Scarlet's PoV:
"It's my fault we're both stuck. If you didn't have to come find me, we wouldn't be in this mess" I mumble.
Coal seems dead against that idea. "No, don't blame yourself. It was my choice to go looking for you, and I would have never just left you alone."
This reassured me a tiny bit. Actually, quite a lot.
"Oh... I think I know how to get out!" I exclaim, having a sudden 'lightbulb moment'. "My mother took me to a maze for my 7th birthday... it's two years ago, but I specifically remember the trick she taught me. Reach out, right now, with your left hand. Touch the side of the vent, and don't let it come off. Just go forwards"
"Really?" He asks, sticking his hand out, and I do the same. "I trust you, Scarlet"
Hearing those four words made me feel happier than I had for a long time. Just four honestly spoken words, but it made such a difference knowing that someone trusted me. Trust is a special thing, in my opinion anyway. I don't give mine away easily, either - the only people I'd trusted within the first week of training were Lime and Teal, and therefore Cyan.
"I trust you too." Is my reply. However I also believe there's another verb that would fit quite nicely in the last two sentences that had been spoken between the pair of us.
Maybe it's just me... but perhaps, just possibly, maybe even hopefully, it might not be.
Blue's PoV:
This mission had been a complete disaster.
Yeah, there, I've said it now. Happy?
I'm sick of forcing a smile and saying that everything will be okay. Because you know what? Sometimes life is hard, okay? But the crew were relying on me, so I stepped up. I had to, it's kinda my job to keep the crew's spirits high, which had not been easy.
Heh, 'the crew'? Really? What even is the crew now?
Two. TWO. Only two people did I manage to save.
Still... it's better than most of the others would have been able to do. Anyway, this isn't on me, alright?.... surely this is NASA's fault for sending us on this mission. They should have known, surely?
I stop pacing around the halls of Mira HQ for a moment, just pausing to gaze out of the window. Reflecting on things is something you have to do a lot as a leader. I wouldn't expect Lime or even Black to understand, so that's why I was doing this at 4:00.
Honestly, I'd been expecting silence at this time. But apparently not.
Whispers coming from..... below my feet?
Oh that must be her - but who's she talking to?
Holding my breath, I listen closely. A vent creaks open in the next room. That's admin?
Any plans to remain hidden and listen in for information were completely abandoned as I raced into Admin, to see Coal and Scarlet clamber our of the air vent.
"H-Hey..... Coal....." Scarlet murmurs
"Yeah?" He asks, seeming quite worried about the level of fear in the other child's voice.
She just points. At me.
Before he could react or even turn around, I grabbed his arm and sharply pulled him away from Scarlet. "So you're one of them too, huh?" I snarl, but his facial expression was hidden behind his visor. I hope I'd scared him.
"Just le-leave Scarlet alone!" He stutters whilst squirming to get out of my grip.
"LET GO OF HIM!" Scarlet screams, launching herself at my leg. It frightened me for a second, before I realised that she didn't have any weapons on her. These children are no threat to me at the moment... I need to tell the others what I know. It seems I have only saved one other member of my crew.
Rose's PoV:
I lie awake in the room that had become increasingly crowded. Normally I'd complain, however it actually seemed quite nice being with lots of other people. Unexplainably nice.
I've been acting so different ever since... the incident. If even I'd noticed it, then the others must have sensed a big difference as well.
Emerald had insisted on staying in his own room from day one, Chocolate of course wanted to stay with Lime, and I'd stayed there with Peach and Chocolate the night before we both lost our fathers, so I just decided not to move. Now the ever-dependent Teal had joined us, along with the sisters, Lemon and Indigo. And Snow. He was a peculiar one.
I remember my father used to look down upon him, saying he wasn't normal or something like that. I'd definitely heard one of the adults use the term 'special' before, but annoyingly, I had yet to learn what that meant.
Peach had her back to me, so it was hard to tell if she was awake too or not. "Hey, Peachy" I hiss, causing her to immediately roll over onto her other side to face me.
"Yes, Rosey?" She copies the nickname, smiling
"You awake?"
"Well, duh" she quietly laughs. "Honestly, I haven't been able to sleep since....yeah. But don't tell anyone I said that."
"Let's go do something" I suggest, and we silently stand up. Peach creeps up to the small table next to Lime's bed ninja-style, grabbing the card required to unlock the door. Once it's open, she returned it to the table and we both exited.
"Where to?" Peach asks.
I shrug, thinking for a few seconds. "How about comms?"
She eagerly nods and we begin to head over. Comms has become our hang out area of sorts. Only for us two. Even when it was daytime, people barely ever went in there, so it was cool.
"Anything in particular you had in mind?"
"Well... actually..." I mumble. There was something that had been on my mind for quite a while now. "What do you think... of what Red said before? About... our parents?"
Peach's PoV:
"Oh, yeah..." I murmur. "You didn't know?"
"What?!" She exclaims, "And you DID know?"
"Kinda..." I say, shrugging. "I remember the first time my dad told me. He sort of kept acting weird about halfway through training, when we were on The Skeld, and it seemed to have something to do with your father. I thought nothing of it, just assumed it was because... your father wasn't really one of the nicest people on board..." I pause to look for Rose's reaction, hoping I hadn't offended her. She silently awaits further explanation.
"But then one day Pink was in the room, and my dad kept messing up his task, seeming really flustered. Just the card swipe, which he always usually completed first time. He quickly left the room and went to storage, hid behind the boxes and calmed his breathing. That's when I finally asked him what was wrong, and then he confessed to me that he had feelings for your father..."
"Woah okay" Rose muttered. "So you only knew that Orange liked my dad... nothing else?"
I nod to confirm her assumption. "But I never thought that your father would... he never really showed any emotion, did he?"
"Yeah, I know!" She agrees, "he never seemed off or anything."
"Perhaps he didn't realise for a while?" I offer
Rose nods. "Could be. But he didn't ever care about anyone. Other than me. Everyone else was less superior or whatever"
I laugh at this. "Seems like my dad was special"
"Yeah. You're special too" Rose grins, "I'm mainly talking about Emerald here."
"Huh?" I squeak, Rose just laughs, rolling her eyes before moving onto another subject.
"I'm sorry if I acted a bit rude... for the entirety of training and a bit after, I just presumed I was the best or something, seeing as I was told that I was just about every day..."
"No it's absolutely fine!" I assure her. "We're friends, now right? None of that matters - first impressions are stupid anyway."
Lime's PoV:
I wake to Indigo shaking me. "Alarms, Lime"
"Oh, I see... thank you" I smile, trying and failing not to yawn. Casting a quick glance down at my tablet, I notice three missed calls and two messages from NASA.
The previous evening, I'd let them know about the... unfortunate events... of the mission, as Blue had ordered me to. But they had only gotten back to us now? At 4:00? Whatever.
I quickly read the first message.
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{Yesterday, 11:38}
Lime: Hi. This is Lime, reporting from Mira HQ, from mission 275. We had an urgent situation here... one of the crew wasn't who they said they were. They killed the 8 of the original 12 of us - we had to 'eject' them. We should be safe now, but Blue advised me to ask if we may return early?
You have 2 new messages.
{Today, 3:59}
NASA: What??! 8? Who is alive still? And who did it?
NASA: We reviewed the files, and we only sent 10 people on this particular mission, so you must be mistaken...
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Oh......oh no no no no no.....that meant... but it's not possible... is it?