Chapter Text
Purple and Red still sat together in front of the door to the storage room, holding each other's hands again, neither of them speaking much, but who could blame them?
There was Purple, conflicted on their feelings toward Red, grieving their dear fishmate Heracles along with their other crew members, although they didn't have conversations or great interactions with a lot of them, their deaths were weighing heavily on their mind.
And there's Red, the "Captain", which they didn't believe they deserved that title anymore. They let their entire crew be murdered by aliens taking over two of their crewmates bodies. They couldn't help feeling like it was their fault entirely, because, yeah they definitely could have done things way better! But they didn't, and now basically their entire crew is dead, and the shipment of Ore+ that they were given the responsibility to deliver is somewhere floating in the cold dark abyss of space. They were scared. They could tell Purple was too. When they land in Industria they're not gonna be treated nicely.
...what was Mira gonna do to them? Red didn't know. The only thing they did know was that they weren't going to betray Purple's trust, they wouldn't sign an NDA again and have Purple hate them, they’ve been through too much to lose them again, they wouldn’t do it no matter what.
Red glanced over at Purple, they were looking kinda out of it, and there were tears in their visor.
"...Purps? You.. Doin' okay?" Red questioned nervously, giving Purple's hand a slight squeeze to pull them out of their zoned out state.
Purple slowly looked up at Red, making the tears in their visor more visible "..what do you think?? Nothing about this situation is okay, so why would I be okay?!" A few tears fell. They were just now realizing the depth of the situation, and processing it all. The panic of all the deaths, and adrenaline of the fight didn’t really give them much time to process everything that was going on.
Red was a bit startled at their reaction. A part of them wanted to wipe Purple's tears away and hug them, like they might've done as interns, but instead they looked away from them and looked at the ground in front of them.
" ..Yeah, sorry. I figured..Just... I wanna make sure. I'm not doing too well either."
Purple kept staring at Red, they looked so different from how they did when they were interns, yet still similar.. Purple doesn't think they'll forgive Red anytime soon, but they definitely still have a soft spot in their heart for them.
"..Sorry, it's just.. Y’know.. Nerves." Purple quietly spoke up.
"I get it. Don't worry." Red replied, still looking down.
Purple began to stand up, letting go of Red’s hand "...I think. I'm gonna go find a place to sle-"
Red grabbed Purple’s hand again, fast and desperate, still sitting down.
"Dont.. Dont leave. I don't wanna be left alone.. Not after all this." Red was scared. Purple was too, but they'd honestly rather be somewhere comfortable, but seeing Red beg for them to stay, pleading for them to not leave.. They couldn't help but listen, despite the sight in front of them being extremely pathetic, so they didn't leave without them, and let Red keep ahold of their hand.
"Okay.. But I still wanna sleep.. And this floor isn't exactly comfortable."
Red paused, and looked down, thinking about where the two of them could go.
"We can.. Sleep in Medbay? There's.. Beds there..?"
Purple thought for a moment.
"That seems.. Reasonable."
Red stood up, still holding Purple's hand tightly, but they loosened their grip so Purple wouldn't be too annoyed at them. Purple didn't mind Red grabbing their hand, they've both been through a lot and... They're the only ones who can comfort each other so.. At least for a couple days, Purple can look past their issues for.. A bit.
"Then, let's go." Red said, adjusting their captain's cap (which still had a bit of gross alien goo residue absorbed into the fabric, Purple made a mental note to tell them to wash it later.)
The two made their way towards Medbay, the walk was somber and depressing. If you paid close attention, the slight smell of blood was apparent, and it wasn't a comforting smell to say the least. The thought made Purple sick to their stomach while they walked through the Cafeteria, it felt like they could still smell the smoke from when Brown died, and hear the drips of blood coming down from the ceiling from Black's body.
When they both made it to Medbay, it felt off, papers were still scattered across the floor from when Lime went on a rampage looking for their scan, and it was odd not seeing the doctor, Blue in the room, it felt like they were almost always in here. it almost made Red want to go look for them.
"...Alright. Pick whatever bed you want I guess?" Red sheepishly spoke up, looking at Purple and shrugging slightly.
Purple walked over to one of the beds in the corner closest to the door, and grumbled under their breath, even though they didn't care who heard them, it's not like anyone but Red can even hear them. "God damn Mira cheapskates not even giving us actual fucking beds..."
Red picked the bed across from Purple, still giving them distance, but also making them close enough to know if anything bad happened to either of them. Red just sat on their bed, watching Purple as they tried to get comfortable in the Medbay bed.
Red knew they weren’t gonna sleep tonight, but that’s okay, they’d just busy themselves somehow.
The lights on the Skeld were on a timer, they would turn off at a specific time so the crewmates would know when it was time for them to rest, since Mira didn’t exactly give them sleeping quarters, it was probably expected of them to just sleep wherever they can. And if Red was correct with their timing, the lights should conveniently be shutting off in about 5 minutes.
Purple had somewhat gotten situated. They didn't exactly feel too comfortable on these beds (they were obviously not made for sleeping) but it would work for now. They were definitely figuring out better sleeping situations when they woke up.
Purple had looked ahead of them to just see Red staring blankly at them
“uh…Red, can you…not stare?”
“Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to, I zoned out there.” Red explained, taking their cap off and setting it on the ground beside their bed, purple followed and did the same.
The lights turned off shortly after.
Purple and Red laid identically in their respective beds, and neither of them could sleep, at all.
Purple was extremely paranoid, and couldn’t get the worries they had to stop racing through their mind, they couldn’t get the voices of dead crewmembers before their deaths, specifically Cyan, They had been so, so happy to make a friend, when Purple had shown Cyan Heracles, they were so happy to have been trusted with that secret. They were so upset that Black was unwilling to work with them, and Purple was the one to have cheered them up. Cyan was one of the first on the ship (besides heracles) to actually make Purple feel like they weren’t alone. Purple could almost hear their cries, their laugh, hell, they could even hear just the sound of their voice. They didn't know them for long, but Cyan impacted them in a way that was meaningful.
Purple didn’t realize it before the first tear fell, but they were crying. They felt it bubbling up, all of the fear, the guilt and the sadness finally fully catching up to them. But they couldn’t let themself fully cry, no. Red was across from them, and Red might just make their feelings worse, and even more complicated.
Red heard them anyway, because they were listening for anything from Purple.
“...Purple? Are you crying?”
“W-What? No?” Purple knew there was no point in hiding this, but their stupid, stubborn self had to give it a go.
Purple heard a sigh and rustling from where Red was, and then footsteps.
Purple sat up at the same time Red made it to the side of their bed.
“...Purple, you don't.. Need to..pretend everything is okay, because it's not, and that's just the truth, you’re allowed to react in certain ways, and you’re allowed to not react, but if you do, let me at least help you? We both went through the same shit, and being more.. Open might help you rebuild trust in me. We still have quite a long trip to Industria even still, so we shouldn’t bottle everything up, it’ll make things worse in the long run.” Red said, focused on keeping visor contact with Purple.
Purple was honestly quite impressed at Red's pep-talk. Maybe they were wrong about them making things worse.
“That was probably the most intelligent thing you’ve said”
“I-....I am unsure if this is an insult or a compliment so, thank you, or fuck you.”
Purple laughed at that. The sound made Red almost freeze. They hadn’t heard them laugh like that in years, along with the fact that THEY made them laugh. And they sure did miss that sound over the years, It made them think that maybe things will be okay. Maybe not now, maybe not soon, but eventually.
Purple eventually noticed that Red was looking at them in an odd way
“Red? Helloooo?”
“Sorry, sorry, it's just been so long since I’ve heard you laugh like that…since I’ve MADE you laugh like that.” Red admits, slouching against the wall beside the bed Purple was in.
That comment silenced Purple. Their face warmed, a familiar feeling, yet different at the same time.
“...just go back to bed, Red, I’ll be okay.”
“...alright.”
Red went back to their bed.