Chapter Text
Yellow shook his head at Lime in dismay. "Why did you vote Blue if you think Purple's the Impostor?"
Red was trembling wordlessly, incredulous to have escaped immediate sentencing for a crime she didn't commit, while Blue now hesitated whom he distrusted more between her and Lime. "Opinions were made clear enough," he tried. "We can still eject Red."
"No," Orange countered, "the law's firm about it. Only votes matter, and it's a tie between the two of you."
Blue glowered at Red. "Fine. You get another chance to live. But if anyone else dies…"
There was nothing more to say, so everyone scuttled away to their next task –except Purple, who came closer to Lime.
"Well played, Lime," he purred in a silky voice, smooth and dangerous, almost making her lose her temper there and then. "Clever clever… I look forward to getting to know you more in depth once I've gone through the rest of my tasks." And just like that, he turned away and left the cafeteria, as if nothing had happened.
Fists clenched, Lime took a few intentional breaths to calm herself down. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill him so badly. If there had been any justice in the universe, it was his blood that should've stained the Skeld's floor. But she needed to remain more cautious than ever. Purple had underestimated her once; next time he wouldn't be as careless. With every passing moment, he might murder another of the crew. With every emergency meeting, he might condemn an innocent soul to die in the cold vacuum of space.
She had to stop him.
The early insouciance had all but vanished, and a shroud of horror and paranoia had fallen upon the Skeld. Yellow and Orange remained closer than ever, refusing to leave each other's side for even a second. Blue jumped at the sight of his own shadow, and Red fumbled through her tasks, blinded by mixed tears of relief and fear. Lime wanted oh so desperately to keep a constant eye on Purple, but she also knew she couldn't afford to dawdle. And Purple was in no hurry to claim his next victim: his priority was to appear as harmless as ever until he found the right opportunity.
For the time being, the only thing Lime could do was make her path around the ship difficult for Purple to predict so he wouldn't feel safe killing anywhere. She also started to worry: she hadn't seen Red in a while. Scouring the Skeld faster and faster, dread tightening its grip around her throat, she finally found her huddled in oxygen, weeping silently.
The sound of Lime's sigh made Red start with fright, and for a frozen moment, she stared at the new arrival with no movement nor sound. She slumped when her brain finally registered it was Lime, who was doing her best to break through the wall of thoughtless terror with kind words and placating body language.
Red stood up and started mumbling incoherently. "I'm sorry I didn't recognise you I can't go on I just can't I thought I was doing to die I prepared myself but I'm so scared I know I should be thankful I'm just so scared I don't know what to do I don't want to die oh Lime I don't want to die!"
Lime gently put her hands on Red's shoulders. "Hey, hey. Red, look at me. It's alright to be afraid. We all are. But I need you to remain strong a little longer, okay? We still have work to do, and the longer we delay, the later we'll arrive at Mira HQ."
Red nodded, sniffing. "How do you do it?…"
Lime let go and answered, perplexed, "Huh? Do what?"
"Keep yourself together. Before Brown's death, I thought you were being overly dramatic, but now you seem so calm!"
"I'm… really not?" She just stayed focused on her goals, honestly.
Without a warning, Red leapt at her to embrace her in a tight hug. "I owe you my life! I wouldn't be there anymore if it weren't for you!"
After a second to process her surprise, Lime patted Red's back. Now this was awkward. How did you comfort an overwrought crewmate when all your thoughts were turned to the still lurking threat?
Thankfully, the physical contact itself seemed to calm Red down, and after a short while, she took a step back and briefly opened her helmet to wipe her eyes. "I'm sorry. I'll never thank you enough, Lime. For everything." She forced a laugh. "I still think you're wrong about Purple, though. It must've been Blue."
As there was no point in debating now, Lime changed the subject: "Shall we resume our work?" Reassured by Red's nod, she went on, "Where's your next task?"
"Electrical," Red answered in a tiny voice.
"I can come with you if you want."
Red looked up, and for the first time since she'd found Brown's remains, she sounded genuinely hopeful: "Yes, please!" It didn't last, however, as she grabbed Lime's hand to go left instead of right: "Can… can we make the detour via weapons? Please?…"
Lime silenced her frustration. Even if it slowed them down, she understood where the request came from. "Of course," she agreed.
Blue couldn't get over Lime's betrayal. Orange's vote was understandable, she was clueless. And either Red was the Impostor, or the shock of discovering half a body had finally put some sense into that thick skull of hers –as unfortunate as her suspicion of Blue was. But Lime? Something didn't add up. He just couldn't put his finger on what was bothering him, besides the obvious resentment for her vote.
For a while, he walked round and round in the ship, neglecting his tasks to spy on the others, check the admin table, watch the cameras. Should he call an emergency meeting? But without a compelling argument, the crew would be quick to vote him out. Should he keep his thoughts to himself and wait for the next murder, hoping it wouldn't be him? Or should he confront Lime directly?
The decision was cut out for him as he came face-to-face with her and Red in the cafeteria.
"You!" he accused. "What's your game! I want an explanation!"
Lime paused. "I'm sorry, I don't understand. Do you mean the vote?" Red fearfully hid behind her.
"All this talk about Purple being an Impostor, and then you try to get me ejected?"
"I was saving Red!" Lime defended herself, turning an open palm toward her protegee. "I let everyone else vote first so I had a chance to block the vote because I knew you were both innocent."
"So you say," he shot back. "Or maybe you hoped more people would vote me out, with your half-hearted argument you'd seen me do asteroids."
"That makes no sense! I was doing what I could to protect you, too!"
"Maybe it was all an attempt to confuse us. Maybe you sneaked out of admin through the vent, murdered Brown and returned before the lights came back."
He took a step forward, and Lime a step back. So now he basically accused her, he didn't run from her anymore? If the situation hadn't been so dire, she might have burst out laughing at the sheer absurdity of it. Behind her, Red turned her gaze to the emergency button and started to move discreetly.
"No, Red, wait," Lime stopped her before returning her attention to Blue. "Look, I would never have had a chance to go to comms and come back, especially not without bumping into Red. I was only alone in admin for a brief moment, I talked with Yellow the entire time until he left." And for the very purpose of reinforcing her alibi, as a matter of fact.
"And why exactly should I believe you?"
"Just ask him! And how would I have known your movements if I hadn't been looking at the table? You did go from weapons to caf', didn't you?"
After a second of grudging silence, he nodded with a mutter, "Yes. Though you could simply have guessed." Still, despite the continuing hostility in his voice, at least he sounded more hesitant. Resentment about her vote aside, he was back to square one on Brown's murder.
She rubbed a hand on her tired forehead. "We're all on edge but I stand by what I've always said: Purple is the enemy. Not me, not Red, not you. He is the one we all need to be wary of."
With a grunt, Blue turned heels and went to seek Yellow. Lime sighed, and made her way with Red to electrical.
Purple was starting to feel really annoyed. Since Lime had found Red before him, everyone but Blue had paired up, leaving the Impostor no opening to kill someone and frame another. Not to mention his prey were paying way too much attention to the admin table and cameras now. As much as they had dismissed Lime's advice at the beginning of the trip, it had stuck. How irritating. At least, it slowed them in their tasks, which in turn gave him more time to plan out his move. While he could always pull a well-chosen sabotage, he wanted to score at least a kill or two before stirring the pot. An emergency meeting might give Lime a chance to poke holes in his defence.
Upon seeing Orange and Yellow go to the front of the ship not long after Lime and Red had entered electrical, an idea formed in his mind.
While Red calibrated the distributor, Lime positioned herself in such a way she could keep an eye both on the vent and the door.
"I don't know how I can ever make it up to you," Red was saying. "After I returned to shields to indeed prime them, I… I couldn't stop thinking about Brown." As Lime didn't know how to answer to that, Red continued after a second. "I really feel better knowing you're here with me."
"Eh, no problem. Just doing everything in my power to keep us all safe."
Red groaned as she missed the mark on the third dial and had to restart the process from the beginning. "I'm sorry about Blue. Now he's at your throat because of me."
"Not your fault," Lime asserted, sighing, "and I don't even blame him either. He is afraid, alone, and confronted to his own mortality. Anyone might snap in the circumstances. Anyone of us, at least." Purple, on the other hand, seemed to thrive on it.
Red shook her head without taking her eyes from the device before her. "You still think it's Purple?"
"I know, Red. I know. I simply don't have the means to prove it."
Silence fell between them until Red's exclamation of victory broke it. "Ha! Done!" She closed the panel, eager to go to a more open room. "Let's go, electrical gives me the creeps."
"Gladly," Lime chuckled. She checked the vent one last time before setting to follow Red out…
…and the door closed right before her, locking her in.
"Lime!" she just had time to hear Red yelp from the other side before the entrance was shut tight.
But Purple hadn't guessed the true significance of his mission. Lime had an ace up her sleeve. Perhaps she could still save Red.
She rushed to the back of the room, opened the vent, and jumped into the darkness.