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Purple slumped on their chair in the security room, holding their head in their hands. They didn't watch the cameras –what was the point? Loops always went the same way: the crew would celebrate surviving the hull breach with a pizza party, somebody would die, the crew would be medscanned, more people would die… Perhaps Purple would be the first kill this loop. They hoped so.
They didn't turn around and look when they felt a presence behind them and heard a familiar voice greet them.
"Hi Purps. Ready for another round?"
"Just get it over with, Green. I don't have salt."
There was a smile in the alien's voice as they answered, "Come on, you know me. I prefer keeping you around."
In a blink, Purple leaped to their feet, pounced at Green, grabbed their hoodie and slammed them into the wall. Fury twisted their features, along with tears in their visor. "Killing people over and over again isn't enough. Nooo, you have to torture me!?"
Green merely raised their hands without fighting back. They had a slight frown, a mixture of displeasure, perplexity and concern. "Whoa, someone's grumpy this loop. Is it because I made you an impostor last time? It's your fault, really. You kept refusing to listen when I told you I'm still me. I had to show you how it is. Now you know."
Purple felt bile in their throat. "What I did… I wasn't myself."
Green rolled their head in annoyance. "Keep telling yourself that. You can lie to yourself, you can't lie to me. Do I need to put a knife in your hands to show you how little difference the alien side makes? It just gives you opportunities. Try again without it, you'll see. You do the kills, I clean up after you."
Purple let go of Green and staggered back. They slumped to the ground, feeling weak and defeated, and hid their head in their knees. "Just leave me alone."
"Then I'll go kill Red."
The impostor watched Purple, waiting for a reaction. When none came, they tried again, "I'll go kill Heracles."
Purple still didn't move from their prostrate position, but muttered something Green couldn't make out.
"What was that?" the impostor frowned.
"I'll kill myself. Every loop, I'll kill myself. I'll convince the others to eject me, or I'll take a knife in the kitchen and turn it on myself, anything. I can't go on anymore. I… just want out. Please…" Purple's voice broke despite themself. They didn't want to cry in front of Green of all people, but they didn't care enough to hold back.
"Hey, no, don't do that! It's not fun when you aren't around."
"Fun," Purple spat, raising a tear-filled visor to Green. "You kill people and call it fun."
Green shrugged. "They'll respawn. And you know it's not about the killing itself. Okay, I had a lot of fun finding all the creative ways I could kill White, but even that has become repetitive and kind of boring by now. What's still there is pitting our brainpower against each other." They looked at Purple with a smirk, but not without fondness. "Blue and Black are smart too, but they don't have your grit. They give up way too easily. Plus, they don't remember. Even when I leave hints to help them, they still have to figure out everything from scratch. They don't learn from loop to loop, they don't progress."
"Whatever. Kill me, or don't. Kill everyone, or don't. I don't care." Purple huddled up into a fetal position. "I'm tired."
They flinched when they felt Green's hand on their shoulder, and they hated how having someone, anyone, share the nightmare they were trapped in brought some comfort. Even if the someone was the murderous alien who enjoyed making the nightmare even more nightmarish. That creature totally wasn't the original Green, no matter how much they pretended otherwise. Purple totally hadn't been themself the previous loop. No, they hadn't. Remembering everything didn't change a thing. They were a good person, not a killer. They were nothing like Green.
Green's voice snapped them out of their spiralling thoughts. "Okay, how about this: we take a break. I don't kill until you feel better. I could do with a break too. Now, I won't tell you who my partner is each loop, and I can't control what they do, I'll just make sure they know you're off limits. You vouch for me, I vouch for you, we both make it to the end of the loops, but we otherwise sit it out. Think of it like… like a movie: we just watch how the others manage without us, and you share your thoughts and guesses with me. Depending who my partner will end up being, we'll have mystery, horror, comedy, drama, romance… Too bad Yellow and Brown don't have popcorn."
Purple looked up in anger. "They're people, Green! Not characters for your entertainment! If like you pretend, you're still the same person as the innocent intern who boarded the ship, how can you be so flippant about people's death and suffering?! Why do you even kill!"
"I was never as innocent as you think, and also, killing became easier with time. First loop… at least, first loop I remember, I just really wanted White dead, then Blue scanned us and I had to silence them, then I was angry when you all celebrated after ejecting my partner –not to mention I was treated like I don't matter; I really hate being treated like I don't matter–, and well, playing you all was very satisfying. Then when we restarted, I thought maybe the loops would stop if I won, then I just wanted to best you, then I started enjoying seeing the way you navigated it."
Purple scoffed with disgust, but as a thought crossed their mind, they looked to Green pensively. "How many loops have you had before me?"
"Oof, I've lost count. As many as we've had together, if not more. You can imagine how surprised I was when you remembered too. And excited, too."
"Did anything happen differently? Either in your last loop alone or the previous one?"
"Not that I can think of. It wasn't the first time you, me and Red made it to the final three. Now that I think of it, the first loop I remember also had us three at the end, but there have been many others. Sometimes I won, sometimes I lost, sometimes you figured out the salt, sometimes you didn't. Even before you remembered the loops, I always became an impostor, you never did unless we specifically turned you into one, and the rest seemed to be random. I experimented a lot of things in my time alone. I even tried not killing anyone one time when Cyan was my partner. I almost lost my mind having to tolerate White until the loop ended, but it still didn't change anything the next loop. Whatever roped you in, I'm glad you joined me eventually."
"Lucky me," Purple groaned.
"Hey! I don't control it, you know. I'm caught in this as much as you. I just try to make the most of what I get."
There was a long moment of silence, during which Purple let themself lean into the impostor's deceptively friendly touch.
Finally, Purple leaned away to look at Green. "Do you think we'll ever find a way out?"
Green chuckled. "Assuming there's one, if anyone can find it, it's us."
"If we ever do… If consequences become permanent… Will you still try to kill us?"
Green considered the question for a moment with a quiet hmmm before finally answering, "Unless not killing is part of the way out, I'll probably take my chances one last time. A high stakes match as a grand finale? That would be exciting." As Purple slumped a bit, they added, "I'd play fair and leave you a real chance to stop me. I won't even get rid of the salt entirely, I'll hide it so you may find it. And I'll step into the trash chute willingly if you manage to expose me fair and square."
"You're a freak, you know that?" Purple sighed, kicking themself mentally for having expected anything else.
"Sowwy," Green answered. They didn't sound sorry at all.
Purple buried their head into their hands with a whimper. "Of all the people I could've been stuck in a time loop with, why did it have to be you?"
The comment made Green chuckle a bit. "Love you too, Purps."