It was the beginning of the end, Valon would realize later. That disinterested look was becoming too common on Mai's face, but of course Valon tried to ignore it. He tried to salvage things with her.

Like this particular morning. Mai, sans her makeup, bed head and all, sat cross-legged on his bed, staring down at the bed. Valon, with a towel wrapped around his neck, entered the room quietly and cleared his throat.

Mai looked up at him.

"Taking a shower," he told her.

A pause.

"Care to join me?"

"Sure," Mai replied, voice devoid of emotion.

He turned and headed for the upstairs bathroom without checking to see if she was following. Valon opened the bathroom door and flicked on the light while he heard Mai's feet padding along the tiled floor behind him. Mai leaned against the bathroom counter while he got the shower going.

When the stream of water was at the preferred temperature, Valon turned and looked at Mai. She wore a violet camisole and white cotton shorts that didn't make it past her thumbs. A few weeks ago he would have hauled her up onto the counter and kissed her. A few weeks ago they would have helped each other undress.

And now?

Now...

Now it was a small miracle that they were even sharing a shower together.

He shed his shirt and dropped it to the floor while Mai dropped her shorts. His sweatpants were the next thing to go; they pooled at his feet while Mai removed her camisole. He stepped out of his boxers while Mai's panties joined the pile of clothes on the floor.

Valon stepped into the stream of warm water and Mai followed. Facing the shower head, he dropped his head under the water, closing his eyes. Mai's arms wrapped around him and her head rested on his back. They both stood there in silence as the walls around them started dissolving into a black abyss.

"Aaand that is how you get the process started," Parker told Kevin, who stared at the computer screen. Parker picked up his satchel off the floor and pulled out a book. "And now we wait," he said dully, searching for the place where he'd left off.

Kevin stared at him in disbelief. "Y-you're going to r-read?" he spluttered.

"Yup," Parker replied without looking up at his green assistant. "Pour me another cup, would you?"

"You're not supposed to do that!" Kevin insisted, fidgeting in his seat nervously.

Parker looked up at Kevin jadedly. He was tired, bored, and low on coffee. He really wasn't in the mood to be lectured by some doe eyed rookie who thought he knew more. "Really?" he said calmly. "Why, I had no idea! Thanks for telling me, Kevin!" He promptly returned his attention to his book.

"But Dr. Curtis said we should pay attention to the monitor at all times."

"I know what he said, Kevin."

"So what if something goes wrong?"

"Then I will know."

"But how could you if you're not looking?"

"There will be a loud 'beep-beep.' Then and only then will I look up. Chances are, though, that that won't happen. It rarely ever happens where we have to interfere. Now do me a favor and pour me another cup of coffee. Please and thank you."

Valon was eating breakfast at the kitchen table with Mai while a fresh pot of coffee brewed. The room was devoid of sounds except for silverware occasionally scraping plates and the coffee maker humming and chattering to itself.

"Here," said a sullen voice, making Valon startle in his seat and look up. He swore he could hear a voice coming from over his head. "Here's your coffee."

Valon looked at his girlfriend. "Hey. Hey, Mai."

She set her glass of orange juice down after taking a sip. "What, Valon?"

Valon slowly pushed himself up out of his seat, looking around for the source of the voice. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Mai asked him while Valon started circling the kitchen, straining to hear the mysterious voice again.

"Someone's in here," Valon insisted.

Mai sighed irritably and rolled her eyes. "Valon, no one's here but the two of us."

Valon looked back at Mai and started when he saw the kitchen table starting to dissolve. "Mai?" Valon asked uncertainly, looking around nervously as the room started to fade away like thin paper being burned by a match. He reached his hand out to touch the refrigerator, which was dematerializing right before him. He looked back at Mai to see her looking up at him, unconcerned as she herself started to dissolve. Valon cursed and ran over to Mai, trying to reach her before everything blacked out.

He didn't make it.

"Here're your keys back," Valon said morosely, holding out the two house keys with a key chain Mai had given him what seemed like so long ago.

She snatched the keys out of his hands without looking at him while she continued to throw her things into her large bag. She stopped for a moment and looked at him.

Valon wiped his eyes and turned his head away.

"Valon?" Mai said hoarsely.

Valon squeezed his eyes shut as a shuddering breath traveled through him. A small, strangled sound managed to escape, and he hated himself for it.

"Valon?"

He didn't answer her, didn't even look at her.

"Valon? Valon, come on. Valon, look... Valon, look at me. Look at me. Please?"

Valon grit his teeth together.

"Valon, I'm... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Valon exhaled and sniffed. "Just take your things and leave."

Mai packed up like her life depended on it after that. When Valon finally opened his eyes after she left, he let out a frustrated yell as the room started to turn dark. "I'm glad this is happening!" he yelled at the ceiling that was dissolving more and more by the second. "I'm glad I'm erasing you!"