Chapter 1
Viktor Nikiforov is fine.
sure,
There are things that Victor hates about his job.
The quiet.
Good god the silence is deafening. He knows why, Leo has probably explained it to him a thousand times. "There is no air in space, no where for the sound to go."
Yes, it makes sense, Leo, it makes so much sense, but when he is floating out there and all he can hear is his heartbeat, his own breathe, everything, everything loader because there is nothing nothing else.. It's a bit hard to internalize.
Besides Victor's never been especially great at quiet.
The affect it has on his body isn't ideal either.
Sure they generate gravity but it's not the same. Victor can never get his groundings when he's out here. The first few months he bumbled around the hallways like a leopard pumped full of narcotics (Yurio's words not his)
The loneliness at night.
That's what they should tell you when you agree to leave.
But then there are the things Victor loves about his job.
The weightless
The grace
The power
Fixing whatever needs to be fixed in space.
Say it like that and it doesn't sound glamouorous, but mechanics are a rare commodity.
Not only do you have to find someone brave enough (or idiotic enough) to stand in the vacuum, to take orders no matter what they are, you have to find someone strong enough to force the ship together, graceful enough to move about astroid clusters, enough isn't nothing in space.
That's what Victor loves.
Yes.
The grace.
The power
even if he can't share it.
Victor
He loves
When he was 11 he left his planet, they said he was too young.
When he was out there and everyone was so surprised
There are things that he hates but he's fine
He's fine
after all
Everyone's watching him, he can't fail, he's the rising star, everyone is watching to see him fall, he won't, he promised himself, oh god… Viktor Nikiforov is fine.. because this is what he does.
He surprises people and they stay by him
it's fine that he can't tell anyone when he's scared
he has his friends
it's fine that he is so lonely the quiet seems comforting
He can he his heart beat
tired of feeling never enough
it's fine
so long as he doesn't fail
fall
break
as long as he keeps surprising everyone
making history
That's what they should tell you when you agree to leave.
Viktor Nikiforov is fine.
—-
Yuuri Katsuki's world is falling apart
He failed.
Sure, he has been a mechanic on this ship since he was 11. He has never even slept on a planet for more than a night. This was his whole life.
and yet.
He is expendable. No matter how valuable a mechanic is. the Ice Castle has thousands of Yuuris. He failed….
Oh god he failed and they are never going to forgive oh god he let everyone down.. and now. He presses he hands to the sides of his temples, holding himself together. A sob is building in his chest but no. He always cried to easily.
oh no.. they are coming. he needs to leave. needs to get out but..
Where would he go?
The void may be better than what is coming but he's too much of a coward. He could never go through with it. Unless… No that's not how they punish. That's too much of a mess.
There's only one procedure for mechanics like him. Execution and disposal. If he was strong maybe he could escape but he's weak. He always has been and now he always will be.
Yuuri holds himself closer and lets a few tears escape. After all he always was a crybaby.
No point in changing that now. Not much point in changing anything now.
Yuuri's world is falling apart.