Chapter Text
Lying and deceiving.
Ever since he was born, that was all White was ever told he was good for. They were the first words his mother ever uttered to him, when she held him in her arms, a soft lullaby playing from a broken radio in the background. She was smiling wide, her features wrinkled, eyes bright. That was the happiest White had ever seen her, and at that time, he was only a year old. He loved being in her arms. She usually told him stories of when she would infiltrate different ships, talking about her different killing techniques, but White ignored that they were gruesome, and instead enjoyed her voice.
Until she said those words, the ones that rang in White's head for the rest of his life. "Lying and deceiving," she had said softly, and his eyes opened just slightly. "That's all I was ever good for, and it's all you'll ever be good for as well." At the time, he didn't know what she meant. He closed his eyes again, mumbling incoherently, little white feet kicking in the air. His mother was smiling; that was all that mattered.
When he was fourteen, he heard the news. A Crewmate named Pink had brutally murdered his mother, who was an impostor on the ship. His mother had tried to enter a vent, and Pink spotted it, calling an emergency meeting. They all fought for a long, long, time before Pink pulled out a knife, breaking one of the first rules of their world. She was forgiven, because of course she was. It escalated from there. White never wanted to hear the details. All he knew was that his mother was gone, and he was alone in the world.
At that time, he was at a point in his life where he could choose what he wanted to be. It was two days away from his fifteenth birthday, the day he would be asked and then sent on to a whole new life. Did he want to help the world and be a Crewmate, or did he want to help control the population and be an Impostor? He remembers clicking the 'Impostor' button without hesitation, tears in his eyes, his mother's words echoing in his head. "Lying and deceiving are all you'll be good for."
White and his mother didn't always get along. She wanted him to be an Impostor no matter what, training and conditioning him to hate the crewmates. It worked for awhile, until he saw the TV screens when he walked down the street. Photos and videos of award ceremonies for the iconic Crewmates, a group of 10 different colors who had defeated every single Impostor that came their way. They were part of Inner Inc., a popular company that many aspiring Crewmates dreamed to get into. It took hard work and training.
"I want to be up there with them," he had mumbled to himself, unable to look away from the screen, listening as another White- just like him- stood on that stage, talking about their latest riddance of an Impostor. He wanted to be that white. He wanted to be a good person who helped others, and for the rest of his time as a child, he refused to listen to his mother. He was good for more than lying and deceiving; he kept telling himself that his mother was wrong, she wasn't telling the truth, he could really be somebody.
That fantasy died two days before his fifteenth birthday. He tore up his photos of The Inner Inc. Crewmates, he burned his posters, screamed into nothingness. He stared at the last remains of the crew; a photo frame of Pink, sitting on his nightstand. He picked up and threw it on the ground, disgusted that he ever thought they were good people. The Impostors were doing the real work here. And at that moment, he vowed that he would get revenge on Pink, and become the best Impostor the world had ever seen.
Pink had other plans.
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"Is it just me, or is it getting really hot in here?" Orange asks, tugging at the sleeves of their suit. Green adjusts his glasses and gives Orange a dirty look, and Yellow does the same. Orange groans. "I'm not lying this time! It really is getting way too hot in this suit."
Pink pats them on the shoulder. "I hope you cool down! Don't worry, soon we'll be in space." She gives Orange a bright smile before pulling her helmet on, face no longer visible. Orange can't help but smile. Pink always to cheer everyone up. She walks up to the door of the ship, counting the people in front of her. She grins, though nobody can actually see it. "I see the Impostor is already among us. Another day, another job, another Impostor kicked out. You should be scared. Nobody ever gets past us!" She says confidently, practically sparkling.
White shifts uncomfortably where he's standing. He was given time to study Inner Inc.'s White and find out more about him, but he isn't sure if that'll be enough. This isn't his first time doing this; he lost track of how many Crewmates he's defeated after the 100th time. He tries to stand the same way the report he was given said White always stands. Pink doesn't seem to suspect him, turning and confidently entering the ship.
He recites the rules in his head as he enters the ship; he always does. He isn't allowed to kill anyone until they've reached Space. Nobody can talk during that time, either. He's mapped out what he's planning to do in his head; take out the weak link first, then move on, and hope that nobody catches him. He can't be seen in a vent, either; it's prohibited for Crewmates to enter vents. If he's caught doing it and they suspect him...
'Relax, man!' He yells in his head, squeezing his eyes shut as he feels the ship begin to rise. He's grateful his helmet is masking his absurd facial expressions. The weapons in his suit are heavy. He takes in a breath of air; the ship continues to rise. He sits as still as he possibly can. He knows the others are probably noticing how off he's acting. He's always been a straight-faced kind of killer, never getting nervous. But this is different. Inner Inc. has defeated over 50,000 Impostors, never being defeated, not even once. What's going to be different about him?
The ride to Space is short, almost too short, and White's anxiety only worsens. They all step off the ship, entering a bigger one that's waiting on the moon. The Crewmates are given broken ships to fix; if they manage to fix it before they're killed, they win. They all enter, and a nearby employee holding a camera sets them into a single-file line. The camera starts.
"Hey, viewers! Welcome to another episode of Inner Inc.'s Crewmates. Let's let the episode begin." White has watched the show far too many times. He knows what's going to come next, the words he's heard repeated multiple times. He always dreamed of hearing them in person. But he always dreamed of being a Crewmate.
'Things don't always go as planned,' he thinks, his mothers image clear in his head.
"Thank's for tuning in tonight, folks." A pause. "Tonight, there is one Impostor among us."
And so it starts.
──
Anyone who's ever seen an episode of Inner Inc. knows that Pink always goes for the reactor room first. It's been this way since the first episode, because no matter what, the first task on her list is always to start the reactor. Usually, the ships they're given are more broken down, for an added challenge. After the first hundred wins, people realized that Inner Inc. was different. These Crewmates weren't like the others. Pink was their mascot; she had guessed who the Impostor was correctly more times than White could count. Sure, the others were good, but nobody could guess quite like Pink. It was almost like she had a sixth sense. At first, people even thought she had something implanted into her helmet; that theory was quickly disproved when an Impostor ripped off her helmet after being voted out, violating a rule, but proving she was for real. The other colors didn't exactly have a strategy like Pink, but they'd been doing this for years, and knew what to do.
White, however, was different. In the past few years since he was fifteen, he'd worked hard, and none of the Crewmates he faced had ever actually won against him. It was the best against the best, but they couldn't mention this in front of Inner Inc. without spoiling which color was the Impostor. With them all in the ship, however, the camera crew quickly excitedly announced what was happening. White ignored the pit of nervousness in his stomach.
"Yellow!" Pink said, voice low. It was important not to trust anyone, but Blue was in the next room over and could report if Yellow was the Impostor. Pink knew how to fight, as well. The Impostor wasn't actually encouraged to kill anyone; they're told to 'take them down.' Some Impostors were nice, some were brutal murderers. Whichever the Impostor was, Pink knew she could take them down. She learned how to fight a long time ago.
Yellow trotted over cautiously, eyeing Pink up and down, keeping a distance. He was holding a box of wires; probably finishing up fixing the electricity. Pink let out a breath. "Hey, I'm nervous. I always have a lead before the game starts; this time, I have no idea." It wasn't a lie. Even when she inspected everyone on the ship, they all looked the same. Everyone acted the same way they usually do. Hell, even Orange mentioned something that only someone in their crew could know. Unless they watched the bloopers of Inner Inc. Pink feels her head start to hurt and slaps herself lightly.
"Uh, I'm not too sure, Pink," Yellow says tentatively. He takes a step back. "Hey, I'll keep an eye out, alright?" Pink notes the way he gets nervous; it's the same way he always does. Her suspicion of Yellow lessens, but then again, anybody could be it. She doesn't know hard the Impostor has studied her crew. She turns back to the reactor and starts working on it, watching over her shoulder carefully to make sure nobody sneaks up on her.
By the time she's finished the reactor, White has managed to kill Teal and Purple. He sneaks up on them, the two of them working on fixing the electricity. He'd also managed to deplete the oxygen once, watching from afar as Black and Orange rushed to fix it. Unfortunately, they managed to repair it with more than fifteen seconds to spare, and White realized his usual tactics wouldn't work now. He had to think outside of the box. These people weren't the ones he was used to; they'd been given every award under the sun and had never lost, not once.
He realizes he's already done something different; he killed two people. The most that had ever been killed was many, many, seasons ago, and it was one color- Brown. They never replaced him, it didn't feel right. Pink took two months off after, and some even speculated she might stop the show. But she came back stronger than ever. A pang of guilt hits White when he realizes what he's done. He just killed two of the best Crewmates in the world. But hey, that's his job, right? He tells himself that as he scrubs blood off of his white body while inside a vent.
He peeks out of the vent, then slowly sneaks out; footsteps sound from down the hallway. He gets himself busy on swiping an Admin card. Blue peeks into the room, eyeing White carefully. He carefully looks up, putting on his best anxious face, mapping out ways to get out as if he wasn't the Impostor. Blue slowly steps away, and White continues on the card. It gets scanned successfully; another fake Impostor task done. He takes a look around the building to see who's solved their tasks.
Green and Yellow are nearly done, and the others are just two or three tasks away from being finished. He curses under his breath; realizing he's gonna have to risk a fairly public kill. The first thing he does is go to the electricity room, shutting off the lights and setting a passcode to turn them back on. He quickly hops into a vent, crawling to the communications room. He peeks in carefully, and spots Green. His back is turned, working on a communications computer. Stealth isn't an option; the alarm for the lights will go off any second now. He walks up behind him and kicks his legs, then moves to punch him in the head. He's out before he can even get a word out. White dusts off his hands.
He hears a shriek down the hall. "Oh my God, Purple! Teal!" Loud footsteps get closer, and he quickly steps into the hallway, acting like he was doing wiring. Pink runs quickly to him, mumbling and speaking incoherently. White places his hands on her shoulders. "White! T-The Impostor, they got Purple and Teal."
"What?!" He asks. Pink nods worriedly. "Where? Are they still alive?" He asks, voice rising just the right amount to act worried. Yellow, Orange, Red, Blue, Lime, and Black- the remaining Crewmates- are already sitting at the cafeteria table, all waiting worriedly. Pink and White take a seat; Pink squeezes White's hand subconsciously, and it almost bothers White how she does it so trustingly. He just sits tight and squeezes her hand back.
White can feel the dirty look Yellow gives to everyone in the group. He crosses his arms. "Sitting at this table, there is an impostor," he begins slowly. White can hear the hurt in his voice. Purple and Teal definitely didn't make it. He can't help but feel guilty. This is all different, for them and for him. "Did anyone see anything suspicious?"
"Hey, relax, Yellow," Lime cuts in, demeanor scared but words firm. "For all we know, you're the Impostor."
"It could be you, too," Blue says coldly.
"Hey, quit it!" Pink cries out, standing up and slamming her hands on the table. Everyone jumps. Her voice wavers. "We don't know anything. But we do know that Purple and Teal are gone, and that's more than any other Impostor has ever-" She pauses, then suddenly starts counting those sitting at the table. "H-Hey, where's Green?"
Lime almost raises his hand, then freezes. "Oh no."
They all run down the hall, and White follows, his heart heavy and guilt strong.