sebastian maximiliano rojas ends his last video log as the door to his bunk whooshes open for the final time to find him inside. he stands, bound hands clasped as if in prayer, and offers an awkward smile in greeting to his captain and the quartermaster behind her.
blue’s gaze is cold, detached, and he knows the crew’s decision without her needing to speak a word. a knife, his knife he realises, is dropped to the floor between their feet and he eyes it, curious. ❝ where did you find… ❞ max trails off, recognising the red on the blade for what it is. dark gaze flicks up to meet jay’s before returning to his knife. ❝ whose blood is that? ❞ there’s an edge of panic to his tone that he fights to swallow down. ❝ jay, whose blood is that? ❞
❝ stop, red. it’s over. ❞ the use of his nickname does not go unnoticed.
tabs pushes into the room she had shared with max and rob, sneering as she clips the industrial zip ties that had bound him. they are doing him a kindness, allowing him to don his red spacesuit — it is more than what he had given the imposter posing as rob. once he is secure in his suit, a new zip tie is procured, lashing his wrists together once more. the quartermaster exits, then, with a nod shared with her captain.
max stares at his old military dog tags hung on the wall his bed is built into. a set of rosary beads sit heavy in his pocket, taken from beneath his mira-issued pillow and hidden away before his argument with kane. they lend a comfort to him, ebbing and flowing with his emotions, a final gift from his mother ( he’ll be with her soon ). shoulders slump with a resignation before he tilts his head and straightens, facing jay again.
she steps aside and he nods, following into the corridor without protest so she can lead him from behind. as they pass admin, he falters and stops short, heart thumping in his throat as he turns his head to her. ❝ jay, ❞ he starts, and it is so soft, holding all the emotion he hadn’t allowed himself in the past.
❝ don’t, ❞ she stops him. her own voice breaking or, perhaps, already broken. she refuses to meet his eye. ❝ max called me that. so don’t you dare. i trusted him, trusted you, but now i am stuck. i am stuck in a place where i can’t even be sure how long you’ve been him. so maybe i’ve never actually trusted the right one. maybe i’ve never actually… ❞ she trails off but the silence hangs heavily between them.
he turns to the side, desperate for her to look him in his face. he needs her to see him, needs her to know – know what, rojas? ❝ i’m sorry, ❞ he whispers at the same time as he watches her steel herself to continue quietly with, ❝ – maybe i’d never actually loved the real max either. ❞ anything else he might’ve thought to say dies on his tongue, then, and he draws a shaky breath. he wants to say her name again, wants to throw himself at her feet in this corridor while it’s still just them. wants to beg and to plead and to cry out…
but he can’t.
he made this bed in which he now needs to lie and he swallows thickly around the heart stuck in his throat. it takes everything he has to keep his posture from folding, putting one foot in front of the other as he spirals in silence.
the doors to the storage bay swish open and tabitha is there, directly in his line of sight beside the airlock, holding his red helmet. jasper and monique stand to the side, moni squeezing jaz’s hand before moving to stand with ghosts. max is unsurprised to see kane is not in attendance, but something festers in his gut when he notices elias is missing as well.
he turns to jay again, brow furrowing with a question he doesn’t get the chance to ask. ❝ first mate rojas, ❞ she says, ❝ red, ❞ an amendment. ❝ for spacing robert myers, claiming he was an imposter with no known proof but your word against his after a violent argument over the dead body of hero robinson – as witnessed by tabitha marsk and ghosts frazier – the crew of the skeld have put forth a vote. ❞ she draws a steadying breath finally meeting his eye, ❝ for the safety of the crew, you are hereby sentenced to the same fate. ❞
he knew it was coming — how could it not? but it is still a knife to his heart. max starts to move toward jay but is intercepted, scuffling with tabs and his helmet, ❝ get off marsk. i can bloody well do it myself. ❞ he rips his arm from her and there is a struggle that ends with her elbow in his gut, leaving him almost breathless and he grunts in pain, doubling over as he staggers back.
he straightens, resolute, as jay draws another breath to reprimand them, wanting this to be done with but, before she gets the chance, max closes the distance between them. his lips press to hers wanting her to know everything he had never said, eyes squeezing shut to keep the world out — her hand comes to his chest as she kisses him back for half a second before her head catches up to her heart. she goes still. stiff. the crew protest around them but it’s max that pulls away, unaided, ❝ jay, ❞ he says and her name is as soft on his lips as hers had been for the breath of a moment. he remembers his mother’s rosary in his pocket, a prayer.
she walks him back to the airlock where tabs is waiting to take hold of him again. max tries to rip away from her a second time but is unsuccessful and tabs forces his arms out in front of him. ❝ — please, jay, ❞ panic is rising in him. this is his last chance to plead his case and he is fumbling for words, ❝ you know me. ❞ jaz holds the clippers out as tabs tosses the red helmet into the airlock, manoeuvring max the same way. jay has turned her back, stepping over to the controls, ready to close the doors as soon as tabitha and jasper are clear. ❝ don’t do this! ❞ his voice breaks, emotion sweeping over him in a crushing wave. jaz snaps the zip ties and tabs gives a hearty shove. max stumbles, crashing to his knees on the other side of the airlock chamber, the door clangs shut before he is able to recover.
from the safety of the storage area, the crew watch as their first mate struggles to click his helmet into place ; hands shaking, though whether it is anger or fear that truly courses through him, they dare not hazard a guess. a red fist pounds on the door but they cannot hear anything more than muffled banging. ghosts turns their head and moni and jasper squeeze hands again, the three filing out before blue presses the release.
she is looking at him now. again. and, for the last time, his gaze meets hers head-on. bluejay. his lips form the nickname. her eyes lower, locating the correct switch and returning to him in the space of a breath.
his eyes are closed ; a scream no one else can hear is torn from him as the vacuum of space rips him from the skeld.
red’s fear is lost in the wake of sabotaged comms.
back in navigation, jasper and moni take up their seats, steering the ship away. ghosts goes to find kane who had taken it upon themself to clean up elias’ blood, spilt from behind — murder by a coward.
only captain atlas remains in the storage bay, staring at the red dot that shrinks into black nothingness until she can see nothing but the stars he had loved so much.
