[Synopsis: Takes place right after AUL 19...What exactly happened after the events of the episode, right when the screen cut to black after Player just stood there fuming? Well, it wasn't pretty...At all. Probably why GameToons cut right to the movie after just four episodes. (Part 1 of a three-shot.)]

[Location: The lobby dropship]

This one is gonna be more angsty than the others I've done so far, but there's still some fluff toward the end. Mild TW: Nothing profane, but Player says some pretty awful things. Not just to Captain, but to the rest of the crew as well. So if you're not keen on reading about Player verbally berating a bunch of people, you've been warned.

EDIT, 12/9/2022: okay, so to clarify, this piece is SUPER old. like, before dr. egg published his first rendition of The Retro Years old, and very coicidental considering what two said stories have in common. and it was never published beforehand because i didn't think i would ever actually do parts two and three, so it's just been sitting here collecting dust for the longest time. XD

i'm gonna try to change that, though, starting now. get ready for a couple throwbacks, everyone...

Oh, and *ahem* "SrQueso" is in this, so TW for our renowned BDay cult leader AverageCat.

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"Bestie...You okay?"

"Player...? Why isn't he talking?"

"I dunno, babe. Player! Wake up, buddy!"

He didn't even hear them. All he heard were his own thoughts.

Captain had earned his sister a win in her first match...After he'd foiled Player's chances at winning a SINGLE ROUND time and time again, crewmate or impostor, he gets his SISTER a win in her FIRST MATCH?

It felt like a slap on the face...And the icing on the cake that'd been flung into his face was that the apparent romance blossoming between them.

...No.

The thought of the two of them together by itself was unbearable. The fact that it was paired with the fact he earned her that win that made it all the more inconceivable.

But as unimaginable as it was, it'd happened. It was happening right in front of him.

His vision had practically gone as red as the rest of him. His felt the blood rushing to his face, his fists clenching so hard his knuckles cracked.

...That was when Captain took notice to his hands, and finally decided to read the look on his face.

"Um...Player?"

The crewmate in question turned to look at his sister.

"...Jessica. Would you be so kind as to leave game for just a few minutes?"

She gulped. He not only called her by her full first name instead of 'Jessie' or 'Jess' like he normally did, but he'd also used a very formal tone...He only ever spoke like that to her when he was angry.

...EXTREMELY angry.

"Uh...S-sure thing. I have the code, so..."

"What's wrong, Dum?"

She didn't answer her newfound sweetheart. Instead she just gave Captain a sympathetic look before disappearing.

Dum left the game.

Once she was gone, Player slowly turned his head to look at Captain again...If looks could kill, EVERYONE in the lobby would have been dead.

"...You," he hissed through clenched teeth. "I've had to deal with you ever since I GOT here. And the one time you decide to grow half a braincell, you decide to use it to slap me across the face AGAIN?"

"Is...that a problem?" Captain asked him, not sure exactly why he seemed so upset. "A-aren't you happy I got your sister a win in her first-"

"After SO MANY ROUNDS HAVING TO PUT UP WITH YOU. The screw-ups. The accusations. The ZOMBIES. GETTING EATEN ALIVE BY YOUR FRICKING ZOMBIES ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE."

"Player, I...I'm sorry about that, I was-"

"SORRY DOESN'T CUT IT! I've been sick and tired of your crap from day one, and this was the last straw!"

"B-but...You're my best friend, I wouldn't every try to hurt-"

"You're my best friend..." Player echoed, his voice oozing with angry sarcasm. "You're the WORST EXCUSE for a friend I've EVER had the displeasure of having to know!"

"Wh...what?"

"And you call yourself some kind of leader on top of all of that, too," he continued, stepping closer and closer to Captain as he spoke, with the latter backing away the closer he got. "You STUPID. WEAK. PATHETIC PIECE OF HUMAN GARBAGE. Anyone an OUNCE SMARTER than you are would look at you and what you make yourself out to be, and they would THROW UP. You make me sick just looking at you right now."

Captain was shaking at this point...He didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to think.

"We were NEVER friends...I don't ever want to see your stupid face again."

"Mr. Player?" TheGentleman interrupted, a bit shaken by the whole ordeal himself. "D-don't you think you're being a bit hard on-"

"And the same goes for the rest of you!" he snapped at the crowd around him. "I have an affliction, huh TheGentleman? Do you HONESTLY think it's ALWAYS MY FAULT that the side I'm on never wins!? You want an AFFLICTION? Look at the orange parasite you're stuck with!"

The black crewmate gasped and looked at MrCheese.

"And YOU, Bro. You talk like you're hot stuff, but you haven't got much more than Captain in terms of intelligence!"

"Hey, back off, man! You're actin' like a-"

"Like a WHAT? A jerk? How 'bout you? 'Why don't you just leave game and cry about it?' or 'Yeah, we should vote you off instead,' Mr. No-Evidence. You're impulsive and conceited, and on top of that, you're about as useful to the crew as a bottomless mug!"

Stoner was the next one to speak up, a glimmer of concern in his usually dull gaze.

"Duuude. Like...Take a chill pill. You're kinda goin' off the deep-"

"You're telling ME to take a chill pill, Stoner? How about YOU get OFF of the chill pills, or whatever the heck you're on, and start functioning like a half-normal person!? You're worse than Bro! At least he's aware of what's going on around him half the time!"

For the first time since any of the rest of the crew had met him, Stoner seemed taken aback.

"Dude...Ouch..."

Finally, Player approached MrCheese. The orange crewmate cowered behind his associate as he drew closer.

"MrCheese..." he addressed. His voice had gone from a roar to a low growl, but its new lack of noise made it all the more terrifying. "You are, by far, the worst person I've ever met. It's no wonder TheGentleman ditched you for MrEgg; he's made his fair share of screw-ups, but at least he's one of the few remotely SANE people in this lobby."

"Mr. Player!" TheGentleman gasped. "I am shocked and appalled! That statement was completely uncalled for!"

"You know as much as I do that it's the truth. And for the record, you look TERRIBLE in those top hats, you ugly old grouch."

The black crewmate's eyes widened, and he slowly rose a hand to his cracked heart.

"M...Mr. Player..."

Veteran boldly stepped forward from the crowd.

"Dude. Don't you think you're going a little too far with-"

"Stay out of this, Veteran," he warned. "If I end up getting mad at you, I'll probably say something I'll regret."

Oh, God...

Slowly, the yellow crewmate shrank back to where he was before.

"I've had it. I'm DONE with you all," Player finally finished, trying to ignore the sensation of a tear pricking at the corner of his eye. "And I'm DONE with Among Us as a whole. You all RUINED what was supposed to be a nice experience for me. Especially YOU, Captain. So thanks. Thanks for all that."

"Wait. Player. Y-you're not serious, are you-?"

"DEAD SERIOUS, Veteran," he snapped. "I'll find something else to do with my life. Something better than THIS."

He pulled up the menu, then looked back at the crowd of...people in front of him. He dared not consider them "friends," except for Veteran.

"I hope you're all happy...Good riddance."

Player left the game.

...Nobody said much of anything right after he disappeared. Bro and Stoner continued to stare in shock at where he once stood, then slowly turned to look at each other, then back at the spot. MrCheese started to sniffle, and TheGentleman caressed the top of his head, softly promising him that what Player said wasn't true. MrEgg, who'd arrived in the middle of Player's rant and didn't know all of the details, looked slightly guilty as he subtly changed his color back to pink from the purple it'd reverted to when he arrived, and he broke off from the crowd with Veteran, the two of them silently agreeing to stick with one another for the time being.

"Good gracious..." the former rasped. "I...I never knew Player was capable of such an outburst. What exactly happened here?"

"Well, his sister is visiting and wanted to play a round with us, and Captain not only got her to win her first game, but they hit it off and became a couple right off the bat...And considering that Captain usually has a hand in ruining Player's chances of winning, he got pretty darn pissed off."

"Oh. Well, that last part was obvious...I'm glad you and I got off easy."

"Normally, I don't sympathize with him," Veteran replied. "...But I honestly wish I could say the same for Captain."

The server host stood in the middle of the room, eyes still wide with horror...Out of everyone who'd gotten a taste of Player's wrath, Captain had received it first, and he'd received the most by far.

The sound of someone joining the game went off; Dum was back, now sporting a violet garb, as her original pink had been claimed by MrEgg again...It only took one look at the disturbed crowd for her to figure out that things hadn't gone well during her absence.

Her first concern was Captain, and she addressed the white crewmate standing in the middle of the room.

"...Captain? Are...a-are you-"

"Dum," he answered flatly, refusing to look her in the eye.

"...Yeah?"

"I..." he stammered, his visor beginning to glisten. "...I-I don't think this is going to work out b-between the two of us."

"Whah, but...Why? What happened?"

"It's not your fault," he uttered quickly, voice growing higher. "It's mine... It's my fault...It's all my fault...It's..."

A loud, sniveling sob escaped him, and he immediately threw his visor into his hands and started crying. Dum rushed to his side in a split second...Whatever her brother had said to him, it had to have been really bad. She didn't even want to imagine it.

"Captain...I-it's okay," she assured him, but not to much avail. "Player probably didn't mean what he said, h-he just gets angry sometimes."

"I-it d-doesn't m-m-matter w-whether h-he meant them..." he sobbed, raising his head from his hands for a moment to face her. "H-he's r-right. I-I am s-stupid a-and weak, a-and a h-horrible exc-cuse f-for a leader...! Y-you deserve b-better...You deserve s-so m-much better than me..."

He covered his face again and continued to weep...Dum was tearing up herself now. She couldn't bear to hear Captain talk about himself like that after everything they'd just been through together.

She wrapped him into an embrace and held him tight, letting her own tears flow freely.

"What have I done?" Captain asked himself aloud through his cries. "What have I done...?"

MrEgg and Veteran watched the scene from where they stood.

"...You know, Veteran. While it wasn't exactly put in a pleasant manner, Player...did make a lot of fair points. He didn't exactly have it easy, having to put up with Captain's 'best friend' shenanigans for so long, paired with his...general incompetence. Coupled with the fact that he can never seem to win."

"Yeah, I agree with you on that one," the yellow crewmate solemnly agreed. "But he shouldn't have gone about it like that, that much I know."

"...Do you think he's alright about now?"

"I...I don't know, MrEgg. I should probably go talk to him about all of this...If I can't convince him to stay, then I should at least bring him back for long enough so that both sides can give each another an apology. But I should probably give him some time to cool down before I bring anything like that up."

"How much time?"

"I can't say for sure...Maybe an hour, maybe a handful of days. But either way, I think it'd be best if I checked up on him now to make sure he's okay."

"Is there anything I can do, Veteran?"

"Well...I think that's something you should ask Player, not me."

"I see...Noted."

"...Guess I'll head out, then. I'll see you 'round, MrEgg."

"Good luck to you, Veteran."

Veteran left the game.

"I...I think I'm done here for the day, too," MrCheese announced, his voice barely more than a whimper. "C-can we go home now, TheGentleman? I just...need to wind down a little."

"Yes, I had the same thought in mind...I wish we could have ended today on a better note, but it was nice playing with you all today, everyone. And it was nice to meet you, Ms. Dum."

Gentleman left the game.

MrCheese left the game.

"Yeah...Let's beat it, Stoner. I don't think anyone's in the mood."

"M-hm..."

"What? Somethin' on your mind?"

"I dunno, Bro, I just...guess Player kinda got me thinkin' 'bout stuff...y'know?"

"Well, just don't think about doin' anything stupid, if you know what I mean, you hear me?"

"I'm not...I gotcha."

Bro left the game.

Stoner left the game.

"Well...I guess I have no reason to be here myself," MrEgg decided aloud. "Dum, Captain...If you can hear me from over there, do yourselves a favor and stick together, alright?"

MrEgg left the game.

At that point, Dum had gotten Captain to calm himself down a bit, and she gently lifted his face up by the bottom of his visor to look him in the eye.

"Captain...I don't WANT better than you. Whatever Player said, he was wrong...He should've known better than to say things like that."

"You...Y-you don't know the h-half of it, Dum," he told her, trying to wipe his face dry. "P-Player has every right to c-call me things like that...I did so m-many things that ended up hurting him, Dum. And n-not just by accident, I...Oh, Dum, I'm s-so ash-shamed of myself..."

He tried to hide his face again, but his sweetheart gently kept his head in place in order to maintain eye contact with him, and she gently tapped her visor against his.

"I'll talk to him tomorrow," she promised. "If anyone can prove to him that you're as great as you are, than it's me, okay?"

"If...if you w-want to try," Captain nodded, taking her by the hand and holding onto it like a lifeline. "B-but...MrEgg said before he left that the two of us should...s-stick together. Can you stay, please? A-at least until the server closes due to us n-not playing?"

She gave his hand a squeeze back.

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

"...Thank you, Dum," he sniffled. "Thank you..."

They stood in the middle of the dropship with no company but themselves...Dum gently rocked him back and forth, occasionally reaching up to stroke Captain's tear-stained cheek with her thumb.

"Captain...?"

"Yeah?"

"You know how special you are to me, right?"

"W-we've barely known each other for over half an hour..."

"That's all the time I needed."

The white crewmate looked back up at her and cordially removed his hat, a grateful glimmer in his visor.

"...I don't know how you could manage to make me feel so special in such a short amount of time, but...You did, Dum," he said to her, his voice still a bit shaky. "...I love you."

She pulled him back into another hug and gently took his hat from him, placing it back on his head where it belonged.

"Love you too, Captain..."

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The server closed due to inactivity.
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To help lighten the mood just a tad, Player's rage moment is loosely based off of the scene from the Simpsons episode "Hurricane Neddy," where Flanders, the last person anyone would expect to lose his temper, pretty much publicly roasts the entire town. It's hilarious, but considering the circumstances, most of the stuff he says is pretty true, lol.