The crew smoke Weiss out of the vents.
Ruby spent an hour in Weiss's old room just thinking about everything and nothing at the same time. Part of her hoped that the room would remind her of Weiss, maybe even smell like her. But the air smelled like the rest of the ship; like recycled air. Clean but stale. The room is empty, the lack of any personal touches making it feel cold and lonely. There's not even a stray pen on the desk, or photos of her family, not that she would being an imposter and all. But it does make Ruby vaguely wonder of Weiss does have a family and what that that would look like. Her bed was made but it was made with the plain sheets and a pillow that is standard on every ship, but it's so crisp in the corners and folds Ruby doubts it's been used at all. When Ruby sits down on it a thin layer of dust comes off, confirming her thoughts. The room just feels so lifeless.
"Weiss," starts Ruby, but she pauses. Not knowing if Weiss could hear her or if she would even care to listen. But it's worth a try, even if it feels a bit hopeless. Maybe its more for Ruby's sake then hers. "Weiss, I don't know if you can hear me from wherever you are. But I wanted to thank you for saving my life.
"I don't know why you joined this crew or why you and Cardin were here in the first place. Maybe you were going to kill us, or maybe you were going to eat us but… I just can't see you as a man-eating monster."
Sighing, Ruby drops her face in her hands. This is exhausting. Ever since almost dying it feels like shes being stretched thin and emotionally exhausted. And she still can't even wrap her head around the fact that Weiss is one of those monsters that her Dad and Uncle warned her about. But Weiss was nice, she had made Ruby coffee that one time. Whenever she talked to her, Weiss would get nervous and she wanted to help.
But her own feelings aside, Weiss is dangerous. And just letting her roam free in the ship is a liability to the rest of the crew and the mission. Clenching her fists, Ruby does her best to steel herself, then presses the button on the side of her helmet to open comms.
"Close the vents."
"Yellow copy's." Yang remotely closes all the vents in the ship from her tablet. Keeping only the vent closest to the airlock and the airlock door itself open. "Vents are shut, path is clear. Standing by."
"Red copy's. Moving to position." replies Ruby through the comms.
"Do you think this is actually going to work?" asks Blake.
"It's the best plan we got," said Yang, as she sets the tablet down. "And if it somehow doesn't work at least she won't be able to hide in the vents again."
"Why do you think Weiss joined us on this mission?"
Yang looks at Blake in disbelief. "She's an imposter Blake. Imposters kill and eat humans like us. Why else would she have been on this ship?"
"I think she had a change of heart," states Blake, idly fiddling with the smoke grenade in her hands. "No matter how I think about it Weiss and Cardin could have killed us weeks ago. Right after we left Remment's orbit even. But they didn't. And then Weiss kills Cardin when he tried to kill Ruby. And even more unusual she runs when right when it would have been easiest to kill all three of us."
Before Yang can reply, Ruby is in position. Yang looks at Blake, silently asking if she's ready. When Blake nods Yang kneels down and manually opens the vent. Blake rips out the pin from the smoke grenade and drops it into the vent. The smoke rapidly filling the vent as Yang slams it shut and locks it.
Weiss wakes up coughing which quickly turns into choking as she breathes in more of the smoke. Confused and in a panic Weiss rushes to the closest vent to escape only to find it locked. Panicking even more Weiss goes to the next one.
Locked. Next one.
Locked. Shit, next one.
Unlocked. Pushing it open Weiss crawls through choking on more smoke as it gets denser, making her eyes water. Crawling on the floor Weiss keeps coughing and choking not noticing Ruby is behind her with a stun gun pointed at her.
"I'm sorry Weiss," buzzes Ruby's voice through her helmet as she squeezes the trigger, shooting Weiss with hundreds of volts of electricity.
Weiss would have screamed in pain if her lungs had the air, but they don't, so what comes out of her mouth sounds more like a choking gasp as her body stiffens and spasms from the electricity. Her body stiff with electricity Weiss hears heavy boots thumping their way to her then she feels a ruff pair of gloved hands grab drag her into a room.
Finally the electricity leaves her body and Weiss is just left there lay limp on the floor, not even bothering to look around to see where they threw her. Defeated, Weiss weakly slams her face onto the floor. She was a fool. A trained hunter since birth, but too soft hearted for her prey and hopelessly weak to a pair of silver eyes and a kind smile. She would cry if she had any tears left.
Blake, Yang, and Ruby stand in front of the window of the Air-lock. Waiting for Weiss to move or do anything really.
"Did we kill her?" asked Blake, her voice muffled from her helmet.
"No," said Ruby, her voice muffled but still hopeful. "She just moved a little. Maybe she's recovering from the smoke."
Yang huffs, "Does she even need to breathe? She's an alien from the depths of space. She probably doesn't even have lungs like we do. She's a shape-shifter for God's sake."
Ruby looks at the air vent that Weiss had crawled out of gasping for air. Just like how the rest of them would have reacted. Holstering her taser, Ruby let's herself get lost in thought.
Weiss is a shape-shifter. Ruby can't deny that, she saw her stomach open to an impossibly wide mouth. But the more she thinks about it, it didn't open like she thought it would. Her suit peeled back first before that mouth opened. Could Weiss be mimicking a whole human body? Not just the suit? Cardin never took off his helmet. Ruby didn't really trust him because of it, but Weiss did.
It's just a guess, but Ruby can feel a hunch forming in her gut. "I think she's copying a human body. As she is right now she's probably as close to us physically as she can get. I have an idea, but first we need to make sure the Air-filter isn't too damaged."
Yang pulls out her tablet, "You got it boss lady."
"I'll go fish out the smoke grenade and do my best to clear the air," said Blake, pointing down the hallway.
Ruby nods, as the black and yellow pair leave. Glancing back at Weiss, Ruby sees that she hasn't moved from where she was thrown. Stealing her hopes, Ruby leaves for the kitchen. Weiss never ate with the crew, and she's been hiding in the vents for days. She must be hungry by now. And food always makes people feel a bit better.
Not knowing what Weiss likes, Ruby rummages through the storage closet for a few minutes and settles on an unopened box of protein bars. Figuring Weiss's species eats a heavy protein diet Ruby thinks this is a safe option, if she eats it anyway.
Making her way back to the Air-lock with the box of protein bars under her arm, Ruby questions what the hell she's doing. Imposters have killing mankind since they achieved deep space travel. They're enemies, they should hate each other, Ruby should have killed Weiss the moment she revealed herself as an imposter. Anyone else would have done the sensible thing.
But Ruby couldn't. And it wasn't just because she was in shock. There was something else that had stopped her. A feeling. Almost like an instinct. The mystery of it is making Ruby reckless.
Ruby enters the Air-lock, locking the doors behind her. Then turns around, facing Weiss, who still hasn't moved. Not even a twitch. Ruby sets down the box about 10 feet away from Weiss and sits down next to it, then takes her helmet off, setting down behind her. The room smells a bit of smoke, absentmindedly notes Ruby.
"Weiss, I brought you something to eat. Are you hungry?"
Weiss doesn't respond, but she does turn her head away from Ruby. Ruby continues regardless.
"I don't know what you like so I just grabbed some protein bars. They probably don't taste that great but they'll give you some energy." Said Ruby, waiting for a reaction. But Weiss still doesn't move. "When I was little, my Mom was in the Space Academy. She was training to become a Captain. But she died in a car crash before she could graduate.
"But she told me all kinds of stories about space and space travel. Some real and some were just fantasy, but I found all of them to be amazing. 'Space, the final frontier', that was the motto of my favorite story," Ruby pauses, the memories bringing a bittersweet smile to her face. "Anyway, my Mom was my reason for enrolling in the Space Academy. She was my hero and my inspiration. I became a Captain so that I could tell her stories about deep space and my adventures."
"I never knew my Mother," says Weiss in a quiet voice. "My Father raised me."
Ruby smiles. Opening the box next to her, she takes out a protein bar and sets it down as close to Weiss as she reach. Weiss turns her head and looks at the protein bar, avoiding Ruby's eyes. Slowly she reaches for it, but her arm is too short so she extends it farther until she can grab it and retracts her arm to its normal length. Bringing it close to her face, Weiss stares at it, rotating it around. Then just pops it in her mouth and chews.
Surprised Ruby just stares as Weiss eats the protein bar whole, wrapper and all.
"You're uh, not supposed to eat the wrapper." Weiss just keeps chewing and shallows. Then she slowly sits up and brings her knees to her chest and hugs them tightly.
"Doesn't matter." Said Weiss, her eyes still avoiding Ruby's.
"Of course it does! Here, I'll unwrap this one." Ruby grabs another protein bar, unwraps it and offers it to Weiss. A few seconds pass as Weiss doesn't move, then slowly she extends her arm like before and gently takes it and eats it. The Air-lock is quiet with just the sound of Weiss's chewing filling it.
Weiss shallows before speaking, "Why are you feeding me? Doesn't the rest of the crew want me dead?"
Ruby shrugs "I don't know. It just feels right I guess. I thought you would be hungry; I haven't seen you eat at all. That didn't sit right with me."
"And the rest of the crew?"
"They won't eject you with me in here with you."
I just realized I posted this on AO3 but I didn't update FF. So oops, that's my bad.