Chapter Text
“What?” Eclipse asked. This was his first time meeting his attorney, and they were already spouting nonsense.
“You’re a Gemini!” The crab person said again.
Cancer was… unique to put it mildly. They weren’t your average red beach crab; they were a yeti crab. Their legs were the body of a crab, with its arms too. Of course, they had their own more humanoid (but still furry) arms on their torso. Long silver hair flowed down their back. A crustacean mask covered their eyes. They were stunning to say the least. Dark colored stars freckled their body, as if an anti-void. Very bright though… They literally glowed.
“What does that have to do with anything?” Eclipse asked, shielding his eyes. Seeing this, Cancer toned down their glow a bit, but not by much.
“You’ll see, but it’ll help us BOTH out in the long run!” They smiled. It was sweet, but Eclipse wasn’t so easily charmed.
“What is THAT supposed to mean?” Eclipse asked.
“Don’t worry about THAT! We have a trial to win!” They smiled again. So positive. It was so unnecessary.
“And how do you plan to do that?” Eclipse asked, a smug grin consuming his face. Cancer returned their own smile of confidence.
“Oh, you’ll see.” Their smile was devilish. They clearly had a scheme in mind. “Now! Let’s discuss what you’re on trial for!”
“Oh well there’s A LOT!” Eclipse smiled back, although it wasn’t very genuine. “Murder, star power abuse, star abuse, attempted murder, plotting to take over the world-”
“Stop, stop, stop.” Cancer waved their arms. Eclipse had a hard time closing his mouth since he was still so awestruck by Cancer. Seriously. They were WAY more breathtaking than Aries was. You’d think a crab person would actually be off-putting, but Cancer looked like a shining star all on their own.
“Look… In every other case, you’d be a complete lost cause. I don’t know WHY you thought it’d be a good idea to trial.” Eclipse looked at the bars in front of them.
“BUT!” Cancer started. “You’re lucky! I’m here and not dealing with something else, AND there’s an astral missing!”
“What? How are those good things? No offense.” Cancer giggled a bit, and smiled at him. Eclipse felt his heart skip a beat. How intimidating.
“None taken! I used to watch you sometimes, Eclipse. And really, I like you. I understand your struggles and what you went through. You want justice! I respect that, and I’m sure Libra will too! This isn’t just going to be a trial for your freedom… I’m going to try and make you an astral.”
Cancer’s expression became serious. They weren’t joking around.
“WHAT!?” Eclipse gripped the bars with such a force he felt like he could break them, but he knew that was impossible. Make him an astral? After everything he did!
“Gemini is missing. They’ve been gone for FAR longer than their quota, meaning they’re probably trying to ‘control’ the target, instead of eliminating, which is completely off course. They’ve broken a rule, and if they come back without good cause, if they come back at all, they’ll be dissipated.” Cancer looked down at their crab arms whose hands were holding themselves.
“That’s permanent astral death, isn’t it?” Eclipse asked.
“Sort of. Astrals are made up of stardust. Stardust needs to grow and take shape. After a while, when we lose an astral, they are replaced by a star baby. When we dissipate, we just return to stardust. It’s a true circle of life.” Their smile was so calming.
“Huh…” Eclipse didn’t know what to say to that. “And you want me to become stardust?”
“Well, we’ll replace some of your internals with stardust, but your outer shell will remain! Unless you don’t want it.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Eclipse glanced at his own hands. What would they look like as stardust? “So how is this going to work?”
“Well, to do that, I’ll have to start a trial before yours starts declaring Gemini a traitor, once that’s decided, then for your trial, we can declare your punishment ‘Astral Replacement’. It’s basically public service, but much more risky.” They smiled as if what they said was really easy to understand. Not to Eclipse.
“Ok… and when do you plan on doing all that?” Eclipse asked.
“Right now!” Cancer proceeded to run away, ecstatic about their idea.
“Wait! What about me!?” Eclipse shouted through the bars.
“Good luck!” Cancer called back, but they didn’t stop. “I’ll come back!”
Eclipse sighed. He was probably going to die. This was never going to work.
A few more star people walked by. All of them ignoring Eclipse.
“Astral replacement… huh.”