Chapter Text
The Skeld had been out in the dark empty plain of space for a while now, almost a month had passed. The crew got to know each other slowly but surely, and groups of sorts were made. One group of such was a pairing of cyan, black, purple, and strangely enough, lime. Though lime felt as if nobody was truly trustworthy, and being near the other three was a strange experience, it was some of their favorites nonetheless.
Purple giggled, shutting the door as cyan quickly dragged black into O2, green hurriedly pulling out a small black bag, crinkling quietly in their hand as they threw it in the middle of the floor. The vent that they crawled out of shutting with a metallic thunk as the four of them gathered in a small circle on the floor. Legs crossed as they quickly pulled out several smaller plastic bags from the original, preparing and passing around several substances that were most definitely not allowed on the Skeld.
“Ooh Lime- how did you even smuggle this on here?”
Cyan giggled, dangling a bag of unlabeled white, chalky like powder in their hand. Purple scoffing in response as they rolled a blunt simultaneously.
“Come on cyan, you know better than anyone how gullible Mira is.”
Purple smiled, rolling their eyes as black handed them a small lighter. Lime, on the other hand, lay splayed flat on the floor, reaching out for the blunt as purple took a quiet, long drag.
“Hurry cyan- draw the line before one of those damned gremlins catch us.”
“Okay okay- don’t be griping at me”
Lime and cyan bickered and giggled at each other as they rolled onto their stomach, carefully dumping a small amount of the unknown mixture onto the ground between them, taking their Mira identification cards meant to be used in admin to correct their lines. The four of them giggling and mumbling in the quiet space as the hours began to pass.
___
Across the ship, blue sat in med bay, the lights above them bright and sterile as he looked over paperwork that sat on their desk. They mumbled quietly to themselves, their focus deep in their paperwork before they heard the doors across the room slide open.
“Blue-don’t mean to be a bother, but have you uh.. seen purps?
Red voice cut through the silence built in the bright room. Blue’s gaze drifting to the crewmate that stood in the doorway quickly as their brow furrowed.
“Why I haven’t, but while you’re here, have you seen lime? They’ve been avoiding their scan for quite some time now.”
“Sorry, ain’t seen them either, but HQ has been calling me, so would you mind maybe looking for them?”
Blue sighed, nodding softly as they stood, pushing their chair into the desk as red ran quickly before they could give a response. They knew better than anyone that red was only heading to slack off, but they were never one to complain. With a quick stretch, blue strode out of med bay, the door shutting behind them automatically as they made their way to the cafeteria.
“No, ain’t seen a wink of them, but you might check the reactor room.”
Yellow spoke calmly, gaze focused on the counter they were wiping as brown nodded their head quietly, chopping a sausage off to the side. Blue sighed in defeat, quickly wandering back down the hall to where yellow directed as they searched the rooms that passed. Security was empty, cameras showing a large “out of order” message on each one as blue continued. The reactor hummed a constant buzz as the room lit up with the bright blue glow from the large machine. Besides that, the room was empty, no crew in sight. Lower engine was at least filled with one person.
“Red lost purple and lime? Strange, cyan and black also seem to be missing. I might have to report this to the higher ups if they’re not found.”
“Oh no, don’t you worry orange, they must be here somewhere, I’m sure of it.”
Blue exclaimed quickly, shaking his hands in a nervous manner as he backed away quickly, rushing away from orange before they could say another word. Good lord was that a close one. Orange was always quick to threaten anybody’s job the moment something negative occurred. This meant that finding these four was now a priority if blue wanted to keep their job.
Walking further, it seemed that room after room was empty. Electrical, storage, admin, coms, even shields were all empty.
Strange.
Navigation at least held both red and green. Red blabbering about nonsense as green listened with an excited expression. Asking either of them would surely deem useless, so blue moved on, unknowingly missing the closed door across the hall to peak into weapons. Confused and a bit frustrated, blue sat in the empty chair in the middle of the room. They stared out into the large window in front of them as they began to fall into a quiet thought. Lime never seemed to be all that close with anyone on the Skeld. Well, besides blue after all. Blue was proud to think that, out of the whole crew, lime had stated that blue was one of the only person they had some form of trust with. Blue grinned to themselves as they thought. Their mind wandering off slowly as they sat.
___
Meanwhile, black slowly packed up the abundance the four of them used back into lime’s backpack. Purple pressing their face on the cold glass of their fish tank with wobbly legs as cyan laid next to lime. Black giggled to themselves as they nuzzled into a corner quickly, cyan’s legs resting in their lap as they did so. The four of them all squabbled with foggy minds as the air filters fought for their lives to clear the hotbox of a room they made of O2. None of them had been sober to any extent for the past two hours now, and it surely was not soon to wear off. Lime lay faced down, their breath fogging their visor as cyan stared up at the ceiling, talking on and on to black.
___
Blue paused, freezing in his thought and quickly shifting his mind to the realization that he was supposed to be looking for four missing crew. They glanced around the empty weapon room before standing quickly. Planning originally to take the last option; search in the vents to find them.
Staring down at the vent in the hall, he reached for it, but paused abruptly. A quiet, muffled voice range out in the silence of the ship as blue stood. They knew that voice better than anyone, it was lime, and it most definitely was not coming from the vents. Red and green had wandered to the cafeteria long ago, so they knew they weren’t hearing things. They wander back down the hall quickly, stopping as their gaze landed on the shut O2 door. A strange, yet memorable smell leaking through the shut metal frame as blue stood in front of it, listening quietly for a short moment.
“Shh, shh, I think I hear somethin.”
Must be black, blue thought
“Gah! Those damned gremlins!”
There’s lime.
“Hush up, you’re gonna rat us out!”
Cyan? Are all four of them in there?
Blue’s curiosity got the better of them. Tapping the button lightly, the door widened quickly, and a strong waft of light grey smoke escaped the room. Small thunks and sounds of shuffling and shocked gasped followed as blue’s eyes landed on the four crew in the room. Purple stood behind their fish tank, apparently assuming they’re going unnoticed even though the glass in see through. Black stared up with wide eyes, back against the wall and legs crossed as cyan glances up quickly. A large gasp leaving their lips as blue’s eyes landed paused at the sight.
Was that Lime?
Why is cyan..?
“I-uh..hm”
Blue mumbled, his voice shaking as his brows furrowed at the sight of lime.