Sky’s POV

Universe had held a meeting with the Presidents while Jaesun and Kyuhyun were still in the hospital.

We were gathered in Jaesun’s room, which was absolutely overflowing with gifts from fans- stuffed animals, balloons, flowers, and goodies were stuffed in every corner of the room. Kyuhyun’s room was filled with presents too, of course: the expensive kind. JiHyun and I had walked in there yesterday to find him opening an expensive watch from our SNSD sunbaenims. JiHyun had scoffed and said, “What kind of gift is that to a sick person?”, but he was silenced as all sorts of jewelry and electronics were brought in for Kyuhyun’s “amusement” and “well-being”.

We spoke about suing the man who’d injured Kyuhyun and indirectly, Jaesun. We agreed to; not only because he deserved it for how he physically and mentally stressed our members, but also because it would seem suspicious for Universe as a whole if we didn’t sue him. It would look as though we were hiding our wrongdoings, which we weren’t. So for our sake, our parents’ sake, and our fans’ sake, we decided to go along and sue him from SM Company (since Kyuhyun was under SM’s label). 

Secondly, we discussed how Universe was going to go about with their second wave of music.

Everyone had so many ideas for this one.

Chan Hee and JiHyun mentioned that because our international tour was coming up, we should pay respects to the different places we were going and release new songs in different languages.

Shim Jang and Gongchan mentioned singles as well; songs showcasing one of us at a time. Both of them had secretly had individual song ideas for ages but hadn’t brought them up because they conflicted with Universe’s current image.

Kyuhyun and Eun Suk wanted to upgrade our level as performers and artists. Our skills had been growing exponentially since debut and we wanted to show that to our fans with harder songs and complicated dances.

Soo Ri and Soori mentioned that netizens had been asking for us to grasp a different concept with different makeup and outfits as well and possibly a new music video featuring us in new makeup and style.

Jaesun and Sky also asked that we approach classical music and mix it with hip hop. Jaesun had already composed two songs of Yiruma’s to incorporate Universe’s vocals into them and Sky had been picking up DJ-ing from Epik High’s Tukutz and had been remixing his own versions of classical songs for dancing.

All of the members looked at each other, taken aback by the different directions we wanted to go in. The Presidents also looked slightly overwhelmed.

We’d always seen ourselves as unified… how were we going to work this out now?

“We can combine all of these ideas in a way that’s beneficial to our time and money and of course, artistic tastes”, JiHyun answered.

I smiled; trust JiHyun to come up with an answer to this. I suppose there was a reason why the Presidents gave him the freedom to do what he wanted: He was a smart negotiator.

“We may die trying to do all of this, but we still have two weeks before our International Tour kicks off. So, we release Chinese, Japanese, American, and Korean mini albums before the Tour. These mini albums will involve more advanced music and choreography. Music Videos won’t be released until after we come back from the Tour, but we incorporate bits of the Tour into it- like footage of us onstage or fans- into each of our Chinese, Japanese, American, and Korean Music Videos. Each of our Music Videos and International Stages will feature different costumes or styles. Save the classical songs for our performances on Awards stages- they’ll set the mood perfectly. We already have to perform at MAMA and KMA. As for singles, as soon as we get back from tours- we’ll release them one by one. That’ll give those of us who haven’t had time to think about it think about new ideas and it’ll be a unique way of reintroducing ourselves to the Korean market after our International Tour. And for each single, we’ll produce a low-budget music video. These singles will also allow us to promote heavily after we come back from the tour, just before awards ceremonies.”

“It sounds all right and if everything was spaced out, it wouldn’t cost a lot… but that’s a lot of money at once… And that is a crazy amount of time and energy for each of the members as well… Can we do it?”, I asked, turning to everyone.

“Yeah, we weren’t supposed to have a break until Christmas anyways so why not?”, Kyuhyun replied cheekily.

“If we’re going to do it, let’s go all the way”, Chan Hee agreed.

“I’m in for sure. Get me out of bed!”, Jaesun yelled.

“Yeah, it’ll be tiring, but I want to do it all”, Eun Suk also agreed.

One by one, everyone agreed to do it.

Even the Presidents, which we were taken aback by.

“We’re talking about loads of money”, I reminded them, “Why are you agreeing to it?”

“Groups split the most over differing opinions… In the long run, satisfying all of you is more beneficial than forcing you to do one thing”, the YG President explained honestly.

“We also know that as much as you guys demand, you are all very aware of what you represent and what your responsibilities are…You’re all free of scandals and therefore easy to promote right now”, the SM President glanced slightly at Soo Ri as he said this, and she cringed.

“Come on, let’s be honest here!”, the JYP President yelled cheerfully, “We spent $2.5 million on your debut, and we got $800 million back, so doesn’t that say just about everything!? Just tell us what you need and we’ll get to!”

Then, the nurse came in to do last check-ups on Kyuhyun and Jaesun to let them leave.

But before we could focus on the next chapter of our careers, we had one last thing to do in Korea- Our Good-Bye Stage.

It’d be the last stage promoting our Y.O.U. album in front of our first Korean fans…

We were going to perform our precious debut song as our last song, we’d all agreed on that without any debate.

I sat in the makeup chair at 6:30pm, silent. Chan Hee and Gongchan were also sitting in their chairs on either side of me… Everyone else was either getting their outfits or microphones.

It felt unreal that this was our last stage… at least for the time being. 

Just yesterday…

“Just yesterday… we were getting yelled at by Tablo”, Chan Hee remarked, smirking from her makeup chair.

“Just yesterday… we were strangers looking at each other from across the room”, Gongchan replied, smiling.

“Just yesterday was our debut stage”, I answered…

“We have yet to win a stage award but I don’t care this time”, Chan Hee said honestly, “I just want to enjoy this moment… I really love this album. I don’t think we’re ever going to produce something this honest again. All our songs will be better, more advanced… but this album… we can’t go back to it.”

Gongchan and I nodded, silenced by the impact of her words.

“Let’s just enjoy it”, I repeated, unwilling to let my emotions affect me already.

 I pulled out my phone and texted back Amber and GDragon, who had sent me Hwaiting messages and were in waiting rooms here as well.

The line-up today was: Exo K, Big Bang, Afterschool, SNSD, MBLAQ, BoA, f(x), FT Island, 2NE1, Dambi, Se7en, Beast, and Infinite, so I suppose there really wasn’t any point of me hoping for us to win this one.

Still, a voice in the back of my mind whispered, Still.

In the end, Chan Hee’s voice won out.

Just enjoy it.

Yeah, what the hell. Let’s just go out there and let loose. These were my final thoughts before the concert began.

“Universe, get out there!”, the manager called to us. We were in the waiting rooms, watching the other groups on television.

“Look”, Chan Hee said before we were ushered out, “throw away the greed. Just trust each other… trust yourself… and enjoy it. Perform this song the way we wrote it; together and with open hearts.” 

All the members exchanged high fives with each other and then we quickly made our way to the stage.

Chan Hee’s POV

I can’t tell you how I felt when it was our stage again.

The moment I stepped onto that stage it was just… glorious.

I didn’t care about winning; I just wanted to remember that innocent heart we’d all shared when we first started venturing down this road together…

As we performed together as one, I met eyes with Soori as we danced close to each other in the back, letting Gongchan claim his spotlight.

I’m not sure what my eyes looked like, but I saw Soori begin to tear up when her eyes met mine.

And then the fans began to chant and wave their arms to the beat as we neared the finale.

Sky ripped across the stage, immersed in dance, and the crowd screamed aloud, and regardless of what sign it was: Big Bang, Exo, SNSD, they all began to wave and reach out and cheer for us.

Finally, we cried out, “GOODBYE TO OUR UNIVERSE!”, and the building emotions collapsed.

Fans were screaming; crying, even.

Jaesun was running to the edge of the stage, grasping hands with them; he very nearly got pulled in. Sky raced over and snatched him back and we exited the stage in a rush for f(x) to come on.  

We collapsed in the waiting room, a mess of tears and shouting and laughing.

Soori hugged me tightly, saying something I couldn’t back out. I patted her on the back, trying to calm her down.

We didn’t stop blabbering with each other until we were called back onto stage for the awards ceremony.

We mounted the stage, towards the back.

None of us were paying attention to anything- but then the nominations for the night came on:

“CONGRATULATIONS TO UNIVERSE!”

WHAT?

WHAT!? WHAT!? WHAT!!!

Next to me, Soori burst into tears yet again.

Streamers erupted from above us and confetti was thrown onto us.

A microphone was shoved into my hand and another into JiHyun’s.

We both took center stage together, but I was completely lost… I was just staring into the audience at the many screaming fans.

I may or may not have started crying… I don’t remember.

Then JiHyun’s voice rang out, “We honestly didn’t think we had any chance of winning so we didn’t even prepare any speeches…”

He laughed a little and the continued, “Thank you so much to everyone who made this possible: managers, stylists, makeup artists, and a very sincere thank you to our wonderful parents, our supportive presidents, our amazing sunbaenims Beast and Epik High, our friends, and from me, thank you to my members. You are what made this possible for me.”

JiHyun was unable to say anymore because a sobbing Gongchan embraced him so hard he knocked the wind out of JiHyun. 

Through my now flowing tears, I managed to choke out, “Honestly, today we threw away all greed of winning and just focused on being honest…So thank you for saying you like the real us. Thank you so much to you, our fans.”

I couldn’t say anymore because my throat closed up and I felt myself embraced by Shim Jang and Doojoon sunbae.

Jaesun, who had wrested the microphone away from JiHyun, yelled into it, “THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTED UNIVERSE. I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY LOVE YOU! YOU ARE ALL SO Y.”

The crowd burst into screams and laughter and then, our encore had to begin.

The backtracks for Eden Within began to play, and I exchanged last-minute hugs with LuHan, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol before they were ushered off-stage.

Behind me, I saw the MC, Song Joong Ki, congratulate JiHyun on his win and his role before leaving himself.

For our encore, we were all crying too hard to perform our song, and instead took turns thanking people whenever it was our turn.

It was Jaesun’s turn and everyone grinned, expecting another funny remark.

“Thank you for everything and thank you… thank you so much to my grandmother… Although… although she’s not with me anymore. Although she’s n-not”, his voice choked, but he continued, “ h-here anymore, I want to thank her for giving me not only my real siblings and parents, but also four wonderful brothers and five gorgeous sisters before she left me. I hope you’re w-watching…m-m-me”

Shim Jang wrapped her arms around him before speaking into her own microphone, “Mom and Dad, are you watching me? I can also succeed. I’m not foolish for doing what I love- I love this! So please support me! Please call me and tell me I can do well!” She also broke down sobbing, and the crowd began to chant, “Ulgima! Don’t cry! Don’t cry! Don’t cry!”

It was Eun Suk’s turn and she took a shaky breath before she spoke. “Thank you so much.” Her voice wavered already, but she took another deep breath and said, “We promise to work harder and show all of you an even more impressive stage the next time. And thank you to my parents…” Tears streamed down her face as she finished, “Thank you for giving me birth… because I can’t imagine a greater happiness than being here with my family and friends and fans… And thank you, JYP President and Tablo sunbaenim, I owe you two my life.”

Nobody in the crowd knew how literal that was, but we did.

Gongchan hugged her tightly and Soori took her hand.

“Umm…”, Soo Ri began, and laughed a little when she realized she was crying too hard to catch her breath, “this is our goodbye stage for now, but it’s only the beginning. Please continue to support us. We appreciate all of you more than you can imagine. Thank you so much for being here today, and I don’t know if any of you are here, but those that stood in the rain and listened to our concert back then-“ A group of people standing near the stage screamed and Soo Ri grinned, “Thank you. That motivated me to continue performing up to this very night. Thank you.”   

All of the members went around, thanking everybody and hugging each other.

Then it was the last segment of the song, and suddenly the fans began to sing together.

Have you ever been to Heaven?

Nee geh chung gook eh gahs suh?

Have you ever been to Hell?

Nee geh gee oke eh gahs suh?

Have you ever been next to me?

Nee gah ham pun do neh yup ey e suh suh?

Have you ever been in my Universe?

Nee gah neh oh juh ee duh gah bah suh suh?

You Can Fly, Ahhhh~~~
Higher
Jeo haneulwee-e saedeulboda~~~

Overwhelmed, I began to sob in earnest.

JiHyun reached over and took my hand and with his other, took Soori’s, who continued the chain.

Then, we all began to wave our hands to the Eden Within that our fans were giving to us.

The fans joined us, waving their hands and laughing as they stumbled through the rap.

Haneule soni daheoldaegaji dalryeoga
Gaseume kumi chaltaeji talryeoga

You Can Fly Higher
Tan hanappooneen keudaewa na

Fly, My Baby
Fly, fly, get em up high

Fly, My Baby
Fly, fly, get em up high

Haneule soni daheoldaegaji dalryeoga
Gaseume kumi chaltaeji talryeoga

HA! 2012.

It’s 1 Vs.: Chrome& Epik Love.

GOODBYE TO OUR UNIVERSE!

All the Universe members clapped and bowed and walked out to touch fans’ hands as the last moments before the stage closed.

And then the stage did close.

Gongchan’s POV

Backstage was even more hectic.

All of our managers and stylists screamed in excitement when they saw us, and many idols were also waiting backstage.

Stylist noona, Sulli, Eyoung, Yoseob, Dongwoon, and Myungsoo all clobbered me with their hugs and congratulations.

It took all of our members about an hour to escape the energetic tirade of people wishing to congratulate us.

But there was someone we really wanted to call, more than anyone else.

All ten of us crammed into the van and Eun Suk pulled out her phone and called Tablo.

It took three rings to pick up, but as soon as he did, instead of saying hello, he shouted, “HEY, ARE YOU ALL HAPPY NOW!?”

All of us laughed and responded at the same time so that all he probably got was an earful of random laughs and sounds.

JiHyun grabbed the phone and yelled into it, “YES WE ARE! YES!”

Tablo laughed and said, “Hey, this is your guys’ chance to move into a better dorm! Make sure you take advantage of it!

“YES”, we chorused.

“Mithra and Tukutz congratulate you too, not so much for winning, but for putting on a hell of a performance. All of you go see it when you get home, okay?”, he said.

“YES!”

“Call me later when you’re not going to yell my ear off, you fools”, Tablo said, and laughing, hung up on his end.

“OH MY GOD THIS IS SO COOL!”, Shim Hang yelled cutely, the most aegyo we’d ever seen from her.

“YOU’RE so cool”, Jaesun mimicked her, reaching over Soo Ri to pinch her cheek.

“Can we sleep in the same dorm today?”, Soori pleaded.

“Are we going to fit?”, Sky asked, ever the practical one.

“We’ll make it fit”, JiHyun answered, grinning, “Aigoo, our Soori cried so much today”, he added, ruffling her hair.

Suddenly, Chan Hee blushed and said, “Wait, LuHan’s calling me.”

“Wait”, Kyuhyun said at almost the same time, “My mommy’s calling me.”

When the girls came over, us boys had put together all of the beds and the couch together to make a super big bed.

We also ended up making this little tent thing over it.

“It’s like when I was little and made houses out of blankets!”, Eun Suk exclaimed when she saw it.

“You were little?”, Sky scoffed.

“Actually, I was super cute, you just can’t tell anymore”, Eun Suk remarked, sticking her tongue out at Sky.

Balam came over to her, wagging his tail, and Eun Suk grinned, picking him up.

“That’s my dog”, Sky said stubbornly.

Soori came over and sat next to me, holding a scrap of paper in her hand.

“What’s that?”, I asked her, pointing to it.

She blushed and put it away. “Nothing”, she replied.

I stared at her until she responded.

“Okay, I sometimes practice writing lyrics and poetry…”, Soori admitted, looking away.

I didn’t say anything because right then JiHyun tackled me onto the bed and hugged me, saying loudly, “GONGCHAN, LET’S SLEEP TOGETHER TODAYYYYYYYY~~~ IN ONE BED~~~~”

a/n: congratulations everyone!

omo~~~ everyone in universe contacted me. :DDDDD i love all of you and i cannot believe you're all still supporting me! mwah* i give you all a virtual cupcake for your wonderfulness.