Chapter Text
Dying hurt.
Dying hurt a lot, actually. Maybe it was just that particular way of going, but it was a lot less peaceful than purple had imagined. Standing up to an evil imposter alien, only to get eaten alive after your makeshift weapon failed? That was a stressful, painful way to go. Nothing like the peaceful passing of old age while asleep that Purple always hoped for. Not even something cool or heroic, either. Purple died a failure, unable to save anyone.
The afterlife looked a lot like the Skeld. Purple glanced around, taking in the faint whirring sounds and the glow of machinery in the oxygen room. The tank that once held Heracles was softly bubbling, and the plants all around added to the peaceful atmosphere. This room had always calmed them down. Perhaps, after death, your mind takes you to a place you once found sanctuary. If only to soften the blow.
Maybe they were put here to think, just do nothing forever and imagine all the ways they could have been better. All the ways they could have, or rather should have saved everyone. If only they were a better security guard. If only they were given more resources. If only they listened before accusing, or actually talked to the crewmates more. There were so many things they could have done. But now, they were nothing but a ghost, with only their thoughts as company.
Purple sunk down and sat on the cool floor. They felt like crying. They felt a lot, actually, not the numbness they were expecting. For the afterlife, they sure didn't feel very dead–
Suddenly, the ground lurched, sending Purple sprawling to the floor. An alarm went off, matching the cries of the crew from down the hall. The crew that Purple was pretty sure were all dead.
What's going on? They were hit with a sense of deja vu, remembering how this same thing happened before. The crash before the deaths.
Was this some sort of test from the afterlife? Or did some higher being want to make them suffer by reliving all their terrible memories of what happened on the ship? Sighing, Purple opened the door to O2 and started walking carefully towards storage. White, Green, Orange, and Red were just down the hall before them.
Again, what is going on?
“Red? What’s happening?” Purple called.
Red glanced back, seeming unbothered. “Oh, the contest winner here just made a little mistake while flying the ship. It’s no biggie, really!”
That didn't make any sense. Was purple reliving their memories of the crash? But that's not right—they were in navigation when the crash happened. Were the last couple of days just a hallucination? But then why would the ship crash now? Unless somehow… They were back on the day it happened? How would that work? There's no such thing as time travel, at least, as far as Purple was aware.
Red didn’t notice how lost in thought Purple was, or how they typically would have commented on letting someone inexperienced fly the spaceship.
“C’mon Purps, we gotta go see the damage.”
Purple followed Red down the hallway, feeling disoriented.
The storage room was just how Purple remembered, just without all the trust balls blocking the hole in the wall. The hole that was currently in the wall, sending everything flying out into space. It's funny, in a way, that the majority of the time Purple saw this room it was damaged. The Skeld really did crash just moments after taking off.
“Would this be a bad time to introduce you two to our head of security, Purple?!” Orange yelled over the rushing wind. They tried to throw their trust ball to Purple, but it predictably flew out of their hands. Both Green and Orange reached for it, but stumbled and slipped with the rocking of the ship. Purple looked away from them, focusing on the chaos of boxes and flying objects. Maybe if the ore flies out of the ship, we won’t have to worry about the imposters, Purple thought.
“We need to get out of here and close the door!” yelled Black.
“No! We have to save the Ore Plus! It’s too valuable!”
Curse Red and his sucking up to MIRA. He was more concerned about the ore than the lives of his crew, like always. At least he would get better about it later. Probably. If it really wasn’t just some hallucination of Purple’s (it was seeming less and less likely that that was the case).
“Orange, where are the rest of your trust balls!” Blue asked, the only one to see the singular red ball plugging one of the small holes in the wall.
“The rest of my trust balls?! I only have one!” Orange lied.
The crew grumbled, and orange yielded, ripping the tarp off of the box behind them. What did they need a full sized crate worth of trust balls for, anyway? With help from the crew, they were able to tip the box and spill the trust balls, sealing the hole in the wall. The crew is safe! At least, for now.
Blue, the one who came up with that plan in the first place, tells the group how proud they are and gets a standing ovation for it. Red, of course, awkwardly tries to take credit. And then calls for a party. Purple feels dizzy.
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Scratch feeling dizzy, Purple feels nauseous. Everyone was partying, unaware that their lives were still in danger. We're not dead! How ironic. And yet, purple couldn’t say anything. They did nothing to stop the celebration, just sat at a table away from everyone else. Who would believe that they somehow went back in time after everyone here died horribly?
If I couldn't save them before, how am I supposed to now? That was a bad train of thought. Ideally, Purple should tell the captain. But there was no way Red would believe them. Red was a firm denier that any aliens were on the ship, even after seeing proof.
Purple poked at their pizza, unsure what to do next. They felt like a failure. What were they doing, sitting here avoiding everyone? They’re the head of security, they better start acting like it! Purple sat up, feeling a rush of determination. They got a second chance, they shouldn't waste it. This time, nobody would die. Not under their watch.
Right as Purple made this vow, Green spoke up. “Hey, has anyone seen White? They were with me boarding the ship, and everyone liked them?”
Purple blanked. How could I have forgotten White?! They were filled with a sense of dread. Surely white hasn’t died yet, right? Surely they haven’t failed already?
White wobbled slowly through the door. Their body shook with tremors, and they tried to choke something out of their useless vocal chords. A name, maybe? Then, a thin, almost imperceptible line formed across their neck, sealing their fate. Purple was too late.
In front of everyone, white gurgled, tilted, and split in two. Their head rolled off in a bloody trail, leaving their body with just a bone sticking out to flop backwards into a pool of their own innards. Just like that, they were dead. And it was all Purple’s fault-
Green screamed, and everyone started panicking. It was no easier to watch than it was the first time. The crew was running around in pandemonium, not knowing what just happened or what to do about it. Cyan was crying, and Black was trying to act cool about the situation. Purple just gazed down at their uneaten pizza, feeling like a failure.
Orange was fixing a wet floor sign when the captain finally came to their senses and called for everyone to calm down. Purple was having a hard time focusing. Blue put the body onto a stretcher- like that would do anything -and wheeled the two halves of White off to medbay.
“Alright everyone stay here while Blue and I figure this out.” Said the captain, as he and Orange followed Blue out of the cafeteria. Red didn’t even know that he was leaving everyone with a killer, or that he himself was in danger.
Orange was alone with just two crewmates. But Orange wasn’t going to kill anyone. Purple knew that. Orange was an idiot, and wouldn’t pull the trigger until lime. Green had said so when Purple was taunting them to buy time. Red and Blue would be fine. Green was the real threat here, not Orange…
Green was still in the room with everyone. They were hyperventilating, or faking it, while Yellow and Brown tried to calm them down. It was good acting, and it made sense how nobody really suspected Green until it was too late. Nobody would suspect them either, if Purple kept sitting around and letting more kills happen. Purple should do something, but what? They looked down at their uneaten pizza. Salty. That could work.
Purple got up, plate in hand, and headed over to green to ‘offer’ their pizza. Unfortunately, they were stopped by Yellow.
“I doubt they're hungry, Purple. I don’t think anyone is after… that. It’s a kind offer, but well.”
“I get it.” Purple looked away. It was a bad plan anyway. They should really turn around and do something, maybe throw the pizza at Green. But how would that look? Throw pizza at the crying crewmate, great idea Purple. Anyway, Yellow would probably catch it. Brown definitely would. Purple walked to the trash and threw away the pizza slice. What a waste.
It took a few minutes for the crew to calm down. Green had started to clean up the blood like a good intern. Everyone else tried to busy themselves while waiting, until Red finally came back with news.
“Non-emergency meeting everyone!” Red called, as the crew gathered around.
Non-Emergency? Yeah right! There's a killer on the loose! Two, actually. Not that purple could say anything about it.
“Okay after a difficult investigation we have determined that White is dead.”
And that was it. Time to go back to doing tasks. No, really! Everyone’s expected to go on as normal. It's insane how nobody said anything the first time around, or how anyone who did wasn't taken seriously.
But for now, Purple would have to plan.