Wooyoung stood with grit teeth in the Launch Room. His face was so overshadowed by seething anguish and dismay that Hongjoong couldn't help but glance at his features every so often. He feared the man to lose his thinly veiled temper any second. In his predicament, Hongjoong wouldn't put it past Wooyoung to throw himself out into space with San to be with him.

They had wrapped San in a spare sheet that the spacecraft had come with. The white cloth dwarfed the man's form and obscured him from view so that none of them had to meet his terrified eyes as they threw him from the ship. Yunho stood next to him as Mingi and Jongho helped him put on his spacesuit. He would float out and take San's body far enough that it wouldn't follow the momentum of the Elysium anymore.

They had held their festivities in his name already. Everybody had written him a private letter that they had saved on their computers and would read to his acquaintances back on the station. Wooyoung had cleared out his room and put all personal items in a storage crate to return to his family.

After several minutes of silence and giving their appeals for whatever entity they prayed to, Hongjoong nodded at Yunho. The man stepped into the airlock and Wooyoung cautiously picked up the body of his dead lover to hand it over.

The door closed behind Yunho and the crew watched on the tiny camera screen how Yunho thrust out into space and carried San off. The rope unravelled slowly as he descended further into the soundless vacuum.

Hongjoong swallowed and lowered his head. In the months he had known San, the man had got close to all of them. Living in such confined quarters in space forced their personalities to get along and for diplomacy and understanding from each other. His loss saddened Hongjoong, even more so because of the circumstances. San hadn't wanted to die as far as the crew theorised. Leaving his fiance under the circumstances of a possibly painful death caused by an extraterrestrial life form was a heartless way to go. Hongjoong would have liked to spare San of such fate.

Wooyoung still stood at the door. His face was locked off, hiding his thoughts and emotions behind a spiteful mask. Seeing him like this exhausted Hongjoong. Wooyoung was swamped by grief but they needed him to cooperate. He had neither spoken up about their fight yet nor did he make the acceptance easier.

When Wooyoung caught his captain eyeing him from the side, a frosty smile spread on his lips.

"Are you satisfied? He will be mummified and his remains can never be retrieved now. I hope that his soul at least will find rest since his body couldn't," the man bit out. Over his shoulder, Hongjoong saw Seonghwa frown, but he stayed calm.

"It's for the best. If we stick to our original theory he even agreed to be thrown into space by crawling into the chute himself. As a medical expert, he must have known how fatal the reason for his death could have been to us."

Wooyoung stared at the screen scornfully. The rope around Yunho pulled taut in the airlock as he guided himself back in.

"If that theory of yours is true, Captain, then I don't understand why you wouldn't turn the ship around."

Wincing, Hongjoong searched for the right words.

"Look, I see what you mean. But San was a researcher, we are researchers. We have no solid evidence on anything on this ship being a threat. If we turn around now we would ruin years of progress and billions of credits for government research."

"So you have enough evidence to throw him out but not enough to turn around? Don't give me that bullshit."

Exasperated, Hongjoong stemmed his hands into his waist. Wooyoung turned to him finally, his dark eyes stormy with anger.

"Wooyoung, please. This is not about possible alien traces on him. The bacteria he spreads as he decomposes are unhealthy for us. We would have frozen him if we had the ability to!"

"That is not what you said. You said alien traces you could not prove, correct. But now you ignore them to continue the mission. Just say that his life wasn't worth more than the mission for you," Wooyoung hissed. His words cut into Hongjoong's skin, calling him a lousy leader and a failure in his own righteous system. Before he could retort, however, Yeosang stepped in to mediate.

"Please, you two. Wooyoung, as much as you are swamped by emotions right now, you know very well that we are required to continue if we aren't met with something that endangers us. Nobody ever promised our utmost safety on this trip and San is not the first to die in space. You would have done the same if you were the captain. And Hongjoong, don't fight with him. This should strengthen our bonds, not drive us apart as a group."

Jongho and Mingi nodded like two programmed dolls. Only or the former to startle when Wooyoung's evil eye found him instead.

"You! Don't you dare play the wise one now. If you had thought for even a second, then we might have found out what it was that killed him. Don't hide behind the others now, bastard."

When Wooyoung's voice rose in volume and pitch, Hongjoong helplessly put a hand on Yeosang's arm to push the man aside. Before that was needed, however, Seonghwa spoke up. His voice was dangerously low and grave, cutting right through their thinly veiled tension to attack Wooyoung.

"Wooyoung, with all due respect. The one who stuck with San during every free minute and should have been able to tell us exactly what was going on with him is you alone. If you are resentful for fighting with him right before and regret it now, so be it. We even accept your silence in matters that might be of grave importance to us. But don't you dare push faults around. If anybody could have noticed, it should have been you."

Hongjoong saw the moment Wooyoung's eyes narrowed in hatred. He stepped in between, motioning at Mingi to hold Wooyoung back if needed.

"Seonghwa-"

The hiss of the airlock shutting interrupted them. For a tense moment, they all eyed each other, waiting for the next strike. When Wooyoung just pressed his lips together until they were white, the pressure fell from Hongjoong. Huffing, he opened the door once the regulator showed that Yunho was good to enter.

Yunho picked up on the uneasy silence among them right away. The second Mingi had taken his helmet off, his eyes glanced around warily as if searching for the culprit.

He found it in Wooyoung, who had averted his angry eyes.

"I'm going back to my room," the man grumbled when more and more curious eyes landed on him. He left without leaving Hongjoong a chance to hold him back.

Once the door had shut behind him automatically, a mutual exhale lightened the mood in the room. With Wooyoung left the storm cloud of emotions that had stifled their hearts.

"He'll need some time," Mingi muttered for the general peace. They all nodded, nobody too mad at the man who had just lost his everything.

They helped Yunho out of his suit and spread out on the ship again. Hongjoong and Yeosang found themselves on the bridge where they recalculated the route and checked for nearby stars. None of them showed signals of much change drawing near, meaning that they had yet to enter a different galaxy or solar system. Hongjoong would love to find a new planet out here and get to name it. It was his biggest dream.

Yeosang worked in silence, not up for a talk. The peeping and wavering of the surrounding AI made for soothing white noise as Hongjoong sunk into the world of his thoughts that excluded him from the chilliness of reality.

In his letter, he had included everything that he had known about San. From the moment they had met at the launch station when the composition of the crew had been announced, up until today. From the first dimpled smile that San had utilised to charm everyone in the room, to his purple hair peeking over the desk of the med bay as he worked on samples and checked on the crew. San's curriculum vitae had stated that he had grown up with his grandparents in a tiny village far out and joined the Space Academy at an early age. He was a genius in his field and was well-liked for his gentle and shy demeanour. Hongjoong had liked him from the start, and as a crew member, San had proved to be wise and patient when others were not.

San and Hongjoong shared a lot personality-wise. Their meetings whenever San had needed medical checkups from Hongjoong had always ended in a long discussion about their ideals and thoughts on life. An important partner had left with him, and Hongjoong wouldn't miss out on thanking his family profusely for having brought up such a sympathetic soul to join them.

Once his work with Yeosang was done, Hongjoong returned to the kitchen to get some tea. He sat there, breathing in the scent of home and security while outside, everything was quiet. Nobody dared to make a sound as if they could disrupt San's ghost that still lingered with them.

Hongjoong wondered what Wooyoung was doing, and if he was alright. If he had been any less of a chicken, he would have gone to comfort him.

But Wooyoung didn't want comfort. Especially not from him.

Usually, when Wooyoung was mad and everybody was over-tasked in compassion matters, San sprung up to make it better.

Not this time. Wooyoung's rage boiled like a cauldron and most likely Wooyoung didn't even know how to deal with it himself.

Hongjoong's heavy sigh got stifled by the door sliding open. For a moment, Jongho and he stared at each other surprisedly. Then, the younger man tried a gentle smile.

"Also here to drink mom's tea?" Hongjoong inquired with a tap at his mug. Jongho nodded and came in to make himself a portion, too.

"Brooding by yourself?" Jongho asked while the tea steeped. He sat down opposite his brother to examine Hongjoong cradle his warm mug as if it were the only thing still bringing warmth to him.

"I've been thinking about Wooyoung. I want to help him but I don't know how. I don't think he can ever forgive us."

At seeing him so troubled, Jongho's lips pulled into a frown.

"Honestly, fuck that guy. He's only accusing and never listening. I think you did your best, and he has no right to go around attacking everyone for a mistake he made. I agree with Seonghwa."

Hongjoong's offended gasp blended into a little giggle. Laughter was rare these days. He enjoyed sharing it in the privacy of their conversation.

"Don't be mean to him. I don't want to take either side. I just want everyone to go along and help each other. And I recognise his pain. I would never be the same again if that had been Seonghwa."

"You've been dating Seonghwa for over a year. It's different from their hot flirt." Jongho stood to get his tea while Hongjoong stared into the murky orange colour of his as if it held all secrets in the universe.

"You can't put a scale on emotions. His pain can't be interpreted by any of us. And that wound will never heal." Hongjoong sipped his tea as Jongho sat back down with his steaming drink.

"You saying these things about him after he yelled at you is the exact reason he shouldn't be resentful."

Hongjoong's smile was private. Wooyoung didn't need to know those things.

"Did you thank Yeosang for defending you? I forgot to," Hongjoong changed the topic. Jongho took the bait instantly, his work-roughened fingers wrapped around his hot mug.

"I didn't, not yet. Thanks for babying me though. I'm used to you and Seonghwa doing that, but Yeosang too? I feel like a child."

The brotherly glow in Hongjoong's eyes made the other man cringe. He nearly disappeared under the bench in his agony.

"You are a baby. A baby with a wrench and a hammer that builds lethal weapons."

"Not the type of baby parents would be happy about."

"An underappreciated baby," Hongjoong giggled. Jongho took the jab with ease.

They sat together drinking their tea and talking about matters that didn't include the death of their friend or the gloomy mood on the ship. When they cleaned up their mugs to leave the room, Hongjoong felt far better already. He looked forward to spending a harmonious evening with Seonghwa to share some of his good mood with his lover.

And hopefully, as time passed, their nights would get peaceful again.