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Quiet.
It was quiet in the Skeld, save for the sound of footsteps echoing throughout cold corridors. It was late in the night for them to be up, but it's not like they had the day and night cycle of a planet, after all, so who cares? Black clutched their bandaged fist with their other hand, looking down at it in intense thought as they circled the Skeld's layout.
They couldn't stop thinking about Cyan.
If Black didn't feel guilty beforehand, they sure felt like they were drowning in it at the very thought of Cyan getting so... angry. They had never seen them get that angry, hell, nobody on the ship has until prior in the day when Black and Yellow were tearing each other to shreds and Yellow ended up unintentionally smacking Cyan right in the face and hurting them. Even if they may have threatened them, Black knew deep down that Yellow didn't mean for that to happen, and the shame of having a hand in instigating the brawl that caused Cyan to get hurt in the first place was seeping its roots even further.
Even when they were trying to mend it, they were still horrible, Black thought. They were horrible for Cyan and they have done nothing but hurt them. If only they didn't disregard them before everything. If only they didn't push them down whenever they just wanted to be close. If only...
"Black?"
They whipped their torso around to the voice behind them.
It was Purple.
"What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be resting?" Purple asked, concern painting their features.
"Shouldn't you also be in bed?" Black remarked.
Just by seeing how restless Black looked, Purple decided to let it go. "I'm headed to Oxygen to meet with Cyan, I'd like to return their journal to them," they lightly called out as they walked past.
Cyan's journal. It completely slipped their mind after they had all been revived. Come to think of it, that notebook might have been what saved the entire crew, they would have never cracked the mystery of the imposter if Black didn't read through it.
...They owe a lot to Cyan.
"Can I come with you?"
Purple turned to Black, and, with a soft look in their visor, gestured for Black to follow them.
They walked together to Oxygen in silence, Purple shutting the doors behind them as Black sat up against the wall opposite to the water tank. They watched Purple slowly descend to the floor and shifted around to lie on their back, bringing their hands up to rest on their abdomen as they idly rocked their feet. The silence between the two stretched on as they waited.
"I'm sorry."
Purple glanced over to Black. "Huh?"
"For making the fight worse. You were just trying to break us all up before things escalated, and that's exactly what happened, all thanks to me..." Black brought their bandaged hand up to stare at it once more, "...and we ended up hurting Cyan."
Purple sat up to reach over and take Black's hand in their own, running their thumb over the lines of the bandage wraps. "Hey, don't sweat it too much. Neither of you meant for Cyan to get hurt, and as for the fight itself... I get it. Things have been stressful for us all as of late, after all." Black gazed at them fondly and curled their fingers around Purple's hand in contemplation before sighing.
"I still hurt Cyan though, in more ways than the fight, I mean. Before the recovery and reconstruction protocol, I was still awful to them, all because they believe in all that vibe stuff." Purple listened eagerly, tilting their head slightly. "No matter how unscientific it may be, I can't bear to watch that part of them die, not when it made them so happy."
Black looked down at their lap in remorse, and it pained Purple to see Black like this.
"Ah... hm... I don't know what to tell you, I'm not Cyan... but you've got a chance to fix things between you two now." Black looked back up to meet Purple's hopeful expression. They were right. If this whole debacle had done anything for them, it had given Black a chance to reconcile for how they treated Cyan before.
Purple let go of Black's hand to lay back down, patting their chest in invitation. They crawled from their sitting position over to lay on their side, resting their head on their chest. Purple brought their hand up to stroke the fur on the back of Black's head, which elicited a low purr from them. The sight and sound of them being content like this brought a grin to Purple's visor, but their smile immediately dropped when their vision focused on the scars that ran all across Black's body.
Even when all of them were alive and well, they still couldn't get the image of Black's body parts scattered in blood and gore, the mere mental image still making them sick to their stomach.
"I'm sorry, Black."
Black's purring came to a halt as they slightly lifted their head from their chest in confusion.
"I'm so sorry, I should have been there. You wouldn't have been killed if I was by your side." Purple's voice began to croak as they held back tears, and it made Black's heart split in two. In an effort to console them, Black drew closer to nuzzle into their fur, taking their hand in theirs and holding it tight.
"You have nothing to apologize for, there was nothing any of us could have done. I was practically a goner already anyway," Black lightly chuckled, but it didn't seem enough to compleyely soothe Purple.
"But you wouldn't have had to go through that pain if I was there, I could have done something--anything!" There was no use in fighting against the tears that streamed down Purple's face, so they didn't. Black instantly wrapped their arms around Purple's neck, bringing them into a tight hug as they rubbed the back of their neck. They both sat there, rocking in place as Purple sobbed apology after apology, to which Black would whisper to them gently that it was okay. They stayed in this position until Purple finally calmed down, and they both laid back down with Black's head on their chest.
Then Black began humming.
They were humming Happy Birthday. Purple didn't know how Black knew that it calmed them, but they weren't complaining. Black would keep periodically humming to them as Purple rubbed circles into Black's back as they both waited for Cyan to turn up.