Chapter Summary: Some fluff; Red's plan works.

He said to me:

"I've made my decision."

Blood was sprinkled onto the Security floor like stars, and the larger pools of it like galaxies. That was what I tried to imagine them as. But they were so thick and pigmented and it stank like jars of pennies in the sun. I sat alone by the corner where the green vinyl floor met the grey painted walls. The blood from the pools seeped into the concave edges of the floor's large square tiles, drawing the red out and flowing. I could feel nothing but the in and out of air through my nostrils, the rise and fall of my chest, and-

A clean, white blanket that was wrapped over my shoulders. I looked up and saw the bottom of Black's chin.

"Here," he said, "I brought a blanket."

Its cotton fabric draped over me and absorbed splatters of red like a towel.

"Was it you?" I asked. The body.

He didn't answer.

I didn't press.

"Cmon," he held out his hand, "The floor is dirty."

The glove came through the wall of muted light and into my little corner of the world.
My hand went to his, and he pulled.

I believe it's evident that I'm a pretty sensitive guy.

At the first sign of conflict, at the very moment White had raised his voice, when his palm had slammed onto the table, the ducts behind my retinas had started to swell. Struggling to pull them back in, I decided to excuse myself back into O2 instead. It was the smallest room of the entire Skeld, but it was empty and safe and there would be no echo as I took my helmet off and sniffed, quietly in the silence. Hiccups escaped my lungs louder than I would've liked it, and I desperately tried to follow MIRA's suggested breathing exercises. In, and out.

At some point he decided to make his presence known.

"What, what happened?" Black stood at the entrance with only half of his feet in, keeping his distance. His must had heard, somehow. Was I not quiet enough?

"N-hic, nothing," the helmet went back on as there was a second person in the room. It states so in the textbooks.

He stood there and looked at me, as if waiting for me to say something more, maybe elaborate. It must have disappointed him when I couldn't give him anything other than pink eyes, strings of hiccups, and shuddering breaths that only grew faster in frequency. When it became clear to him that that one word was my answer, he spoke up again.

"Your cheeks are wet. That can't be nothing." He stated it so matter-of-factly.

"Hic. Hic, hic."

Was that a smile? He came closer, with each step taking slightly longer time to tread, and finally wrapped his arms around my back, trapping my arms along with my torso, as if I was a teddy bear. "Here," he said, "I hope you feel better." I took in a breath, before I relaxed my head against his shoulder.

It felt better than the Medbay blanket.

This guy couldn't be the impostor. No way. I knew White was just assuming. He really shouldn't.

"Hic."

"Cyan! Cyan, Cyan Cyan. I need your help. Coffee."

"Huh?"

"Coffee. The stuff that Purple and people drink. Can you get me a cup?"

"Em, Red, is something wrong?"

"All is well. Very well. Can you get me a cup of coffee? Please?"

"Yea. Sure I can."

"Oh thank you! Also, can you keep this a secret? Keep it between us. You know, It's kind of embarrassing and all."

"Okay."

"Knew I could count on you!" he yawned before giving me two thumbs up. Red smiled.

When Purple had gone to visit Green during breakfast, and found her in her private quarters, she promptly threw up on the floor. I was curious about what was in that room, but she wouldn't let anyone else enter the door.

"Not until I clean it up," she said, "But first things first, we need to eject that damned fucking murderer."

And so everyone once again met at the cafeteria table. Its dove-blue paint was still as pristine as day one. It almost seemed like another everyday lunch. I stared at the emergency button and waited for the same two pink and grey flash drives to be passed around the table. The red button sat at the center, showcasing itself behind the transparent case like an exotic museum piece. It didn't take long for the voting system to be installed.

"For safety purposes the airlock won't open until the votes are put in," said Blue, "So be sure to vote. You'd literally be deciding life and death."

Ten icons were displayed on the screen, one for every crewmate. The icons of the ones who were alive were lit up and interactive, judging by the red and green squares that appeared, and the icons of the deceased were not. I tried to tap on Green, but nothing happened.

"Where was the body?" asked Black.

Purple, Blue, and me all blurted out the location at the same time. It came out as an incoherent mess. A moment of silence passed before Purple repeats, "Her own quarters. The door was left unlocked."

"Ah," said Black.

"Speaking of another body, we need to eject the impostors out," White straightened himself up, "Actually, we don't even need to discuss too much. I can tell you who the impostors are."

"So can I," said Yellow.

"It's Red and Black," said White.

"Thank you!"

White took a sip from his mug, before raising it high up as if to offer a drink to the ceiling."It's true!" he said, offering no proof at all.

"White, you can't just assume things like that. Yellow could be lying. You wouldn't know." That was me.

"Not an assumption! Cyan, remember yesterday when we were scurrying around in Electrical and then we saw… vents?"

"The ventilation system? I've already warned everyone about how impostors could be able to travel through them, if that's what you're trying to do."

"Oh yes, that too," he yawned, "but more importantly, the act of venting validates the Admin info I saw that day, during what I believe was Orange's death. Three icons at Security, then the lone icon - woosh - teleports to Security as well. Four at Security, and then one of the icons blink. And if my Admin info is valid, then it entirely disproves' Red's story."

Yellow hit the table and urged everyone to eject Red this instant, to which White nodded along. Blue reminded everyone that we will be deciding whom to eject through the democratic style of voting. Yellow voted. Purple reminded everyone to stop deciding who to condemn to death so effing early, and wait until we have finished discussing to do so. Vote with the crew, as she had put it. Yellow reminded everyone that she had seen with her own two eyes, a certain pair of red and black men committing a successful and an attempted homicide.

"Not only that," she said, "But now White comes and gives incriminating evidence! That's the proof part, init? We've got testimony, we've got proof. What more do you possibly need to believe us?"

"Can we just eject Red at least?" said White, "It's both of them, but we can just get rid of one for now. Cyan, you've got to realise it's them, right? I mean I could've finished you off right there back at Electrical."

Before I could say anything, Red lifted his palms up in front of his shoulders for everyone to see. "It's not me! I have no idea why White decided to back Yellow up, because I clearly walked up to Yellow killing Orange! Do, do we even know how many impostors there are?"

"Pretty sure two," Purple decided to answer.

White nodded. "Absolutely. And it's Red and Black. Just like what Yellow witnessed."

It was silent for a few moments afterwards as the new information sank in.

Yellow had a triumphic look on her face as she saw Red's timid expression. He's so going down, she must have thought. White examined everyone else at the table, although he himself seemed to be having some trouble keeping his eyelids open. His mug seemed to be empty, with only some coffee stains to be seen on the sides. Purple stared at a certain fixed point on the table unblinkingly with her eyebrows slightly clenched, thinking. Black sat on my left and Blue sat on my right. I dared not cast them with too obvious a sideways glance.

White broke it first. "Why aren't you guys voting?"

I was waiting for the others to vote first, or at least when most of everyone else had voted.

"Because," said Purple, "There are two impostors. The human one would be between Red and Yellow － both hard-accusing eachother. And the other one would be between Black and you, White."

White let out a "WHAT" so powerful he almost stood up.

"Shut up. That doesn't necessarily mean it's you," she explained, "You did pair yourself up with Yellow after all, and there's no one else who can support what you saw. Just your words against theirs. It's you and Yellow against Red and Black right now," she clapped her hands together, "Well then, take it away!"

Would I be able to support White? Do I want to support White? I was alone with him for a good while, but even longer with Black. I shivered as I realised that one of them was probably an impostor. A little gremlin in my gut was telling me it was probably White. Would an impostor act like Black? No way. Would an impostor act like White? That was up for debate.

Shockingly, Red said, "I don't think it's White." When multiple people asked him to elaborate, he did. "Although I saw this girl here kill, I honestly don't think it's White, well, because he's so trustworthy. Just look at him. Look at his face. Does that seem like the face of a murderer to you?"

Through the visor, White's face was bejeweled with a tired frown. Underneath his pink-glazed eyes painted a delicate set of dark and droopy eye bags. No matter how I put it, it did look like one.

"No," he continued, "No it does not. He's just too trustworthy to look like one. And he's done so much to help us too! For one, he helps assign and make sure that everyone has done their tasks. Not to mention that he manages the storage of all the supplies, and the keys to basically every door on this Skeld! And even though he is trusted to do so much for us you still think he might be Green's murderer?"

"White, you have the keys to every door?" asked Purple.

"And you want to know why he is trusted with the keys to every door? It's because even Captain Green trusts him. Well, at least we know she did yesterday, when she was still alive. But still, Green. Come on folks! You can't possibly suspect him for murdering the Captain! Why would the young, capable, trustworthy White ever even think about murdering the Captain? He's helped us so much and now you want to suspect him for such a thing?"

"I think the rest of the crew helps just as much," said Blue, "Like the ones going around doing their assigned tasks?"

"Yes, but," said Red, "Assigning tasks is just one of the many things he does. For example, just last night, he even volunteered to act as 'night guard' for our dorm! That was so incredibly considerate of him. Right Cyan?"

"I mean, yea. Pretty sure he was the night guard last night."

"Thank you. Exactly. See? Even Cyan knows of his avid volunteerism. And how could you even begin to suspect this trustworthy guy for Captain Green's murder? Even when Captain Green trusted him with so much? He had the keys! Unbelievable. He's probably just backing Yellow up because of a simple mistake, a glitch in his vision or something. He is just too trustworthy to be the other impostor. Look at him. He's all about that trustworthy words, trustworthy face, trustworthy eyes, trustworthy ar-"

Red's ramblings were halted to a stop by White's sudden decision to lunge at him from the other side of the table. But his feet were slow as they stepped, first onto the table's bench then onto the table's ledge. His arms were sluggish as they grappled forwards, and before he could leap and shout something akin to "I'm gonna kill you!", Blue seemed to notice something peculiar that the rest of us had missed.

"Um. White? What's that on your arm there?" she pointed as Red peaked his head back out from under the table to watch with everyone else.

"Hm? What arm? I got something on me?"

"Yeah, right under there. Basically armpit."

His gaze followed where she directed it to, and he lifted up his right elbow. While inspecting the underside of his arm, he revealed what Blue had seen to the rest of the table. When he finally found it, he was met with three faint streaks of dark red garnet, against his suit and printed as clear as the day. It was oddly silent as I hoped against all logic that those were not what I think they were. It looked like a mark left behind by a dying victim, asking for help.

Red smiled.

At least I think he did before he gaped like the rest of us, looking terribly shocked.

"When did…" White looked between the streaks of garnet and Red. His eyes widened as something seemed to have dawned on him. On his face grew a look of anger and disbelief, before he turned to the rest of us to inform us that the smears were not of his own doing.

"Want to give an explanation?" Purple offered.

But White couldn't give us a coherent sentence. He kept going back and forth between words as if he wasn't sure what to tell us. "Red did this…. He….. this blood… Green. Night guard.. Hallways, that…. Must've been..," until he finally settled on, "It's Red. You've got to believe me."

Red leaned back and gasped dramatically with the back of his hand on his forehead. "My dear sir! I was just defending your impeccable honor a moment ago!"

White leaped.

Red ducked.

Purple stood up and got in the way before the situation could escalate any further. "An explanation, please," she said again. White got back down and went back to his spot.

He yawned, shook his head, and straightened himself. He gave himself a moment."It's true that I have the keys. And It's true that I was on night guard last night. But because I was on night guard I can tell you that it was Red who got up, sneaked outside, and asked for the keys. He wanted to grab something from the freezers. It must have been him who killed Green then."

"White… That's not true at all. I didn't wake up at all last night! Slept good and sound. Do I look the tiniest bit tired to you?" He looked at Purple for help, "Purple… Do you know why White's lying about me?"

White continued. "I really shouldn't have given all the keys at once, but it was dark and I told him to just try every single one. Turns out that was a bad idea," he raised his arm to show us the smears again. "For the past two rounds there have been two hard-accusations against Red and Black. Please. Just vote them out already."

White voted. He looked at Red pointedly to tell us who he voted for.

"Voting for Red," said Blue, "He's been a main suspect for two rounds now."

"Red convinced me," said Black, "Voting for White."

I casted my own vote. "Same here."

Red voted as well. "White. I just want to keep myself alive man, I don't even know if it's him."

Yellow, White and Blue voted for Red.

Red, Black and me voted for White.

And it came down for Purple's vote to be the tie-breaker.

She was thinking, and said, "Red, are you just too much of a pussy to accuse him back, even though you claim that he's lying?"

"I- I don't know.." He stuffed his head into his pile of arms on the table, and we couldn't see his face. "He's just so trustworthy," he said, his voice muffled.

"And White, you're saying that even though you had all the opportune moment, chance, and-" she gestured to the smears "- evidence that you killed Green, Red was the one who got up, who you let out, and killed her. Even though he claims he was asleep?"

"Yes," he sighed, and decided to add another pull-factor to his campaign. "If we vote out Red now, and Black in the next round. I promise you there won't be any more murders happening. If there are, you guys can vote me out in an instant. No questions asked."

"We're on seven. Three more dead and there'll be just as many impostors as there are crewmates."

"Skippy skip?" asked Red.

"Skip and wait until another body is found? Treating friends and peers as numbers. What happened to saving lives? Haha," she pursed her lips, "It's all or nothing I guess."

She voted. "That's for dumping all their tasks on Blue."

As the last vote had been cast, the screen registered them one by one until the extra Purple icon could be seen in White's box. He stood up immediately, screaming "Why should that matter!" as he slammed his tablet onto the table. A silent acknowledgement from the crew confirmed that it was ejection time. Hesitating as he looked at the rest of us, he turned on his heels and ran. He ran in the direct opposite direction from the cafeteria table; it was the quickest way to get away from us as much as possible. But to his fatal error, the path would lead him into storage. The rest of us followed.

Purple told Black to run ahead and block White from escaping to Electrical through the hallway, and he took off faster than the rest of us. Purple looked at me, considered it for a second, and told Blue to do the same for the hallway leading up to Shields. I felt better when I saw that Blue was also able to run decently fast.

White was slow. We had him cornered in Storage, and even as he climbed onto the many crates and boxes we had stored there his movements were drowsy. He struggled against the dirty crates. "Stay back!" he hissed as he finally got on, "Don't you dare touch me." Dust could be seen wherever he moved. Regardless, it didn't seem like he was going to stop until he reached the highest point.

But Purple got him down. She went up and grabbed him, lifted him by his armpits, and tossed him down to Red who stood by the airlock with open arms. He was able to keep hold of White for a while, until White punched him in the liver. But by then Purple had hopped off and got hold of him, and he had given up his resistance.

We all gathered around when White was ejected, staying a safe distance away from the airlock. There was swearing, there was yelling, and there was discontentment at White's ejection. And it didn't just come from White. Yellow found the situation notably absurd. But I had had enough of that for one day. I found my way beside Black, who, like how he usually did, stayed silent amongst all the discourse. If he did notice me, he didn't show it. He just looked straight ahead at White as White struggled to keep away from the airlock. As Black watched, Red moved in closer to whisper to him. He didn't look as timid and confused as he had been. "You see that there? Yep, that guy. He was such a prince of a fellow, wasn't he. I sure will miss having one of him around." Red smiled.