I'll be home for Christmas (ONF ff ENG)

Part 1

Silence. Pure cosmic silence. No annoying crickets, fluttering wings of a fly, not even the wind playing with the leaves on the trees. There was no wind here, the trees did not grow. Flies could not survive here, let alone crickets. The oxygen level barely reached one percent, and the gas mixing station had been damaged for decades. But would anyone mind?

The ship sailed in a vacuum, driven solely by inertia rather than with the engine running. It made its way through cosmic dust and the occasional litter of satellites that rumbled into it once in a while. Darkness surrounded it, pierced by the radiance of billions of stars in this solar system. The ship's temperature was kept just above zero, but in some parts it was warmer.

In this endless silence, when not even the ship's engine hummed as usual, a melody suddenly resounded. Beautiful, soothing melody. Just the instruments it was played, the tones that had been used, the whole combination created an image of pure joy. The distinctive-sounding jingle bells refused any break, the violin and the piano competed with each other. There was no one who couldn't help but listen to it.

Several voices soon began to sing. First one had a very interesting color. High-pitched, bright, fresh - like a lemon candy in a hot summer. Soon after a second voice, a complete opposite was added. Its depth and resonance led the listener into a deep ice cave. He contrasted completely with the first. And after him another, quiet and gentle soothing voice, reminding the feeling of running with fingers over velvet. Subsequently, a distinct, nasal voice broke through, and immediately after, another gentle voice tried to tame it, that sounded like a singing member of the angelic choir.

And finally, all this wild overview of voice tones faded as the last person opened his mouth and the vibrato set off, captivating all the singers, even the onlookers. They could only quietly watch, listen, and immerse themselves in the nostalgia that this voice evoked.

Once the song was over, the video snorted effortlessly as it was rewound to the beginning.

The young man, who was holding a remote control and playing the video over and over, was an exception. He didn't smile, there was no sign of joy. His expression was dead, though the colour of his face remained constant. He stared wide at the screen, neither blinking nor twitching the corners of his mouth.

The Christmas carol about jingle bells played for the fiftieth time in a row.

E-Tion could no longer look at it. He ignored his dreaminess long enough, but that idiot was still sitting in his chair, staring at the projector. It started to annoy him.

He burst into a room that seemed cold at first glance — with all the metal walls — yet the temperature was many times higher than the rest of the ship.

„Aren't you sick of it yet?" He asked J-US, who was sitting on his chair in silence. He didn't even look up from the screen.

„Do you know what day it is tomorrow?"

„As far as I know, here one can't even recognize day and night."

„Christmas," J-US corrected E-Tion meaningfully. „And your birthday, too."

„What about them? There is no point in celebrating them anymore," he sighed and threw a glance at the screen in which the red-haired young man, with an innocent face resembling a deer, joined the others. Like the sun, he lit up a room and drew all attention to himself.

„You know it couldn't end up differently," he muttered softly. He understood where J-US's thoughts were right now.

„Hyojin –" J-US began, but could not find the right words. Like the audience on camera, he was also captivated by his singing. There were times when he listened to him every day. They even sang together. They complemented each other, corrected their mistakes...