which everybody clapped.
Captain Red stepped forward, “Yep! Yep and as the captain, I agree and it’s basically like I said that myself! I thought it!”
A few claps followed.
—
A banner hung above the cafeteria, roughly written ‘We are not dead’ on it. Pizza was being passed around. Blue sat next to a vent, trying to lure Lime out with the smell of pizza. Eventually it worked, Lime peeking their head out.
White, Green, and Orange sat at a table together, discussing whatever they discussed. Red was walking up to Purple, who tried to not look at them. But it didn’t work.
Cyan and Black sat together, though Cyan stalked off towards Brown and Yellow, talking about some type of ‘love aura’.
“What I never got was adding a contest winner and an unpaid intern…I bet they’re here to spy on us! Collect information and sell it to the government!!” Lime muttered, grumbling lightly.
“I doubt that, though it is curious to put a contest winner on a ship like this.” Blue replied, watching the group of three.
“Exactly! It’s the perfect set up, if you ask me! Maybe they’re a gremlin! I’ll get my holy water…” Lime shifted in the vent, preparing to go back below.
Blue noticed and, before Blue could stop themselves, reached out and grabbed Lime’s hand. Lime stopped, before pushing away from Blue.
“Gah!? Don’t touch me!” Lime yelped out, quickly disappearing back into the vents. Blue sat there for another minute before sighing, standing up and walking over to Black.
Brown and Yellow sat together, naming their favorites of basically everything. Most being the same, though some being the complete opposite. Cyan creeped up, taking both their hands.
“You guys are giving off such good aura, of love!” Cyan stated, putting their fingers together, “Boop!”
“…”
“…”
Yellow and Brown looked up at each other, before laughing. Cyan watched, looking between the two.
“Love!? Please, Brown is not partner material! Let me tell you, they keep—“
“Okay! Let’s not bring that up!”
“Got it, got it…” Yellow giggled.
Cyan shrunk down, before leaving the two and walking back to the table. They looked up to see Doctor Blue now sitting there, their visor lighting up.
White looked over, excusing themself to go join where Blue was sitting, leaving Green and Orange alone. The two looked around, before silently agreeing that nothing they said was in earshot.
“Who you want to get?” Orange asked, leaning forward.
“…Blue. We need to get rid of them as soon as possible, before either of us swoon for him. We can’t let our guard down around them. You know what you’re doing, right?” Green replied.
“Of course I do. But I think White would be better. Nobody’s gotten close to them, so nobody would have a clue who did it.”
“True, true. But we have to take it slow, got it?”
“Fine.” Orange agreed, resting their head on their hand.
“Good. So White first.”
“Yep.”
The two continued to chat softly, practically whispering to each other.
Red stood there, watching Purple walk away. Red didn’t know if they should follow Purple or let them go. Nothing in the handbook would tell them about this.
The party went late and Brown had found wine bottles in the freezer. Lime eventually came back, his holy water jar in his hand. Lime sat down, across from Blue. Brown gave every bean a wine glass, filled to the brim with wine.
Cyan stared down at the glass, before passing it over to Black, who took it without word. Red abstained as well as Green and Orange. Blue and White took sips, being careful to not get too drunk. Lime, Purple, and Yellow downed theirs.
At the end of the night, Yellow had drank the most with Lime coming in close second.
“And I’m telling ya, somethin’ here got me feelin’ all weird!” Lime muttered. Yellow nodded along with him. The two of them sat next to each other, having never really got along before but now laughed together like old friends.
“Whatever you say, lighter shade of—of green!” Yellow replied.
“I think it’s best we go to bed.” Blue spoke up, rubbing their head.
“I’ll take Yellow.” Brown stated, letting Yellow lean on them, “Who’s got Lime?”
“I’ll take Lime for the night.” Blue stood up, easily picking Lime up. Lime let out a disgruntled huff.
“See ya’ll tomorrow.”
“Hehe! See you guys!” Black replied, tipsy. They waved goodbye as Cyan quickly followed after them.
Purple watched, looking over at Red once, before silently walking off as well.
—
Yellow woke up, letting out a groan. They put a hand over their head.
“Oh. Hey, you’re awake.” Brown spoke up. Yellow tensed for a moment, now realizing that they were leaning against Brown.
“Ah! Uhm—yes! That, I am!” Yellow replied, standing up too quickly, almost losing balance.
“Careful, dude, you’ll fall. I knew I should’ve stopped you from drinking that much…”
“No, no, it’s fine…it was my decision, after all!…Though, did I say anything, like, weird?” Yellow asked as they helped Brown stand up.
“Not really, Lime was as drunk as you and you were just agreeing with whatever they said.”
“Oh, good!”
“…Should we call breakfast? It is nine, after all.”
“Of course! Waffles from scratch?”
“You read my mind.”
Purple looked up at the security cameras, letting out a loud sigh. They had a killer headache.
“Note to self: don’t drink more than three glasses.” Purple mumbled, sitting back in their chair again, closing their visor.
Red hesitated at the door just outside of security. What exactly were they doing here? Red didn’t know themselves.
Last night had been really awkward between them. Red knew Purple was avoiding them. And that hurt. A lot. But Red was captain, they didn’t have time to unpack all of these feelings.
…it smelled like waffles. Now Red had an excuse. Brown and Yellow must’ve started making breakfast.
“Hey Purps!” Red called out, opening the door. Purple let out a yelp, turning in their chair that caused it to spin a little.
“What!?”
“Breakfast is being made! C’mon! Let’s go!” Red grabbed Purple’s hand, dragging the entire chair with them as they walked.
The two walked past med bay, of which Lime could be heard from inside. Just Lime’s usual pouty, loud self.
“Calm down, Lime. Don’t you trust me?” Blue asked, taking a step back. Lime stood on one of the beds, pointing an accusatory finger at Blue.
“What did you do!? Scans!? Did you take my organs!? Sell them to the government!? Tell me!”
“I can assure you I did no such thing! Please get down before you fall!” Blue took a few steps forward before another back as Lime hissed at them.
“Your stupid trick won’t work on me! You’re a goblin, aren’t you!? Aha! That’s it! You’re a goblin!”
“I am no such thing, Lime. If you would just—“
“Calm down!? No! I know what you are!” Lime replied defensively, jumping down from the bed with a thud and away into the vent.
Blue sighed, grabbing a few painkillers for their own headache. They walked alone into the cafeteria where everybody was gathered, except White.
The banner still hung above them, as well as party attire.
Brown and Yellow passed around trays of waffles to each table where beans sat. Blue sat with Purple and Green, though not particularly interested in much conversation.
“I wonder where White is?” Green muttered.
“Probably spent the night at med bay.” Purple stated, looking over at Blue.
Blue looked up, before simply shaking his head ‘no’.
“…maybe the storage room?” Green suggested, looking over at Cyan and Black.
“Hey! Did White stay with ya’ll?” Purples asked, Black yelling back a ‘no’.
“…where are they?”
The doors slammed open. White stood there, their entire body shaking. They gurgled, sounding like a rough growl, prominent on the ‘grr’.
Every one looked over, some wary, others curious.
White took a few steps, wobbling, unbalanced. They stopped moving, including the shaking. Red looked over, before getting up.
“White, buddy, you okay?” Red asked, chuckling nervously.
White stared at a place that didn’t exist, it seemed, before a hissing noise and the pop that sounded like a champagne bottle, and White’s head dropped to the ground. Chunks of blood, as well as liquid blood, spilled over. White’s body fell to the ground with a splat.
Red stood there, unbelieving. They looked at the horrified expressions of the others, before looking back at White.
“…I’m gonna be sick…” Green muttered, getting up and taking steps back, holding a hand over where their mouth would be.
It was quick. Too quick. Purple joined Red’s side as Blue rushed past, grabbing a trolley from Med bay.
Orange joined Green, patting their back.
“…that…oh my god…” Black whispered, looking away from the body.
Cyan had fallen silent, staring at the body.
Blue came back in, carefully but quickly lifting White’s body and wheeling it away. Of course, there was nothing that could be done but Doctor Blue was never one to give up. Purple and Red followed Blue to Med bay.
The cafeteria fell silent, except for Green’s dry heaving. Nobody knew what to say, if they could even find their voice.
“…their dead. There’s nothing I can do.” Blue stated, looking over at Purple and Captain Red.
“…oh god.” Purple muttered, looking away.
“Are you sure? Can’t you, I don’t know, maybe sew the head back to the body? Isn’t that a—a possibility?” Captain Red replied, trying to keep their composure.
Doctor Blue shook his head, looking back at the body.
“There’s a pink substance on the body, not blood. If I have time, I’ll find out what that is. But we need to get the rest of the crew together and do scans. It might be a disease and if so, other beans might be infected too.”
Captain Red gave a nod and the three walked out. Brown and Yellow were back in the kitchen though nothing was being made.
“It’ll be okay, it’s okay…” Orange said, guiding Green back to a table.
“Let’s call a meeting.” Purple said, already moving towards the button on the middle table. They pressed it and the speakers around the entire ship blasted ‘Emergency Meeting! Report to cafeteria! Emergency meeting! Report to cafeteria!’.
The couple of beans who did happen to wander off, Brown and Yellow who were in the kitchen and Lime, who hadn’t even been presence to the death.
Lime popped out of the vents, grumbling.
“We need to do scans. Who would want to go first?” Blue asked, looking over as Orange raised their hand. Green looked over, squinting at Orange for a second before looking back at Blue.
“Okay, if you would just come with me.” Blue grabbed Orange’s hand, whose visor lit up at the touch, eagerly following Blue into Med bay.
The rest sat there. As the minutes ticked by, Lime got restless.
“What the hell happened anyways? What’re the scans for?” Lime asked, looking directly at Green, “You. Tell me.”
“Me? Oh gosh, uhm…well, White…uhm, White passed away, quite violently. Their head popped off…and…I’m not exactly sure about the scans…” Green explained, avoiding Lime’s hard stare.
“Well, get back to tasks! We can’t have this ship running without its crew!” Captain Red spoke up, already walking off.
Purple grumbled, also walking off. Cyan and Black got up, leaving together. Green looked down at the blood stained floor, sighing.
“Am I supposed to clean that?” Green asked to nobody, getting up and now looking for a mop and bucket. Orange watched Green.
Lime hopped into the vents. Brown and Yellow walked silently back to the kitchenette, talking softly.
Cyan and Black sat with their backs on the container of ore+.
“That was just…fast. I can’t feel that sad over them. And it’s not like I’m not trying, I just—I just didn’t know them. Like, at all.” Black sighed, looking over at Cyan.
Cyan simply nodded, fidgeting with their necklace. It had been a few, the two simply sitting in silence.
Green came in, looking extra nervous, “Hey! Could you two go up to Med bay? I’m supposed to get Lime but I can’t find them anywhere! Please?”
“Sure, sure.” Black replied, standing up and helping Cyan up.
Green walked off, still looking nervous.
Cyan and Black walked up to Med bay, Cyan opting to go first.
“I really hope the scan can see past my aura…”
The scan did and with extra precaution, both from talking and the preparation of the scan, from Blue.
Black stood normally as the scan happened. Doctor Blue watched, before helping Black down. The two swooned over Blue together as they left.
Eventually, everyone had done their scan, except one. Lime.
Doctor Blue knew this would be difficult, especially with what Lime had exhibited about such things earlier when they first talked.
“…now, I shouldn’t go lying but…” Blue looked around, before back at the vent, “They do need to scan…”
“Oh boy, time to look a goblin right in the eye!” Blue spoke louder than his usual voice, hoping that Lime might hear.
Blue heard clambering noises, definitely Lime.
“No! Don’t do it! You’ll fall in love!” Lime shouted, popping his head out.
“Oh, you scared them away! Thank you!” Blue replied, leaning down in front of Lime.
“Good! Bye!”
“Wait!” Blue grabbed Lime’s hand, again. Blue was internally ready for Lime to push them away again.
But Lime only froze this time.
“While you’re here, would you mind taking your scan?” Blue asked. That seemed to snap Lime out of whatever trance he was in.
“No can do! You’ll sell the map of my organs to the government!” Lime replied, though made no move to get away.
“I do admit, the medical field does have a lot of things to apologize for. But just this once, okay?” Blue knew what they were doing, the technique they learned early in their career to unwilling patients, “Please, could you trust me?”
Lime sputtered, before grumbling out, “Fine. Swoon, swoon! But I’m watching you shred mine after!”
“We’ll do it, together.” Blue grabbed Lime’s hand again, closing the door to Med bay.