#his sweater is supposed to reflect the sky above him and yet i kept using the same generic blue sky

[moonyistired]

✨ first date ✨

[strange-n-unbluusual]

Pink! Ch. 4: The Late Date

*Beetlejuice/Original Female Character. Adult situations. 18+ only.*

Summary: After six breather years away, Beetlejuice returns to find the house on the hill overrun by coeds. Lydia allows him to stay, but has rules. Things get more interesting when Beck, one of the housemates, reveals she can see him. Following a sordid affair, Beetlejuice finds himself lingering around Beck more and more. But will her affection last? And why does it seem to bother Lydia so much?

Chapter 1: The Setup

Chapter 2: The Buzzkill Date

Chapter 3: The Ex Lover

This one is a doozy! 18+ only!!

DMs are always open for thoughts, feedback and suggestions. Ty. On AO3 as CopperContessa_13

They weren’t kidding around when they named the place Winter River.

By late November, it was uncommon for the town to go more than a day without being graced by at least another inch of snow. Constantly clearing her car was annoying, but Beck enjoyed the white stuff otherwise.

She smiled when she saw a bright light peeking through her curtains one morning. When she opened her curtains, she saw the sun was reflecting off a fresh layer of snow that had fallen during the night. About six inches lay untouched on the roof outside her window, the rays making it shine like glitter. Some fluffy flakes still floated lazily down from the sky.

Just beyond the roof, she could see the people moving around in the town. The snow there wasn’t quite as untouched as her immediate view, but the scene was still so picturesque.

The plow trucks had already come, easily moving the puffy snow off the roadway. Most driveways were cleared, too, but tire tracks tattled on who’d woken up too late to shovel before work. Focusing on one street in particular, she noticed a man started to clear his neighbor’s driveway after finishing his own.

Children, no doubt on break from school, were already preparing barricades for snowball fights and running down the streets with sleds in hand. During Winter River's first snow this year, Beck asked Lydia if any kids ever came to sled at the house’s hill. Lydia said she’d let them if they tried, but that they hardly got visitors these days.

Something about a bad experience with a Girl Scout and a census taker? Whatever.

Inspired by the scene, Beck dragged her art desk in front of the window. Warmness tickled her feet as she walked past an air vent. Settling in her chair, she turned to a fresh page in her sketchbook and grabbed a piece of charcoal.

It had taken a couple of days for tensions to ease, but they did. Beck and Lydia maintained their distance, but it was more out of respect than compulsion. Lydia had noticeably stayed over at her girlfriend’s house more since the big fight. When Mariah was over, though, they were considerate and quiet. That didn’t go unnoticed by Beck who, consequently, decided it was in poor taste to pointedly use Lydia’s towels to clean up after she and Beetlejuice finished screwing around.

Having the house to herself really did help Beck cleanse any petty energy that remained in her brain. Nice mornings like this, especially, made her worries feel small.

Being alone on Thanksgiving break wasn’t sad or stressful for her. With school in Connecticut and home in New Mexico, she realized early on that a trip home for such a short break just wasn’t worth it. Plus, it wasn’t like she felt alone.

Her parents kept tabs on her through text messages. She had lengthy streaks with both of her sisters on Snapchat. The ghosts were still around, too. Adam and Barbara, whose presence around the place was a bit more common now, would sometimes make idle conversation. And, of course, there was also Beetlejuice who was… a lot.

As if his snarky observations weren’t grating enough when she pretended to not hear them…

Beck didn’t know someone could be so endearing and insufferable at the same time. She’d learned to finish her work at the campus library because, geezus, Beetlejuice was an unstoppable force at home. It didn’t matter if it was noon or midnight, he was always at the door when she got home. She always found the act endearing until he opened his mouth. From the moment she came in through the door, he'd follow her around like a very talkative shadow. Beetlejuice had a surprising amount to say about his day, considering he never left the house.

Books she read, movies she watched, websites she browsed. You name it. Beetlejuice had a very staunch opinion on all of it. Don't even get him started on what he thought of her housemates. Kendra will never be “punk,” Ash’s poetry is shit, Cici’s weird nipples make her boobs look like googly eyes and Lillian is a shallow bitch. Beck had heard it all.

He never had anything bad to say about Lydia, of course.

After his conscious stream of thought ruined the emotional climax of a series she’d been binging, Beck decided she’d had enough. She was about to tell him off when a thought finally occurred to her: he only talks so much because it's been so long since he’s been heard.

It was a cathartic moment.

It was also cathartic when she learned he got really quiet after blowing a load or two.

They had yet to bang outright. He told her that they couldn't. Something about Netherworld bureaucracy barring him from having sex with a mortal without being summoned. Wary of unleashing a demon for the sake of a 30 second bone sesh (give or take, she imagined), Beck decided she was fine with just hand and tongue stuff.

Speaking of bedroom calisthenics, it was weird he wasn’t curled up next to her that morning.

Beck looked up from her drawing pad to glimpse at the town again, but was distracted by something new on the roof.

She adjusted her posture just enough to make out the beady eyes of a snowman sitting outside her window. The snow used to make it was dirty looking, brown and grey. Its eyes and mouth were made up of tiny pebbles. A black and white striped scarf hung loosely from its neck. A gust of wind blew the knit fabric against the (several?) flimsy twigs being used for arms.

“Hey, sugar tits! Coffee’s on!” Beetlejuice announced while kicking the door to her room open.

Beck flinched, causing the charcoal she was holding to make a thick line on the paper. She frowned at the mistake, but decided not to make a big deal out of it. She could probably pass it off as a tree branch or something. Oh well.

Turning to face him, she was relieved to see him holding two mugs. Caffeine was just what she needed.

“You don’t have anything to do with that cute snowman on the roof, do you, Lawrence?” she asked while grabbing a cup.

“Cute? He’s not cute,” Beetlejuice scoffed. “Look at him peeping into your room! That dirty pervert.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve let that slide.”

He grinned and pulled her to his side with his free arm. She tried her best to ignore the gesture, opting to clutch her hot mug with both hands instead of embracing him back. Messing around was one thing, but she still wasn’t sure what to do when he made affectionate little gestures like these.

Still, there were worse ways to start a morning.

Beck took a sip of the coffee. Her face twisted into disgust.

“Something wrong, babes?”

“W-what did you use to make this?”

“Dirt and water,” He said taking a gulp of the stuff. “Why do you think the snowman is so dirty? I spent the morning digging through the garden to make this.”

Trying to contain her repulsion, Beck calmly walked over to her dresser and set the mug down.

“What? Is this not how you’re supposed to do it?” he asked. “Lydia said it was made with plants.”

“Yeah! A coffee plant. Which is definitely not topsoil.”

“Well I got it from the garden, didn’t I?!”

Beck took a deep breath.

“You are… something,” she said.

“I don’t get your deal. It tastes the same to me,” he shrugged.

“Stop drinking that!”

Beetlejuice stared her down as he chugged the rest. He patted his tummy and made a satisfied “ah” noise. Beck rolled her eyes but cracked a smile.

Jokes on him, she thought. She wouldn’t touch him again until he used some mouthwash.

You can’t have a weak stomach when you’re with someone like him, Beck had learned. If it wasn’t clear from the moss on his face and the dust that wafted off of him when he moved, they guy had an affinity for filth. What was more frustrating than the dirty clothes and greasy hair, though, was that she knew he could do something about it with a wave of his hand. Fucker didn’t even need to shower! He just liked being that way!

Beck liked her men dirty, though.

“I was just trying to do something nice for you,” he grumbled.

“Hon, I know, but it’s gross” Beck laughed.

She slightly regretted using the pet name when she saw him visibly perk up at its use.

“Let me get changed and I’ll make a real breakfast,” she quickly added.

“Are you gonna make pancakes?!” he gasped, lighting up further.

“If you want, I guess.”

“Fuck yeah!”

⁂

Later in the day, they’d decided to turn on a movie. One of Beetlejuice’s favorites— The Exorcist. He was so enamored with the screen he didn’t even see her slip away. He was re-alerted of her presence at the sound of heels clicking on the kitchen’s wood floor. He whipped his head around, desperate to get a view of her from the living room.

Beck was wearing tall brown boots and very tight jeans. The straps of a lacey bralette peeked out tastefully from under a knit sweater. A bit of jewelry and makeup accentuated her features. Her hair fell in big, loose waves just above her shoulders. Her coat and purse were held under one arm.

Beetlejuice wolf whistled, grabbing her attention.

“You look like a million bucks, Beck!” Beetlejuice said, walking over and slapping her ass.

“Thanks,” she said awkwardly. “I actually wanted to wear this cute bandeau and jacket I picked up the other day, but I’ll save that for when it gets warmer. Hoes don’t get cold, but they do get pneumonia.”

“Why are you worried about getting sick? I thought you were staying in today.”

“No. I actually need to head out soon.”

“Why? Grocery store closing?”

“No, Lawrence,” Beck giggled. “I’m going to the pub downtown. This guy from my sculpting class struck up a conversation with me about craft beer. Apparently he knows the woman who owns the place. We’re gonna try some of their new pours together.”

Beetlejuice was quiet for a moment before he finally responded with a breathy laugh.

“If I didn’t know you any better, Bexley, I’d say it sounds like you’re going on a date.”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “Yeah I am. My first since Lydia.”

“Well, you can’t go then!” he snapped.

She looked up at him in surprise.

“And why the fuck not?” Beck spat back.

“Because you and I are already together.”

Oh boy.

Beck’s mouth gaped open for a second, not exactly sure what to say.

“No, we’re not,” she said firmly. “I’m sorry I never laid it out, but what we have is strictly casual.”

“It’s not casual, babes,” he insisted.

Beetlejuice’s words were calm, but she didn’t miss the bits of red that were starting to fleck his green hair.

“We can talk about this later,” Beck said dismissively. “I need to go.”

Beetlejuice pinned her against the wall, holding her firmly in place by clutching her forearms above her head. Her shoes felt like they were glued to the ground— likely his powers holding her. She struggled against him, but quickly realized it was useless.

“Are you going to hurt me?”

“No, baby, never,” Beetlejuice cooed into her ear. “I’m just going to prove a point.”

“What point?”

“That your fucking little breather flings can’t hold a candle to how good I make you feel.”

Beck didn’t get a chance to respond before he hoisted her from the wall and laid her on the nearby countertop. He quickly undid her jeans but looked at her for approval before pulling them down. She hesitated for a moment before shrugging.

“Prove your point, big shot. Make it fast.”

Beck knew she was being greedy and inconsiderate for pulling a stunt like this so close to her date, but she couldn't help herself. She'd become addicted to his constant attention.

She tensed at the coldness of his tongue, but it quickly warmed inside her. It always did. One of Beetlejuice’s hands grasped her thigh while the thumb of the other worked her clit. Her hips spasmed at infrequent intervals at the pleasureful sensation.

She loved the way his tongue pulsed inside her at a steady rhythm. At first she was turned off by how inhuman in looked— wormlike and darker than a human one. The way it could stretch and move her, though, was incomparable to anything else she'd experienced. He was already driving her wild, his movements simple but skilled.

He wasn’t allowed to know that, of course.

Beetlejuice looked up at Beck. She was supported on her elbows, giving her enough height to look back down at him blankly. He knew she was trying her best to be unenthused, but her act wasn’t convincing. Aside from her electrified hips, he could read the lust in her eyes and hear the lilt of an occasional whine leave her mouth.

Not good enough.

Craving a more intense reaction, he slid out to tease her ass for a second. When she opened her mouth to gasp, he quickly rammed the tongue back into its familiar sheath. Beck’s hips bucked into his mouth and she let out long, pleasurable cry.

Beetlejuice smirked, raising an eyebrow at her from his spot below.

“Don’t get cocky,” she groaned.

Repositioning, he placed a hand on either of her thighs and spread her legs further apart. He took a second to appreciate how beautiful and vulnerable she was in this position before diving in headfirst again. She panted, weaving a needy hand in his hair. She'd move him gently, desperate to chase her orgasm with his help. She loved it when he maneuvered so that his appendage could both rub her little pleasure button and fill her insides.

She closed her eyes, imagining it was his cock filling her instead.

After manipulating her with his mouth for a while, Beetlejuice withdrew. Beck, who’d mostly shucked off her pants by that point, wrapped a desperate leg around the back of his head. She tried to push him back into place.

“I’m so fucking close,” she pleaded, “Please don’t stop.”

Everything in him wanted to oblige her.

Beetlejuice was obsessed. He craved to feel her fall apart in his hands. After so many rendezvous like this, it started to felt like his purpose in unlife was to worship her body. It felt like sin to not to give in to her wants.

But he had a point to make…

Beetlejuice kissed her left thigh, the wetness from around his mouth transfering partially onto her with it.

“You can cum when you tell me that no breather will ever satisfy you again.”

“That no wha-? Oh!”

She threw her head back and arched towards him as he slowly slid a thick finger in. The speed was disappointing and teasingly slow. Sitting upright now, Beck tried to stimulate herself further but was unable. Her hips felt like they were being held in place, making it impossible to ramp up the speed by rocking back and forth. Her hands, similarly, felt stuck to the counter. It kept her from playing with her clit.

Beck tried to contain her frustration but failed miserably. Finger still moving painstakingly slow, Beetlejuice watched her thin veneer of calm fall apart. A deep, grounding sigh from her lips slowly became a vexed protest. He laughed openly at her struggle and pressed his forehead against hers. The proximity gave them both a rush.

“Say ‘you’ve spoiled my body too much’ and maybe I’ll let you cum,” he said.

“I’ve had better!” Beck spat back.

He bit her neck in response. Pleased at the scream he elicited from her, he kissed the mark it made.

“Don’t do that! I don’t want Nathan to see it.”

"Fuck Nathan!"

Beetlejuice was about to bite harder when he got distracted by a buzzing noise. They both got quiet. Looking around, he realized it was coming from her jacket on the floor. It, along with her purse, were knocked out of her hands when he pushed her against the wall.

She grumbled when his hand and face left her body. Beetlejuice leaned down and fished the buzzing thing— her cellphone— out of her jacket. He looked at the glowing screen, an evil grin spreading on his face when he saw who was calling her.

“Pick it up. Now,” he demanded as he tossed it to her.

He dismissed the restraint from one of her hands, allowing her to catch. She swallowed nervously before answering.

“H-hi Nathan."

Beetlejuice resumed his position on her neck and teased her entrance with his fingers. As he placed his other hand on the small of her back, Beck realized with horror what he was about to do.

She bit her lip to suppress a moan as two of his thick fingers slammed into her repeatedly. It made her crazy, feeling the hilt of his hand ram against her pelvis. Beck tried to close her thighs to buffer the movement, but his powers still kept her position locked. He nibbled and sucked her neck, careful not to bite too hard this time. She liked it when he paid attention to the spot on her collar bone, too, he'd learned.

Her body trembled at the sensations. A tremor was in her voice, too.

“I’m not standing you up, I promise,” she laughed nervously into the phone. “I, uh, I’m stuck at my house. My car won’t start. Sometimes that happens when it gets too cold.”

Beck let out a yelp as Beetlejuice put a third digit into her.

“No! I’m fine. My back just hurts from hunching over my desk all day. W-what was that? Oh! Uh, yeah that’d be awesome. You're the best. I’ll see you in five.”

She hung up the phone, immediately tossing it aside in order to manipulate her clit. Beetlejuice laughed against her skin.

“Not so cool now are you, Bexley.”

“Shut up and finger fuck me like you mean it.”

That was all the prodding he needed.

Her sweater bunched up as the hand on her back clenched into a fist. Beetlejuice started kissing her on the mouth. Beck kissed back, fiery need consuming them both. When he untethered her other hand, he was surprised to feel her tugging his pants down. He moaned into her mouth at the way she stroked him.

Beck's concentration on him wavered. She broke their kiss and stopped manipulating his cock, too focused on getting herself off before she had to leave.

A long and drawn out scream soon crescendoed from Beck’s mouth. It was so unabashed it almost made Beetlejuice blush. He loved it when she didn't care who heard her cumming. I made him feel powerful. The Maitlands were probably somewhere out of sight and clutching their pearls over it. He certainly didn't give a fuck, though.

“Oh, fuck, baby. That’s right. Ride it out,” he whispered.

Combined with the feeling of her hand on his cock, the sensation of her body clenching around his fingers was almost too much. Beetlejuice was close to climax, too.

Regaining control of herself, Beck's hand started working him again. Beetlejuice grunted and came all over the base of the countertop.

They just stared at each other after coming down from their respective highs. The silence spoke volumes.

In a moment of tenderness, Beetlejuice tried to kiss Beck, but she turned her head.

Wordlessly, she readjusted her clothing. He watched bemused as she maneuvered her hair to fall over the purple and red mark he’d left on her skin. Hearing a car horn honk outside, she picked up her things and headed for the door.

Beck dared to glance back at him one last time.

Beetlejuice smirked back, mouthing the word “spoiled."

She slammed the door behind her.

⁂

The date was a bust. Nathan didn’t even go in for a kiss when he dropped her off.

It's not like she had anyone else to blame but herself, though.

Beck was distant the whole time, her mind more interested in replaying what had just happened rather than listen to her date talk. When she did pay Nathan mind, it wasn't for long. She was self-conscious about hiding the hickey on her neck. She was too distracted to give meaningful answers to the questions he asked. She was too overwhelmed with the worry that he could smell Beetlejuice on her. It wasn't long before he gave up on coaxing conversation out of her.

“Whelp. See you in class Tuesday,” he sighed when he dropped her off.

"Thank you. I'm sorry," was all she could manage to say back.

She really did feel sorry. She really did like him.

Beck was surprised that Beetlejuice wasn’t waiting for her in the foyer. She thought for sure he would been itching to gloat about how he was right. About how that dumb breather didn’t have a chance with her and all that.

He wasn’t waiting in her room when she got up there, either.

This was so unlike him, Beck thought. Where the hell could he be?

The ceiling above her room creaked.

“That bastard,” she muttered.

The message was clear: not only did he demand that she grovel, he demanded she actually go up to the attic to do it.

Resolved that she wouldn’t play his game, Beck started to get ready for bed and kicked off her shoes. Tossing her keys onto her dresser, she noticed the coffee cup that had been left there earlier. The art desk was still by the window, too, along with the drawing she’d been working on.

Picking up the sketch pad, she noticed the thick black line from before was gone. The picture, otherwise, was the same aside from the addition of two crudely drawn figures. A man and a woman peered out at the rest of the town from a window in the top part in one of the houses. The detail was hard to make out, but she could tell they were holding teeny tiny coffee cups.

Beck smiled despite herself.

[blankdblank]

Ridikulus Pt 8

Inside Erebor the arches already chosen were requested to be different, these with doors informed by you that would follow Thorin’s orders of protection and not allow any Dwarf through if he did not accept them as his ally. Giant doors etched with a raven and a boar filled the duo of doorways Thorin hugged you for again. And still hurried back to your home again to continue their planning for the steps ahead, namely assisting Dwalin in proving a sound home for you to grant him full custody while doing the same for Fili to have a solid footing to offer Hermione in the near future to start the cohabitation phase of their courtship.

Taking hold of Em and Teddy while your family and friends were off to Hogwarts hearing of Fred and George’s planning with Gandalf a fireworks display to keep the trio in line you joined the Elf Lords to Rivendell to inform the young children of the change while Dumbledore gave his own speech at Hogwarts.

A glance behind you had the Elf King right there looking over the children in your grip and he asked, “Might you be convinced to taking some tea in Greenwood? Then I might show you our lost keep we plan on rebuilding.”

“Alright.”

In a shift on your feet you turned to follow the path to the archway to Pumpernickel again, once on the other side of it you led the way to the archway around the hill for Greenwood ignoring Novum floating above the King’s head and the black giant fox following after him, both darting off to explore the new lands. Overhead the freed Manticores and Firecrabs to be soon sent back to Hogwarts after being freed from their own protective bubble habitats to lessen their jostling you spied the giant Ice and Thunderbird flying overhead with their young hatchlings behind them. A grin eased across your lips while the pair in your grip giggled and cooed as Opal took to the sky again to join them.

Glorfindel asked, “Those birds, are they common in your world?”

In a turn back to him you asked, “You can see them?”

His eyes met yours and Thranduil asked, “Should we not be able to? As in some form of protecting charm on them?”

You glanced between the pair, “Only Morphers can see them in our old world.”

Glorfindel, “So others are unaware of their existence? It would make sense, only those traveling through Manwe’s gardens could know of them. Though there are paintings of them widely dispersed by those who have.”

In a deflating exhale your lips parted then you wet them to say, “They were trapped, in a series of vaults in our school, nearly tore it apart in their being set free. They were so scared when the vaults were opened again, but me, Cedric, Fred and George managed to calm them down. The dragon should be out too.” In a nod you turned and pointed with a finger parting their lips at the crystal and fur coated dragon soaring through the air from the Forbidden Forest while the Chimera and her giant mother exited with the Centaurs for a search of their own. “The giant Chimera was trapped too, her daughter she managed to free helped us get her out, those two can be seen, it’s really difficult to make friends with Chimera, but they’re actually very sweet if you give them a chance.”

Turning again you kept on going down the path while the stunned Elf Lords kept inspecting the creatures on the school grounds then swiftly caught up to you again. Lowly you said, “I suppose it makes sense, the dragon told me they had come from a different world and ours along with us, and our new world was too dangerous for our children. So they let themselves be trapped in those vaults as a way of enchanting the school lands against harm from harsher creatures.”

Glorfindel, “From what I understand they are quite rare, even in Valinor, to have hatchlings on your lands is incredible. Manwe surely would be pleased these creatures are returned with you.”

Thranduil asked in your silence and downward glance adjusting the pair in your hold, “Are you tired,” in a glance up at him he stated, “If your arms are tired we might assist in carrying your children. We have quite a distance yet.”

In a soft exhale you said, “If you like. Though be careful, Em is now fascinated with braids and may knot up your hair in trying it.”

With a hint of a grin he reached out his hands and gingerly accepted Em from you resting her in the crook of his arm against his chest and her wide eyes flickered from bright green to a pale icy blue for a moment matching his. Turning your head you passed Teddy over to Glorfindel who just as gladly cradled the boy against his chest and commented, “Quite an amazing thing, having so many children around you. There still is no sign of his mother?”

“I had a dream she was in Rivendell, so she’ll turn up. No doubt she’s finding her way back or we’ll stumble across her.”

Thranduil asked in an adoring gaze at the girl in his arms tracing the design on his outer robe while draping the wrap more around her back even in her ignorance of the cold in your warming bubble around the pair while you slowly gathered snow in your curls and across your sweater. “If I might, what is the meaning of Em as a name?”

With a grin you answered, “Her full name is Emmeline Ophelia Rose Tennant-Black.” The full name being much more beautiful and fitting for the child the King stroked his hand across the back of, “Emmeline means Industrious or hard working. Ophelia is the name of a moon and Rose was my mum’s middle name. We usually shorten the names of infants to help them learn it easier.”

Glorfindel, “Quite beautiful. What might Tennant mean?”

“Tennant is Barty’s new family name, we hyphenated, Barty’s decision. Along with Rose.”

Thranduil, “Yes, your father shared that he is wed now, and expecting more children soon, even to the point of granting you full custody of Em, does that please you?”

In a weak chuckle you replied, “It won’t be a full cut off, we still will be sharing custody, merely she will be sleeping in the nursery in my home to let her sleep while the infants settle to their schedule. I’ll even be going over to help them out to get some relaxing time with her or so they can get a nap in.”

Through the arch you led the group for the King to turn open mouthed to take in the system of arches adoring the design you had given the arches then he looked to you in your asking, “For that arch I hope you don’t mind I placed arches in Southern Greenwood as well.”

“Not at all, thank you.” His eyes scanned over you asking, “I was hoping we might also schedule your visit out to cleanse and seal out lands.”

With a smirk you shifted on your feet and stated, “I have some time now, might as well get started.” With his wrap being lifted up over Em’s head in her giggling game making him grin at her again after your lean in to kiss her cheek when she peeked up at you. Stepping back you stole a peck on Teddy’s cheek as well making Glorfindel grin as well in the planting of your hand on his arm for a moment and you moved to the arch you needed. Straight out the other side you eyed the snow coated forest curiously differing from the Northern warm near spring like kingdom in its darkened state.

Rustling from above had you drawing out your wand and in the men clutching the toddlers closer to their chests protectively before their lips parted in the eruption of your dragon patronus that let out explosions of ghostly white flames from between its jaws. Flooding out even to the farthest reaches of the Northern Kingdom while a giant bubble charm encased both portions for you to pass the blue topaz coated ring the King slid onto his finger with a pleased grin. Above you the splitting poisoned bark was being shivered free by the stirring trees while the webs of the spiders that had fled withered away

Through the light lingering in floating orbs the ruins of the abandoned ruined palace came to your attention. Closer over the fallen leaves and thick snow you walked across with ease with a growing group of curious Elves passing through the archway to inspect where their King was behind their curious Prince. Inhaling deeply you eyed the ruins in the open charred patch of land settled in a wide circle of clearly splintered trees chopped down decades past. In a dip down your fingers on the land the snow refused to touch and it recoiled in the sound of dragon fire and hoards or orcs chasing the Elves out of these lands farther North away from the flame wreathed creatures.

Glorfindel asked, “Miss Pear?” When you stood up he eyed you in the flicker of your eyes back to normal from their silver state, “Are you unwell?”

“No.” Inhaling again you stepped forward repeating softer, “No,” lowly in Draconic you whispered an incantation with your fingers swiping slowly at your sides forming symbols into the earth that began to pulse while your body was coated in white flames again. As you continued to speak the Elves gathered watching the blackened earth shifting back to a softer brown more suitable for welcoming plants and the continued snowfall.

Yet through that dirt the cursed and ruined palace began to shimmer sprouting and weaving together again in all its former glory parting the lips of all looking on. Sheathing your wand again you stepped back to look at the group all taking in the image of you in a shimmering spectrum of colors reflecting off the palace behind you under the glimmers of moonlight between the gathering clouds. With trembling fingers you moved closer to the group in the ripple of your hair from glittering variations of colors across your curls to silvery blue again when your fingers smoothed through them.

With a glance at you Thranduil turned saying after a confirming glance at his Son, “There is a meal waiting, we should get you something to eat.” In what you meant to be a shift of your body to join the others your eyes flinched to a flock of birds dropping acorns onto the ground that chipmunks scurried out to help bury. Shifting in a half circle you back stepped a few steps and bumped into Thranduil’s free arm lowering his gaze to you when you turned to look at Em when she leaned in to kiss your cheek.

Glorfindel, “Surely the forest will begin sprouting again soon enough.”

“No doubt if the chipmunks are on the job. Determined things, nearly took out a Bowtruckle colony at Hogwarts. Had to rehouse the chipmunks, lay out barriers to keep them away, bring in these turtles to keep them from crossing the little strip of land to get to their tree.” In the glance up at what you took as an unamused expression you flashed a quick grin, “Sorry, rambling.”

In a shake of his head you caught what seemed to be the most content expression he’d had on his face, “It is an interesting story. Though, if I might, what is a, Bowtruckle?”

“Oh, it’s a little green creature, they live in colonies, they sort of look like stick bugs, if you have them.”

Thranduil, “We do, in a few months you might find them all over our kingdoms aiding in our gardens.”

“Well Bowtruckles I doubt would want to live in your forests. They only live in wand wood trees. Naturally defend them, tend to attack any who try to take even a leaf. But they can be bartered with long enough to take a sample. Part of how we protect the bunches of wand making tree populations.”

Thranduil, “And the lands you have chosen will grant you enough space to replant them?”

“Oh, we won’t leave them in Pumpernickel.”

Glorfindel, “Pumpernickel?”

You nodded and flashed him a quick grin after having passed back through the archway to Northern Greenwood, “The children voted on the name for it.” His eyes narrowed for a moment and you said, “This coming from a group taught in a school named Hogwarts.”

When you looked forward again a quick grin flinched across his face while Thranduil led the way, saying, “I am certain they thought long and hard on it.”

“Doubt it, hard to pin down the attention span of a four year old. Almost named post it or spoon, which I think spoon would be sort of adorable, but that’s just me.” The Lords shared a quick confused glance then faced forward again mentally conferencing it must be tied to some old joke neither of them had been privy to just yet then shared glances at the children in their arms.

Straight to the dining hall in the Royal Wing you were led and into the seat Prince Legolas eased out for you with a grin you sat feeling his eyes on you in your soft thanks. Around the table he went to his seat across from you while the King and Lord filled the seats around you, the wide yawns of the duo had K and Dobby popping up and reluctantly they passed the children over while K grinned holding Em closely saying, “Time for a nap, little Miss.” Patting her back in her lean against his chest while Dobby did the same for Teddy and they zapped away.

Legolas asked, “Those two, they seem to care deeply for the children.”

You nodded, “Yes, well K took care of my father, uncle and me growing up. He’s happy to see the next generation and Dobby is glad to have a family to care for that appreciates him. Plus they’re too adorable not to want to snuggle up to.”

Glorfindel, “They truly do seem pleased to care for your family. Must be quite helpful in caring for infants.”

“We do handle most of the caring, just naps are difficult sometimes around work.”

Thranduil, “Does Barty have a pair?”

“He has Tippy, we have had three more willing to live with him and his wife to help her through Barty’s classes.”

Glorfindel, “He intends to continue working after the birth?”

“He’s given a month off for paternity leave, I mean once he’s back again for the end of the school year. His wife is staying home after, her work is mainly easy to handle from home anyways.” Your eyes scanned over the Lord asking, “You disapprove?”

Glorfindel looked you over, “Not at all. We have heard a great number of stories from Arthur of his time at work while his wife Molly cared for their children. Many families I am certain are not able to remain at home through childcare. Were you?”

“I worked, and trained, then again I didn’t actually give birth.”

Thranduil, “That is irrelevant.” Over your shoulder the first course was served and in your soft thanks the Elf blinked connecting his eyes with yours for a moment then gave a slight bow of his head and slipped out of your sight joining the other retracting Elves with a second round of them pouring wine into your glasses beside a second glass of water. After a nip at your lip you listened to the King in his sharing plans of rebuilding the furniture and decorations to replace what was lost in the evacuations unknowing yet of what the curious Elves inspecting the repaired castle that was already fully housing all that had not been carried out by those fleeing.

Smoothly your finger eased along the stem of the fork you raised to start on your salad which then led to a second course of chicken when your attention shifted to Lord Glorfindel in his clarifying a term Thranduil used by sharing a story of their shared youth. Through which you raised the glass of raspberry wine and gave it a curious whiff then took a sip. The sweet taste melting into a full body warmth when you raised your next fork and the knife after lowering your glass.

Each bite seemed to lull you into a growing warmth until after the move to the sitting room across from a music hall with a choir practicing to an orchestra had your eyes drooping fully when Thranduil got called out of the room for an arriving message. The subtle shift in your seat to tuck a leg up against the arm brought Legolas to tap his father’s arm after crossing the room turning his gaze to you finding Glorfindel curiously looking you over.

A gentle tap of the Lord’s fingers to your hand and a sigh from you came in a full body wiggle curling up more in your seat making the Lords look at one another only for Thranduil to say, “I suppose we might move her to one of our guest beds.”

Glorfindel fidgeted his fingers curious about who would carry you only to have Legolas spare them the argument and carefully raise you in his arms stating, “Now neither of you have crossed any boundaries.” Smirking to himself in his leading the way to the chosen guest apartment.

With the covers eased back by Glorfindel, Thranduil helped to remove your shoes for your legs to be eased under the covers while a servant lit the fire. Tenderly Glorfindel covered you up stealing a longing glance at you nestling further into the bed. Quietly the men slipped out of your room they eased shut hoping you would get some rest, which they were pleased to know that Remus had agreed to stand as your substitute for the few final days of this week to help you rest more. To distract themselves they went back for the sitting room to play a card game that dissolved into a questioning few hours of what to say to you when you woke.

.

Inhaling sharply in a jolt up out of bed your eyes were wide with the image of Bellatrix’ body through the sound of Delphini crying out for her. Settling on your knees you sighed and rubbed your face brushing your hair back and zapped home after climbing off the bed you remade. Crossing your room you sighed pulling out of your sweater and jeans letting your shoes float back to their usual cubby as you pulled on a pair of shorts and a flowing tank top. Downing an energy boosting potion the ballet slippers dangling by the door were grabbed in your walk to the glass encased ballroom.

Once inside you sighed eyeing the snow still falling around the room while you shut the doors behind you and walked to the center. Dutifully the slippers were added with simple stretches made and onto your feet you rose in the starting of the music player in the corner. If you couldn’t sleep you might as well rehearse for your next role. One by one you went through the steps ignoring the cold, the pain and growing light filling the hall around you.

*

“Ada, Miss Black is gone.” That had the King torn from his conversation with Lord Glorfindel as to what to have prepared for breakfast.

Thranduil, “What?”

Legolas, “When the fires were to be relit the bed was found to be empty.”

Glorfindel, “That means Miss Black only got less than three hours sleep.”

Thranduil, “In the morning we will merely check that she had returned home safely.”

Disappointed their plans had fallen through for their flighty One’s morning surprise they all headed off to bed so they would be rested fully hoping that the reasoning behind their early morning visit would excuse dropping by uninvited. Still all the same they got ready and found their feet to make their way through the palace to the archway for Pumpernickel where they crossed the snow coated pathway to get to your home. Passing through the front gates they approached the front door eyeing it curiously until Glorfindel eyed the chord from the bell and gave it a timid tug then glanced up to the house in the echoing bells sounding inside.

Regulus was the one to answer the door and smirked spotting Lindir who had joined the Lords and Lady Arwen from Rivendell joining the others. In a tilt of his head he said, “Come on in, morning, morning,” greeting each of the passing Elves with an especially wide grin making Lindir blush and glance at him again, “Just getting started on breakfast.”

The sound of faint music in the hall had Arwen asking, “You hold performances from orchestras here as well?”

In a turn of his head Regulus mumbled, “No, hmm.” Turning from the kitchen to follow the music where he found your father standing up with Em in his arms. Watching you en point with one foot jut out in an exaggerated stretch while you bent back in an exaggerated arch sending your curls flying back nearly brushing against the floor in their swing to brush along the back of your shin.

A sudden swing of your extended leg and you were upright with arms stretched up bowing to cross in the shift of your weight for an exaggerated standing split with your leg raised on your right. Every inch of the pose just like the other was carefully inspected by the awed Elves before the sudden drop of your leg to start the first of three spins with your leg in attitude behind you while your arm shifted in arches through your spin. A series of steps joined you with the company of dancing dummies who joined you.

A line of en point bounding steps around three of the spinning dummies had two more following you into the grand jete with the trio straight up with arms arched upwards while you arched back against your back leg in what seemed to be an exaggerated exhale deflating you. A landing from you first came in a swing around the dummy with an arm raised with your leg bending backwards to anchor on its side for an exaggerated swell of the music accenting the lunge the dummy made.

Rolling slowly over its shoulder held up by your bent arm you stood in another split in his rise then with its arms circling under your lowering leg in a faked lovers embrace through another exaggerated lunge you were lowered and lifted to spin and be raised up to droop backwards in the end of the music.

Lowly Glorfindel asked, “Is this a common form of dance?”

Regulus smirked as Ron passing by answered, “Ballet, one of the oldest classical forms. Didn’t think she’d be rehearsing so soon.” Walking on to the kitchen, “I’ll start on the toast.”

Sirius sighed and entered the room in your being lowered and you clearly showed signs of exhaustion in turning to notice the group watching. Leaving Regulus in the hall to say, “Jaqi’s in a film contract for three more films, thought she’d rest more before rehearsing again.”

Legolas, “Film?”

Regulus, “It’s sort of like a play, but recorded. We can show you one later. Jewels used to perform all the time, so did her family. Come on, let’s get you your seats for the food and she’ll with us shortly after she cleans up.”

Thranduil, “The show, Miss Black is dancing with puppets?”

Regulus chuckled shaking his head, “No, they’re just enchanted to take the place of the others in the show. Once we’ve finished settling all of our lands and reshaped Dale the full set of dancers should be around to rehearse eventually.”

*

Up to your side your father strode saying sweetly, “You didn’t sleep?” In a turn you sighed and he asked, “Riddle?”

“Bella and Delphini.”

With a nod he leaned in to kiss your forehead in your lean against his chest, “It wasn’t your fault, she wasn’t mean to be there. Had she stayed home with Delphini, well, we’d still have had to find her eventually, though it was not your fault she attacked Neville and gave you the sign you needed to get Riddle into your trap.”

“I know.”

In a stroke of his hand across your cheek he stated, “It will pass, in time. I am certain Delphini is much better off out of the hands of Bellatrix, those years in Azkaban did not aid in her sanity.”

“Grindlewald has her,” that lifted his brow and you said, “him and Queenie. I don’t think he knew I knew, kept her at the other end of the house.”

“See then,” he said with a weak grin, “She’s got Queenie and Gellert, not the worst models to grow up after, arguably not the best either yet still, not the worst.”

You nodded, “What else is there?”

“I rebuilt their southern kingdom,”

“Ah, no wonder the King seems so pleased.”

“I saw how it was destroyed. Dragons, orcs, he has every reason to be terrified of dragons, they destroyed his home and killed his father and nearly him.”

“Ah,” in a cupping of your cheek he said, “In time he will see our dragons are nothing like theirs. It’s all in the blood, ours are clearly family based, theirs are singular. Now, let’s get you freshened up so they can try to thank you properly, hmm?”

“Daddy?”

“Yes Pumpkin?”

“They don’t seem to want to know anyone else, Thranduil and Glorfindel.”

With a hint of a smirk on his face he answered, “Well there certainly was a great deal of questions about you, Em and all included. There was also a great deal of talk on Ones, would it be so terribly bad if they were yours? A King and a Lord, quite a feat, the Pears would no doubt be pleased.”

Again you sighed, “I just found you, we’re finding home here, I don’t need to think about dating, let alone two potential suitors.”

In a tilt of his head he said, “I doubt their intention is to make you choose.”

“Both of them? Seriously?!”

In a chuckle he said, “Now, now, I’m no saint and truly, love is love. Just get to know them, if they give the hint to wish to both court you, why not let them. I doubt they would lead you wrong, Pumpkin.” Rolling your eyes you leaned in to kiss Em’s cheek in her waking grumble and joined him in the stroll out of the room reaching down to pull off the slippers you magically had untied one at a time that swung at your side when you split up for you to head upstairs. In your turn though you caught the gaze of the blondes in their own turn to enter the kitchen at the other end of the hall, both still floored by your flawless and fluid motions they had never seen in a dance before that somehow had them aching to see more of the supposed art form taking decades to master.

A hasty shower and pulled into a sweater and jeans with thick knee high socks pulled on, with a ruffle of your hair you turned to Norberta and Opal in your fireplace stirring on their way to head to catch their own breakfast in the new river on the edge of your lands. Crouching down feeling the ache of your muscles stirring the pair towards you with curious grins, “I was wondering if you might be able to give me a light, help me spark up again?”

Fully agreeing they both grew to the size of cows and in your shift to a phoenix you walked into the fireplace onto their heating rack beds there and they both gave you two good burst helping to build you up again. Changed back you hugged the pair and followed them down for their stroll to the back door to the gardens you passed by to join the others at the table. The empty seat beside your father and Remus was claimed by you and in your move to fill your plate you caught the eye of the King who asked, “Miss Black, we were hoping to inquire if you slept well?”

Forcing a grin you said, “Not really. Didn’t want to keep you all up, figured I’d come home and keep busy. Sorry to fall asleep on you.”

Shaking his head Thranduil replied, “No need to apologize, you are exhausted.”

Arwen stated, “If you wished Miss Black we might have some of our healers see if we might be able to help you relax enough to get some rest unless you must work today.”

Remus patted your shoulder saying, “I am managing her courses the next few days to allow Jaqi some rest. I think that might be lovely. Day of relaxation.”

To which Legolas smirked stating, “No better healers for relaxation than in our kingdom. Surely it would give us a great way to repay you.” In that the glint of mischief lit up in the Prince’s eyes followed by a pleased near pleading glance from his father mirrored on the faces of all the Elves around him.

“I guess I could give it a try.”

.

When you were through eating when they had hoped to head over right away Bill raced into the room saying, “I need a baby!”

Shaking your head in his repeated tries to correct what he said you looked to Ginny saying, “If you’d fetch Mum, I’ll get the Delacours.” As you stood you mumbled, “So much for relaxing.” Heading for your enchanted doorway that appeared a few feet from you making the Elf Lords glance between one another.

Percy in Ginny’s dart out of the room to aparate outside the Hollow explained, “That would mean Fleur is in labor.”

Within ten minutes the Weasley clan were gathered and heading up for Bill and Fleur’s suite where Molly was already helping her relax when a flood of French speaking people flooded through your home including Vivienne, who they instantly assumed to be you until they spotted your return under Ollivier’s arm. By the circle of Elves Sirius stated, “That would be the Pearisiyea clan. We call them the Pears.” Their eyes all shifted to him in Remus’ leaving Teddy to Draco’s care to fill in for your first class. “Jaqi’s great grandparents, found them when she was 14 I believe.”

Glorfindel, “They were lost?”

Sirius chuckled and shook his head, “No, sorry, um, Jewels was orphaned as a baby, turned out they saw Jaqi’s picture, who clearly resembles Vivienne and their lost daughter Suzsienne, Jewel’s birth mother.”

Thranduil, “And they are here because-?”

Fred said in passing with arms full of supply baskets you had prepped weeks before, “Their family is intertwined with Fleur’s.”

George behind him said, “Two oldest pureblood families in France.”

The longer the Elves focused on the passing families the more they couldn’t help but stare, a realization making Lindir back step until his view was blocked by Arwen then he moved to Regulus’ side making him smirk and pat his shoulder saying, “No need for that face. Old Veela lines. Natural born beauties none can resist. Normally they use suppressants to lessen the effect but we caught them out of bed seems like.”

Legolas, “Veela? That sounds like some sort of creature.”

Regulus chuckled, “You could say that, pureblooded females when angered have a way their faces can shift to, well they sort of grow beaks, and you just never want to piss them off.”

Glorfindel, “Beaks?”

Sirius nodded and let out a chuckle at the frightened gazes on the King and Glorfindel, “No worries, Jaqi is an eighth Veela at best. Most of the allure but none of the drawbacks of the match.”

Thranduil, “Mrs Fleur’s family, they are pleased with the match between herself and Arthur’s son?”

Regulus nodded, “Weasleys are pure blooded. They have expectations but overall even without being Veela he comes from a great family, plus he had the draw of being close to Jaqi so her family knew she would have a trusted ally close by to count on if need be.”

Elrond, “The appeal was Miss Black then? Would they not be related?”

Sirius, “Not close enough to worry about. The last child between the Pears and Delacour’s was four generations back, and I’m roughly a cousin to Arthur, if that. It’s been generations since they married into our clan.”

Glorfindel, “What other expectations would their families hold past bloodlines and purity?”

Sirius smirked catching the pitifully hidden meaning for asking, “Mostly comes down to breeding, able to provide a stable future, personality after that they have to be able to join the clans well, overall if the major boxes are ticked then there is no real issue with the match if the couple are happy.” Earning confirming nods from the pair.

Entering the hall Thorin asked looking over the group while Fili grinned easing to Hermione’s side to steal a greeting clutch of her hand stirring a grin onto her face while Thorin asked, “Have we missed something?”

Sirius said, “Fleur is in labor. There is still plenty of food, eat up.” Earning nods from the Dwarves who hurried to eat to continue in their task of readying the Royal Apartments to suit their goals.

Pt 9

[yurionice-secretsanta]

To @yuuris-piano​ From @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

[readbookywooks]

A PARLIAMENT OF OWLS

IT is a very funny thing that the sleepier you are, the longer you take about getting to bed; especially if you are lucky enough to have a fire in your room. Jill felt she couldn't even start undressing unless she sat down in front of the fire for a bit first. And once she had sat down, she didn't want to get up again. She had already said to herself about five times, "I must go to bed", when she was startled by a tap on the window. She got up, pulled the curtain, and at first saw nothing but darkness. Then she jumped and started backwards, for something very large had dashed itself against the window, giving a sharp tap on the glass as. it did so. A very unpleasant idea came into her head - "Suppose they have giant moths in this country! Ugh!" But then the thing came back, and this time she was almost sure she saw a beak, and that the beak had made that tapping noise. "It's some huge bird," thought Jill. "Could it be an eagle?" She didn't very much want a visit even from an eagle, but she opened the window and looked out. Instantly, with a great whirring noise, the creature alighted on the window-sill and stood there filling up the whole window, so that Jill had to step back to make room for it. It was the Owl. "Hush, hush! Tu-whoo, tu-whoo," said the Owl. "Don't make a noise. Now, are you two really in earnest about what you've got to do?" "About the lost Prince, you mean?" said Jill. "Yes, we've got to be." For now she remembered the Lion's voice and face, which she had nearly forgotten during the feasting and story-telling in the hall. "Good!" said the Owl. "Then there's no time to waste. You must get away from here at once. I'll go and wake the other human. Then I'll come back for you. You'd better change those court clothes and put on something you can travel in. I'll be back in two twos. Tu-whoo!" And without waiting for an answer, he was gone. If Jill had been more used to adventures, she might have doubted the Owl's word, but this never occurred to her: and in the exciting idea of a midnight escape she forgot her sleepiness. She changed back into sweater and shorts there was a guide's knife on the belt of the shorts which might come in useful - and added a few of the things that had been left in the room for her by the girl with the willowy hair. She chose a short cloak that came down to her knees and had a hood ("just the thing, if it rains," she thought), a few handkerchiefs and a comb. Then she sat down and waited. She was getting sleepy again when the Owl returned. "Now we're ready," it said. "You'd better lead the way," said Jill. "I don't know all these passages yet." "Tu-whoo!" said the Owl. "We're not going through the castle. That would never do. You must ride on me. We shall fly." "Oh!" said Jill, and stood with her mouth open, not much liking the idea. "Shan't I be too heavy for you?" "Tu-whoo, tu-whoo! Don't you be a fool. I've already carried the other one. Now. But we'll put out that lamp first." As soon as the lamp was out, the bit of the night which you saw through the window looked less dark - no longer black, but grey. The Owl stood on the window-sill with his back to the room and raised his wings. Jill had to climb on to his short fat body and get her knees under the wings and grip tight. The feathers felt beautifully warm and soft but there was nothing to hold on by. "I wonder how Scrubb liked his ride!" thought Jill. And just as she was thinking this, with a horrid plunge they had left the window-sill, and the wings were making a flurry round her ears, and the night air, rather cool and damp, was flying in her face. It was much lighter than she expected, and though the sky was overcast, one patch of watery silver showed where the moon was hiding above the clouds. The fields beneath her looked grey, and the trees black. There was a certain amount of wind - a hushing, ruffling sort of wind which meant that rain was coming soon. The Owl wheeled round so that the castle was now ahead of them. Very few of the windows showed lights. They flew right over it, northwards, crossing the river: the air grew colder, and Jill thought she could see the white reflection of the Owl in the water beneath her. But soon they were on the north bank of the river, flying above wooded country. The Owl snapped at something which Jill couldn't see. "Oh, don't, please!" said Jill. "Don't jerk like that. You nearly threw me off." "I beg your pardon," said the Owl. "I was just nabbing a bat. There's nothing so sustaining, in a small way, as a nice plump little bat. Shall I catch you one?" "No, thanks," said Jill with a shudder. He was flying a little lower now and a large, black looking object was looming up towards them. Jill had just time to see that it was a tower - a partly ruinous tower, with a lot of ivy on it, she thought - when she found herself ducking to avoid the archway of a window, as the Owl squeezed with her through the ivied cobwebby opening, out of the fresh, grey night into a dark place inside the top of the tower. It was rather fusty inside and, the moment she slipped off the Owl's back, she knew (as one usually does somehow) that it was quite crowded And when voices began saying out of the darkness from every direction "Tuwhoo! Tu-whoo!" she knew it was crowded with owls. She was rather relieved when a very different voice said: "Is that you, Pole?" "Is that you, Scrubb?" said Jill. "Now," said Glimfeather, "I think we're all here. Let us hold a parliament of owls." "Tu-whoo, tu-whoo. True for you. That's the right thing to do," said several voices. "Half a moment," said Scrubb's voice. "There's something I want to say first." "Do, do, do," said the owls; and Jill said, "Fire ahead." "I suppose all you chaps-owls, I mean," said Scrubb, "I suppose you all know that King Caspian the Tenth, in his young days, sailed to the eastern end of the world. Well, I was with him on that journey: with him and Reepicheep the Mouse, and the Lord Drinian and all of them. I know it sounds hard to believe, but people don't grow older in our world at the same speed as they do in yours. And what I want to say is this, that I'm the King's man; and if this parliament of owls is any sort of plot against the King, I'm having nothing to do with it." "Tu-whoo, tu-whoo, we're all the King's owls too," said the owls. "What's it all about then?" said Scrubb. "It's only this," said Glimfeather. "That if the Lord Regent, the Dwarf Trumpkin, hears you are going to look for the lost Prince, he won't let you start. He'd keep you under lock and key sooner." "Great Scott!" said Scrubb. "You don't mean that Trumpkin is a traitor? I used to hear a lot about him in the old days, at sea. Caspian - the King, I mean - trusted him absolutely." "Oh no," said a voice. "Trumpkin's no traitor. But more than thirty champions (knights, centaurs, good giants, and all sorts) have at one time or another set out to look for the lost Prince, and none of them have ever come back. And at last the King said he was not going to have all the bravest Narnians destroyed in the search for his son. And now nobody is allowed to go." "But surely he'd let us go," said Scrubb. "When he knew who I was and who had sent me." ("Sent both of us," put in Jill.) "Yes," said Glimfeather, "I think, very likely, he would. But the King's away. And Trumpkin will stick to the rules. He's as true as steel, but he's deaf as a post and very peppery. You could never make him see that this might be the time for making an exception to the rule." "You might think he'd take some notice of us, because we're owls and everyone knows how wise owls are," said someone else. "But he's so old now he'd only say, `You're a mere chick. I remember you when you were an egg. Don't come trying to teach me, Sir. Crabs and crumpets!'" This owl imitated Trumpkin's voice rather well, and there were sounds of owlish laughter all round. The children began to see that the Narnians all felt about Trumpkin as people feel at school about some crusty teacher, whom everyone is a little afraid of and everyone makes fun of and nobody really dislikes. "How long is the King going to be away?" asked Scrubb. "If only we knew!" said Glimfeather. "You see, there has been a rumour lately that Aslan himself has been seen in the islands - in Terebinthia, I think it was. And the King said he would make one more attempt before he died to see Aslan face to face again, and ask his advice about who is to be King after him. But we're all afraid that, if he doesn't meet Aslan in Terebinthia, he'll go on east, to Seven Isles and Lone Islands - and on and on. He never talks about it, but we all know he has never forgotten that voyage to the world's end. I'm sure in his heart of hearts he wants to go there again." "Then there's no good waiting for him to come back?" said Jill. "No, no good," said the Owl. "Oh, what a to-do! If only you two had known and spoken to him at once! He'd have arranged everything - probably given you an army to go with you in search of the Prince." Jill kept quiet at this and hoped Scrubb would be sporting enough not to tell all the owls why this hadn't happened. He was, or very nearly. That is, he only muttered under his breath, "Well, it wasn't my fault," before saying out loud: "Very well. We'll have to manage without it. But there's just one thing more I want to know. If this owls' parliament, as you call it, is all fair and above board and means no mischief, why does it have to be so jolly secret - meeting in a ruin in dead of night, and all that?" "Tu-whoo! Tu-whoo!" hooted several owls. "Where should we meet? When would anyone meet except at night?" "You see," explained Glimfeather, "most of the creatures in Narnia have such unnatural habits. They do things by day, in broad blazing sunlight (ugh!) when everyone ought to be asleep. And, as a result, at night they're so blind and stupid that you can't get a word out of them. So we owls have got into the habit of meeting at sensible hours, on our own, when we want to talk about things." "I see," said Scrubb. "Well now, let's get on. Tell us all about the lost Prince." Then an old owl, not Glimfeather, related the story. About ten years ago, it appeared, when Rilian, the son of Caspian, was a very young knight, he rode with the Queen his mother on a May morning in the north parts of Narnia. They had many squires and ladies with them and all wore garlands of fresh leaves on their heads, and horns at their sides; but they had no hounds with them, for they were maying, not hunting. In the warm part of the day they came to a pleasant glade where a fountain flowed freshly out of the earth, and there they dismounted and ate and drank and were merry. After a time the Queen felt sleepy, and they spread cloaks for her on the grassy bank, and Prince Rilian with the rest of the party went a little way from her, that their tales and laughter might not wake her. And so, presently, a great serpent came out of the thick wood and stung the Queen in her hand. All heard her cry out and rushed towards her, and Rilian was first at her side. He saw the worm gliding away from her and made after it with his sword drawn. It was great, shining, and as green as poison, so that he could see it well: but it glided away into thick bushes and he could not come at it. So he returned to his mother, and found them all busy about her. But they were busy in vain, for at the first glance of her face Rilian knew that no physic in the world would do her good. As long as the life was in her she seemed to be trying hard to tell him something. But she could not speak clearly and, whatever her message was, she died without delivering it. It was then hardly ten minutes since they had first heard her cry. They carried the dead Queen back to Cair Paravel, and she was bitterly mourned by Rilian and by the King, and by all Narnia. She had been a great lady, wise and gracious and happy, King Caspian's bride whom he had brought home from the eastern end of the world. And men said that the blood of the stars flowed in her veins. The Prince took his mother's death very hardly, as well he might. After that, he was always riding on the northern marches of Narnia, hunting for that venomous worm, to kill it and be avenged. No one remarked much on this, though the Prince came home from these wanderings looking tired and distraught. But about a month after the Queen's death, some said they could see a change in him. There was a look in his eyes as of a man who has seen visions, and though he would be out all day, his horse did not bear the signs of hard riding. His chief friend among the older courtiers was the Lord Driman, he who had been his father's captain on that great voyage to the east parts of the earth. One evening Drinian said to the Prince, "Your Highness must soon give over seeking the worm. There is no true vengeance on a witless brute as there might be on a man. You weary yourself in vain." The Prince answered him, "My Lord, I have almost forgotten the worm this seven days." Drinian asked him why, if that were so, he rode so continually in the northern woods. "My lord," said the Prince, "I have seen there the most beautiful thing that was ever made." "Fair Prince," said Drinian, "of your courtesy let me ride with you tomorrow, that I also may see this fair thing." "With a good will," said Rilian. Then in good time on the next day they saddled their horses and rode a great gallop into the northern woods and alighted at that same fountain where the Queen got her death. Drinian thought it strange that the Prince should choose that place of all places, to linger in. And there they rested till it came to high noon: and at noon Drinian looked up and saw the most beautiful lady he had ever seen; and she stood at the north side of the fountain and said no word but beckoned to the Prince with her hand as if she bade him come to her. And she was tall and great, shining, and wrapped in a thin garment as green as poison. And the Prince stared at her like a man out of his wits. But suddenly the lady was gone, Driman knew not where; and the two returned to Cair Paravel. It stuck in Drinian's mind that this shining green woman was evil. Drinian doubted very much whether he ought not to tell this adventure to the King, but he had little wish to be a blab and a tale-bearer and so he held his tongue. But afterwards he wished he had spoken. For next day Prince Rilian rode out alone. That night he came not back, and from that hour no trace of him was ever found in Narnia nor any neighbouring land, and neither his horse nor his hat nor his cloak nor anything else was ever found. Then Drinian in the bitterness of his heart went to Caspian and said, "Lord King, slay me speedily as a great traitor: for by my silence I have destroyed your son." And he told him the story. Then Caspian caught up a battle-axe and rushed upon the Lord Drinian to kill him, and Drinian stood still as a stock for the death blow. But when the axe was raised, Caspian suddenly threw it away and cried out, "I have lost my queen and my son: shall I lose my friend also?" And he fell upon the Lord Drinian's neck and embraced him and both wept, and their friendship was not broken. Such was the story of Rilian. And when it was over, Jill said, "I bet that serpent and that woman were the same person." "True, true, we think the same as you," hooted the owls. "But we don't think she killed the Prince," said Glimfeather, "because no bones - " "We know she didn't," said Scrubb. "Aslan told Pole he was still alive somewhere." "That almost makes it worse," said the oldest owl. "It means she has some use for him, and some deep scheme against Narnia. Long, long ago, at the very beginning, a White Witch came out of the North and bound our land in snow and ice for a hundred years. And we think this may be some of the same crew." "Very well, then," said Scrubb. "Pole and I have got to `Find this Prince. Can you help us?" "Have you any clue, you two?" asked Glimfeather. "Yes," said Scrubb. "We know we've got to go north. And w e know we've got to reach the ruins of a giant city." At this there was a greater tu-whooing than ever, and noise of birds shifting their feet and ruffling their feathers, and then all the owls started speaking at once. They all explained how very sorry they were that they themselves could not go with the children on their search for the lost Prince "You'd want to travel by day, and we'd want to travel by night," they said. "It wouldn't do, wouldn't do." One or two owls added that even here in the ruined tower it wasn't nearly so dark as it had been when they began, and that the parliament had been going on quite long enough. In fact, the mere mention of a journey to the ruined city of giants seemed to have damped the spirits of those birds. But Glimfeather said: "If they want to go that way - into Ettinsmoor - we must take them to one of the Marsh-wiggles. They're the Only people who can help them much." "'True, true. Do," said the owls. "Come on, then," said Glimfeather. "I'll take one. Who'll take the other? It must be done tonight." "I will: as far as the Marsh-wiggles," said another owl. "Are you ready?" said Glimfeather to Jill. "I think Pole's asleep," said Scrubb.