#veyzex

Voyage Into 空白(Kuhaku (Space))

VIK  

PROLOGUE

Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Viktor Nikiforov. Born into a prosperous family, he had an incredible obsession with space. This is the story of him and the former crown prince JJ.  

During his ninth birthday party, Viktor was allowed to look through the telescope of a renowned scientist. Ever since, he was fascinated with space and everything about it. “I want to explore space!” he exclaimed happily to his parents. For some reason they didn’t happy about that. Viktor was confused, for they never let him near a telescope again. They wanted him to be a lawyer like them to continue the family legacy.

Viktor’s parents died on a Thursday when he was eleven. They were murdered in their sleep, broken bodies found at the break of dawn. Someone had robbed quite a bit of their riches too. The only reason why Viktor wasn’t harmed was because he was at a friend’s house. He was sent to an orphanage as he had no other close relatives. He mourned, but he felt like he should have cried more. He was never really that close to them anyways, nor did he ever feel that they truly loved him.

To Viktor, the orphanage was strange at first. When he first moved in, there were whispers, for he had come from a rich and wealthy family. Being a relatively social person though, he made friends quickly and easily. Since they had to stick together through tough times, the kids in the orphanage were like his second family.

The first time Viktor met JJ was when the royal family decided to visit a few orphanages, as the orphanages in the area were less than stellar. He noticed how the young prince seemed restless, energetic, and slightly arrogant (he could relate), even going as far as to tease young Yuri about his small stature and obsession with cats. This resulted in the toddler beating JJ with a shoe. They talked, and while Viktor found JJ slightly irritating, he was ok with this because JJ was enraptured with space, much like Viktor.

They met again in a bustling market 4 years later. Viktor was surprised JJ still remembered him. They exchanged contact information and parted ways again. The prince wasn’t supposed to wander the streets.  

Viktor and JJ kept in touch, both growing weary of the fast paced everyday life, both wanting to escape. Eventually, they decided to meet in person to talk about their plans.

They decided that they would meet at night, steal a government-issue space cruiser with the help of local acquaintance and tech expert Seung Gil (he owed JJ a favor), and silently fly away.  

Viktor didn’t pack much. Just a bit of food, water, a few pairs of extra clothes, all his money, and a towel. He took Yuri’s knife shoes (the boy had allowed him to take them, albeit reluctantly) and put on a black sweater. Outside of the atmosphere, the temperature would drop very fast. Even if the space cruiser would be able to keep it comfortable, it was better to be safe than sorry. Plus, it would help to blend in with the environment. Taking one last look at his roommates and a deep breath, Viktor quietly picked open the window and snuck out. He would miss them. The crisp, cool air brushed his face, and he took to the alley shadows, where JJ would be lurking in the dark, waiting for him.

Chapter One

Viktor and JJ snuck quietly down the hallways of a top secret government building. Seung Gil had hacked all the doors and security systems so they could get through without sounding an alarm or notifying anyone of their presence. The only threat was if they happened to be caught by a wandering android or living guard. The atmosphere was rather ominous in the building. Viktor shivered, feeling uneasy.  

“Seung Gil, where do we go from here?” Viktor hissed into his earpiece.

“Turn left, there’s a door. Open the door. There’s your ship,” came the response. Viktor and JJ snuck into the room, careful not to make a sound.  

The ship was magnificent. A soft blue glow glinted off the shiny white exterior, and the streamlined shape suggested that it was extremely fast. Golden letters dubbed (or subbed, take your pick) the ship as Victory. Most of the top half was covered in glass. Viktor stepped up to it and took out a key card (they had stolen one not too long before). As soon as he stepped inside, an alarm started blaring, “UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED. UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED, ROOM 39.”  

Guards came charging in and Viktor panicked. “JJ, start up the ship please, and let me borrow your laser gun!” JJ tossed him the gun and ran to the control panel. “Seung, I thought you disabled all the alarms!”

Seung Gil’s voice came through, sounding slightly worried for once, “I thought I did, but I guess my hacking didn’t go all the way through! It’s really hard hacking through these government buildings, they have state-of-the-art tech! It doesn’t matter, but please pay attention to your surroundings, as you are in immediate danger.” One of the guards had managed to climb in, and Viktor shot him. The laser was reflected back, and Viktor was confused. Then he realized the guard’s coat was impenetrable.  He would have to get blood on his knife shoes, or at the very least, knock the guy out. The ship started to take off, and Viktor charged at the surprised guard, knocking his head with the side of his shoe, as he didn’t want to kill the guard. He took the coat, then pushed the guard off the ship.  

Viktor felt a little guilty, but it was necessary. He looked at the coat. It was purple with three gold loops on the chest and one on the left shoulder. He shrugged it on and turned towards JJ who was frantically trying to work the ship but failing. The ship steadied and JJ let out a whoop, “I did it!”  

“No, you dumbass, I did it,” Seung Gil’s voice sounded through their earpieces. “Both of you need a crash course in ship flying. Aren’t you glad I’m here? Hover above my house for this lesson, because if you leave the atmosphere of this planet, we’ll lose connection. I’ll be waiting.”

They were hovering about 50 dors (roughly equal to about 2 human meters) above the building. JJ started up the ship again…well, tried to. “JJ, please let Viktor fly the ship.” Seung Gil ordered, sounding slightly annoyed.

JJ smirked, “The king never backs down from a challenge!” They heard Seung Gil grumble and curse under his breath, something about goddamn arrogant princes and I didn’t sign up for this much work.  

Viktor decided to do something before Seung Gil got too annoyed. He walked over and tapped JJ on the shoulder. “Would you kindly let me drive the ship?” he said with his best heart shaped smile. His voice had a threatening edge. There was something adorable, yet oddly terrifying about it when he did that.  

However, JJ wasn’t fazed. “You can fly it after me. After all, the king always deserves to go-“

He didn’t get to finish his sentence as Viktor picked him up out of the chair and sat down in his place. Viktor grinned, “Thanks for letting someone who actually knows how to fly the ship at the controls!” JJ pouted and proceeded to sit down in another chair, playing on his

iPhone 96X.

Viktor started up the ship again, and in no time, they were 50 dors above Seung Gil’s house.

“And that is the navigation panel. This ship runs on space dust so you don’t have to worry about power. Any more questions?” Seung Gil asked over JJ’s iPhone 96X on video call. Viktor and JJ both shook their heads. “Great. Go explore space or something. My debt has been granted so please don’t bother me again. Goodbye,” Seung Gil then hung up.

“Where do we go from here?” JJ exclaimed, excitement glimmering in his eyes.  

“We can go anywhere we want!” Viktor exclaimed happily, excited as well. He started up the ship again, and they raced away, sucked up by the sunrise and vanished into air.  

Chapter 2

Soon after leaving their dear home planet of Glavnaya, Viktor and JJ paused to stare at the beautiful wonders that their eyes beheld. The faraway stars were sparkling specks in the sky, and even though they had seen their own home planet from space in pictures, somehow seeing it in person was even more stunning. Pale pink cotton candy clouds swirled around the planet, and rich orange ground peeked through. The deep purple waters had never seemed more gorgeous.  

Interstellar space travel had been a part of Glavnaya for quite some time, so Viktor and JJ had the option of faster than light travel. Viktor revved up the engine, and they proceeded to zip towards the nearest solar system, approximately 5 light years away.

Viktor used the navigation panel like Seung Gil instructed, but somehow, they ended up not exactly sure where they were. The panel said they were next to the planet Prathesthiy, but Viktor didn’t see anything. He wondered if the navigation panel was broken. This was until JJ pointed out that there was in fact a planet there.  

Prathesthiy was covered in dark clouds, camouflaging into the background of space quite well. It was very hard to see unless you were deliberately looking for it, and even then, it was still hard to notice.  

“Should we go there?” Viktor asked JJ. JJ nodded, now looking extremely excited at the prospect of exploring another planet. Viktor steered the ship towards Prathesthiy, and they began their descent, landing successfully soon after.

The terrain of Prathesthiy was bright under the incredibly dark clouds. It was eye-blindingly colorful with tall, twisty looking cities looming in the distance. Viktor and JJ stepped out of the ship, where they were immediately greeted by…giant hamsters.  

They heard a squeak next to them, and saw a brown hamster with gray spots. It wore a black cap too. It tried squeaking at them, as if to communicate. Viktor and JJ shook their heads. The hamster pulled out a rectangular box and squeaked into it. Surprisingly, Viktor and JJ could understand it completely now.  

“Welcome to the happy planet of Prathesthiy, travelers! What brings you here?” the hamster asked. Viktor shrugged his shoulders and tried to tell the hamster that Prathesthiy was the first planet they had come across, and that they were new to space travel. The hamster gave him the box.  

“I said,” Viktor paused, “That we are new space travelers and Prathesthiy was the first planet we came-”

“I’M THE KING JJ!” JJ interrupted.  

The hamster took the box back and grinned in a way that only hamsters can, “Oh I see. Come! You’ll have fun here in Prathesthiy. My name is Phichit by the way, and I’m the official greeter for anyone unfamiliar that decides to visit here…although we haven’t had many come here in a while.”  

Viktor and JJ followed Phichit. After walking for a few minutes, they arrived at the main city. “Phichit, where are we going?” JJ asked.  

Phichit replied, “You’re going to need better communication than that box if you’re wanting to be space travelers. Hey, but can we take a picture in front of this coffee shop? This view is aesthetic.”

Viktor stared, “How do hamsters take pictures…?”

Phichit grinned and took out smaller rectangle, “This is a phone specially designed for life forms that don’t have opposable thumbs!” He pressed a paw on the screen, and a hologram appeared in front of him. He swiped and tapped a few times on the hologram and then said, “Smile, everyone!” The picture was taken, and Phichit posted it on what looked like a social networking site, “They call me Hamster King of Social Media for a reason,” Phichit declared proudly.

They moved on from the café, and arrived at a small store called “Universal Communications”. The shop, as promised, was filled with communication gadgets of all kinds. Phichit led them to an aisle near the back, and pointed to a rack of moustaches, “Those are the most reliable and probably the most permanent translator you can have,” he said.

“The…mustaches?” Viktor asked.  

Phichit nodded, “You eat them. They’re nontoxic and won’t get stuck in your throat, I promise.” Viktor and JJ looked warily at the mustaches, wondering if Phichit was trying to kill them. “They also make excellent selfie props if you decide not to eat them!” Phichit exclaimed happily. JJ decided Phichit was too innocent to be plotting anything bad. Viktor was still wary. Phichit bought two mustaches, one for Viktor and one for JJ.  

“Eat them,” Phichit directed, “Nothing bad will happen.” JJ took a small bite of a mustache. It was hairy and felt weird, but that was to be expected.   Surprisingly though, it was kind of delicious. The mustache had a slightly sweet, but nutty flavor. It also tasted a bit like over the counter medicine. Suddenly, he could understand all the hamsters around them. Without much thought, he quickly ate the rest of the mustache.

Viktor sniffed the mustache but didn’t eat it. There was something off about this. One does not just simply eat facial hair. He pretended to take a bite, but slipped it in his pocket instead.

Phichit led them to a restaurant. “You must be hungry,” he said, “Let me treat you to one of the best dining spots in the universe. You’ll never want to leave once you’ve eaten here.” Viktor and JJ followed him.

Delicious aromas hit their senses as soon as they stepped in. They could smell the various rich scent spices, and the sugary scent of cake, among other things. They sat down at a booth and waited for someone to take their order.  

Soon, a hamster in a worker’s uniform approached them. Viktor could not understand the

sequence of squeaks, but judging by JJ’s response, the hamster must have asked, “How may I take your order?”

He ordered something that looked like a cheesecake, while Phichit and JJ ordered something similar to pancakes. They waited a little while, and the food soon arrived.

The food was so delicious that JJ swore his taste buds had died and gone to heaven. It was all gone before he even realized it. He then ordered seconds, and then thirds, until he was so full he felt as if he would explode he took another bite. He still wanted more of those soft, buttery pancakes.  

Viktor did not experience such things. To him, all the food looked like gray gloop mixed with bits of nuts. Utterly disgusting. He could not understand why JJ was eating his food so ravenously when it had the texture of lumpy toy slime and taste equivalent to that of dog feces.  Then it hit him. The mustaches…why would they do this?  

He toyed uncomfortably with his “cheesecake”. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Phichit eyeing him curiously. Did he do this on purpose? Viktor proceeded to push the plate away from him, “I’m not hungry.”

Soon after finishing his pancakes, JJ passed out. Phichit’s eyes narrowed, and he whispered threateningly to Viktor, “You didn’t eat the mustache, did you?” His eyes were starting to glow red.  

Viktor shook his head, grabbed JJ, and booked it. JJ was heavy, but adrenaline gave Viktor extra strength, and he was already in top physical condition. Viktor had just carried JJ out a few steps, when the café suddenly exploded. Bit of wood and metal flew around them. Phichit had smashed the wall, and was now coming after them like some giant fluffy adorable ball of doom. Which is exactly what he was. This spurred on Viktor further and he ran faster. He quickly hijacked a hamster ball, and threw it at Phichit.  

When the hamster ball collided with Phichit, he stopped in his tracks. Phichit was now twitching erratically, with electrical sparks running all over his body, and a distorted voice that sounded somewhat like the Phichit that had greeted them when Viktor and JJ first arrived squeaked, “COMPLETE SYSTEM FAILURE. SELF-DESTRUCTION: COMMENCING IN 3…” Viktor bolted out of there. “2….” He was almost out of the city… “1…SELF-DESTRUCTION INITIATED.”  Viktor was now far out of blast radius, and watched the street and the streets around it blew up, shattered into little smithereens. He saw a lot of the hamsters glaring at him, slowly approaching him. The ship was only a few meters away. His arms and legs were hurting like all hell, but he had to do it. Painstakingly, Viktor somehow sprinted the last couple of meters to the ship. As soon as he reached the door, there was a hamster there, ready to block him off. Viktor threateningly brandished his knife shoes, and the hamster backed off, allowing Viktor to rush inside the ship and slam the door shut.  

He ran over to the control panel, and then, with hamsters ramming themselves against the ship, he managed to lift the ship off of the ground and shake off any remaining hamsters. Viktor raced out of the atmosphere of Prathesthiy, panic coursing through his veins. He turned the ship on autopilot to give his arms and legs a rest. Stretching, he walked over to JJ and patted his forehead. Viktor hoped JJ was ok, as the other was still out cold. He carried JJ into the sleeping quarters and placed him on a bed, before climbing into another bed himself. The ship would be alright flying by itself for a few hours.  

Viktor drifted off into a fitful sleep.

Chapter 3

When Viktor awoke again, he fell off the bed. Muttering curses under his breath, he looked at JJ on one of other beds, and saw a pair of…hamster ears?  Viktor had to admit, it was kind of adorable. He bounced on the other male’s bed in attempt to wake him up. JJ’s eyes flew open and he groaned as he sat up.  

“I feel like…I feel like…I have a hangover…” JJ grumbled. He rubbed the top of his head when he felt a pair of fuzzy things that he didn’t recall being on his head. Suddenly feeling very awake, he jumped up from the bed, dislocating Viktor in the process. He looked into a nearby reflective window. The JJ reflected back at him had hamster ears. JJ cautiously pet his hamster ears. They were soft and fluffy. The king certainly could rock this look.

Meanwhile, Viktor had found something interesting. Because JJ had gotten up so fast, Viktor landed on the floor and had rolled to a previously unexplored corner of the room. There, he found a large metal object.  

Upon further investigation, the object was an android. It had light, unruly brown hair, and a sparkly blue suit. A scruffy beard adorned the bottom half of its face. The android appeared to have been there for watching over the ship while no one was there to man it. Viktor carefully poked it, filled with paranoia. The thing seemed to be stable. Searching around, he found an instruction manual. He looked warily at the android, and flipped to the page with all the parts labeled. The android didn’t seem to have any trackers, nor did it look to be unsafe. Viktor felt around its back and found a power switch on the neck. He flipped it.

Immediately, Viktor felt a faint vibrating through the metal. Then, the android stood up, eyes starting to glow blue. The glow intensified, and then regulated. The android stood still for a few seconds, as if trying to gain its bearings, or perhaps it was just doing a few automatic system repairs. Then, it knelt down, and enthusiastically shook Viktor’s hand, “Hi! I’m Emil, guardian of the Victory! Who are you, and how may I be of your assistance?”  

Viktor blinked and smiled his heart shaped smile, “I’m Viktor. Nice to meet you, Emil!” The android bounced back to his feet, and almost tripped on his charging cable. Viktor stifled a giggle, and Emil detached himself from the wall.

By this point, JJ had detached himself from the reflective window, and was staring at Emil with undisguised awe. Emil noticed him and practically bounded over. “Hi! I’m Emil, guardian of the Victory! Who are you, and how may I be of your assistance?” he greeted JJ.

JJ clapped his hands gleefully, “I’m King JJ, captain of this ship-”

Viktor coughed loudly and muttered under his breath, “And I smell some bullshit.”

JJ continued on as if Viktor hadn’t said anything. “And he’s my royal subject. I don’t know where we’re headed, but we’ll have fun all the while.”  

Emil saluted and said, “You should stop by Obchodovani soon. It’s a universal trading spot, only 2 light years away, and you need more supplies.”

“Do you know how to get there?” Viktor asked.  

“If it’s okay with the captain, I can fly the ship.” Emil looked back and forth between Viktor and JJ, still unsure which one was captain.

They both told Emil to go ahead as they glared at each other. Not long after, they laughed it off, but both knew the debate was not settled.  

Soon, Emil called JJ and Viktor over. “We have arrived at Obchodovani. Should I land?” he asked. Viktor nodded, and so did JJ. Emil proceeded to fly the ship into the planet. This one looked much more friendly than Prathesthiy. It was a pretty blue color, with bits of orange dotted here and there. They landed on a road that had a plethora of other aircraft stationed on it and stepped out.  “The market isn’t far from here,” Emil said. When he looked back, he saw the other two distracted, enraptured by the sights of the foreign planet.  

On the travel to the market (which wasn’t very long), they came across a multitude of different creatures, all of which looked very busy. Viktor and JJ could not help staring. Soon, they arrived. There were even more creatures at the market. Colorful foods lined the shop windows, with high tech items almost right next to them. Shops of all sizes and shapes seemed to stretch on forever in the street.  

“Do you guys think I can get a translator that doesn’t involve me eating mustaches and growing hamster ears?” Viktor inquired.  

“You should go to Otabek’s Multi-Dimensional Translators and Motorcycles for that. You’ll also probably need disguises because pretty much the entire galaxy will be after you because you assisted in killing the Hamster King of Social Media,” Emil advised cheerfully.

JJ was shocked, “How do you know all of this?”

“The intergalactic social media is very complex nowadays. When a user dies, it automatically makes a post on how they died, and you two are no doubt featured in that post. Because you took a selfie with him at a coffee shop, everyone knows what you look like. He had literally billions of followers too,” Emil informed, still way too happy, “I know this because I’m a very advanced android and can access all the data on the intergalactic internet.”  

Viktor pointed to a nearby shop, “Georgi’s Costume and Make-Up shop is nearby. How about we go there for disguises?” The exterior of the shop was a dark, sparkly purple, and a pair of make-up caked eyes surrounded the sign. They walked into the shop and a small tinkling bell announced their entrance. A man with a black pompadour and extremely dramatic purple make-up sat behind the counter. As they walked closer, they could see very visible tear tracks down his face. The man noticed their presence and greeted them with a half-smile.  

They walked through the store, pausing occasionally to look at wigs and outfits that looked acceptable. Viktor eventually decided on wearing a mask that had bright shiny teal melting into gold. He would cut is hair later. JJ found a nice green suit and put on a purple mask, then proceeding to style his hair straight, but curving it around his hamster ears. They walked to the checkout counter where Georgi himself was waiting.

As JJ handed Georgi the mask, Georgi put his hand on JJ’s shoulder. “Anya used to love the color purple…that was one of her favorite items in this store,” he sighed. JJ was somewhat creeped out by this gesture, mumbled a quick thanks, and took the mask and suit. Viktor proceeded to give his mask to Georgi. Apparently, Georgi was not done talking about “Anya”. He sighed once more and a single tear ran down his face, “She used to wear a dress that had the same colors as that…It matched so well with a purple mask. My Anya, she was beau-”

Emil quickly stepped in before Georgi could ramble more. “While we would love to hear more about Anya, we need to go places. I’m sorry, Georgi, but farewell, and good luck with Anya, even though I don’t even know what happened.” He took Viktor and JJ by the arms and marched them out of the store, leaving the heartbroken shopkeeper to wail once again about his Anya.

Emil breathed a sigh of relief when he stepped out of the shop (well he didn’t exactly breathe), and said, “It’s time to go to Otabek’s first. Hopefully he won’t try to tell us everything about his love life…”  

After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at a gray building, which was a drastic change from all the bright and colorful structures surrounding it. Upon entering the shop, they saw the shopkeeper sweeping the floor while attending to the hundreds of gadgets on the walls and motorcycles in the middle of the room. He seemed to be a gray life form known by some as an “octopus”, or something like it, as he was able to breathe on land.  

Viktor coughed, “Excuse me sir…is it Otabek? May we have your best universal translator?”

Otabek jiggled his body over to one of the shelves and pointed a tentacle to one of the devices. “Most of my items have similar quality, but this shelf contains my best,” he said. His voice was distorted, almost intelligible, and his stoic expression never changed.  

Viktor, JJ and Emil stepped over to the shelf. Their eyes bright with excitement, Viktor and JJ examined the objects with unparalleled glee, fascinated by the devices in their hands. Eventually, Viktor picked out a small gadget he could attach to his ear.  “How much does this cost?”  

Otabek thoughtfully looked at the device and grumbled out, “That’ll be…500 coins.”  

Viktor fished around his pockets and brought out a Glavnayan bill equal to 500 coins. “Will this do?” he questioned.  

Otabek nodded and took the bill. “Thank you, have a good time on your travels,” he said, face blank as ever, and showed them to the door.

Trekking back to the ship, Viktor laughed joyously as he listened to all the voices of creatures throughout the universe. It was like a while new world had been opened up to him.  

JJ smiled at him and chuckled, “It’s exciting, isn’t it?” Viktor nodded, and as they walked back in a comfortable silence, they even heard their names and Phichit’s mentioned several times.  

Upon arriving back at the ship, they found that the door slightly ajar, unlocked.

Chapter 4

“Did you forget to lock the ship?” JJ asked Viktor, a hint of annoyance showing on his face.

Viktor answered, “…I must have forgotten. You know how I am with memory, right?”  

Emil pushed open the door. “We should check everything to make sure nothing has been tampered with or stolen,” he stated, still in the annoyingly cheerful tone.  

They decided to split up and search for anything that seemed out of place or missing. Soon, they all met back up together. Nothing seemed amiss, and they all breathed a sigh of relief. This time, JJ took to the controls, and they lifted off. Since everyone needed to sleep, and Emil needed to charge, JJ left the ship on autopilot before dozing off.

Viktor awoke to the sound of rustling. His eyes took their sweet time adjusting to the darkness, and as he squinted, he decided his brain was too tired for this, and tried to go back to sleep. Still, an unsettling feeling that something wasn’t right kept nagging at him. Finally succumbing to that feeling, he stumbled out of the sleeping room.  

As Viktor trudged around the ship, he started feeling like this was all a waste of time. He was missing his beauty sleep, dammit! Then, as he was about to leave the kitchen, a shadowy figure slipped by his peripheral vision. He was standing next to a convenient light switch, and mumbled a tired, “Who be?” before switching on the lights and then swearing while regretting his life decisions. Meanwhile, the shadowy figure had gone away, and Viktor mumbled another string of drowsy swears. At this point, he assumed that the figure was just a part of his half-asleep imagination, before he saw it slip by another door.  

Viktor was beginning to get annoyed. “Who are you?” he asked, agitation at the tip of his tongue. “I’m not going to hurt you, but I would like to go back to sleep.”  There was only silence at these words, and Viktor sighed. He hated to do this, but he walked over to the control panel and slapped the alarm button, alerting everyone of an intruder and probably scaring the ever loving hell out of JJ. The alarm rang, and JJ jumped out of the chair, flailing and tumbling to the floor. Viktor wheezed in laughter.

“whAAAA-HAhnnngh-oof- TURN THAT FUCKING ALARM OFF!” JJ’s startled screams rang through the ship, and Viktor swore he heard the faintest chuckle somewhere. Soon, after JJ had gotten his bearings, he glared at Viktor and grumbled, “You asshole. What happened?”

Viktor cleared his throat and winked, “There’s an intruder on this ship. They won’t reveal themselves, and you’re a heavy sleeper, so what can I say except you’re welcome.”  

JJ blinked, and he reluctantly accepted the fact that Viktor had good reason to wake him up. “Okay, I’m going to go turn on Emil, and we’ll split up and try to find him.” Viktor nodded, and began searching in the kitchen where he first saw the figure. But nobody came.  

Soon, Viktor heard a call from Emil, as he just used his built-in scanner and tracked down the intruder almost immediately. The intruder was in a random storage room. Viktor accidently stopped by several rooms before finally stopping at the right one. The trespasser had almost shoulder-length dark brown hair and a nervous grin. He had tan skin that melted into fur and goat legs. Some organisms call these creatures “satyrs”. Viktor was ready to jump at him with his knife shoes if the satyr tried anything funny, and he made a point of this by pointing at his activated shoes and smiling threateningly.  

“H-hi I’m Leo,” the young man stuttered out. He was clearly nervous, as one naturally was when you had two sleepy, annoyed men, one with knife shoes, and a multifunctional android staring at you.  

“Would you like to tell us who you are and why you’re here?” Viktor asked, voice cold as the ice only found at the furthest reaches of any given solar system.  

“Er…I’m a traveling merchant, and my ship was hijacked and stolen on Obchodovani. It was parked right next to yours. I probably should have locked it. So I boarded your ship because I needed some form of travel. It was also unlocked and nearby. It wasn’t long before I heard you people walk on, and I hid myself in the hidden rooms usually in furthest reaches of every ship that most people don’t realize exist. Any more questions?”

Viktor squinted at Leo, “Nah, I don’t buy it.”

“Look man, do you want proof?” Leo asked anxiously. Viktor squinted more, but nodded. JJ had gone at this point, too sleepy to care that much, as he figured Viktor would be pissed enough to deal with the intruder on his own.  

Leo beckoned for Viktor and Emil to follow him. They went through many hallways before entering through a wall, surprisingly. Viktor and Emil were greeted with the sight of several bags and an ukulele. The bags were filled with goods. Leo walked over to one of them and pulled out a card.  

Pointing at the card, Leo said with a hint of agitation in his tone, “See here? It says ‘Leo De La Iglesia: Certified Traveling Merchant’. Look, it even has an official universal council stamp.”  

Viktor was finally convinced, and deactivated his knife shoes. “Fine, I believe you. But we’re going to drop you off at the nearest planet, okay? How did you even find this place?”  

Leo was relieved, “…I accidently tripped over one of my bags and fell into the wall. How far away is the nearest planet anyways?”  

Viktor groaned, and led Leo to the control panel, which was literally on the opposite side of the ship.

“We’re approximately…fifty light years away from the nearest habitable planet that isn’t Obchodovani.” Viktor sighed, “It’s gonna take around 49 hours, so settle in, but don’t get too comfortable.”  

“Okay! I can play the ukulele and sing for you as payme-” Leo was cut off.

“Please don’t, I need sleep. I guess we’ll allow you to sleep in one of the beds on the ship.” Viktor grumbled. Leo nodded, and they headed to the sleeping quarters. “Emil, please keep an eye on our new friend. I don’t completely trust him yet,” Viktor commanded. Emil saluted.  

A few hours later, Viktor awoke to the sound of the cheerful playing of an ukulele. He rolled over, but tumbled to the floor again. Wearily blinking his sleep-drunk eyes, he stood up, stretched, and looked around for the ukulele noise. Faint words passed through his hearing, “…wherever I go, god stays with me.” He could see that JJ, Emil, and the stowaway…what was his name again? Viktor couldn’t remember too well. Sounds of applause came through the door as Emil and JJ congratulated Leo. Right, the stowaway’s name was Leo. They were already awake, and Leo was strumming his instrument, singing a cheerful tune. His voice was rich and beautiful. It warmed you like the sun right after a long, cold winter. Viktor decided this wasn’t the worst to way to wake up.

Just as he was about to greet his friends and Leo, he paused and observed them from afar. They all looked so happy, bright smiles as they sang along to the tune, albeit off key.  Viktor grinned because he hadn’t ever seen his crew members smile this much before. Maybe this stowaway wasn’t so bad after all.  He almost didn’t want to let Leo leave in forty-two hours.  

“Good morning everyone! I see Leo has fit himself quite well into this little group!”  

“Hi...uh…you didn’t tell me your name yesterday.”

“Viktor. Nice to meet you too.”

The next forty-two hours were spent getting to know each other, sleeping, more singing, admiring the cosmos, playing random games, and a social media break.  

“Hey, aren’t you people the guys who blew up Phichit?” Leo inquired curiously after tapping through his phone for a few minutes.  

“Self-defense! We weren’t trying to blow him up! In fact, I quite liked him!” JJ said defensively.

“I wasn’t even activated yet,” Emil looked up from where he was fiddling with a random metal bit.  

“Ok, but why would you blow him up? What did he even do?” Leo asked.

Viktor tapped his chin in thought, “See, he was a friendly guy at first. Shit happened and I ended up throwing a hamster ball at him. And before you know it, the Hamster King of Social Media is now the Hamster King of Death by Hamster Ball.”  

Leo blinked disbelievingly, and then just accepted the explanation. He looked at the navigation panel, and saw they were less than a light year away from the nearest habitable planet: Tiandian. “We’re almost there… I think I might miss you guys, despite only knowing you for 49 hours.”

“We’re not going to leave immediately after dropping you off…we’re going to explore it too!” Viktor said, eyes lighting up.

“It apparently has the most delectable sweets and bakery treats in the entire universe,” Emil informed, “I’d love to go there!”  

The last thirty minutes on the ship were spent with slightly melancholic, but still happy chatter. It died down when JJ called they were landing soon. The atmosphere of Tiandian was tinted a pastel cotton candy pink. They plunged into the atmosphere, and crystals of sugar lined the swirled candy pathways. The ship plopped down near a small café. Everyone aboard the ship hopped off, and this time, Viktor made sure to lock the ship.  

Chapter 5

They decided to enter the cafe. It was very cozy, with gray paint and homey paintings covering the walls and light brown wooden floors. A small man sipping an extra creamy spiced caramel rainbow swirl macchiato and a light fluffy cinnamon roll with extra cinnamon sat at one of the tables, scrolling through his Galaxy Phone 101. He had messy light brown hair and a smattering of freckles across his cheeks. He was also a satyr.

Leo stopped dead when he saw the man, and his face lit up. “G-guang! Ji-ji! It’s been a long time!”  

The man at the table almost spat out his coffee before quickly swallowing it down, looking at Leo in shock. An adorable smile and a blush spread across his cheeks as he almost knocked down the table to leap into Leo’s arms.  

“Leo! Where have you been? You were supposed to meet me on Huiyi a month ago!” the man muttered, rubbing his face in Leo’s sweatshirt.  

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry… I wish I could have, but business affairs popped up, and then my ship got hijacked…I hope you don’t mind too much.” Leo sighed patting the man’s hair.

“Are they…dating or something?” Viktor whispered to JJ, accidently a bit too loud.

Leo and the man’s cheeks flushed, before Leo said, “No um…. fuck I forgot to introduce you.” The man shifted a little behind Leo. He seemed shy. “Guys, this is Guangdong. He’s my best friend and local food enthusiast. Ji, the one with the silver hair is Viktor. He and JJ are the captains of the ship. The one with the black hair is JJ. Emil is the one with the brown hair. He’s an android,” Leo introduced everyone.

“Nice to meet you,” Guang Hong moved to shake hands with the crew members. He still had a shy smile and a flushed face. When he got to Emil, the android gave him a big bear hug.  

Guang stiffened in shock, but hesitantly returned the hug. He backed off soon, and somewhat relieved, and returned to Leo’s side.  

“Are you people going to get food?” Guang Hong asked, “Its super good. I recommend the sugary vanilla bean cinnamon roll.”  

They stepped to the counter and ordered their respective food items. Soon, the orders arrived.  As soon as the icy mocha latte with extra whipped cream, peppermint sprinkles, and a cherry on top hit Viktor’s tongue, he knew he had died and gone to heaven. The sweet taste of peppermint blended into the rich coffee taste in a heavenly manner, and a bit of whipped cream topped it all off with a bit of fluff that was creamy yet light. A succulent, enticing red cherry decorated the top as he saved it for last. The entire thing just melted on his tongue pleasantly, and Viktor almost moaned. Before he knew it, he was finished. A sweet, icy taste still lingered. There was still that juicy red cherry left. He raised the moist cherry to his lips, licking it before biting down on it, letting the juices flow into his mouth. The heavenly juice traveled down his esophagus and he didn’t think he could ever grow tired of it. All too soon, he finished the rest of the cherry.  

“That was definitely the most delicious thing I’ve ever had…” Viktor breathed out, stars in his eyes.

“I know right? That’s why I decided to live here,” Guang Hong munched on his cinnamon roll.  

Emil had finished his milkshake before Viktor and was staring at JJ, who was taking his sweet time finishing his sugary vanilla bean cinnamon roll. The man looked like he was enjoying it way too much. But with food items like these, it was hard to judge what counted as enjoying something too much. Was there really such a thing as enjoying oneself too much? Soon, JJ finished as well, and the group headed out to explore the streets with Guang Hong being a tour guide. Leo kept his merchant bags with him, so he tried selling some of his goods to passerby.

Guang Hong led them down the streets of Tiandian, and they figured out the city they were in was called Rouguijan. They pathways were covered with miscellaneous sweet food stands, making it hard for Viktor to resist impulse buying all the foods he saw. They just all looked so delicious. The buildings also had some interesting architecture, with a mix of skyscrapers and plain flat lands. They explored the city for another two hours, before finally deciding it was time to leave. Soon, they arrived back at the ship.

“Are you two not coming with us?” Viktor asked when he, Emil, and JJ all boarded the ship but Guang Hong and Leo stayed where they were. They shook their heads.

“We’ve really enjoyed our time with you, but I honestly don’t think traveling the cosmos as anything other than a merchant and a loner is for me,” Leo said shaking his head, albeit sadly, “And Jiji is still studying.”  

“Oh…then do you have any SNS accounts?” JJ inquired. Leo and Guang Hong nodded.  

They exchanged social media accounts and a few last hugs before JJ, Emil, and Viktor stepped back on the ship and the doors shut behind them.

Right before the doors closed, they heard Guang Hong ask, “Hey Leo, when I finish my studies, can I travel with you?”

“Always Guang, always.”

JJ started up the ship again and Viktor looked out of the window to see Leo and Guang Hong waving at them from the ground. Viktor and Emil furiously waved back before the ship took off and zoomed out of the atmosphere.

I N T E R L U D E

Viktor, JJ, and Emil traveled the universe at will, occasionally completing quests and conquering pirate ships for money. They became the Vigilantes of the Universe, and were somewhat legends. Sometimes, they arranged meetings with Guang Hong and Leo, or other friends they made along their travels. This continued for several years until at one point in time…

Chapter 6

It had been 8 years since Viktor and JJ set out from Glavnaya. They made history and were well known across the universe. On this day, Viktor was driving the ship, Emil was cleaning the kitchen, and JJ was taking a nap.  

“Would it be okay to visit Glavnaya?” Viktor wondered, “It’s been 8 years, surely they would have forgotten us by now.”

“You forget that we’re famous space vigilantes,” Emil called from the kitchen, “They’ll probably recognize us.”

“Yeah but…” For the first time in forever, Viktor felt a twinge of homesickness. He shook it off and focused on steering the ship. “But what if we wear disguises?”

“You also forget that almost every planet has DNA tracking systems now. They’d most likely still have your baby DNA.” Emil replied.

“Your right,” Viktor sighed, “Emil, can you steer the ship?”

“I’m cooking, sorry.”

Something at the back of Viktor’s mind made him want to say ‘Hi cooking, sorry, I’m dad’, but he instead pouted and said, “I can try to cook…”

“The last time you tried to cook, you almost poisoned us,” Emil was adamant about not letting Viktor cook.

Viktor sighed again, “True true, but I just want to rest right now. I’ll turn the ship on autopilot.”

Emil nodded, but then remembered Viktor couldn’t see him. “Okay,” he called.  Soon, he finished cleaning the kitchen. On his way to his charging port, he accidently tripped over a stack of books. His back slammed into a button no one had found over the course of 8 years. Suddenly, the ship was surrounded with a plethora of bright colors inside a spinning tunnel of sorts. Now that he thought about it, he remembered something…interesting one of the scientists had said during the time of his construction.

Emil laid still on the lab table, not that he could really move around. After all, he was just a head and a torso with a tangled bunch of wires and the ability to think. Scientists walked by, often carrying metal bits. They were constructing the Victory, or so he heard. “Lilia, this time travel contraption is untested. Are you really sure you want to put it on the Victory? Please don’t be too brash.” An old scientist with a fedora was speaking.  

“It must be put into the Victory. Otherwise, It’ll never be tested,” Lilia’s voice was cool and determined.  

The old scientist tipped his fedora at her, “Do what you must then, but please make the activation button hard to find.”  

“Well I guess I must have accidently activated that contraption then…” Emil whispered to himself.  He decided not to say anything.

When Viktor woke up, he immediately noticed something was different. For one, there were more celestial bodies in the surrounding area than usual. Everything seemed to glow brightly, and the fiery stars seemed to be at the brink of explosion. Viktor peered out the window curiously, and saw that the ship was steering to a nearby planet.  The navigation panel said they were heading towards Saishu Mokutekichi. In all of his years traveling, Viktor had never even heard a mention of this planet. It seemed to be very… rainbow and dazzling. The navigation panel also said that there were life forms and it was habitable. He decided to take control of the ship and steer towards it. He still had no idea what was going on, or why the sky was unusually bedazzling, or why everything was so close together, but maybe that planet had answers.  

JJ had finally woken up and trudged into the room. “…what’s up with space?” he murmured sleepily.  

Viktor shrugged, “I don’t know, but I’m steering towards this random planet to find answers.”

JJ accepted this answer, and they soon landed on the mysterious rainbow planet of Saishu Mokutekichi. Colorful swirls of various harmless gases filled the air, and the ground practically glowed. Tufts of bright, lush springy grass covered it. Golden particles, almost like stardust, surrounded them. Strange creature noises resonated throughout the place. It all felt…magical. In the horizon stood a squat but fairly large house, situated between the looming trunks of two giant trees. Viktor, JJ, and Emil stepped out onto this strange planet.

A man with jet black hair and blue glasses playfully danced around the building with a big yellow space chicken. Soon, he noticed the travelers and the government-issue space cruiser.  

“V-Viktor! JJ! Emil! Welcome back! It’s been a while since you last visited,” the man greeted. The chicken crowed happily, ruffling his bright yellow feathers.  

“How do you know our names?!” Viktor asked, “More importantly, where are we?”

“You’re on Saishu Mokutekichi at almost the end of all time…I mean, I thought you knew that,” the man tapped his chin thoughtfully, “In all the years I’ve known you, you’ve had a bad memory, but never on this scale…”

“Who are you?!” Viktor and JJ screamed in near unison.  

“E-eh? How do you not remember me? Wait…this is probably your first trip here!  Heh, you always seemed to know me before…maybe this is why. In that case, welcome, I’m Yuuri Katsuki,” Yuuri finally introduced himself, slightly bashful.  

“…I would introduce myself, but you seem to already know who we are,” Viktor stated.  

`Yuuri laughed lightly, “I suppose so. Come into the house then. We have cookies…and other people.”  

As they walked to the house, Viktor noticed Yuuri had a nice ass.

When they arrived, they were greeted by a pretty woman with short black hair. “Yuuri, where were you? It’s time for foo- oh my, we certainly weren’t expecting you today, Emil, Viktor, JJ.” Her eyes softened a little when she said ‘JJ”.   She proceeded to give them all a big hug.  

JJ pushed her off of him, but didn’t shove too hard, “Seriously, who are you people?” The woman looked hurt and a little bit embarrassed.  

“JJ, darling do you not remember me?” the woman asked, “I’m Isabella, your wife.”

“…No?” JJ was confused.

“Isabella, it appears we have finally found their first time meeting us,” said Yuuri, “Therefore, they don’t really know us. It’s a little bit ironic isn’t it? The universe on the verge of collapse, and them meeting us for the first time, though they have encountered us many times before.”  

“Oh, well that makes sense,” Isabella looked a bit sullen, but she accepted it.  

Viktor interrupted, “How do we get out of this weird dimension?”  

“It’s not another dimension, it’s the end of this universe…time-wise. There’s approximately…twenty days before it ends. Everything is almost completely crunched together,” Yuuri informed.

“How are we not dead?” JJ wondered.

“This, the great planet of Saishu Mokutekichi is the planet of the starchildren. We’ve been watching over the cosmos since more or less the beginning of time, or time in this universe. And since we need to watch over this universe until its collapse, this planet is completely protected from all the dangers out there. So even if a star is only one dor away, we wouldn’t exactly be screwed.”

Viktor was startled, “Wait, how did we get here? Where we came from, the end of the universe was super far away…”

“I think our ship has a time travel function. I accidently fell into the activation button,” Emil admitted sheepishly, “I guess it was set to this time, but actually I’m not too sure how it works. I hope the button isn’t broken from having a one hundred twenty-five-kilogram android slam into it.”

“…Let’s check first!” Yuuri suggested after a moment of silence. They went to the ship, and Emil detected that miraculously, nothing much was broken, just the outer button. That in itself would take around ten days to fix, since it was ridiculously meticulously hooked up to so many wires, and some of those wires would have to be fixed.

“That’s fine then. We should move this stack of books so no one trips over them again,” Viktor said with his oddly menacing heart-shaped smile.

“Heh…sorry,” Emil looked very embarrassed.

JJ patted his head, “It’s fine, as long as we can fix this.”

Suddenly, Viktor felt a sharp jab at his feet. The space chicken that was playing with Yuuri earlier happily pecked Viktor’s toes (Viktoes). “Whose chicken is this?” he asked as he picked up the chicken and looked at it. The chicken had a bright yellow color to his feathers and was extremely adorable. A vibrant red comb perched on his head, with a splotch of red feathers on the left side of his head. The chicken tilted his head and cooed curiously at Viktor. Viktor stared at the chicken, and cautiously pet his feathers. The chicken snuggled against him.

Yuuri smiled, “It seems like Minami likes you.” The chicken trilled in agreement, and then leapt into Yuuri’s arms as if to say, ‘but I like him better’. Yuuri set Minami back down on the ground, and the chicken rubbed himself against Yuuri’s legs, wanting cuddles.  Yuuri pet the chicken, “Viktor, meet Minami, local space chicken with a tragic backstory. I guess you could call him my chicken, but he doesn’t really have an owner…we should fix the ship before we run out of time.”

Viktor was befuddled why Yuuri changed the subject, but nodded. A loud crash sounded from somewhere, making them jump.

“Sara, please go oil yourself, we don’t want your joints to get creaky again! And have you-”

“Mickey. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. You’re making my head overheat.”  

“See, you need to oil your joints, and now you should go-”

Yuuri smiled, amused, “That would be the android twins. They’re uh, an interesting pair. Michele is really protective about Sara.”

“I can tell.”  

“I think Isabella called them to help work on the ship. With their help, the process should take around nine days.” Yuuri said, “To be honest, we should probably go help them right now.”

“Awwww, but there’s a happy little space chicken sleeping on your feet,” Viktor cooed.

Yuuri sighed, and then picked up Minami. The chicken squawked in surprise, but settled for a small glare in Yuuri’s direction. “Sorry Minami, but I have to move,” The chicken reluctantly got off of Yuuri’s feet. They looked over to the other people and saw JJ and Isabella debating where a certain wire should hook up. Michele didn’t seem to like Emil, probably because Emil was trying to talk with his twin. Minami was there too, running around like a headless chicken, even though he did have a head.

Chapter 7

The next few days were filled with productivity as everyone worked together to fix the button. They took breaks in shifts, so Viktor and Yuuri were the only ones working at that moment. Yuuri felt some sort of bond between all of them, a bond like that of atoms among the brightest stars, and he really didn’t want these people leave so soon.  

“Hey Viktor,” he said as he hooked up two more wires. The two of them were standing closer together than usual, and maybe it was just because there wasn’t that much space around the button, but Yuuri felt all warm and fuzzy inside.  

Viktor looked up, “Yes?”

“I wouldn’t mind... I don’t think anyone would mind really, if you guys stayed here for a few more days…” Yuuri looked the other direction as he said this.  

“Really?” Viktor face lit up with his heart-shaped smile, “I was going to ask if we could stay here for a few more days, but I guess I don’t need to.”  

Yuuri smiled, a warm smile that could warm the coldest of souls. It certainly warmed Viktor. “We’re almost done fixing it, and there’s a giant lake that’s in perpetual freeze not too far from here. Shall we skate sometime?”  

“Ice skating? What’s that?” Viktor was genuinely perplexed.

Yuuri stared at Viktor, “You’re Glavnayan, yet you don’t know what ice skating is?”

“No? Glavnaya never had ice, it was always warm or really hot.”

“Right, you came from when Glavnaya was still warm,” Yuuri said thoughtfully.

Viktor looked curiously at Yuuri, “What happened to Glavnaya?”

“Glavnaya doesn’t exist.”

“Eh?”

“Glavnaya turned more or less into ice and was swallowed by a black hole just nine thousand years ago,” Yuuri clarified.

“Ohh…” Viktor connected two more wires, “It’s strange knowing your planet doesn’t exist…” “Yeah.”

The two worked in comfortable silence for a while before Viktor remembered why the topic of Glavnaya’s death had been brought up. “So Yuuri, what’s ice skating?”

“You know what water is, right?”

“Of course.”

“Well sometimes, large bodies of water are frozen into ice, and you can even sing, jump, walk, run, do all sorts of stuff on it,” Yuuri explained.

Viktor looked incredibly confused. “What sorts of magical sorcery do you need to freeze that much water?”

Yuuri laughed, “You just need to have really cold temperatures, that’s all. And the only reason that lake stays cold all the time is because there’s an incubus that enjoys the cold who lives around there. He’s relatively friendly, and can probably teach you a few tricks on the ice… Unless he manages to seduce you, which mean you’ll have a very different experience that night.”

Viktor looked a lot less confused, but it was replaced with wonder. “Amazing! How do you ice skate then?”

“Uh…so you have blades on your shoes, and you…walk I guess, on them on the  ice, and you end up gliding somewhat? They’re called ice skates,” Yuuri tried to explain.

“Wow, so I’ve been wearing ice skates this entire time!” Viktor activated his knife shoes, and the blades slid out. “See? They have blades! You skate on your toes?”  

“No Viktor, those are knife shoes, not ice skates! Ice skates have blades on the bottom, not the toes!” Yuuri chuckled.  

“Well I guess I have to see for myself what this fascinating thing is with you later. Can JJ, Emil, Isa, Sara, Mickey, and Minami come too?”

Yuuri grinned, “Well of course! I was planning on them joining us. You know, as kind of an outing for everyone here.”  

By now, they had finished repairing the button, and were chatting idly, staring at the stars that appeared giant and were never gone from the sky, a stunning yet slightly scary sight.

“We’ll go tomorrow.”

When they arrived back at the shack, food was waiting for them. An assortment of wonderful dishes adorned the table, prepared with love by JJ and Isabella. They made the androids take a break from doing all the chores, so the three were playing with Minami outside in some sort of strange game of hide-and-seek tag. The poor chicken was having trouble keeping up with the androids. Even so, he was having fun, and they took a break whenever he needed to.  

They heard Isabella calling for dinner but didn’t go inside because androids don’t eat. However, Minami did need to eat, so he went inside.

Dinner was a cheery affair as usual. Delicious food, laughter, and chatter filled the table, and Viktor felt…at home? It was his first time really experiencing this feeling, but he decided he liked it. Even though he had only known them for several days, Viktor felt like he had known them forever. Now he really didn’t want to go back. He stared at the table with a pensive and slightly melancholic smile on his face. There was a beautiful warmth blossoming in his chest. He felt a somewhat familiar point in his toe, so he absentmindedly put a chicken nugget under the table. An indignant squawk startled him out of his chance as a pair of beady eyes glared at him from under the table. Suddenly, a chicken flew and smacked him in the face, landing in his lap. It took a moment for him to realize what happened. The table had gone silent.

“OH! Oh Minami, I’m so sorry! Um… CORN! I forgot you were a chicken!” Viktor frantically gave corn to the chicken. At this, the table burst out laughing, and Minami seemed to be laughing in a chicken way. He was still glaring at Viktor. Viktor was a little embarrassed, but shook it off and laughed along.  Viktor was dreading the end of the universe. He never wanted to leave.  

Chapter 8

Twelve hours later, after a dinner and some sleep, the group headed out to go ice skating. There had been extra ice skates in a storage shed, so everyone was accounted for. Yuuri led everyone else into the forest with a Minami in his arms. Soon, they arrived at the lake.

A lone silhouette of a figure danced on the ice, graceful body in fluid motion. Viktor watched in awe and quietly whispered in awe to Yuuri, “So is that what ice skating is?” Yuuri nodded. The figure seemed to have noticed them, and in the blink of an eye appeared in front of the group. It was a tall, suggestively dressed male with wings and a devil tail; your average incubus. He had blond hair styled into an undercut with green eyes and long, lustrous lashes. He was wearing an outfit with a translucent gray top and sparkly red lines. The sides were more or less nonexistent, back and front being connected by a crisscross pattern and revealing slivers of skin.  

“Why hello there,” the incubus said. He had a deep, buttery voice.  

“Hi Chris,” Yuuri greeted. Isabella waved, and Minami squawked in greeting.  

“Welcome back~,” Chris sauntered over, “Haven’t seen you three in a while,” he tilted his head towards Viktor, JJ, and Emil.  

“Why does he know us too?” Viktor asked.

Chris looked shocked and slightly hurt, “Mon chérie, do you not remember me?” Yuuri quickly whispered something to Chris, and his expression faded back to normal. “Oh, well I guess that makes sense. Welcome to my lake! Just put on your skates and follow me onto the ice.”

They did as they were told, and soon were having a whale of a time after some instruction. Viktor couldn’t keep his balance and had to constantly rely on Yuuri for support.  

“Now take my hands, come on! Right, left, right, left, slow down…Keep going, you got this!” Yuuri encouraged.  

Viktor looked at Yuuri, and felt a warm sensation in his chest. He moved his feet to try and match the pace of Yuuri, and for a moment, they were perfectly in sync. This was until Viktor slipped again. He laughed it off, but then told Yuuri he was going to sit out for a while.  

Sitting on the edges of the lake, Viktor watched everyone skate. He decided Yuuri on ice was a very lovely show. Minami was trying to skate, but he wasn’t wearing skates. He awkwardly flapped on the ice, seeming to do a little boogie. Michele was teaching Emil how to skate, and the enthusiastic android was learning very quickly. Nearby, Chris was skating seductively and moving his hips in a very mesmerizing and intoxicating manner. Viktor had to force himself to tear his eyes away. Meanwhile, JJ was already somewhat decent at skating due to either Isabella’s instructing or natural talent. It was like they were skating a serenade for two, or maybe JJ was skating his own theme. In regards to love, Viktor had never thought that much about it. However, an inferno in his heart blossomed like the perfume of the flowers whenever he looked at Yuuri. He didn’t quite know what it meant, but he supposed his heart was trying to tell him his emotions were still alive. His train of thought was cut off when Sara sat down next to him.  

“Hey Viktor,” she greeted.  

“Hey.”

“Are you going back on the ice?” Sara questioned.

“Yeah, I’m just admiring the wa-” Viktor was interrupted by Minami sliding to a halt next to his feet. The chicken let out a pant as if to say ‘I’m exhausted, please help’. Viktor picked Minami up and sat him down on his lap, petting his comb. The soft ball of feathers more or less melted into Viktor’s arms. Viktor looked at Sara, and Sara stretched her arms towards Viktor. He handed Minami to her and picked up his skates to go skate again.  

Once on the ice again, Viktor immediately sought out Yuuri to continue their skating. Yuuri taught Viktor well for several hours, and they were soon dancing around each other like they had been doing it for years. They danced and danced until their legs were sore, and finally collapsed happily into a heaping pile of snow, near where most of their friends were waiting. Chris had gone back into his house. Only one pair was left on the ice, and that was Emil and Michele. They looked more alive than ever.  

“Should we go back soon?” Viktor heard JJ ask Isabella.

“Let’s let Michele and Emil have a little more fun, and maybe then we’ll head back.”  

They watched the two androids for a few more minutes. This gave Viktor and Yuuri time to recuperate and sit up.

“Michele! Emil!” Sara called, “It’s time to leave!”  

The two androids, seemingly in a daze, broke apart and almost looked like they were blushing. Michele definitely was.  

On the way back to the house, Viktor was silent and staring at Yuuri’s back. Some people came up to him occasionally, but he was in deep thought.  

In regards to love, he had never felt this way before.

Chapter 9

A few hours of sleep and a stretch later, Viktor awoke to the delicious smell of food being made. These days were passing by too quickly for his liking. He could feel the ever looming end of the universe as it came closer, stars slowly growing before his eyes. Shaking these thoughts out of his mind, Viktor decided he would stay here until the very last second, because he definitely couldn’t bear leaving Yuuri, Minami, Isabella, Michele, and Sara behind. It really hadn’t been that long, but Viktor didn’t care. Currently, the smell of food was tempting him, so  Viktor pushed that thought to the back of his mind and decided he would tell Emil and JJ later.  

Breakfast was delicious as usual, yet it was somber. Viktor, JJ, and Emil were due to leave on that day since the button was completely fixed. Since the universe was ending, Isabella, Yuuri, and Minami, the starchildren were starting to fade. They had woken up one day and Emil noticed he could see the countertop a little bit through their bodies. Viktor still didn’t want to leave yet. Soon, they were standing outside the ship, waiting for Emil to finish adjusting the settings so they could travel back to the correct time period. The controls were located in a secret compartment near the button. Emil came out of the ship and signaled it was time to go. As JJ started to step on the ship, Viktor suddenly called out, “Wait.” JJ and everyone else turned to look at him, “I don’t want to go yet.”

The expression on everyone’s face was that of bewilderment. “Why not?” Isabella asked.  

“As cheesy as it may sound, I think I finally found a home when I’ve never had one before. I don’t want to leave any of you behind yet…” was Viktor’s reply.

“But you can just travel back in time and meet us again,” Isabella pointed out, “And not risk dying here at the end of time.”

Viktor wasn’t swayed, “It won’t be the same. You won’t know us. The scenery around us is also stunning, and besides, we won’t get the chance to actually see the end of all time if we don’t stay.”

“Well if you stay longer, that will make it all the harder to leave,” Yuuri interjected kindly, “But if you really want to stay, we’ll just have to make sure you have enough time to get out.”

JJ spoke up, “Honestly, I wouldn’t mind staying here until the last few seconds…as long as we don’t die that is.”

“Are we staying then?” Emil piped up from inside the ship.

Isabella let out a sigh, then relented. “Fine. I hope we’re making the right decision, because otherwise this entire timeline will be changed.”

Viktor grinned, then pulled everyone into a giant group hug. “Even though we haven’t been here all that long, I love you all.” Emil and JJ were quick to hop off the ship and join the hug. Their combined weight pushed everyone to the ground where they all landed in a big, heaping mess. Surrounded by warmth, love, friends, and adventure, there really wasn’t anything else he needed, right?

Except maybe Yuuri’s ass.  

Chapter 10

As the days passed, Viktor took many pictures to keep fond memories. Even so, the days still passed too quickly for his liking. All too soon, it was the last day of the universe.

Viktor awoke again to the smell of a delicious breakfast. A sense of déjà vu washed over him as he walked into the kitchen. The starchildren had almost completely faded, and their feet were sparkling, sparkling into nothingness. This signaled the final stage of disintegration. The ground was shaking, something that had never happened before. Explosions outside of the planet’s atmosphere rocked the world, a brilliant spectacle to behold as dying stars gave their last breath. Viktor picked up Minami and cuddled the chicken one last time. Emil seemed to be hugging the life out of Sara and Michele, and JJ seemed to be taking his time parting from Isabella.  

“You must go now,” Yuuri ushered Viktor to the door, “You can’t do anything for us, nor can you stay any longer.”  

“I know, but…” Viktor put Minami down, and wrapped his arms around Yuuri, “I’ll never forget you.”

“Viktor, there isn’t much time left,” Yuuri whispered, “Leave now, please…” Viktor buried his face in Yuuri’s shoulder. “No tale is more compelling than one that never ends. If you end here, that’s it. You’ll see me in the past, but please continue doing what you love to do.”

“I would love to do you,” Viktor muttered.

“Sorry, I didn’t hear that.”  

“Anyways, can’t you come with us? I don’t want to have to leave you here…”

“No, because I’m literally everywhere in the past. That would screw with the timeline way too much.” Yuuri seemed incredibly calm.

“I’ll continue on then. Goodbye, Yuuri.” Yuuri was just a floating torso now, and golden flecks of stardust poured from his body like a spilt sandbag as the rumbles around them grew ever louder. A cry of anguish was heard as JJ’s arms were covered in stardust. Isabella was nearly gone. Viktor felt tears pricking the corners of his eyes. He collected himself and grabbed JJ and Emil by the arms. There wasn’t any time to lose.

“GOODBYE!” Michele and Sara cried after them. In the shadows of the trees, a faint glimmer could be seen as a certain incubus was no more. All luggage had been taken into the ship the day before. There wasn’t anything else they needed to do except press the button. The world was shaking even more, throwing them into momentary panic as they tripped over each other. Finally, JJ was able to slap that button. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, they were thrown into a swirling space-time vortex as the planet around them exploded. Saishu Mokutekichi was no more. A second later, the universe would compress and collapse, but our heroes weren’t around to see that.  

Intense, blinding rays of color whirled around the ship. Viktor slumped against the floor, and JJ face-planted on one of the beds. Then, they were barreling through an atmosphere before crash landing into a backyard. Luckily, the ship wasn’t damaged.

A tired looking Seung Gil spat out coffee and grabbed a laser gun. When Viktor, JJ and Emil poked their heads out of the door, Seung Gil let out a string of curses.

“GODDAMMIT! PLEASE GET OUT OF MY BACKYARD! I DON’T WANT THE GOVERNMENT HERE!” Seung Gil looked very panicked, “WHY ARE YOU SHOWING UP IN MY BACKYARD AFTER DISAPPEARING OFF THE FACE OF THE UNIVERSE FOR TWO YEARS? ACTUALLY DON’T ANSWER THAT, JUST PLEASE GET OUT OF MY BACKYARD!”  

Viktor slid back to the control panel and started up the ship again. “Oops. I guess the time wasn’t completely accurate.” Somewhere in his backyard on the surface of Glavnaya, Seung Gil breathed a sigh of relief.

Epilogue  

Two years after Viktor, JJ, and Emil had left Saishu Mokutekichi, Viktor pensively sat on his bed. “I wonder where everyone is,” he suddenly said. Colors whirled around the ship.

“Hang on Viktor… we’re almost there,” JJ mumbled from the control panel.  

Soon, they landed on a small planet. Stardust shimmered in the atmosphere. A recent explosion had happened around there, so there were many small planets. Nearby stars looked younger than Viktor had ever seen during any of his adventures, and most of the planets had extreme climate and weather. Everything was closer together than usual as well. The ground was familiar with fresh, budding sprouts springing up. A small swirl of rainbow gas blew past their heads. A young boy playing with a little chick was running around as a small girl watched. Both had black hair. A smile broke out on Viktor’s face as he stepped out of the Victory.

“Yuuri!”

Fanmix: https://8tracks.com/veyzex/voyage-into-kuhaku