"How are your eyes, Binnie?" Ken asked Hongbin who sat next to him on the bus. Hongbin was still in pain and wasn't in good condition for anything after his rude awakening the night before. "I'll be fine.. I'm just happy we got a second chance" he smiled, despite the stinging in his eyes

Leo heard this from behind them on the bus and smiled. Now knowing that Hongbin was in a good mood, even through all the BS he's had to endure, made Leo more happy than ever

"What are you so smiley about?" N asked Leo, who were sitting next to each other. Leo rolled his eyes and looked out the window. "How can you not smile? We got a second chance" Leo shrugged, not looking at N as he spoke, which was no surprise to him since Leo rarely spoke to someone and looked at them in the eye at the same time. 

"Why do you do that?" N asked Leo. 

Leo finally tore his gaze away from the window and titled his head. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"You barely ever look at someone when you talk to them.. Why? Do you just have a fear of eye contact?" N chuckled, but at the same time was very much serious.

"I don't know. It's just a habit, I guess" Leo went back to looking out the window. N decided to shrug it off. If that was the person Leo was, N had no problem accepting him for who he was..

After they were finally inside bounds, the bus stopped and the boys and their instructor wandered off the bus. The first one off the bus was Ravi. The first thing that caught his eye was the shuttle. standing probably ten stories high. "Waaaaah" Ravi whispered. Next off the bus was N, who couldn't hold in his excitement, so he only screeched and ran around the bus, flailing his arms like 1st-grader.

Leo hopped off the bus and grabbed N by his collar to stop him. "Act your age" Leo whispered in his ear. 

"I'm sorry. I'm just super excited" N gushed. Leo couldn't take it anymore. His face turned red and he started to breathe heavily

"MMMMI KNOW SO AM I!" Leo hopped up and down with N, clapping his hand like a retarded seal. 

After the rest of the students got off the bus, they changed their clothes and into their space suits. As they walked across the bridge from the equipment room into the shuttle, they all looked down. Realizing how high they were, Hyuk started to sweat, but soon felt a hand grip his own. He lookd up to see Hongbin. "Don't worry Hyukkie" Hongbin smiled and walked with him, side by side.

"Okay guys. We don't have that much time in here. Make sure to watch your heads" Ridley announced as she crept into the small shuttle. "Oh my gosh!" Hyuk beamed

"Look at this!" Ken smiled, finally speaking up

"Pilot and Commander. Take your seats" Ridley ordered, to which they both did in record time. N and Leo looked at each other and smiled, then looking back down at the buttons and signals. "Everyone else, make sure to get strapped in" Ridley said to the other members, and so they did. "This is gunna be amazing, I'm so nervous!" Ravi shook in his chair. "Take a deep breath, hyung" Hyuk giggled and massaged Ravi's shoulder.

As everyone was still trying to contain their excitement, Hongbin rubbed his irritated eyes, which still stung from the lemon juice attack from last night. Ken noticed this and passed him a small bottle of eye drops. "Hope this helps" Ken said

Hongbin looked up with his blood shot eyes and picked the eye drops out of Ken's hands. "T-Thanks hyung" Hongbin sighed and applied the eye drops quietly, Every drop of water stung even more, making Hongbin cringe, almost to the point of screaming.

"Here. Let me try" Ken said, not being able to bear the sight of his friend in pain. Ken took the drops from Hongbin, lifted his head up, and squeezed the drops out closer to Hongbin's tear ducts, making the pain lessen. Hongbin took a deep breath and smiled. "You're good at that" Hongbin said

"Well you know my brother is prone to pink eye, so.. It happens a lot" Ken shrugged

"Pilot and Commander, please unstow your cue cards" Ridley ordered. N and Leo both obeyed. "Roger" N and Leo both said in sync, making them giggle

"Everyone set?" 

"Roger" Hyuk said

"Roger" Hongbin replied

"Roger" Ravi said

"Roger" Ken smiled

"Roger" Leo beamed

"ROGER" N shouted, making everyone laugh

Ridley put on her headset and pressed the button. "Control, this is Optimus. Do you copy?"

-----

In the Mission Control lab, Jungsu put on his headset and smiled as he looked up at the shuttle through the window, knowing they were inside and safe. "Roger, Optimus, this is Launch Control" Jungsu said into the mic. Ridley's eyes widened since she had no idea Jungsu would be the lead in Mission Control

"Jungsu-sshi! Is that you??" Ridley beamed. 

"Indeed it is" Jungsu started, then turned to his shuttle control at his desk. "How are we?"

"Booster A and B solid, ready for ignition. Stand by for main engine test" Booster Engineer, Kim Jonghyun, declared. His eyes glued to his computer

-----

"Go ahead" N said to Leo, to which Leo's eyes widened. "A-Are you sure?"

"I know you want to" N smiled and threw his hands off of the gears. Leo nodded and his headset's audio button. "Control, this is Optimus. Radio check satisfactory.. Over" Leo said with a smile and wiggled in his seat while excitment gripped his entire being

"YEAH GO TAEKWOON HYUNG!" Ken shouted with happiness.

-----

Jungsu smiled as he heard the students whoop and holler happily through the mic. "Alright. Stand by for FRF ignition. Counting down..." Jungsu announced as Flight Director, Shin Soohyun, counted down from 10

-----

"10.. 9.. 8.. 7.. 6.. 5.. " Soohyun counted down as the students smiled

"4.. 3.. 2.. 1.. Go for main engine test" Soohyun declared and pulled a lever, igniting the boosters.

-----

The shuttle shook and swayed, just like a real lift off. Leo and N high-fived each other while Ravi and Hyuk held hands. "This is so cool!" Hongbin screamed

-----

"We have main engine start" Jungsu smiled

-----

Meanwhile, Rovix stood in front of the monitors, watching the engine test from a surveillance camera. 

"T-Theeey neeedd Theerrmal Currt-t-tain Faaailu-ure" Rovix said as he controlled the shuttle's boosters. 

Rovix put in a secret code and initiated Thermal Curtain Failure. 

"H-H-Haaaave Fuu-un Hyyyuk-k" 

-----

As the members of mission control watched the seemingly harmless engine test, an alarm started to sound. Jonghyun looked down at his computer and his eyes widened. "We have overheat on booster B" he announced

"Tempature?" Jungsu asked

"1200 degrees.. And rising" Jonghyun read off his screen, making Jungsu panic. "Get it operational" he almost screamed

"The Thermal Curtain is failing" Data Processing Engineer, Joonmyun started to panic as well. By this time, everyone knew what was about to happen, and were definitely not okay with it.

"We're past shut down tempature. There is no stopping it" Jonghyun declared.. "We have Thermal Curtain Failiure"

-----

As mission control scramble to fix booster B, an alarm finally sounds in the shuttle, startling all six students and Ridley. "What's going on? What does that mean??" Hongbin asked as he heard the alarm from the back seat.

Leo looked around to see what the problem was, but he couldn't seem to find it.. "What's wrong?!" N shouted

"I don't know!" Leo shouted back. Soon, Ridley got in the front to look around for answers. When she realizes what was happening...

"Leo unstrap yourself.." she ordered. "WHAT?!" Leo screamed

"Do it now. Listen to me!" Ridley yelled as Leo struggled to unbuckle his seat belt. When he did, he fell back with Ken and Hongbin. "Hyung, what's happening?!" Ken asked. "I don't know yet" Leo said

"Noona! Tell us what's happening!" N cried, desperate for answers. "Booster B has overheated, it's getting ready to ignite" Ridley finally broke the horrifying news. N's jaw dropped, as he knew exactly what might happen, either they do nothing and they die, or they light booster A and they launch. Ridley grabbed Leo's headset and pressed the audio button

"Light booster A! Light it now or we'll go up in flames damn it!" Ridley screamed angrily into the mic. "Please help us!" Ravi screamed, knowing what was happening as well. 

-----

"Ignite it" Jungsu said as he bit down on his nails. "Sir, we're not authorized" Jonghyun said

Jungsu threw his fist down on Jonghyun's desk in anger. "Light it or they're dead" he said quietly

Jonghyun nodded. "Ignite booster A" he announced. 

Spacecraft Communicater, Kim Minseok, hit his audio button on his headset and typed in his code to ignite booster A. "Igniting booster A.. 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1.." he said into the mic, letting Ridley know

"Mark booster ignites" Jonghyun yelled

"Booster ignites, on" Minseok yelled back

-----

"Taekwoon hyung! Sit with me quick!" Hongbin said as he unstrapped his seat belt, inviting Leo to sit on his lap. Leo takes it and straps them in together.

"GO FOR LAUNCH NOW!" Ridley screamed into the mic, holding on tight for the real deal. "Everyone, hold on tight!!" her voice echoes throughout the small shuttle. Everyone held on to the handles by their chairs tight, squeezed their eyes, and clenched their teeth.

-----

"LAUNCH IT!" Jungsu shouted the command and Flight Dynamics officer, Lee Hyukjae sets the engine ablaze, launching the shuttle into space. 

Kids, including the boys' roommates, from Space Camp watch from across the lake as the shuttle takes off slowly but surely, taking pictures and videos

"Go, baby, go" Minseok whispers as the shuttle soars higher and higher into the sky, and soon, into the stratosphere and beyond

-----

"Jesus christ" Ridley whispered as she, and her students can feel the shuttle begin to fly. "This is actually happening" N said to himself, still finding it hard to believe. As the shuttle reached higher and higher altitude, Leo and Hongbin felt like crying. "This is not what I wanted.. We're not ready" Hongbin said. Leo heard this and held Hongbin's hand. 

"It's okay.. We're gunna be okay" Leo said, holding back tears.

-----

"God... We have lift-off" Jungsu sighed as he watched his childhood friend and her six students leave the Earth

Hey guys! So im really really REALLY sorry this chapter took forever. Just a few more chapters and this story will be pretty much over.. I think..

Anyway, KCON went great and I just started my college classes yesterday so I might have to go on hiatus for a little while... but not for too long. that would be ridiculous xD

i hope you like this chapter, it took me a while to type up the second half of it because I kept getting messed up and putting the wrong dialogue in the wrong places. So yeah this chapter was mighty difficult. xD

but I still hope you like it. make sure to always love our VIXX boys :D