Chapter Text
"Your mission is to eliminate Project Athena before it makes way to our planet. You will be paired up with another cadet from Planet Dreamalis. Remember, your partner is there for your benefit. If she needs to be disposed of for your sake, do it. They may understand failure, but we will not stand for it. You know what's on the line, Corpse."
Corpse woke up with that all too familiar sickly feeling in his stomach. Yesterday was busy, bustling with friendly new faces and delegated tasks. He'd already zeroed in on a few people he knew he had to be weary of. Toast was the sheriff, which was new to them. They'd only been told about mindless crewmates working to invade their homes, weapons weren't supposed to be involved- save for the ones he and Lily were issued under the table.
He needed to stay weary of Rae, she was immediately suspicion of him for merely existing. Sean was another one to avoid if he could, the guy was too social. Corpse hadn't gotten a good read on him yet, for all he knew Sean was smarter than he seemed.
Lily had pointed some good targets out when they reconvened. Brooke, Ludwig, and... Sykkuno.
Corpse had... a weird feeling about Sykkuno. When Corpse spoke up, everyone's reactions were to be expected... except for Sykkuno's, who simply walked up to him and said "Hello, Mr. Corpse!" without a single ounce of fear or mistrust in those kind eyes of his. He didn't say much to him after that, but he noticed Sykkuno looming around him whenever he could. He claimed the seat beside him for their first group meeting and casually sat at the same table during meal breaks.
Lily claimed him to be naive and too kind, but Corpse had a twinge of doubt over that... regardless, it was time to get to work.
"Corpse!" Lily cheerily greeted upon seeing him enter the cafeteria. She suddenly grabbed his wrist, "I think I accidentally got one of your suits sent to my room, come with me to grab it."
They passed the others, who casually waved as they passed by. He followed her to the girl dorms and allowed her to pull him into the room. Shockingly, one of his suits was in her room. She handed him the folded apparel and smiled, cocking her head to the side, "So, I was thinking we aim for Poki, Ludwig, or Bret. What do you think?"
He hummed, "Poki. She isn't going to fight back as easily..." He paused, "You know we don't have to talk about things before we get them done. It's eating at our time."
"When we have the chance, we should." Lily pushed past him, punching the pin in to open the door, "We should be on the same page. I was warned about you, Corpse." She glanced back, not caring enough to put a fake smile on, "I'm not going to be eliminated as easily as your last partners."
Corpse said nothing. He silently followed her down the hall, stopping for a moment to put his suit away. Upon exiting his room he came upon a... sight. A scene, even.
"Man, you've got some pretty eyes, Sykkuno." Ludwig grinned charmingly.
"O-Oh, thanks..." Sykkuno blushed, nervously smiling, "You're really handsome, Lud!"
Ludwig looked giddy. He was leaning against the wall next to a very fidgety Sykkuno. Corpse rolled his eyes and approached the two, "Hey."
Ludwig nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned around, "Jesus Christ! A warning, Corpse!"
Corpse chuckled, "Sorry, Ludwig. Are you coming to eat breakfast, or no?"
Sykkuno beamed, "I am!" He walked up to Corpse with a weird look in his eye. Corpse couldn't put his finger on what it was... but that didn't matter, because soon Ludwig was beckoning the two over so they could go to the cafeteria. Corpse followed, keeping his eyes on the surrounding area. They had thirty minutes to finish their meals before Corpse rallied them up to begin tasks, all of which Corpse and Lily had been told to not do. Why help the enemy, after all? Lily had argued with her commander over it, stating it would help them fit in better, but they brushed her off. Corpse was just fine either way.
Soon enough, Corpse had his chance. The doors to electrical slammed shut, and he swore he saw Lily on the other side smiling before they did so. Poki yelped, panic clear in her eyes. She looked up at Corpse's looming figure, her bottom lip quivering.
"C-Corpse? What's going on-"
"Come on, I know a way out." Corpse said gruffly, leading her near the vent.
She froze, looking up at him again, "That- we aren't allowed to enter the vents, t-that's an easy entry point for... for..." Her breath hitched as Corpse pulled out his gun, "Wait- wait, Corpse, please-"
He shot her. The doors opened again and he quickly hopped into the vent, waiting for the body to be reported. After hearing everyone leave he made his way to the cafeteria.
Corpse sat next to Sykkuno, greeting him with a curt nod before Toast spoke up.
"Well, the commanders warned us this would happen." Toast sighed heavily, "... We're going to have to do some detective work, crew. I was already in cafeteria when the body was reported along with Ludwig and Sean."
Rae held an angry scowl on her face, "I was in nav..." She looked like she wanted to say more, but she held her tongue.
"I..." Brooke gulped the lump in her throat down, "I-I passed nav and saw Rae in there, I went to electrical to complete wires but.. then I heard a vent shut so I went to check it out and... Poki was there."
"I was following Brooke to make sure this exact thing didn't happen." Ash frowned, "On my last mission I was the only survivor... I guess I was right in doing so."
Brooke nodded, "We were together for most of our rounds but we got lost near the end until she found me and..." She shuddered.
"I-I was in admin so I could check where everyone was, I hadn't come across anyone yet and so I figured it would be safe there." Leslie piped up.
Toast frowned at that, but the rest continued on. Lily and Corpse made sure to back one another up, saying they were in upper engine. Bretman was apparently in security, but he didn't catch anything, claiming he "looked away for a couple of minutes because it was boring." Sykkuno was in the lower engine.
With that set up, they were at their first trial.
"Rae and Poki have been friends for years," Sean filled in, "It couldn't have been her no matter what- besides, I also saw her in the upper right a lot earlier today."
"We can't think with our hearts right now, Jack." Toast warned him, "But she's clear for now. Brooke and Ash..." His eyes trailed over to them, "Aren't clear."
Ash scoffed, "What- Rae can vouch!"
"For all we know," Rae cut in, "You two are working together. Impostors always work in pairs, Poki and I shared our first mission together and we had to vote them both out. Every single time an incident like this happens, they're always in duos. You two just happened to stumble on the body together?"
Brooke nodded adamantly, "The whole round we were with one another- Toast, you saw us pass by together, right?" Toast nodded slowly, "If the impostors are working on... getting rid of us then sticking together is a dumb move, right?"
Rae held her tongue once more, allowing Toast to chime in instead, "I did see you two together..."
"I did too while I was doing my other tasks..." He glanced at Leslie, "You said you were in admin?"
She nodded, "I was looking to see where others were when the body was reported."
Toast narrowed his eyes, "We didn't see you enter admin."
"Hey now," Sean chided, "We were distracting each other, none of us were constantly taking things in. She could have slipped in and we wouldn't have known."
"You were quick to defend her." Lily noted, eyes shifting over to him.
"I'm just saying, none of us were expecting this. We had no reason to believe we would be infiltrated- think about it!" Jack gestured with his hands wildly, "We were told most impostors were aliens, not like us, but... we all look human."
Ash snorted, "Save for Corpse."
"Guys, focus!" Ludwig interjected, "From what we're hearing, two of us were alone with no one to account for..." He pointed to Bret and Sykkuno, "Corpse and Lily passed you guys, right? Can you confirm it?"
Sykkuno laughed nervously, "Um- I wasn't... paying attention... I was too focused on my task- but I did faintly hear footsteps near me?"
Toast sighed, "Bret?"
"... Okay, don't get mad..." Bret looked away, "I may or may not have been taking a little nap."
"You what?" Toast deadpanned.
"Ohhh." Corpse hummed, "That's why you didn't wave back. We called your name too..."
Bret blushed, "That tracks, I'm a heavy sleeper."
"... Are you all serious?" Rae stood up, slamming her hands on the table, "You were all so neglectful that we can't even pick a person out here! Any one of you could have done it because no one had a brain cell!" She glared furiously, "SHE DIED BECAUSE OF ONE OF YOU AND I'LL FIND OUT WHO IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!"
Everyone stared in shock as she stormed off.
"That was... theatrical." Ash frowned.
"It makes sense. They were friends for years, no?" Lily pointed out, "I'd be pretty fucked up over it too."
"No." Toast stood up too, shaking his head, "Like I said, we can't think emotionally. Anyone could be a killer... Rae included." He took a look around, his gaze hardening, "From now on we need to travel in packs and stay on our toes. No more naps or distractions- and no more solitude. I'll unlock the double units and issue everyone a roommate by tonight... please get back to your tasks." He placed a hand on his gun holster, "And know that I will shoot if I have to."
Corpse looked down at Sykkuno, who looked... disappointed? He blinked. Then, he nudged him, "Hey."
Sykkuno snapped out of it, smiling gently as he spoke to Corpse, "H-Hey!"
"Wanna be my task buddy till' we turn in?" Corpse got up. Sykkuno followed suit, nodding enthusiastically.
"Sure, Mr. Corpse!"
Corpse chuckled, "Just Corpse will do."
"No faaaiiir!" Bret whined, "I wanted to be paired with you!" He leaned on Corpse, pouting up at him.
Corpse again chuckled, Sykkuno cutting in before he could say anything, "Come along with us, Bret! The more the merrier!"
Corpse exhaled through his nose slowly. It's going to be harder to fake tasks, but... it'll do for now. I just need to calm down and move forward... Yet he still couldn't shake off this weird feeling. The one he got around Sykkuno... what was it?