Jaune was sitting alone in Navigation, tapping their foot nervously against the pilot's seat. If Lavender were to walk in, they would just say they were charting a course across the next set of planets, but they weren't. They weren't focused on the map in front of them at all. They were trying to understand Raven's death. Sure, it could have been Rouge. They could have been safe, and that's what they told Lav when she asked. But the sense of inevitability, the loose ends to the murder hung over them and they couldn't let it go. They were mad at themselves for trusting Lavender so quickly, though Rouge's constant accusations were suspicious. Did I actually like Rouge? Am I trying to prove them innocent so I don't have to remember them as a murderer? Jaune stood up, sighing. They decided to leave Navigation. The swirling abyss in front of them speckled with a belt of paint fleck stars was making them dizzy. The moment they stepped outside the room, they remembered something. The vent on the floor outside O2 suddenly caught their eye, and they strode over to it. Leaning over, they tried to glance through the grates, but only saw the shiny interior of the air system. What was it that Rouge said?

"I dropped a pen in it once and spent hours trying to get it out. I never did."

So Rouge lied about the pen as a method to accuse Valentine. That's low. They thought. They just decided to move on. It wasn't dangerous anymore to be walking around the ship, but their heart still pounded a bit whenever they turned a corner or heard footsteps. They looped through storage and decided to sit down in admin. It was warmer there, and they wanted a break. They always felt awful when they weren't working as hard as they could, but the exhaustion, for once, was overriding it. Promising themself that they would work on the case later, they pulled a chair over to the table and just traced circles on the metal with their finger. Eventually, the humming of the reactor became too distracting and they stood up again, pacing the floor. Their foot caught on the edge of the vent in the corner of the room. The one that Rouge had pretended was a part of the murder. They knelt over to it, and the shiny finish of something shone between the slats. It was a pen. They bit their lip, the dozens of things it could mean overridden by the shock of seeing it there. They opened the drawer and grabbed a spare screw, wrestling with the spaces in the vent and trying to get the pen out. Well, this is going to look bad if someone walks in. They finally managed to yank it open, wondering how the killer ever got it open without someone hearing the awful racket they were making. They finally managed to drag it out of the vent and held it up to the light. It was already insane that they had found it, but they needed a way to be sure it was Rouge's. The one he dropped in the vent near oxygen. Yanking off the end, they slid the ink cartridge out into their hand, closing their fist around it. It was almost empty. Rouge was the only one in the crew who frequently handwrote things, making all his notes with paper and pens. It made it hell to copy and download, but nobody ever was able to convince him otherwise. Jaune's mind suddenly flooded with realizations.

This is Rouge's pen. He said he dropped it in the vent near o2 as a way to point out it was there, but now it's appeared in admin, which is connected to the o2 vent. It could never hand bounced that far, even with the rocking of the ship, and he said he even tried to get it out. Not only would he have gotten it out much earlier if he knew how to open the vents but why would he bring it up at all? If he never went through the vents, he would have not carried on with Lavender's conversation even after saying it was stupid, and if he was the one crawling through the vent in the first place, it's suicide to bring up the one outside o2, the one he supposedly used.

Jaune finally managed to silence all but one thought. Rouge was not the impostor.

"Lavender, what would you do for me?" Jaune was fiddling with their gloves as they sat against the door of comms. Lavender had come to visit them like she usually did, but didn't want to leave quite yet. She wrapped her arms around her knees as she sank down next to them.

"I would die for you," she replied, tilting her head at his question.

Jaune just sighed. "This is going to sound like I'm a horrible person. Maybe I am, but... I would just... stay away if I were you. Because I don't want to be pessimistic, but I doubt we're both going to make it out of here. I know, it's- bad, but if we stay like this... it's only going to hurt you. And I don't want that, I- sorry. What I really want is for both of us to get home safely. But what I also want is the rest of the crew to just..." they almost laughed. "... come back to life. I want to see Sky, Silvius, Raven, and even Rouge again. Especially Rouge. Look, I owe a lot of people apologies, and I don't want to have to add you to that list. I'm sorry,"

Lav had been staring down at her hands, letting Jaune talk. "Jaune,"

"Yes?" They replied softly.

"I know you care. I know you want me to be safe, but if that needs me to not love you more than anyone else in the world, then..." she looked up at them, a single tear tracing her chin. "I can't help you,"

She smiled at them through her tears, but Jaune stared down at the floor, their expression soft as they nodded at the ground. Lavender bit back a sob, throwing her arms around Jaune's neck and kissing their cheek, pressing her eyes shut as she melted into Jaune's arms.

Hey Rouge,

I don't know why I'm writing this. I should probably be fixing the ship or trying to catch the killer, but I guess I'm doing this instead. If I'm honest, I don't think you're out there. There's basically no way you got anywhere with that little oxygen and you'd need a miracle to be able to get onto another planet without plummeting to your death. This letter is the definition of a statistical waste of time. But some stupid part of me thinks there's hope. The sliver of a chance that you get this is enough for me, so... I'm sorry. For everything. For not ever giving you a chance, not listening to Silvius when they said you were a good person, and of course for launching you into space without doing more research. Nobody has died since you left, which is nice. I'm beginning to look over more options, like maybe that it was Raven and his death was in an accident, and suicides could have been involved. It's complicated, I'm trying so hard to believe you're okay and have a better chance of surviving than I do right now. Speaking of which, if the killer is still on the ship, I have a feeling I'll be next. If you do find this I bet you're screaming at the paper who it was. For the record, I can't hear you. I have to go do a task in electrical soon, but yeah. You can say 'I told you so' now.

I miss you,

Jaune

Jaune folded the note and walked over to the trash chute. They slid it into the gap in the wall and reached for the lever. Their hand hovered over it, but they sighed, wondering what the point was. There's a slight possibility that Rouge is okay, right? They heard the rumble of the chute ejecting and now they could only wait. Looking outside the ship at the passing stars and distant planets always had helped calm them. Now, it just made them anxious. The thought of seeing Rouge's body floating around in the abyss made them restless. But they didn't have time to panic. There were tasks to do. Jaune walked to electrical, head lowered. They knelt over the panel, leaning away from the fumes from the soldering gun. Jaune suddenly heard someone step into the doorway behind them and dread washed over them, the way waves crawl up onto wet sand. They bit their lip and instinctively furrowed their eyebrows.

"W-who is it?" they said, not bothering to turn around, still working on the task.

"Clover," he said, confusion haunting his voice. "Why didn't you just turn around?"

They slumped their shoulders, putting down the soldering gun. "I didn't want to know who it was," Jaune started. "I... get along with everyone. Lavender taught me how to love, Valentine is like my kid, and you... I always felt. I don't know. Safe around you,"

Clover didn't move.

"It's just... knowing out of those three who would hurt me is more painful than death," they continued, turning back on the soldering gun to finish the tasks, trying to stop the stinging that crept behind their eyes. They had cried enough today. They heard Clover put the knife back in his pocket, looking over at them. He saw their long shadow shift, sweeping across the light from the doorway. "I- have some tasks to do in Reactor. I'll be back in thirty to forty minutes," he said solemnly, his footsteps clacking against the metal threshold. Jaune let out a sigh.

At least it's not Clover.

That was the last thing they thought before feeling a stabbing pain in their back, something warm seeping down the back of their suit. More indecipherable sounds whirled through their thoughts. Lavender- and she was screaming. She was here? When did she walk in? Jaune felt their teeth slide off their lip and their own yell of pain join Lavender's as they whirled around. They forced their eyes open, sucking in all the air they could as they struggled to keep the figure in focus. A dark suit with the visor up, spattered with blood that glimmered in the little light. And behind the visor- the coldest, most empty pair of eyes he had ever seen. They were glazed over and hollow, like the insides were an untouched slow globe in which all the life had settled down to the bottom. They were so... dead.

It was Clover then.

Another stab of pain jolted them back to reality, and they shifted their attention to the doorway. Lavender was standing, frozen, in the hall, an arm wrapped right around Valentine's shoulder. "L-Lav, run!" Jaune commanded sharply. Lavender was crying, holding onto Valentine's hand. They could tell she wanted to run over.
"Lavender, pl-please run!" They said, their vision swimming. Lavender still was frozen in shock, her eyes widening in denial, eyes darting to Clover with a heartbroken expression.

"G-GO!" They shouted, collapsing onto the ground, feeling lightheaded. They watched as Clover's figure towered over them. Slowly, he reached up to his visor and brushed a drop of blood onto the finger of his glove. Staring at it for a moment, Jaune could see his eyes drifting in and out of focus.

"I-I'm sor-" He didn't finish. Even if he did, Jaune didn't hear. Their eyes rolled up in their head, their whole body going limp.

As Val and Lav vanished out of sight, the electrical room fell silent. For nothing in it was alive.

Jaune folded the note and walked over to the trash chute. They slid it into the gap in the wall and reached for the lever. Their hand hovered over it for a moment. What was the point? They tried to remind themselves of that fraction of possibility that Rouge was okay, and that there was hope. Though they didn't believe it. They stood, staring at the ground, as they heard the rumble of the chute ejecting the contents. Now they could only wait.

"Jaune," A voice from behind them said sternly. "We need you in electrical. One of the panels is unstable." Clover was standing with his hands behind his back, eyeing the trash chute. "Are you doing anything important?"