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Of all the greatest scientific feats in the last century, one probably has to be the wormhole the people of NASA found in the year 2087 just past our own Earth’s moon. Due to the unstable manner of wormholes, it was a time sensitive mission for the scientists to figure out how it operates and how it manifested so near to a planetary body. Sehun Oh, the leading scientist in this space mission, was able to send a space probe to the wormhole, and was able to retrieve information that proved vital to the understanding of such a phenomenon.
But none of his achievements in space exploration made him happier than the day that his now fiance proposed after he received an award for his findings on the wormhole phenomenon by the dark side of the moon. Everyone was congratulating him on his Nobel prize during the after party, while all he did was fiddle with the ring on his finger while Baekhyun, his fiance, stared from across the room, in his tuxedo, as he snacked on hors d'oeuvres by the buffet table, while he hung out with his crew who recently finished their stay on the ISS.
All Sehun and Baekhyun did for the next months was prepare for their wedding, going out to taste cakes and other food items, going to wine tastings (which ends up in Baekhyun getting drunk most of the time so Sehun has to keep apologizing to his friend who agreed to drive for them as Baekhyun tried to keep kissing Sehun in the back seat), and choosing a theme for their wedding. Despite both of them working with the wonders of our universe, they both had the same fascination with the deep sea and our own ocean. There’s a running joke that in a parallel universe, they would probably have met as marine biologists, with Baekhyun and his obsession with narwhals. Their bestmen complained that it might be too tacky to have an under-the-sea themed wedding, just after the fiasco of their own wedding which had a safari themed wedding because of Baekhyun’s bestfriend’s obsession with giraffes. Still, they stood their ground and made sure they’d enjoy their wedding. They sent out their invites, sealed with a starfish sticker on the envelope and counted down the days; excitement building up with every box ticked of their calendar that hung behind their bedroom door.
The day prior to their day, there was a development with the appearances of wormholes. The red alert that Sehun had designed with his team detected levels that were higher than previous instances and was slowly changing the angle of the moon’s axis. So, unfortunately had to postpone the wedding, leaving their matching dolphin and narwhal pin boxes on top of their drawer. Even Baekhyun had to report earlier than his intended schedule because the phenomena caused by the wormhole cut communications from the ISS. Baekhyun didn’t really have the option of saying no because he and his team were promised to be cleared of space duties for the rest of the year, and he had wanted to go on a tour of the Arctic waters with Sehun for their honeymoon. He kissed his soon-to-be husband goodbye before preparing to board their craft the day after, hoping it was enough time to get adjusted to the flight. They both received apologies but both of them knew the gravity of their jobs.
Sehun watched from the ground as they monitored the path of Baekhyun’s aircraft, fiddling with the ring on his finger as they maintained constant communication throughout the journey. However, a few more minutes into Baekhyun’s intended position, communications started going haywire once more, which they had expected. So Sehun sat in silence, while Baekhyun and his team tried to configure a way to resume communication with the Earth. It was a gruelling two hours for Sehun, hearing nothing from his husband-to-be, but when they finally established signal once more, it wasn’t what he was expecting. Everyone sounded frantic in the background as Baekhyun tried his best to remain calm and report to the base everything they had gathered in the last two hours. The wormhole had moved, and was now slowly swallowing their aircraft. They had been using their jets to combat their inevitable trajectory but if by Sehun’s observation, they wouldn’t make it out in time for it to close. After they had transferred data, Baekhyun’s team took time one by one to say their goodbyes. The whole office was silent, unable to process what was happening, and Sehun was nearly in tears, trying his best to figure out something to help Baekhyun in any way. Whether it be to emergency land on the moon or just try to fly using pods to the ISS. He was yelling at everyone, begging for someone to come up with an idea. His voice breaks several times as he asks his peers for any update, until it was Baekhyun’s turn to say goodbye.
Hey, Sehun. By our calculations, I only have two minutes left. I have so much to tell you but I doubt I’ll be able to. Just know that my time with you was the best moments of my life. You are and will always be the light of my life. Maybe in our next life, we’ll finally be exploring the sea instead. It will be easier for you to save me then. Thank you for a wonderful life, continue exploring the cosmos for me. I love—
And there was only static.
Until, you could just hear Sehun’s pained sobs as he fell to the floor. Everyone remained silent as wails echoed, harmonizing with the beeping of the machines in the background.
No one saw Sehun in the weeks that followed. He had been given a month of leave, but he eventually filed for his resignation because he couldn't come back to his office without relieving the memories of that day. Even his bestfriends had a hard time getting him out of the house so they eventually made it a point that they would take care of the groceries and maintain his house so he could grieve as much as he wanted.
Sehun was thankful for Kyungsoo and Chanyeol but he just couldn't agree that he should stop listening to the last moments of Baekhyun on recording on repeat. He didn't want to forget about him. Moving on from his death felt like Sehun was forgetting him, little by little. He didn't even know if he was hallucinating but sometimes he would just find items that reminded him of Baekhyun around their house. He would wake up in the morning to the coffee machine beeping, which reminded him of when Baekhyun would wake up first and make them a cup or two. He would notice that the TV always defaulted to Baekhyun's Netflix account when he opened it. His narwhal pin that he would have worn on their wedding day lay over the top of its box on the dresser. It honestly felt like Baekhyun was still around even if Sehun knew better.
But it was when Sehun saw Baekhyun in the reflection in his mirror that eventually led to him breaking down and having to call his friends for help because he didn't know what to do anymore that he finally agreed to see a therapist for his grief. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were on the sofa as Sehun took a bath for the first time in a while, waiting for him to take him to his first appointment. As Sehun wipes away the fog from the mirror to shave off the beard he grew for the past month or two, he sees Baekhyun in reflection once more. But this time, he hears his voice.
Sehun? Sehun? It's me. Can you hear me? Can you finally hear me?
Sehun backed away from the mirror and into the wall of the bathroom.
Baekhyun was ecstatic, months of working with his team finally paid off and now they were able to establish the link to their original universe.
"Baby, no, you're not going crazy. Me and my team will figure this out. But I need your help. So get your act together." Baekhyun scolds Sehun for letting himself go before the link cuts off.
Just right after Baekhyun and his team braced for the worst, everything disappeared into a flash of light. He woke up in his own bed, everything seemed familiar and foreign at the same time. He immediately looked for Sehun but he couldn’t find him anywhere, yet he catches faint glimpses of him in his peripheral vision. He eventually meets his colleagues as they all seemingly gather at the headquarters, looking for answers.
For the past few weeks, Baekhyun and his team had tried several ways of trying to figure out where he was. It seemed like a carbon copy of their original Earth only that in this mirror universe, that they all collectively agreed to call, they were the only inhabitants. They could see what goes on on Earth, which they now call Earth Prime, upon the different reflective surfaces with varying degrees of clarity, thus explaining how Baekhyun sees Sehun in his peripheral vision at home, his heart breaking as he watched Sehun cave in from his supposed death. This made him even more desperate to come back home.
After a couple of weeks of late nights, testing, and constant headaches, they were able to understand the physics that allowed them to communicate with Earth Prime, affecting it through small changes which they tested with Baekhyun's items around Sehun's house. However, Sehun couldn’t really understand what was happening so they had to change plans, trying out something with how they could see Earth Prime through mirrors, hoping there was a way for it to be a two-way communication.
They had reached a roadblock, completely stopping their progress for weeks until Baekhyun saw his reflection on Sehun's fogged up mirror, noticing that the tattoo he had of Sehun's name just under his collarbone was flipped, and realizing that he should have been looking at his equation from a mirror perspective.
And now all that Baekhyun needs is time.
To figure out how to get back home, how to get back to Sehun.