Backwash [Omori/Mouthwashing]

Revolutionary

1 day before the crash.

You opened the cockpit door, surprised at what you found. Basil crying in his seat. "Basil..?"

"Hm?" Basil sniffled as he turned around, then covered his face as he realized who it was, "Oh, er... hi, Sunny."

"What's wrong?" You asked your old friend.

He sniffled once more, "It's nothing... I just... I feel like when we get back, I'm gonna have no use anymore. I'm worthless if not a good driver."

"You're not worthless, Basil. You're a great person. You're kind, compassionate, and care about others. Plus, you have money to go to college, if you need to, right?" You say, trying to comfort him.

Basil sighed, "I guess you're right. I don't know. I just... I've never felt good enough, I guess. Maybe I'm just selfish, and I thought we could all just do this forever. It'd be so much easier," he spoke with a sparkle of hope in his eye.

"We'll all keep in touch after this. Don't worry, Basil. We'll always be friends," you said with a smile.

"Yeah... I guess we will," Basil smiled back.

6 hours until Judgement.

"The bleeding won't stop," you commented, feeling more and more panic wash over you, "Just try and sit still so the bleeding will go slower. I need a second to think. I can fix this!"

"Hey, can you hear me, buddy? Are you there?" Aubrey asked Kel. His body lost too much blood, so all he could do was moan in response.

Aubrey began to raise her axe. "Hey, stop, stop! Don't move!" You commanded. Kel began to move in a panic.

"It's alright, Kel. Calm down. You weren't cut out for my line of work, anyway. You get ugly, twisted, and broken. You would never have fit that mould," she began to stand up straight. "Years of work for this company, fancy tools, bigger paycheques, 'fulfilling' work. This is where it got me. The good life, eh?"

Kel sputtered, coughing up some blood. "I always thought you were just some green dumbass, too stupid to notice how much he had to learn. You could've taught me a lot about happiness, I suppose."

You looked on, frozen as Aubrey raised her axe. "Close your eyes, Kel." Then, you brought it down on Kel's head.

"Y-You monster!" You shouted at Aubrey, "I could've fixed him! I have to do fucking everything myself!" You began to grab at your hair, pulling on it as you faced the ground, "Why can't any of you just give me some goddamned time to think!"

"How do you still not understand?" Aubrey asked, "It's over. End of the fucking line. He won't suffer one more second because of your delusions."

"Unbelievable. Stop pretending! I know about your plan, Aubrey, I went to utility!" You shouted angrily, "Sneaking around with that axe, telling Hero whatever you could to make him kill himself! You're trying to get rid of everyone else so you can use that cryopod!"

"Let your captain go down with his ship. I have nothing to live for, either. If you want to sit in that ice tray for another twenty years, be my fucking guest. But do not put that wannabe murderer into cryostasis," Aubrey commanded.

"How dare you call Sunny that!? He was the best of the best, you're nothing compared to him!" You shouted angrily.

Aubrey disappeared from view. Probably getting ready to attack you from somewhere else. You'd show her. You started for the stairs but then stopped. You remembered, you need to make sure Sunny is okay. He already had his medicine, but what if Aubrey did something to him, too!?

You ran into the medbay. Hero's body slumped next to Sunny's bed. His corpse wasn't rotting yet. You ran your hand over the side of Sunny's face. He was still as beautiful as he was before the crash.

"I still love you," you smiled sweetly at him. He looked back at you with love.

You ran downstairs from the medbay and passed Aubrey, passed out on the floor, on your way to the cockpit. Quickly, you collected the gun from the safe, using the scanner to find the code to the gun safe.

As you picked up the gun, you heard Aubrey at the end of the hall. "Basil!" She shouted angrily, wielding her axe.

0 days before the crash

You sat down on a seat behind Hero as he took inventory of his medical supplies. "He confessed today."

"And you rejected him?" Hero asked.

"That feels like a bit of a strong word, but yeah, kinda," you admit.

Hero hummed thoughtfully, "And how did he take it?"

You felt pretty bad about what happened. "He said, 'I guess I'm not good enough,' and walked away. I tried to tell him that's not it, but he told me to leave him alone for a while."

Humming again, Hero questioned further, "You still have your scanner?"

You double-checked. You did. "Yep. Why?"

"Was just thinking about the gun safe. Y'know how it is. We should be fine, then. He'll just sulk a bit, nothing extreme," Hero said conclusively.

"Yeah, I guess I should've paid more attention to my scanner, just in case. Oh well, I better get down to the cockpit. Apparently, we're going to be going through an asteroid belt, so we need to have someone manning the wheel," you explained as you stood up to leave. "See you around, Hero."

"EMERGENCY WARNING, CRASH IMMINENT" blared through the speakers. You were just checking on the cargo hold's air pressure when the message came on. Why wouldn't the autopilot have evaded the threat..? Unless...

You ran up to the cockpit doors and opened them. One more set of doors remained. Next to them, you saw Basil in a fetal position against the wall.

"Basil, what did- why did- h- what the fuck did you do!?" You stuttered out. Basil gave no answer, so you ran into the cockpit, grabbed the wheel and-