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Akaashi sat awake, checking the encrypted messages sent to his tablet. He had been aboard the ship for over a few months. He was a spy, an “Imposter” as dubbed by the general public for his organization. They didn’t understand that these things should never have happened in the first place.
See, everyone on this ship, the Skeld, is a human exploring hardly known territory. Territory that was his home, so he joined forces with the Boss to drive these humans away from here.
Speaking of the Boss, another message popped up. Akaashi quickly decoded the message.
I’m sorry Agent, I cannot give details about the other agent. Our communication link has been infiltrated. Look for them, they have the same abilities as you do.
Akaashi, if less refined, would have cussed. But everyone was asleep, and he didn’t want to out himself. Akaashi was a highly trusted and skilled Agent, he could deal with this while keeping himself and the new Agent safe. And the Boss promised that this new Agent showed a great deal of promise.
Akaashi took the steps to get rid of the message, deciding to get to bed. The newest recruits for the ship were supposed to come today, alongside another agent. Laying down, Akaashi contemplated this. He was determined to be the first to succeed in this. No one has been able to bring in a ship before, and he was determined to be the first.
With that last thought, Akaashi fell asleep.
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Tasks on the Skeld were daily. Akaashi was given the luck of not having to deal with the five new recruits. He was in the cafeteria, downloading information to his tablet, a process that took ages. Especially because it downloaded and copied itself so he could send it to his own base. He had seen the group however, Oikawa leading the five through and explaining everything. Even passing with the comment of, “this is Akaashi-San, my contender for the prettiest person on board.”
“We’ve already talked about this Oikawa-San, everyone agreed I was prettier than you by a longshot,” Akaashi replied, not looking up from the tablet. There was a sputtering laugh, a few snickers, and finally a loud, offended gasp from Oikawa. Akaashi looked up with a sly smile, one he knew made people swoon.
There was a beat of silence, Akaashi taking a chance to look over the newest recruits. There was a short, orange-haired boy who looked like he would be loud, a pudding-head around the same height, looking nervous and quiet. There were two sticking to each other, a redhead and a brunette. The redhead looked loopy and silly, but the brunette looked overly serious. Possibly the other agent?
But then his eyes landed on the last boy. Black hair and steely blue eyes, the eyes of lords from his home. Akaashi was held in the same regard, his family ranking as some of the highest, but he recognized these eyes. Could he be…?
“You win this round Akaashi-San!” Oikawa huffed and directed the group on. Akaashi watched the group leave, steely blue eyes locked with his own. The boy nodded his head once and turned back to the orange-haired kid who was excitedly chatting away.
Akaashi kept him in mind.
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Akaashi was alert the moment he heard the alarm blare. There was almost never an emergency, unless it was something wrong with the lights or the reactor, or the oxygen. That, alongside the ability to use the ventilation system aboard the ship, was an ability programmed into his suit and system. But, when he turned around from his tablet, which was still downloading, he spotted a breathless and terrified Oikawa alongside the newest recruits. He caught his eye, and Akaashi put on a worried, but confused expression.
Akaashi knew what was happening, he thought back to how he disemboweled Yaku and left him on the side, only a little hidden away from everything. In the corner of the electrical room of course.
Nonetheless, Akaashi ran to the button, which was centered in the cafeteria. He looked as Atsumu ran from the halls and joined them at the table. He surveyed the panicked and pale expressions of the group and asked loudly, “Hey Oink-Kun, what’s the deal?”
Oikawa just shook and stayed silent for a moment, floundering and failing to speak. Before he finally choked out, “Y-Yaku, his b-b-” Oikawa shook his head hard, squeezed his eyes shut and yelled out, “We found Yaku’s body in Electrical.”
Atsumu paused, taking a moment before saying, “oh shit,” very quietly. He leaned against the table before sitting down. “Did he- was he-”
“It’s horrible, he wasn’t electrocuted. He was murdered.” Everyone’s head shot up to the orange-haired kid, staring as he shook, pale and wide eyed. Atsumu took this into consideration, thinking before asking.
“Do you think tha’ one of those is on board?”
“‘Those’?” The redhead now.
Akaashi spoke this time, “Imposters.” The new recruits shot up to look at him, but he continued, “imposters have been infiltrating ships recently. They try to kill everyone, sometimes even themselves and destroy the ship they’re on.”
Everything was silent for a bit before Oikawa asked, “guys, where’s Konoha?”
Everyone looked around, hoping to see the missing boy. Atsumu looked at Oikawa, “do you think-”
“No!” Oikawa startled a few people by yelling. It gave Oikawa pause as he looked around at them, “maybe? I don’t know, we have to find him first.”
After a short discussion, they decided to go searching together. They checked every nook and cranny on the leftmost side of the ship. They took the bottom hallway to the otherside of the ship.
Once reaching the corner where they calibrated shields, Atsumu noticed a pool of blood peeking out. He drew everyone’s attention to it, shakily approaching and peeking around the corner before jumping back out, feeling instantly sick at the sight.
Konoha was brutalized. There were many cuts and slashes, like he wouldn’t stop fighting.
They joined together at the cafeteria, and sat in tense silence. Oikawa eventually spoke, “whoever the imposter is, he’s dangerous. Do you think it’s best if we,” Oikawa bit his lip and sighed, “maybe it’s best that we try to figure it out.”
“An’ if we do?” Atsumu asked.
Oikawa looked in the distance, towards the general area of the trash chute, where the ashes of Konoha and Yaku waited to be tossed as per protocol. Oikawa looked back at them, “we eject them. Let them suffocate in space.”
There were several gasps, but no one spoke against him. Akaashi nodded, before adding, “no less for a monster like this. Any ideas of who Oikawa-San?”
Oikawa thought to himself then spoke, “Atsu-Chan, where were you when they were killed?”
Atsumu looked up, surprised and hurt, “... Tooru?”
Oikawa looked at him sadly, “you’re the only one not accounted for Atsu-Chan. Aka-Chan was here downloading the information to send to headquarters, and you know it takes hours. And I’ve been with the group the entire time, all of them are accounted for.”
Atsumu’s surprise and hurt grew on his face, “I- I was working on thin’s for the ship!”
“And you were also the one who found the other guy’s body.” Everyone looked surprised at the boy with the steely blue eyes, it seems this is the first time he really spoke up. He also looked uncomfortable at the attention, but powered through it. “We were looking everywhere and you checked a corner we weren’t looking at, and find him by chance?”
Atsumu gaped, “Are you-” Atsumu looked at Akaashi, “Keiji, please. You don’t believe this, do you?”
Akaashi looked at him sadly, “I’m sorry, but it’s true. You’re the only person who was down here other than Yaku-San and Konoha-San.”
Atsumu looked defeated, “so that’s it then? I’m gonna die because no one believes me?” No one would meet his eyes, and he let out a wet, bitter laugh. Oikawa looked up to see his friend crying, and Atsumu looked back at him.
“Alright, Tooru, Keiji, newbies, I wish you luck then. You’ll need it.”
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Ejecting Atsumu was a quick, but tense deed. He had given one last wave, promising to haunt them as a last joke. He then took a space walk and floated, before taking off his helmet and suffocating.
Oikawa shut himself away for the rest of the day, putting the most blame on himself. The next day, it was discretely directed at Kageyama - Akaashi learned their names as he taught them the specifics of the ship. OIkawa was harsh with the boy that sealed Atsumu’s fate.
Which was severely affecting work.
Eventually, afraid they were wrong, they paired off in two pairs and a group of three. Tendou and Ushijima had a fair grasp of the system, so they went off together. Hinata was struggling so he paired with Oikawa, who wanted to distance himself from Kageyama.
Akaashi was stuck with Kenma and Kageyama, who both understood things fairly well, but Akaashi wasn’t allowed to go off on his own. So he watched Kageyama and Kenma work at the wires. Kenma seemed especially tense, probably because the feeling of blood was still there from yesterday that never went away, no matter how much bleach you use.
Akaashi shifted his focus to Kageyama, who was doing well on his own and appeared a bit bothered by everything. Akaashi was almost sure this was the other agent, and he wanted to test it.
Akaashi pulled out his boxcutter, and went behind Kenma and covered his mouth with one hand. With the other, he stabbed the box cutter into his chest, dragging it down and made a vertical cut. For extra measure, he stabbed into the slightly exposed heart.
He then stepped back and clicked a button on his suit, and it self cleaned. Akaashi looked up at Kageyama who looked at Akaashi and then down at his tablet. For a moment, Akaashi was worried, until the vent opened next to them. They climbed in and crawled to the med bay, cutting the lights before popping into the empty room. Akaashi looked to his companion, who also had a natural sense of nocturnal vision.
Kageyama took off his glove and revealed a bandaged wrist. “I had sprained it lightly when I killed Konoha-San. I had fallen and landed on it oddly. This will serve as an alibi, no?”
Akaashi nodded, turning on their personal flashlights to keep up appearances. They made their way to the cafeteria, looking around for anybody before they heard a scream. They looked at each other and ran to the end of the hall, bumping into Tendou and Ushijima, who followed them when they heard Oikawa call out, “Electrical!”
Akaashi, Tendou, and Ushijima pushed ahead. It appeared that Hinata discovered Kenma’s body, sobbing over it. Oikawa looked at those who entered first, placing blame on Kageyama when he hadn’t noticed the boy in the back.
“My hunch was right! That little fucker is responsible! He even made us-”
“K-Kenma?”
The trio at the door split to reveal a shell-shocked Kageyama, who was blinking away tears. He slowly moved forward, as to attempt getting to Kenma. Akaashi realized the act, and decided to heighten it, pushing his chest to hold him in place, attempting to block the sight with his body.
“Kageyama-Kun, I wouldn’t-”
“But it’s Kenma! He promised-” a sob escaped his mouth, and he stopped struggling against Akaashi to look at him. His face was streaked with tears, red and a bit snotty, “he promised he would be okay.”
Akaashi hugged him, holding him close and letting Kageyama sob into his shoulder. Oikawa looked surprised, absolutely shocked. “What,” Oikawa blinked, and floundered a bit, “what is he talking about?”
Akaashi made himself look regretful and guilty. “I should have insisted more. Kageyama tripped and caught himself harshly on his wrist when he fell. We decided to wrap it, but Kenma said he could do this himself.”
Kageyama let out a sob, Hinata had slowly made his way to the boy, hugging him close. Akaashi had his hand on Kageyama’s back and looked at everyone. “I’m so very sorry, he was sure that things were okay. He wanted to be done so he could laze around earlier and for longer.”
Akaashi sold it by looking down and letting a tear fall. He still silently muttered, “I’m sorry, so very sorry.”
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Oikawa was ejected that night. Hinata had noted a time when Oikawa went off for about ten minutes or so while he worked at wiring near the office. Tendou and Ushijima were in the weapons area, clearing a few asteroids in their paths.
Akaashi stayed with Hinata and Kageyama, holding the two close most of the night. His right side was given a break when the boy got up, planning to kill one of the others. Shuffling back in relaying quietly that the other may have woken up if he tried to get close.
Akaashi nodded and held him close, letting him fall asleep on him.
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They woke to screams, bleary as Tendou rushed in, explaining that Ushijima was killed during the night. Tendou was crying but couldn’t make his case. They were all cuddled together on one bed. And the three were cuddled all night, so Hinata had figured that none of them could have gotten up without waking up another. Tendou was ejected.
Hinata had looked happy, chatting away that they for sure got the Imposter this time, sadly recounting that if only they had found out earlier. Upon turning to face them, Hinata was met with Akaashi and Kageyama looking down on him with weapons raised.
Hinata hadn’t had the chance to cry.
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The ship docked at a post completely unfamiliar to the ship, but not the inhabitants. Akaashi and Kageyama stepped out, greeted by a joyous Boss. He was overly proud as his partner and newly adopted son just brought home the first ever successful gathering mission.
Akaashi smiled at him, being hugged close and lifted into the air and twirled. A small laugh escaped, softly saying, “Koutarou, this isn’t professional.”
“I don’t care Keiji, I was so worried that my new family was out there on a mission no one has successfully completed before.”
Keiji, upon being set down, looked at Tobio, who stood seriously. The two beckoned him over, hugging him close. Koutarou smiled at the two, looking at the camera now trained on him, showing his image off to his entire planet.
“My people, my loyal fighters and those who have fought in the past. The families who worry, who have lost brave soldiers, I present to you, our key. We have suffered in the past, but trust that this is our ticket to winning the war!”
Cheers erupted all over the planet. The humans had taken enough from them, but no more.
Koutarou looked at his new family, remembering Kageyama approaching him with the devastating news of his family’s passing. And to Akaashi’s loyalty and unending love for him.
Koutarou was going to win for them.
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