"Yoohyeon, quick!" Siyeon shouted, blue hair swinging around wildly as she jumped up from the make-shift chair. "Quick, I think we're close!"

Its rolls scraped over the floor, tiny sparks dancing around the air from the resulting friction. She stumbled over her feet, barely holding onto the armrest, and reached out to grab her laptop from the desk. The carbon-fiber the laptop was made of burned under her fingertips, having heated up from the excessive usage, programs constantly running, all kinds of equations being calculated in a matter of seconds. She hissed at the sensation and clasped it under her arm, frantically looking around until she found the blue hair-tie lying next to one of three empty mugs and a can of what vaguely resembled their food. Barely evading the protruding scraps of metal littering her laboratory she ran out of the room. 

She had finally had a breakthrough. 

The door beeped as she flew through, hastily tying the short hair into a low ponytail, her laptop almost falling to the ground as she lifted her arm too much. She grinned happily as she headed towards the spaceship's kitchen area. Passing short corridors that seemed to stretch into infinity, she risked a look through one of few windows littering their outer hull. 

The spherical window showed nothing but blackness. 

Nothing but empty space, as empty as it could be, still littered with dust and other countless particles swimming through outer space, each following their very own path.

And yet the blackness was comforting. She'd rather look outside and be greeted with the potentially life-threatening void than the army's ships following them, with their blinking lights and overly potent plasma-guns.

She couldn't stop her sigh, the year-long exhaustion slowly but surely had taken its toll on her. Siyeon closed her eyes and listened to sounds surrounding her. She had grown so accustomed to the constant whirring and buzzing of the electronics keeping them both alive, she didn't even actively register them anymore. The only worrying part was the growing number of creaks and groans coming from the very outer plates surrounding their small ship. It wouldn't hold much longer. 

They were on a tight time limit and neither knew exactly how long until the last seconds ticked by.

She turned her back to the black window and continued her way through the ship, dodging low-hanging cables until she reached her destination. Hastily punching in the code for the door, Siyeon blew a strand of blue hair out of her face, chest heaving from the three seconds she had run. She knew with only them inhabiting the spaceship there was no reason to keep every door under lock, but alas she had always been paranoid, rather safe than sorry. 

Especially knowing who was following them.

"Yoo!"

Siyeon knocked her shoulder into the still opening door and groaned from the pain, a few stray papers escaping her grasp and littering the pristinely clean floor. She bowed down and quickly picked them up, careful not to step on any. They all were important, she didn't have the luxury to waste any paper, the resource very much limited on a spacecraft slowly gliding somewhere alone in the middle of nowhere, far, far away from any civilization.

Although that was their exact plan.

Get away from everything. 

The silver-haired girl looked up from her sandwich, a confused expression on her face. Siyeon noticed her hearing-aid lying on the table. She smiled and gently walked towards her girlfriend, patiently waiting for her to put it back on. Yoohyeon bit into her sandwich one more time, brushed her hands off on her pants, and looked up at Siyeon after clicking the small piece of electronics back onto her ear. Small pins slipped out of the chip, automatically connecting themselves to the implant under the soft skin behind her ear. Yoohyeon groaned softly, grimacing when the final clicks echoed through the room. No matter how many times she put it on, she'd never get used to the prickling pain. It was better than any device she had ever used, back when their life was more normal, Siyeon truly had a knack for coming up with new, innovative gadgets, but their limited resources made for less elegant solutions, the device's focus mainly lying on practicability rather than comfort.

"Everything good?"

Yoohyeon nodded and picked her sandwich up again, continuing to happily munch on it. She subtly flinched, the loud noise in her ear very sudden, her brain needing a moment to get used to the incoming information once more. Siyeon pulled one of the stools back with her foot and plopped down into it, a somber expression on her face as she observed Yoohyeon's grimace. 

"I have a few ideas on how to improve that one," Siyeon observed, the cogs in her brain already turning to figure out a new and better design.

She tried to keep her voice low, softening sharper consonants to make the sound as painless as possible for Yoohyeon. 

"And risk losing another finger?" Yoohyeon threw a sharp glare at Siyeon, "I won't always be ready to stitch you back together and I'd like those fingers to remain where they are."

"I'm sure you would," dark brows waggled up and down suggestively, "I'm sorry it hurts you so much."

Siyeon reached out and gently Yoohyeon's ear, letting her fingers softly run over the device. She hated how much it hurt her and hated how Yoohyeon had to keep dealing with that pain. The silver-haired girl smiled, leaning into her touch even as the scraping noise was still somewhat too much.

"It's okay. I'm happy as long as I get to hear your beautiful voice better. Anyway, what made you run voluntarily?"

"I think I figured it out. I think I finally figured it out," Siyeon wiggled on the stool, too excited to sit still, "And we reached the hole. Or will in a few minutes. We might just have a chance."

She stood up and gently took Yoohyeon's hand, urging her to stand up as well and follow her. Yoohyeon rolled her eyes, smiling, and let herself be dragged away. They passed several doors, the artificial lights of their spacecraft flickering more obviously than ever before. 

Power was running out. 

Their fuel level had been low for a while already. 

"Incoming holo-call," the sudden robotic voice threw Siyeon off-guard. 

Gripping one of the security handles she quickly tapped the screen on her bracer, accepting the call yet disabling the holographic option, even as the rumbling ship threatened to have her fall flat out on her face.

"Hello there," the Commander's smug voice froze the blood in Siyeon’s veins.

She had hoped the Hounds to send someone else after them. But luck had once more decided to leave their side. She didn't answer.

"I'm here to announce that you, Lee Siyeon, head-engineer of Somnus and you, Kim Yoohyeon, renowned surgeon of the Lux hospital, are hereby sentenced to prison for the remainder of your pitiful lives to answer for your crimes. To be frank these are pure formalities. I personally cannot wait to blast you out of existence."

A loud crash blew through the spacecraft, lights over Siyeon's head blinking even faster in various not necessarily rhythmic frequencies. They had been hit. She jumped from where she sat and pushed Yoohyeon towards the cockpit, quickly running to see the damage and hopefully fix it for the time being.

"Get us ready to fly, Yoohyeon!" 

"I love you!"

Siyeon smiled, her lower lip quivering as two single tears slowly rolled down her cheeks, leaving nothing but a glistening trail of pain etched into her skin.

"You'll never reach us," her voice was firm as she addressed the Commander once more.

Her breath was short from both the panic threatening to overpower her and the agitation, words mumbled as she focused on the task at hand. The ship shuddered and she nearly lost her balance, barely managing to hold onto one of the ceiling rails before she would’ve been smashed into the wall. As smooth of a pilot Yoohyeon usually was, the obvious attack on them would lead to a much more daring style of flight than usual. Siyeon peeked outside through the nearby spherical window, the incoming projectiles reminding her of older tactics, a rain of burning arrows. The oil on her fingers reminded her to go back to the leak, allround-tool firmly sitting in her hand.

"Are you sure about that, Siyeon? We are right behind you and you have nowhere to go."

He was right, mostly, and she hated it.

"I'll almost be sad when this is over. Somewhat unsatisfactory not to be able to watch the life drain out of you. It would've been so much more fun to rip your throat open myself. Such explosions are so," with how well she knew him she could see him arrogantly wave his hand in the air, as he so often did, with the typical accompanied slow and remorseful sigh, "boring."

"What a pity we won't entertain you much longer."

"We'll disintegrate you."

His voice was dry, stated as if it was the most obvious fact.

"We'd love to see you try, ," Siyeon snarled into the communicator on her wrist and disconnected from the call, focusing back onto repairing the leak.

It didn't take too long, but a small pipe had been damaged, the shields still holding well enough to protect the outer hull. Siyeon grunted and left the scene, her handiwork complete. She ran and ran, the turbulence causing many small objects to fly around the room, smashing into every single surface. If they were unlucky they wouldn't need the Hounds to shoot them out of space, their spacecraft destroying itself from the inside. She ducked, evaded a stray coffee mug speeding towards her, and pushed herself off of a wall just in time not to be slapped by a bunch of cables freely swinging around the hallway. Siyeon ignored the worry bubbling up inside of her belly, pushing forward until she finally entered the small cockpit. Alarms were beeping left and right, a sea of red and green lights angrily pulsating. 

"Oh ."

The curse slipped out without her actively realizing it, knowing very well what the blinking lights meant, the danger they held. It wasn't a surprise, not really. Both of them had expected to be found, the hit alone, as well as the Commander's call, had been proof enough that they indeed had been. Their traces had not been hidden well enough for the Hounds nit to pick up on. Their crime department had more than likely constructed an entire team just for them.

But the mass was alarming nevertheless. Siyeon could barely make out the individual lights, spots blending into a single, massive swarm of angry blinking. She nevertheless chose to ignore it, for now. 

The sight in front of them was much more important.

"We're there Yoo. And it's beautiful. So, so very beautiful!" 

Siyeon went to stand behind Yoohyeon, grabbing one of her hands to hold, even as she still changed the direction of ers, moving their ship ever so subtly so the Hound's trackers wouldn't find an accurate target. She held on tighter, rubbing over the back of Yoohyeon's hand with her thumb, feeling the somewhat dry skin. Space had taken its toll on both of them. She worriedly bit her lip, trying her best to focus on the black hole in front of them once more. There wasn't much to see, a black, gigantic blob of blackness stretching over the sky, covering most of their field of vision. Only a vaguely orange halo surrounded it, light from a nearby star bending around its gravitational center.

It was beautiful to her, still.

A sight not many a person would live to see, especially up close.

"It is beautiful," Yoohyeon's voice was quiet, tired, yet full of wonder.

"Jump in with me, will you?"

"Siyeon," Yoohyeon stared at the nothingness in front of them breathlessly, "We're going to die."

"We're going to die anyway if we stay, that much is certain," she squeezed Yoohyeon's hand again, loosely pointing at the radar with her other, "This, at least, is a chance of survival."

"Siyeon, we will die before even getting close. Flying into a gigantic space- and to be honest time-bending ball the mass of millions of solar masses nothing can escape from is the opposite of surviving!"

Siyeon felt her hand being squeezed back. She instinctively started playing with the soft fingers she was holding. Her eyes were fixed on the black hole, head running through possible scenarios, trying to find the flaws and fix them with every single new obstacle presenting itself.

"There's no way we'll survive. There are too many variables, too many questions. What if our calculations were wrong? What if I made a mistake?" Yoohyeon leaned her head against the back of her seat, tears already gathering at her lower lashes, "I'm not good with Physics what if I messed up and we'll-"

"Stop," Siyeon grabbed Yoohyeon's face with both hands, wiping away the tears before they had the chance to fall, "We both checked the equations over and over again. There are no mistakes."

Yoohyeon's tears were flowing freely by now. She had been restless for the past few weeks and all the fear and tension were flowing out of her unhindered. 

If she was honest the feeling had been present for much longer than that, unease always creeping up her back whenever she had left their shared apartment, not once taking a step forward without peeking around, looking for possible Hounds shadowing her every move. Working for the government had as many positive as negative effects, and for both her and Siyeon, the negative ones had come to overpower the good.

And now the time for those fears to become true had finally arrived.

"Look at me, baby," the silver-haired girl looked at the fierce eyes above her, "We'll be fine."

The tall girl gently left Siyeon's grip and leaned closer to the side window. There was nothing but endless darkness and coldness. Even the few stars they had usually seen in the faraway distance had disappeared, all light being up by the massive black hole they were headed towards. She reached out with her hand and placed it on the window, right on what seemed to be the black hole's center. 

"Everything points to this being a rotating black hole. It should have a ring singularity," Siyeon trailed off, still standing behind Yoohyeon and engulfing her in a hug, ignoring how the chair pressed against her chest in an almost painful way, feeling the pressure on her lungs from how tight she hugged.

Yoohyeon noticed hundreds of spaceships out of the corner of her eye.

They truly were here.

They had caught up with them and had started the attack.

Continuing onward was their only choice.

Yoohyeon was beyond scared. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, wetting her shirt where they fell onto it, her pale skin painted red from the blood rushing through her veins. Her head pounded, as it so often did when she cried. She didn't know what to do, think, and feel apart from fear and helplessness.

"Crossing the Ergosphere might be difficult but once we're through everything is possible Yoo. We'll be on the event horizon. All those theories; they're just theories," Siyeon's eyes sparkled, high from both the lust for knowledge and immense levels of adrenaline in her blood, pushing herself into her hope so far, she nearly managed to forget her very own fear, "Nobody knows for sure."

"Being turned into a human, stretched ramen-noodle won't help you gain knowledge," Yoohyeon sniffled, "A mutated ramen-noodle. If we don't die from the immense tidal forces ripping us apart we'll die from radiation."

Siyeon hugged her girlfriend tighter and turned her chair around so she'd face her, hoping the brief moment would not lead to their ultimate demise. She wiped the tears from her soft cheeks, smiling at the girl she loved so much.

"I know you're scared, Yoo. I am too. Hell, we're between an army out to murder us and a gigantic spacial object up and crushing everything that comes close enough," she looked out of the window, seeing the Hound's ships get closer and closer, "But this one is big enough to probably not be dangerous. And it should be a Kerr black hole. There is a chance the ramen-noodleing and radiation already happened by the time we get past the event horizon and if it didn't then it shouldn't be very strong."

She held the silver-haired girl closer, surrounding herself with Yoohyeon's warmth, knowing it might as well be the last time she'd hold her.

"Whatever happens I'd much rather die out of my own volition, doing something I love with the person I love, than die because of an idiotic, power-hungry system," Siyeon lifted Yoohyeon's chin, holding it up gently with her finger, "I love you, pup."

Ugly sobs escaped Yoohyeon's lips and she fell forward, desperately trying to silence them against Siyeon's lips. She kept pressing herself against Siyeon again and again, desperately trying to hold her closer, to melt into one. Their kiss lasted dangerously long, interrupted only when a shrill alarm resonated through the craft, a monotonous, metallic sounding voice announcing an upcoming impact. 

The Dyson sphere powering the Hound's main ship glowed brightly in the distance, too bright for them to see what exactly was speeding towards them. They saw how the light flickered and for a short moment smirked, knowing that the other side had as many problems with their ships at them. And yet they stood better chances. Especially with a captured star feeding their cause rather than the small, portable energy cells Yoohyeon and Siyeon used. 

Yoohyeon gulped, shuddered once, and steeled herself.

"Alright, let's do this," she looked down at Siyeon with determined eyes. 

She turned her seat back around, taking on the role of piloting their ship. The radar beeped louder, spurring her on to move faster. She hesitated for a moment and ultimately ignored the seatbelts she still hadn't fastened, choosing to get out of the possible projectile's path first. Siyeon smiled and sat on her seat as well, grabbing the laptop from the dashboard. While Yoohyeon powered the boosters she took care, beginning to tweak the last few numbers needed for their planned route that would lead straight into the giant in front of them.

"!"

Siyeon looked up when she heard Yoohyeon's yell, seeing but the tail of a piece of scrap metal glide by the front window. The first of many more that would soon follow, from what she had seen. She didn't have the time to question why the Hounds weren't using their plasma-guns instead, but at the same time she'd rather get hit by a stray piece of junk than the other option. She leaned closer to her laptop, long fingers flying over the green-lit keyboard, Siyeon's tongue firmly between her teeth, her eyes focused on every single letter she typed. She'd only have to change a few more configurations, redirect some shields, overclock the generators. A single, well-targeted projectile, could mean their end, especially with how fragile some parts of their spaceship had become.

Hopefully, the shields would continue to protect them from the worst.

Especially when falling inside the black.

Her communicator beeped once more and Siyeon didn't care to answer, expecting the Commander and his grand words. It didn't stop. She tapped the button, readying herself for another round of insults, allowing the hologram to hover over her arm this time. She'd love to flip him off and have him see it. 

"Oh thank you are still alive!"

The familiar voice brought a smile to Siyeon's face instead.

"We still are, yes."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I can't do more. They're onto me," she saw Bora duck suddenly, her eyes widening in fear, "I can't sabotage the sphere any longer."

Siyeon's tears were back. She hadn't expected to see Bora again. Ever. They had parted on the last planet, wishing each other good luck as they walked towards the two different sides of the system. Bora towards the Hounds, being one of few who knew how to use and control the Dyson sphere, commanded to control the one thing aiding the Hounds in the pursuit of her friends, and Siyeon towards Yoohyeon, towards their stolen ship and the faraway awaiting black hole. Both of them were trapped, Bora unable to escape the system yet and Siyeon and Yoohyeon left with no choice but to actively leave the universe, as insane as it sounded.

“They aren’t shooting yet though, don’t worry.”

“How come? We just got hit, I'm pretty sure they're doing something."

“Yeah, that’s not them though,” Bora’s chuckle was dark and Siyeon saw her smirk, clear as day even through the glimmering holograph, “I might have blown one of their ships up. The debris sadly sped towards you instead of them though.”

“Are you insane, Bora? They’ll kill you on the spot if they find out.”

“No, I’m livid, Siyeon, not insane.”

"You did more than enough," Siyeon couldn't control her voice, quietly sobbing as she watched her best friend hide from whoever was searching. 

What she was doing was essentially treason. Not only sabotaging their engine but also talking to a fugitive, helping them.

"I, we, want to come with you, we really do."

The regret in Bora's voice was obvious. Her big, expressive eyes looking at Siyeon through the hologram, a single small hand extending as if to pat Siyeon’s head. She leaned to the side, closer to where Bora's hand would be if they'd been in the same space.

"You have Minji to take care of, I know," her whisper wavered from the tears now freely rolling down her face, "You did more than enough. And I'll never be able to thank you properly for everything, Bora."

"We'll come after you. I swear we will," Bora held her hand in front of , trying to mask her whisper even more, but mostly to mask her sobs from Siyeon, "I just need a bit more time. She has almost fully recovered."

"Bora," Siyeon trailed off, knowing how small the probability of them being able to follow was.

Even if Bora and Minji did, by whatever secret way of theirs, find a ship they could fly, there was no guarantee they would survive the jump. Just as she didn't know she and Yoohyeon would. She didn't want to live with the knowledge of her best friend murdering herself and her wife in a futile attempt of finding Siyeon and Yoohyeon. 

"Anything for my partner in crime. I have to go, I love you baby wolf," Bora nodded, determined and Siyeon knew there was no way she'd convince the stubborn girl not to go through with her plan.

"I love you too, little bluebird. See you on the other side," she grinned and waved at the wavering hologram of her best friend through tears.

Bora smirked when she heard her.

"On the other side," she swore and nodded, throwing her possibly last blinding smile at Siyeon.

The hologram disappeared, only small flickers and sparks of blue remaining until even those faded into nothingness. 

"They'll be okay."

Yoohyeon reached out and gently scratched the back of her head, knowing the feeling would calm Siyeon down somewhat. 

"I know. They're strong and smart," she sighed and looked up ahead, "I'll just miss the late evenings with us four hanging out."

"Me too."

Siyeon groaned, laughing at the tears uncontrollably streaming down her face, and wiped them away, rubbing over her face until the wetness spread all over. 

"Hey stop, we can do this, okay," the ship groaned in protest, the engine grumbling, begging for everything to end, "Somehow."

Siyeon nodded, looked at Yoohyeon then back at her laptop, and opened the programs once more.

"You know, I didn't expect me getting the courage to talk to the cute yet intimidating blue-haired girl back in university would have lead to us being this dumb," Yoohyeon stared ahead with a steeled gaze.

"Oh you love it though," Siyeon breathed out heavily.

The last adjustments were done. She pressed the 'y'-key and watched the lines of code rolling over her screen. They should be somewhat prepared for the ride now. Siyeon reached over and lightly grabbed Yoohyeon's thigh, needing to hold onto something and simultaneously wanting to feel her presence. Her warmth slipped into her fingertips, thawing the frozen fear within her.

"I'm ready."

Yoohyeon nodded and fired up the engines to the max. The sudden increase in speed had the ship rocking and in protest, its old seams begging for release. Siyeon's grip on Yoohyeon's thigh tightened as the forces slammed her harder into the seat. She truly hoped everything would hold. There was no way of telling for sure, they wouldn't know if they had survived until the second everything was truly over.

Her sight got blurry.

She could see the last specks of light disappearing, blackness engulfing them.

Siyeon turned her head, in pain, "I love you, Yoo."

"I love you, Si," Yoohyeon whispered, barely able to pronounce the words from the tidal forces already ripping at her very being.

"Sorry," she whispered and tapped Yoohyeon's ear, detaching the small device, drowning Yoohyeon's world in silence. 

The taller girl didn't have time to say anything. Blue met silver as they crossed the event horizon, their atoms stretching out, space in between largening as everything arranged itself over and over again. Siyeon's mind seemingly left her body. Or it didn't and she just perceived everything differently, her brain rearranging as much as every other part of her body. All she knew were flashes, but abstract impressions of information, a sound, a taste, a momentary beacon of clear knowledge.

She was everything at once, neither matter nor time holding any sort of meaning.

One second she was here, the next she was then. 

It stopped as soon as it started. Retrospectively Siyeon barely felt anything, only a slight pressure on her chest, her heart pounding wildly inside her ribcage. She looked to the side and saw Yoohyeon lying unconscious in her seat, a trail of blood running from her nose down to her chin. Her eyes widened and she jumped out of her seat, hastily sitting by Yoohyeon's side.

"Don't you dare do this to me, you idiot," Siyeon screamed.

She couldn't think rationally. 

She probably should've brought Yoohyeon to the infirmary in hopes of the robots and electronics still working. Or perhaps tried to feel her pulse first.

All she could do was throw her hands around the silver-haired girl and sob into the crook of her neck.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," she kept repeating the two phrases over and over again like a mantra, hoping for any sign of life from the girl lying unmoving in the seat.

Siyeon didn't know how much time she spent in that position.

She didn't care.

She didn't care about anything but her.

The softest cough had Siyeon jump up and fixate Yoohyeon with her gaze. She kept on coughing and Siyeon quickly helped her onto her side, hoping to somewhat ease the pain, helping her breathe and stabilize. 

"Let's never do that again," Yoohyeon weakly smiled.

Siyeon nodded, her eyes comparable to waterfalls. She fumbled with the fabric of Yoohyeon's shirt, pulling her closer and sank into her body, simply holding her, sobbing. She felt Yoohyeon reach out and then saw her touching her ear.

"Oh, right," she blushed and passed the device back to Yoohyeon, holding her, softly pinching the skin near her elbow when it attached.

"We did it, Singnie. We're on the other side."