*sigh* I started writing this over a year ago when Among Us was super popular. I don't know if it still is are not, but I'm tired of seeing this in my google docs. So I'm sharing now I guess.
Happy holidays.
Me staring at this fic: you were supposed to be a crack fic.
It had been a boring and routine day for the crewmates. They had just made the halfway point last week for their trip and had 5 weeks left on the ship heading to Polus. The mission is a simple one. Get to Polus, and find out what happened to the communications.
The morning started at 6 am sharp and everyone ate breakfast at 7 am, then all the crew-members slowly left to start their respective tasks for the day. Mostly just maintenance on wiring, Oxygen, and the reactor.
But that's where the normalcy ended. At 10:27 the lights cut out. And Brown was murdered; Red saw White do it. By the time Yellow and Black found White next to Brown's body, she was partially covered in Brown's blood. Red was against the wall-shaking and looking at White like she didn't know who White was anymore.
White killed Brown, but she didn't use any kind of man-made weapon. No, she impaled him with a tongue that came out of her stomach; White isn't human.
She's one of the Imposters that they heard about.
When Weiss joined the crew for the Polus mission she knew that Brown wasn't human. She isn't either, but Imposters have one job and one job only. Stop the humans from exploring space by killing them. And that job is easier done with a partner.
"Hello Brown, I'm Weiss, it's a pleasure to work with you."
"Cardin, the pleasure is all mine." Cardin smiled and shook Weiss's hand. Something in his eyes felt wrong but she didn't think much of it.
"Welcome aboard crew! I am the Captain of this ship but you guys can just call me Ruby!" Red took off her helmet and set it on the table. Her hair is dyed red at the ends, and her eyes are… sliver. Not grey, actually silver in color. How odd, yet… stunning. "I know that most of us don't know each other so let's introduce ourselves!"
Weiss made a mental note to be careful around her. The Captains of these ships tend to be a little smarter them the rest of the crew; having been through more training and being specially selected.
Red nodded to Yellow to start the introductions. Yellow took off her helmet, letting her blonde hair breathe. "I'm Yang, it's nice to meet all of you! I work mostly in the Engine rooms and Shields." Red nodded happily and turned to Black.
Black shrugged and also took off her helmet. "I'm Blake. I'm the medic of this ship." The crew nodded and looked at Brown, expecting him to take off his helmet as well. He didn't.
"I'm Cardin. Nice to meet all of you, I work in General." Frowning, Weiss took off her helmet and made eye contact with each crewmate as she introduced herself. Best to blend in as much as possible, even if it means that Weiss has to put more effort into making her face as human as possible.
"I'm Weiss. It's a pleasure to meet all of you, I also work in General." Weiss smiled and met Red's eyes. There's something about those eyes that make it hard for Weiss to look away, but she does because her and Cardin have a mission to complete. And nothing will stop them from killing the crew and taking over this ship.
That's the plan anyway.
It's been a week since that first meeting and Weiss and Cardin have been laying low and learning everyone's routine. Most Imposters choose to work in General because it gives them access to the whole ship without being questioned about why they are in a room they have no reason to be in. So because of the nature of their job, Weiss and Cardin have been observing and sharing information with either other.
During one of their meetings; which they have in the vents so none of the other crewmates can accidentally walk in on them, Cardin says that he's sick and tired of waiting and just wants to kill the whole crew at once.
"NO," says Weiss before she can stop herself.
Which means doing some tasks. Or at least Weiss, doing some tasks, Cardin probably went into the vents to spy on Black. He claims that it's just for survival, but she has her doubts. Something about him seems unstable but that's not her problem right now. Right now she's trying to empty the trash, but there's a sign that says something that she doesn't understand. And every time she pulls down the handle nothing happens.
After 5 minutes of repeatedly yanking down the handle with nothing happening, Weiss is ready to just smash it. But a voice from behind startles her.
"Um, do you need some help, Weiss?" Of course, it's the Captian of the ship, she's been making rounds checking up on the Crew and the equipment for weeks now.
"There's no need, Captain. I have it under control," says Weiss.
"Are you sure? You've been struggling with the trash for a few minutes now," Weiss idly wonders how she didn't notice the Captian for that long.
"The hatch opened differently on my last ship," lies Weiss. Every ship is the same, Weiss just never did the trash before, always more focused on eliminating the Crew members.
"Oh, okay," The Captain easily accepts the lie. "Well for this one you have to pull the handle down and hold it for a bit."
That explains why just yanking it didn't work. Weiss nods and pulls the handle and holds it down; and just like the Captain said, it worked.
Smiling, Weiss turns to the Captian to thank her; because she has some manners, only to see the Captian staring at her with those very distracting eyes of hers; and the words get stuck in her throat.
The Captain smiles back, and Weiss feels like she forgot how to breathe at the sight.
"You know you can just call me Ruby right? You don't have to keep calling me Captian all the time," says the Captian, snapping Weiss out of… whatever that was.
"Are you sure? I don't want to be disrespectful," says Weiss, but the main reason she always calls the Captain 'Captain' is to keep the crew at a distance. Getting too close makes the job harder in the long run, and just isn't worth it.
"It's fine! Everyone else is using my actual name! It's only you and Cardin being the weird ones." Weiss will have to mention that to Cardin at their next meeting.
"Alright," sighs Weiss. "I still have to empty the other trash chute, so I'll see you later Ruby."
"See ya, Weiss!" Waves Ruby smiling. For the rest of the day, Weiss couldn't get Ruby out of her head. Her smile and her eyes constantly distract her from her tasks.
Later that night after the rest of the crew ate dinner and retired to their respective rooms, Weiss and Cardin had their daily meeting in the vents.
"You seem awfully chummy with the Captian, Weiss," says Cardin when he finally joins her in the vents. Late as always.
"I can't hide in the vents all day like you do Cardin. The rest of the crew would get suspicious if both of us are missing." Replies Weiss, annoyance bleeding into her voice.
"All the more reason why we should just kill them all now, waiting just gives them the chance to eject us," Says Cardin angrily, his fangs showing.
"We wait. Sabotage random stuff to test their response and we'll work it out from there," Weiss pauses, studying Cardin for a second. "But don't kill anyone yet. Is that understood?"
"Fine," growls Cardin.
The next day the lights are sabotaged.
Weiss is cleaning the O2 filter when it happens. The lights cut off, dropping the whole into darkness(not that it bothers Weiss because of night vision) and she hears Yellow curse from Weapons; just around the corner. Weiss turns her head just in time to see Yellow run down the hall towards Electrical.
Glancing at the time Weiss starts a small stopwatch. Then shrugging, she finished cleaning the filter just as the lights turn back on.
00:03:14
"Hey Yang, did you figure out what happened to the lights earlier? That blackout kinda freaked me out," said the Capt- uh Ruby, during the crew's lunchtime.
"Yeah, it was just the old wiring," replies Yellow, shallowing a bite of her sandwich. "None of the wiring has been replaced and something must have bumped into it. I fixed it the best I could so we should be good for a while."
"That's a relief. I was kinda worried for a while there," laughs Ruby.
The Red and Yellow duo continue talking but Weiss stops listening to them. Taking a sip of her coffee Weiss thinks about what they said. They don't seem to be suspicious yet, which is good but won't last if her and Cardin keep doing these tests.
Weiss takes another sip.
"Weiss," The Captian snaps her out of her thoughts. "Aren't you hungry? I know space food sucks but it's better than nothing!"
"Oh uh," Weiss stammers. "I'm fine. I had something earlier….. What about you? Aren't you going to eat with everyone?"
"I'll eat later, right now I'm checking in on everyone," said The Captian as she sat down in the empty seat next to Weiss. Weiss grips her coffee mug a little tighter. "Space travel is long and hard. The isolation can change people."
Ruby seemed sad after saying that. Weiss wanted to help but despite learning everything she could on humans to better…. Take care of. She has no idea how to cheer her up. Up until now Ruby always seemed to have a smile on her face that would brighten the room. That smile is gone now.
"How do you like your coffee?" asks Weiss. She may not know what would help Ruby feel better, but coffee always helps Weiss feel a bit better. It's one of the only things that humans make that she absolutely loves. So maybe it'll help Ruby.
A common human phase is 'sharing is caring,' right?
"What?" Ruby looked surprised that she asked. "Oh uh, cream and five sugars. Why?"
Weiss finished off her mug before getting up from the table. "Don't move."
Quickly, Weiss went over to the coffeemaker in the corner of the cafeteria and brewed a cup for Ruby with her cream and sugars. After stirring in the cream and sugar, Weiss brought the fresh mug back to Ruby. Who staying in her seat, watching Weiss with those curious silver eyes of hers.
"Here," Weiss offered the mug.
Ruby carefully took it, "Thank you. You didn't have to do that Weiss."
That's true. Weiss didn't have to. No, she shouldn't have but something about seeing Ruby sad like that…. It made her chest hurt. Like her heart was slowly being crushed.
Made her chest hurt, like her heart was slowly being crushed.
Oh… oh no.
"I-it's no problem, Ru- Captain. I need to go now, have to do my checks," then Weiss ran off and did her best to avoid Ruby for the rest of the day. She doesn't know when it happened, but Weiss fell for Ruby. Now she can't let Ruby get killed, she's going to have to protect her from Cardin, and maybe even the whole crew with how much Ruby cares about them.
This mission may be a failure now, but when her kind find their mate it's an all-or-nothing kind of deal. If Ruby were to die now, Weiss would lose her reason for living. So if Cardin finds out he'll kill Ruby with Weiss watching.
Now her priorities have changed.
Protect Ruby. No matter what. Delay Cardin for as long as she can. Make sure no one finds out she's an imposter.What could go wrong?
So cliffhanger I know. I'm not sure if I'm going to write chapter two yet. I wanted this to be a one-shot. Oh well, chapter two may be next year.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯