All was calm on the planet Mama. Everyone held their grief. Their arguments came to a stalemate. An optimistic fool would have confused the silence for peace. This was not a peaceful calm. This silence was a foreshadow of the silence that death brought, the acceptence just before the disappearance. Luhan had finally reached the last stage. Although he still felt reminants of the others he knew that he had to let Sehun go, and that he had to be strong enough to stand alone in his absence. Before their parting he gave him a gift, one that would ensure that their love would carry through the stars. "We should have married before you left, so that my soul would know to find yours in Everlife. I guess we are both at fault for that though. You did not want to hasten our adjoining, because you would rather we have a proper ceremony, and I... I did not want to risk you ever bearing the grief of a widower. Once souls are bound through marriage, it hurts so much more to be ripped apart. However, I give to you a ring of hope in place of promise. As long as you feel its pulse, then there is hope for us, but should that pulse fade... then know that I have gone to be with Serville. Do not follow me there. Take another as your Everlife partner, and never return to Mama. I do not wish the sight it is to become on any other", those were Luhan's last words to Sehun before he left.

Sehun had had no words to combat those with. He was left speechless as he watched Luhan walk away, and he greatly regretted this stunned silence soon after. They stared blankly at each other from accross the bridge as the ship was prepared for launch. Neither had a smile to offer support, nor tears to prod guilt. They had both come to terms with their decisions, and now they had to be independent of each other for a while, so all their strengths and faults were kept to themselves. The rings each wore now were the only things that shone through the darkness of their dying world. They pulsed with anxiety, each letting the other know what was truly felt behind their walls of stubbornness. Then as the ship took off, each held their breath. The pulsing stopped for a moment, because their hearts had paused for a moment. They shuddered from separation, but adjusted to it, even though poorly done.

The emptiness that they were soon greeted by in space was off-putting. Days blended together since each one seemed as uneventful as the last. The stars that seemed so close still stayed so far as their advancement towards them never seemed like progress. If it were not for the few personal items they had taken aboard, all of the crew would have surely maddened from this neverending blackness. Every night they dimmed the lights and listened to tapes to ease their slumber. Some had recorded the sounds of the wind whipping around outside to make them feel still connected to the nature that has nurtured them. Others had their favorite music or the sounds of their children's laughter. Sehun's tape held a recital of the traditional wedding vows that Sehun and Luhan had done together on the recording. It was unlucky to say the vows before the ceremony, because they were not to be practiced. They were supposed to speak them from the heart, and if one misspoke them during the wedding, or forgot them then that was the ultimate sign that they were never meant to be. However, Sehun did not care. He figured that under the certain circumstances that befell him, an exception could be made. Even so, he kept the tape hidden from the others at all times, only listening to it during his lonesome periods, which came around many more times than he would have thought to have with the amount of people that lived together in such a confined space.

I vow to you,

to always stay true,

to see you through,

in Everlife,

in all our strife.

Rife is our love.

Eternal is our blood.