Chapter Text
The Skeld was quiet. It had been since White died, the shock put all of them into silence. As much as Blue enjoyed some sense of calmness around here, it felt dangerous.
They didn’t think Green would kill someone this soon. Sure, they agreed it would be a good plan to get Mira to stop using the eggs, but on the first day? So stupid, now they’d all be on high alert.
The worst part of this all was that everybody decided Blue was their knight in shining armor, for whatever reason. Were all crewmates this naive? Only a few of them, like Lime and Purple, didn’t rely on Blue for everything, but that was likely just because of how solitary they were. If Purple ever spoke to anybody and Lime didn’t have the vents, they’d probably be just as over-reliant.
Whatever, there was time later to complain about the body they chose. They had to keep up their little doctor facade and get everyone’s scans.
They didn’t even get to take a step outside of the med-bay before Orange was in the doorway. “I gathered everybody — well, everybody but Lime — for their scans, doctor! You’re, uh, ready… right?”
“… Yes, I am. Thank you for your help, Orange. I’ll do yours first.” Blue sighed. Well, now they didn’t have to gather everybody.
They led Orange to the scanner, activated it, and printed the results. Of course, it was normal. Then came Yellow. Normal. Brown, normal. Red, Purple, Black, Cyan, all normal. Blue didn’t expect any of their scans to be different, anyways.
Green stepped up and onto the scanner lasy, clearly annoyed at having to do this. “Blue, we already know how mine is going to be.”
“Yeah, yeah. Wouldn’t it be suspicious if I never took your scan?” Blue grumbled. Their partner obviously wasn’t as smart as they thought they were. The scans took just a few seconds, and they were seriously complaining about it? “There, you’re done. And, next time you kill, maybe, you know, tell me?”
“What are you, my parent? Hah! Nobody’s gonna suspect the innocent little worm-faming intern.” They laughed, but Blue did not. This was a serious matter; If Green was caught, it wouldn’t be long before Blue was, too.
“And what will you do when they are suspecting you, hm?” Blue scoffed. How annoying could one parasite be?
Their question was answered very quickly with Green’s response. “Deny it all, obviously!” They grumbled. “I’m not an idiot. In fact, I’m smarter than you’ll ever be, “Doctor”.”
“Right.” Blue spoke under their breath. It was no use arguing with them, not when they never listened. Green began to walk away, satisfied with having the last word, before turning around in the doorway.
“Oh, Blue?”
“What?”
“… Don’t get attached to any of them.”
The door shut behind them as they walked out. They must’ve thought that was so cool… what a child. Of course they wouldn’t get attached to any of the crew; There was no reason to.
They heard the vent rumble behind them, remembering they still needed Lime’s scan. It would be… harder to get them to step foot on that scanner, to say the least. They were lucky that they picked the body all the crew found attractive.
They strutted up to the vent, carefully lifting the lid of it. In all reality, they could just crawl in there and kill Lime where nobody would find them, but Purple was already back at the cameras. “… Oh no, it seems like a… gremlin… is here.”
…
Lime must’ve not heard. They said something that stupid out loud just for Lime to not —
“WHAT?! WHERE?!” Lime shouted. Blue almost jumped back. How did they get here so silently?
“Oh, Lime! I, err, lied, but—“ Lime slowly started shutting the vent and moving back, but Blue opened the vent back up. “Waitwaitwait!” They spoke rapidly, grabbing Lime and pulling them out of the vent. “Please, Lime, I need to get your scan.”
“Wh— A-An’ why would I letcha’ do that? So Mira can end up with all my info and send the aliens after me? Not happenin’.” They grumbled, surprised that Blue just grabbed them like that. Something about their type of annoyingness wasn’t as bad as Green’s, almost endearing in a sense. It was hard to not feel bad for someone so paranoid.
Blue cleared their throat, leaning in close while their hands lingered on Lime’s sides. “Lime, I know this goes against your beliefs, but the safety of the crew is very important. Please, just this once…”
“I…” Lime stared in disbelief for a moment, just like any other crewmate did when Blue did that. Then, suddenly, Lime pushed them away. “Fine! Just don’t pull allat’… that swoon stuff on me again…”
“Okay.” Blue chuckled. What a fun reaction, so different than the rest of the crew’s. Lime reluctantly got onto the scanner, and Blue started the process. “I’ll shred your scan after, by the way.”
“Good. I’m gonna watch.” Lime sighed. Blue found themselves wondering what happened in Lime’s life to make them so paranoid. Unimportant, they reminded themselves, I’ll have to kill them anyways.
The scan finished, and the print began. Lime very quickly stepped off the scanner and nervously watched the printer, tensing every time it made a noise even slightly louder than the rest. Blue had to admit, as pathetic as it was, it was fun to watch. Lime turned and caught them staring, and they quickly looked away.
“Why’ya lookin’ at me, Big Dawg?” Lime muttered. So they had a nickname for Blue? Huh. Even if it was a very… embarrassing nickname, it was nice to see someone here not just calling them “doctor”.
Blue laughed lightly. “Just watching you. You don’t need to be so stressed just because the printer is making noise.”
Lime didn’t respond. The printer felt like it was going even slower now.
“… You know, Lime, I don’t think I’d tell anybody if you were an alien.” Blue spoke. Lime looked completely shocked.
“What? You’d risk the life of everybody on the ship just so you’d keep a friend?” They spoke, seeming almost horrified, but they were also blushing. Hm. “… I wouldn’t wanna kill nobody anyways. I don’t believe that all aliens are just evil for no reason.”
Blue looked at them again, but differently. They didn’t expect Lime — the most superstitious crewmate on the ship — to think anything good about aliens. They expected even less for them to be right. “So would you say anything if I was one?“
“… Probably not.” They admitted under their breath, embarrassed.
“Aw, Lime, how sweet of you!”
“Oh, don’t say it like that! We’re… we’re friends, ‘course I wouldn’t!”
“Friends? Well, I think we could be considered—“
The print finished. Good, it snapped them out of it. They felt stupid having to remind themselves not to get attached to anyone, even if it was as a joke.
They picked up Lime’s scan, looked it over very quickly, and set it back down. “I… see nothing wrong with your scan. Let’s shred it.”
“Er, okay.” Lime mumbled, like they were expecting Blue to say something more. Maybe Green was right to start killing immediately, even if it was more suspicious.
Blue stepped over to the shredder, turning it on and putting Lime’s scan through it. Lime watched it shred into little slivers, then headed back towards the vent.
Lime cleared their throat. “There, don’t, uh… don’t bother me again, yeah?”
Blue didn’t answer. Lime waited a moment, then retreated into the vent in silence. They would’ve felt bad if they were actually their friend, but no. This isn’t their body, they stole it.
They normally loved the quiet, but this silence hurt. Green was right.