Creatures Among Us

She entered the ship, feeling anxious as usual. She looked around with a nervous expression. Everyone was at least a foot taller than her and they were all much more intimidating than her as well.
She took her seat on the dropship silently as the rest of the crew boarded. She stared down and avoided eye contact with all the rest of the crew. She was fidgeting excessively. It wasn't leaving earth she was nervous about, she was anxious about the crew itself. People made her very anxious.
She sat there for a few minutes until the crew fully boarded. The doors then closed and the ship took off. Then the captain came out of the cockpit.
"Hello, crew. I'm your new captain, Red. You may call me by captain. I will be in charge of this mission. If you have and questions or concerns, come to me and we'll have it sorted out as soon as possible.
We will arrive to our main ship, skield, in just a few hours. Once we get there, you'll be expected to do tasks based on your job here. You all know what those are for yourselves.
Curfew will be at 10 pm, wake up calls at 7 am, and meals are individual but planned in your personalized schedules. In the case of an emergency, there will be a large red button in the middle of the cafeteria that anyone may press to call a meeting. You will all also be given your own alerts that you can use to call a meeting from a distance.
There have been incidents on these missions before so don't be shy to use your emergency reports if something happens. Other than that, enjoy the flight to skield. Get to know each other and if you'd like, you can grab some different apparel from one of the boxes. Just don't take off your space suits. If you need me, I'll be in the cockpit."
Black whimpered and sat there as the crew began to walk around and chat. She didn't feel welcome. Only one other person stayed seated, he looked rather annoyed. Black ended up accidentally staring at him without realizing it. He caught her eye and held eye contact for a moment before she hastily looked away with an extremely anxious expression. He glared at her for a moment, his eyes like daggers, before he looked down at a circular device and went through a holographic menu.
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Black sat there feeling terrified by his gaze. Another person saw her so nervous and went to her. It was a middle aged woman with a child, she knelt next to black.
"Are you okay?"
Black sat there and she whimpered. She avoided eye contact as she nodded slightly.
The woman sighed, "Are you sure? You look rather upset... what's your name?"
Black sat there frozen with anxiety, she tried to answer but she couldn't. The words were caught in her throat. The woman tilted her head with a concerned expression on her face. She went to pat Black on the shoulder but Black flinched when she raised her hand near her. The woman looked visibly concerned. She sighed and sat there for a moment. The woman seemed to understand why Black was silent.
The woman nodded, "my name is brown.. I understand that you are probably very anxious about this whole trip and if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here for you.."
Brown gently patted Black's leg before standing. She felt bad for Black, despite barely knowing her and not even knowing what was wrong. She gave Black an empathetic look before going to introduce herself to the others.
Black sat there alone. She whimpered and began to criticize herself for not talking to Brown. She pulled her hair tie out and put it on her wrist. She snapped herself with it aggressively. She felt she deserved it. She snapped herself on the wrist many more times during the flight. She wasn't nearly as anxious looking as before. She sat there and stared down as she subconsciously snapped her wrist with the elastic. She looked lost in her own head. Brown occasionally glanced over at her to check on her. Very few other people even knew she was there.
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The captain came out a few hours later, "we're almost there, please take your seats and buckle up."
The crew did what he said. The clicks of seatbelts filled the room. There was a low chatter amongst the crew. The captain returned to the cockpit to dock the ship into the skield. Black sat there and waited patently. She couldn't wait to be able to break away from the group. The room filled with beeps as everyone's assigned smart watches all went off. They connected to skields systems and provided a task list to each person based on their job. Black was the electrician, she got almost all the electrical tasks apart from cleaning the vent and downloading data. She sighed and looked over the list, memorizing it as the dropship docked. There was a lot of loud robotic noises as the ship docked. The doors behind them sealed and the ship stopped.
The captain came out once again. "I'm assuming you've all gotten your lists. Good. You will have a few hours of free time before you're required to complete those tasks. You will be reminded when the ships systems become unautomated and you can begin you're tasks. Don't do your tasks before the reminder because it won't do anything.
You can get yourselves acquainted with the ship and where your tasks are while you wait. The smartwatches will provide info about any room you enter and it'll provide locations for all your tasks.
You'll notice a green bar on your watches, that tells you how many daily tasks are completed from everyone. You also have mini maps in all your watches to know where you are, there's also a larger map in admin that tells you where the crew is in case you're bored.
Now that we have that covered, I want to go over some precautions. No one except our engineer should be in the vents at all times. They know who they are. There are two keypads to fix the life support if something happens, one in O² and one in admin. They both need to be reset in the case of an emergency.
If the reactor ever malfunctions, there are two palm scanners in the reactor room to reset and stabilize it. If the lights or communications ever go out, our communications officer and electrician will be in charge of fixing it.
Now go and acquaint yourselves with the ship, I'll be in navigation at the controls if anyone needs me."
He left the dropship and went to nav. Everyone else looked around. Black looked around for a moment before studying her map again and following it to where electrical was. A few people also broke off but with someone else. She was the only person alone currently.
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She stayed in electrical for a long while alone before a notification went off. It said to divert power to navigation. She pressed a switch than went to navigation to complete the task. Inside was only the captain sitting there alone. She came in and diverted the power to nav.
The captain saw her, "ah, hello Black"
She froze and stood there, she nodded to the captain.
The captain sighed, "I read your file.. I know your anxious, you can trust me. Just watch out for the rest of the crew, I don't want to see you get hurt. Not all of them have a good history."
Black whimpered and stood there. The captain sighed again, "If you feel unsafe or threatened at any point, contact me. I can protect you. You are the type to get targeted by those with ill intentions and I would like to be able to prevent that before it happens... never hesitate to reach out"
Black nodded slightly and felt a bit better. He logged his private number into her watch. "Call me directly"
She nodded and sighed. She looked up at him and he gently patted her shoulder. She then left feeling reassured and comforted, not something she felt often. She began to do her tasks with a moral boost.
A few days passed, it was rather boring, mostly just people doing tasks. Black was just chilling in electrical when an alarm went off. She rushed to cafeteria to see what had happened. The group was mostly gathered waiting for everyone else. She silently joined them. A woman was sobbing her heart out and Brown was trying to comfort her.
When the final person arrived, the captain cleared his throat. "Hello... you're all probably wondering why this meeting has been called... well.. someone was murdered... and we need to find the culprit asap. Now I pray that whoever it was will come clean and admit to what they've done. But knowing humanity, that won't happen. So we're gonna have to investigate ourselves... if anyone sees any suspicious behavior, please report it. Also, it's been rumored that many of these research ships have gone down to "alien imposters". So although it kills me to say this, keep on the watch for any inhuman activities too..."
Everyone was shocked. Black whimpered and her eyes went wide. She'd seen these "imposters" before on earth and they were very real. She stood there in shock as everyone began to discuss. A few people had Black cross their minds as the imposter because of her isolative behavior and her tendency not to speak. She felt paralyzed when people began to bring her name up. The captain quickly shut that idea down, knowing better.
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Suddenly the woman who was sobbing began to get angry, "if it's not her, than whoever it is better own up! Because what they did took my best friend and lover away from me and I won't stand for it!!"
Black whimpered and sat there. She felt bad for the woman. She'd never had a lover but she knew it must have been hard for the woman. She wanted to comfort her but didn't know how. She sat there as the meeting went on. She was completely silent, and quite a few people noticed this. Fingers began to point at her again. The captain was doing what he could to shut them down. He knew very well Black couldn't be the killer for a few reasons.
"What makes you so sure she isn't the killer?!" One man, seemingly angry, said to the captain.
The captain sighed, "what makes you so sure she is?!"
The man growled lowly, "look at her! She's too unsuspecting! She's completely silent and avoids answering questions! She needs to speak up or we'll have no choice than to assume she's hiding something..."
Black froze and whimpered quietly. She snapped her bandaged wrist with the elastic in hopes to make it all go away.
The captain sighed and glanced at Black for a moment, "you do make a valid point, Green. But I can assure you she's innocent. Her silence is completely unrelated to this situation."
Black sat there and watched the captain. There was a small sparkle in her eye. It was a sign of her gratitude towards him. No one had stuck up for her in the 26 years of her living, it felt good. The captain nodded to her and continued to discuss with the crew.
A short while later, the meeting ended and everyone went on their ways. When there was less of a crowd, she approached the captain anxiously.
"T-thank you.. for d-defending me..." she stared down nervously.
He looked at her small, anxious figure and sighed, "no problem.. I just don't want to see any innocent beans get launched into space without a good reason... especially not you"
She seemed confused, "b-but why me...?"
He sighed, "because I know that you're a good person... because in all seriousness I consider you a new friend and I'm not willing to let you die without a fight"
Black looked up at him with a gentle face. One full of a pained joy. It was a foreign emotion to her. Something she hadn't felt in a long time.
The captain gently patted her head, "now, we both have tasks to get to but why don't you swing by navigation later and we can spend some time together. I'd like to get to know you better"
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Black nodded eagerly. She was very happy in that moment. She smiled gently to him before waving a bit and leaving. She was feeling a sensation of genuine happiness from that simple little conversation. She went to med Bay for her bi-weekly scan. Everyone had to scan 2 times a week to assure they were in good health. Lotus was in such an uplifted mood that she forgot to avoid scan.
She stepped onto the podium and the scan began. The doctor, Pink, came over to see the results.
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Black, the sensor says your wrists are injured.. can I take a look?"
Black whimpered, "i-i accidentally electricuted myself... it's n-nothing I'm not used to, n-no need to panic... I'm the e-electrician if you were w-wondering..."
He sighed, "constant electrical burns aren't good.. please let me take a look.. as your doctor I'm obligated to help you, and as a person, I feel it's necessary to make sure you aren't hurt..."
Black whimpered. He patted a bed for her to sit on while he checked her out. She came over and sat down. He gently took her wrists and unwrapped the old and outdated bandages. Underneath revealed some very nasty electrical burns. He sighed and began to treat her injuries.
"These are pretty severe injuries, Black.. you should have come to me immediately.. you're lucky these didn't get infected.."
She whimpered and nodded. She waited for him to finish before getting up and hastily leaving. "Th-thanks..."
He sighed and nodded to her. He filed an injury report. It was automatically sent to the captain.
He also sent a small digital note saying; "keep an eye on her. I believe based on how she constantly acts, how she acted when I helped her, and the unusual severity of the burns, that the burns were intentional and a form of self harm. - Pink"
He began to do his tasks. Black ran to electric. She did her tasks as usual. When she was done she began to head to navigation. Someone was following her, however. She felt a sensation she was being watched and it scared her. She froze.
The figure approached her, "Hello, Black..."
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She stood there in a panic. She didn't turn around to face him. She could tell by the tone of voice it was yellow. He never liked her for some reason. He walked in front of her, there was a low growl in his throat that sent chills down her spine. She stood there frozen, her body was seizing up from anxiety.
He glared at her, sizing her up. He was about to grab her when Cobalt and Cyans voices could be heard in storage. He backed off and glared at her.
"Tell anyone about this and you're dead" He growled and left her there.
She stood there shaking and scared. Cobalt and Cyan walked through the hall and saw her standing there.
Cyan went to her, "Are you okay..?"
She whimpered. Cyan went to pat her shoulder but something in him stopped him from touching her. He didn't want to get any contaminants or dirt Black had on her by touching her.
Cobalt sighed, "hello?!"
She gently shook Black. Black whimpered and stood there frozen.
Cyan sighed, "maybe she wants to be alone...?"
He looked up at Cobalt, waiting for her response.
She nodded, "if she's not answering then probably, let's finish your tasks then head back to security."
Cyan nodded and they began to leave. When they left, Black began to cry. She was scared. She pulled up the captains number on her watch but she wasn't sure whether to tell him about Yellow or not. She didn't want to burden him with it.
She wiped her eyes and began to head to navigation slowly. She was scared to tell him the truth. She stopped near the door and whimpered. She tried to compose herself before entering. She saw the captain reading something. She wasn't able to read it but it was Pinks note to the captain.
The captain looked over to her, he put his tablet down and shut it off.
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"Oh, hey Black." He smiled to her.
Black went in and nodded to him. She avoided eye contact. He saw her anxiety and tilted his head.
"Black.. are you okay..?" He went to her with a concerned expression.
He knelt down next to her and gently tilted her chin towards himself. "What happened..?
She whimpered and stood there for a moment. He continued to look at her with the same concerned expression. She started to cry again. He sighed and pulled her into a gentle hug. It shocked her but at the same time it felt really good to be hugged. She cautiously hugged him back, unsure of her own movements. She cried into his shoulder, tears poured from her.
Black was scared shitless that Yellow would do something to her. She wanted to tell the captain but she was too afraid of the repercussions.
The captain comforted her to the best of his abilities. He hugged her and gently patted her back as she sobbed. He didn't pry at what wrong but he had a few guesses.
Blacks sobs filled navigation. The captain comforted her until she calmed down.
He gently tilted her chin towards himself again, "I'm not going to insist you tell me exactly what happened, but please just nod or shake your head when I ask you a few things, ok?"
She nodded and he nodded with her.
"Now, did something happen with one of the crew..?"
She nodded.
"Did they hurt you in any way?"
She shook her head.
He sighed with relief, "did they threaten you in any way?"
She nodded and whimpered.
He nodded, "did they threaten to hurt you in any way or kill you?"
She nodded and a quiet whine escaped her. The captain nodded and hugged her.
"Thank you for answering me. I understand you're scared and it's perfectly normal.. may I ask who threatened you..?"
Black whimpered and rubbed her arm. He sighed, knowing that was a no.
"It's okay, you don't have to say.. if you'd like you can stay with me tonight if you don't feel safe staying on your own, would you like that?"
Black nodded and hugged him a bit tighter. He could tell how scared she was. He had a feeling she might have seen the imposter but didn't say anything. He released the hug and gently wiped the tears from her eyes. It was a tender moment.
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The captain sighed and looked into her eyes for a moment. There was a visible amount of care in his eyes as he looked at her. He checked the time, it was 7:42pm. He led her to the kitchen to get her a cup of hot chocolate to comfort her.
He made her a cup and sat her down in the cafeteria. He left her for only a few minutes as he made it. At this point, quite a few people had noticed his preference to Black over the rest of the crew. Including yellow, who was in the cafeteria at the time.
Yellow approached her with an indifferent demeanor. She saw him and she froze.
Yellow sighed, "remember what I told you, Black.. or you'll be nothing more than a bloody heaping mess of flesh and bones who could only ever wish she hadn't spilled the truth to the crew..."
Yellow glared at her, he put his hand on the table and he unsheathed a set of razor sharp claws. He rapped them on the table a few times in order to scare her more.
He leaned close to her ear and whispered, "say anything and I won't hesitate to tear your frail little body to shreds.."
There was a low growl in his voice and his imposter mouth was revealed.
"And trust me, you have no idea how much I want to... so don't test my limits or you'll be very, very sorry..." He hissed this in her ear.
Just then, the captain came back. "Oh, hello yellow.."
Yellow quickly composed himself and hid his imposter features, he stood up straight. "Hello, captain..."
The captain semi-aggressively got in between Yellow and Black and stood as a protective barrier. He glared at Yellow.
"Don't you have somewhere to be, yellow?" He glared into Yellows eyes in a way that said 'back off/stand down'.
Yellow got the hint and nodded, "of course, captain.. I was just reminding Black of where she stands..."
He glared at Black aggressively as he began to walk away. Black looked absolutely terrified. The captain stood his ground until Yellow left. As soon as he was gone, the captain turned to black and sat next to next her. He gently placed the hot chocolate in front of her. He knew something suspicious was up with yellow.
"Are you okay..?" He looked at her with a concerned expression.
She whimpered and nodded slightly, "t-thank you, c-captain.."
She stared down anxiously and her body was extremely tense as she spoke. She was shaking somewhat. He sighed and gently patted her back.
"You can call me Red, you don't have to call me captain"
She nodded and sat there seized up. He gently pushed the hot chocolate towards her.
"Drink some, it'll help you calm down"
She nodded and did as he said, she carefully picked the hot chocolate up and took a small sip. Her expression lightened a bit and she relaxed noticeably as the warm, chocolaty, taste filled her mouth. She took another sip and sighed.
All the stress showed on her. There were dark circles under her eyes, her black hair was limp and dull, her nails and cuticles were chewed bloody, she was very skinny, she was rather pale, and her large brown eyes looked sad and empty. The hot chocolate gave a sensation of warmth in her. It felt good. Reds kindness towards her felt even better. It was something she'd longed for for so long that she'd forgotten how good it truly felt to be cared for by another person.
She took another sip and let the warmth come to her. She smiled gently as she stared at the cup of warm hot chocolate between her palms. The warmth in her palms and her stomach filled her heart with a warm, fuzzy, safe, contented feeling.
Red smiled to her, "better now?"
She nodded gently, "thank you..."
He nodded as she took another sip. He sat there with her.
A while passed. They talked about themselves and got to know each other. Black remembered every little detail about the captain that he shared. She shared a few common details about herself but kept most of herself locked away. She was scared he would turn on her and use it to hurt her.
The 10 minute curfew warning went off, the captain heard this and stood.
"Come on, let's go.."
She nodded and followed him. He led her to her room.
"Take what you need then I'll lead you to my room"
She nodded again and went in. All she took was a pillow and two pill bottles that she kept hidden. They were different kinds of happy pills. She followed the captian to his room when she came out.
The captains quarters was significantly much larger and more comfortable than the crews dorms. There was even a couch. Red pulled spare sheets and blankets out of the closet and set up a makeshift bed on the couch.
"Which one would you like?" He looked at her.
She thought for a moment before shyly pointing to the couch. He nodded and went to the bed.
"I'm sorry if my room is a bit messy, I'm not the tidiest person in the world but I try"
She nodded and went to the couch, "its okay.. I'm not too tidy either.."
She put the pillow down and flopped on the couch. "This couch is comfy.."
Red chuckled and nodded, "it is indeed, and it's yours when you're here"
Black nodded and curled up on the couch in her usual sleeping position. She always slept in a little ball, it seemed strange to Red but at the same time she looked cute in that position. She looked peaceful and she felt safe.
"Thank you for this... it means a lot to me..." she laid there and she stared down with a meaningful expression.
He tilted his head and tried to make eye contact with her. "Of course.. you're always welcome here, especially if you're in any potential danger.."
She looked up at him and into his eyes. She looked extremely grateful. Neither spoke. It was one of those moments where time seemingly stopped. They looked into each other's eyes and it felt like Red could see right through Black and all her emotional/mental barriers. In that moment she felt like an open book to him as he watched her eyes with his aquamarine ones. She soon broke eye contact with him and she stared down.
Red sighed and sat there for a bit. "Well.. goodnight Black"
He locked the door and shut off the lights before getting into bed.
She nodded, "goodnight red.."
Red laid there awake as Black slowly drifted off. He was facing the ceiling, he could hear her faint snores. She was still sleeping in a ball. Red looked over to her and watched her for a bit. Her chest rose and fell in a somewhat soothing pattern. A few strands of her fine, black hair were astray in front of her face. The rest was bunched up in a messy ponytail. Her usually anxious face looked calm and peaceful as her troubles seemed to melt away as she slept. Her leg twitched occasionally, even hitting the back of the couch a few times.
Red watched her sleep for a while, it made him feel at rest.
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He almost fell asleep when Black began to shift in her sleep. He heard the rustling so he opened his eyes.
There was a pained and frightened expression on Black's face and she tossed and turned in her sleep. A quiet whimper escaped her and she coiled up even more than before.
Red took this as a sign she was having a nightmare and went to her. He gently shook her.
"Black.. wake up, it's just a dream.."
She was startled awake when he touched her. She gasped and she quickly sat straight up. She gripped the sheets tightly and held them very close as she began to cry.
Red sighed, "hey, hey.. it's okay.. it's just me, Red"
Black looked at him and she cried. She hugged Red and leaned against him. She held on tightly. He returned the hug.
"It'll be okay.. focus on the sound of my voice and try to relax, okay?"
She nodded and focused on him as tears poured from her eyes. She slowly began to calm down. Red spoke to her in a soothing and comforting tone, he gently rubbed her back.
"I-im so sorry.." she cried.
Red sighed, "you have nothing to be sorry about, don't apologize"
Red slowly calmed her. He got up on the couch and sat down. He rested her small, shaking body on his and he held her as she cried.
Black hugged him tightly. She sobbed with everything in her. They were truly broken sounding cries, they were the sounds of someone who had been hurt severely on more than one occasion.
He slowly began to lull Black back to sleep. She whimpered and held onto him, she began to drift off. Red gently rocked her back and fourth to help her fall asleep. Blacks eyes shut and soon after gentle snores could be heard.
Red sighed and held her. He didn't dare try to get up, he didn't want to risk waking her. He soon fell asleep with her in his arms. They peacefully slept the night through.
When 6:30 am arrived, an alarm went off. Red woke up automatically and Black was startled awake. She yawned and rubbed her eyes.
"Mmm... what time is it..?" She was still rested against Red without realizing.
"6:31 am.." He replied in a tired but warm tone.
Black realized she was laying on him when he stretched. She gently pushed herself away from him and whimpered.
"I-i'm so sorry.. I-I-I..." she began to panic.
Red gently tilted her head towards himself, "its okay, don't worry. You had a nightmare last night and I stayed with you to help you sleep."
He smiled warmly to her. She sighed but still sat away from Red. She whimpered and sat there silently. She stared down and avoided eye contact, her hands were fidgeting.
He gently patted her head and stood up, "I'm going to get ready"
Black nodded and sat there. She yawned again. She didn't know what to do. Red got ready as Black sat there. She eventually got up and went to the bathroom. Once she closed the door, she pulled out the pill bottles and took one of each. She also brushed her hair and did other bathroom things.
She came out and saw Red was ready. She went to him automatically. She didn't speak. He fixed his hat and smiled to her.
"Come on, let's go get breakfast then we can do our tasks" He opened the door.
The morning went by and soon they separated to do tasks. The day passed with nothing unusual happening. At the end of the day, they did the same thing as the previous night. Black felt safe and happy with Red. She slept easy with him around.
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A few more days passed with the same routine. A few people picked up on how fond Red seemed to be of Black and some were making assumptions.
Everything was normal when body was reported in the hall between lower reactor and electrical. Everyone headed to cafeteria for the meeting. Black silently joined and the crew discussed. More fingers pointed at Black and it agitated Red.
"Will you all please stop thinking irrationally. She's crew, I assure you" they all glared at him.
Cobalt spoke up, "Oh please, spare us the shit. We all know you're only defending her because she's your favorite. Captian, with all due respect, every fucking clue points to her. The body was even found in the perfect location for her to attack from. Please try to explain that, we all want to know your amazing reason she's innocent"
The crew nodded in agreement. Red sighed deeply.
"Look at her! Use your eyes and look! She couldn't even fight cyan if she tried. Let alone kill Orange and Teal. She's 4 foot fucking 2 inches tall for Christ's sake! They were both above 6 foot and weighed almost double the amount she weighs. She can't be an alien either because both I and Pink have seen her scan results."
Pink nodded in agreement, "I'm with the captian 100 percent on this. It's nearly impossible for her to have killed them. Nothing adds up when you think about it. The timing and position measures up but it may be to frame her. She would need a weapon to kill them but the bodies were killed without weapons... plus any weapons she could use would be too heavy for her"
The crew looked at each other, unsure about it all. Yellow glared aggressively at Pink.
"However, her appearance may be a cover up.. clearly the captain and her are in cahoots, what if they did it together and are teaming in order to appear innocent? It would make up for her size and innocent demeanor because she wouldn't even be doing most of it!" Yellow nearly yelled it aloud.
Pink growled and sighed. The crew nodded to eachother. Black was frozen and terrified. Red was in shock.
"Yellow, don't pull that bullshit with me. In all seriousness I think it may be you. I believe Black may have seen you doing something that could get you exposed and something happened where you had no choice but to threaten her into silence"
Yellow growled, "that's the bullshit in this conversation! I never did anything to anyone!"
Red glared at him, "She came to me terrified one day because someone threatened to kill her but she wouldn't tell me who because she was scared they would hurt her. Later that day I found you with her in cafeteria. I don't know what you were saying but it scared the shit out of her."
Yellow glared at him, "and how many times did you rehearse that sales pitch? I was simply talking to her and her fucking anxiety hyped her up. I wasnt threatening shit"
Black whimpered and hugged herself. She wanted to cry. She knew it was Yellow but she was too afraid to say anything. She wasn't even sure they'd believe her now.
Red growled, "then who was?! Hmm?!"
Cyan raised his hand, "now that you mention it, me and Cobalt did find her outside comms one day looking scared shitless. Isn't that where Yellow works?"
Yellow was severely thrown off by this. He wasn't prepared for Cyan to speak up.
Cobalt nodded in agreement, "I can attest to that"
The crew looked at Yellow, "I swear I never threatened her. If I was gonna threaten anyone, it'd be the captain for accusing me of such atrocities!"
Red growled, "bullshit! You wouldn't threaten me because you know I'd tell! You threatened her because you knew she's too anxious to even speak in front of most others and you knew she couldn't tell anyone without having a breakdown!"
Yellow glared at him, Pink stepped in. "Will both of you stop nittering for two seconds! We need to find the killer, not throw around useless accusations!"
Red sighed deeply. Black was frozen in place. She whimpered lowly. She began to quietly sob but no one noticed it.
Red and Yellow glared at each other as the meeting went on, a tension filled the air. Black was in an absolute mental breakdown but no one even perceived her at the moment. A while passed before the meeting ended and she was almost left behind by everyone.
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Pink saw her and went to her, "hey hey hey.. it's okay.."
He gently patted her back as she cried. She was shocked by him touching her. Red saw them and went over to them.
He knelt next to her, "what happened..?"
He gently tilted her chin towards himself and looked her in the eye. She whimpered and sobbed. Pink watched Red with a somewhat dark expression. Red sighed and gently hugged Black.
"It'll be okay.. don't worry..." He gently patted her back.
Black hugged him back. Tears poured from her eyes. Pink tried to comfort her to the best of his ability. He eventually stood and left, understanding he wasn't a part of the equation anymore. It was just Red and Black.
Red comforted her as long as she cried. When she was calm, he reassured her and stayed with her for a bit before he needed to get back to his tasks. They parted ways and the day went on as usual.
Another few days passed, Black began to get extremely paranoid as time went on. She barely spoke to even Red, although she still spent the same amount of time with him. She was constantly on edge and everyone knew it. She would sometimes lose touch with reality. She was absolutely terrified that Yellow would do something to her. It consumed her.
She exited electrical and kept her head down as she walked. She passed by Green and Brown. She headed to navigation to see Red. When she got there she froze. She looked at red in horror. He was mutilated and dismembered. His body was all over the place. The walls were covered in his blood and the main heap of what was him laid in a pool of the red liquid.
Tears filled her eyes as she ran to his body. "No... no no no!! Red!!"
She saw just how bad it was up close and she fell to her knees. She cried a broken sob. It was a mix between a scream and a cry, it was a heart wrenching sound and it reflected the pain she was feeling inside. Her stomach hurt and her heart was in a million pieces. She could barely breathe as her pained cries echoed through navigation. She gently picked his blood stained hat up and hugged it close to her chest as she sobbed. The world could see how truly broken she felt and it was not a pretty sight.
"Oh my God..." whites voice rang through navigation.
Black didn't look at her, she sobbed the same shattered cry as before as she hugged the hat. She was covered in his blood but she didn't care. She didn't care if they threw her out or if yellow killed her anymore.
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White was about to report the body when another report came from across the map. White ran to the meeting. Black didnt move.
Everyone living except black arrived. Cobalt had tears in her eyes.
"Cyan is dead in lower engine!"
The crew was about to discuss when White spoke up, "the captian is also dead and i think it was Black! She was next to his body in navigation and she was covered in his blood!"
Pink looked around, "where is she anyways?"
White whimpered, "probably in nav.."
Some of the crew headed to navigation and found her sobbing. Her cries were audibly heartbroken and not really scared in any way. Cobalt was about to lash out at her but Pink stopped her.
"I don't think it's her..."
Cobalt growled, "what are you talking about?! She's literally hovering over reds body! She killed cyan!!!"
Pink shook his head, "no she didn't.. look at her.. listen to her... that's not a kind of cry you can simply fake... that's the kind of cry where someone is completely shattered and torn.. she's grieving just as much as you..."
Cobalt whimpered, "to hell she is!"
She ran to black and threw her into a wall. She began to beat her.
"This is for Cyan!!"
Black cried and hugged the hat. She took it and didn't fight back in any way. Pink threw Cobalt off of her.
"Stop!!"
Cobalt was whipped into a wall. Pink stood over Black protectively. Cobalt started to cry as she stood back up.
"She killed my best friend..."
Pink sighed, "no she didn't... the imposter killed cyan... would an imposter cry their heart out and greive for one of their victims?! No! She's not acting.. she's suffering, can't you see that?!"
Yellow was glaring aggressively at Pink. Cobalt whimpered and shook her head.
"She may have you fooled, but not me..."
Pink shook his head and checked Black. She'd only taken a few blows to the ribs and stomach. She was shaking and sobbing. She only cared about the hat at the moment. It was all she had left. She held it close to her chest. Pink sighed and gently picked her up.
"I'm taking her to med bay... someone clean this up.. white is in charge now as the pilot..."
Yellow glared at Pink like he wanted to kill him. White nodded and so did the rest of the remaining crew. Blacks cries echoed through navigation as Pink carried her out. He brought her to med Bay and laid her down on a bed. He wrapped her in a blanket and gently patted her.
"I know it's hard, to lose someone you care about, and I'm sorry... I really am..." He sat by her as she sobbed.
A few hours passed and she wasn't crying but she was laying there feeling sad and somewhat numb. She held onto the hat tightly. It was her primal source of comfort. She missed Red. She wanted him back. Pink kept an eye on her. Yellow entered and pulled Pink aside. He began to argue with him about something. Black didn't bother to listen.
_______________________________
A few days passed. She'd been openly neglecting herself and her tasks. A meeting was called because a body was found and she was forced to attend. She stood there, looking like nothing more than an empty shell. A lot of people seemed worried about her. They discussed and they thought it might be green. Mini brown sat there and he was crying. He saw what happened but none of them listened to him. They voted green out. He was a crewmate.
Only Black, Pink, Yellow, White, Cobalt, BB (mini brown), Light Purple, and Lime were left with two imposters. Black was already basically dead on the inside and BB didn't count so there was only 4 crew left and only 2 days till they got to polus.
Black didn't move after the meeting ended, she sat there numbly until Yellow pulled her aside and into admin. He sealed the door and pinned her to the wall by her neck. His claws dug into her skin, causing her to bleed.
"Since I'm not allowed to kill you, I'll just have to feed off you instead..." He growled.
Black whimpered. She felt something other than sadness or grief for the first time in days. She felt fear. She began to squirm around. Yellow kept her pinned. He put his face near her neck and he growled. He was smelling her. She smelled really good to imposters. She whimpered and struggled against him.
He growled and bit her neck. She yelped and began to cry. Yellow was feeding off her by drinking her blood, like a vampire. She cried but a nice sensation came over her that seemed to be very calming and it felt very good. She didn't understand but it was because of Yellows Parasite venom. It completely debilitates a victim with a good sensation to make them more compliant and easier to kill.
Black soon completely gave in and she let him do whatever. When he finished he dropped her and left her there. He vented away. She laid there, still holding onto the hat.