Chapter Text
Sun and Eclipse stood together just outside the house. The sun had set an hour ago and the kids were fast asleep inside.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Sun whispered.
"Do you have a better idea?" Eclipse huffed, tail lashing.
The two both scanned the tree line. They were fed up with constantly seeing stuff out of the corner of their eyes.
Sun nudged Eclipse and pointed to a strange shadow in the brush. Eclipse nodded slightly at Sun. Sun cast a basic invisibility spell. There was no guarantee the spell would hide them if this was a powerful being and it would wear off if a person touched them. It was just a safety precaution.
The pair crept quietly toward the shadow. Based on the way the shadow seemed to be looking around in confusion, they couldn't see through the invisibility spell. It didn't take long for Sun and Eclipse to be standing on either side of the shadow, blocking any escape routes.
"Who are you?" Eclipse growled as the invisibility spell broke.
Sun and Eclipse's patterns gave off enough light to see the intruder. Eclipse didn't recognize the astral, but based on how Sun tensed, the lighter did.
The astral appeared female. She wore a dark hood that mostly obscured her face except for two purple eyes. She had short, pale hair poking out of her hoof. Her outfit was purple with some blue and silver.
"I-I," she stuttered nervously. Her eyes darted around, searching for an escape.
"Nebula?" Sun said as he stared at the astral.
"Do- do I... know you?" She asked.
"Y- you used to," Sun said, fidgeting slightly.
"Why are you here?" Eclipse asked, tail twitching.
"I... I thought he looked familiar," she admitted, nodding toward Sun, "I just wanted to see if I could remember."
"You could have just talked to us," Sun said.
"I... wasn't sure if that would be okay," Nebula said, "We've been told to keep our distance."
"I think we'd both rather you just approach instead of watching us," Eclipse said.
"It was only a few times," she mumbled.
"Nebula, how many times have you been here?" Sun asked, feeling a pit of dread open in his stomach.
"Only three times," she said.
Sun and Eclipse exchanged a look. They'd seen things watching them close to twenty times over the past week.
"Are any other astrals spying on us?" Eclipse asked.
"A few," Nebula admitted, "But we can only visit every now and then."
"We've seen a lot of things watching us," Sun said, his tail pulling close to his body.
Nebula tensed at that, "I'll tell the other astrals. We can increase security."
"Okay," Eclipse muttered, dragging a hand down his face, "Okay."
"Um, if you want to talk, feel free to stop by during the day," Sun told Nebula.
"That sounds good," she said.
Eclipse and Sun both stepped back to give her space to teleport away. She did so almost immediately.
Eclipse sighed. They had gotten confirmation that multiple people were watching them, but didn't know who all. He wasn't sure if he was more or less concerned now than he was before.
"We should go inside," Sun said.
Eclipse nodded in response. The pair both made their way inside. They climbed onto the bed without waking any of the kids.
The pair sat in silence for a long time. Both kept glancing at the windows despite the fact they were covered by curtains. It took hours for them to fall asleep.
Nebula rushed toward where Maribel and Taurus were speaking. The pair looked over at her as she approached.
"Hello there," Maribel greeted.
"Did something happen?" Taurus asked when he noticed Nebula's fidgeting.
"I-I spoke with the star nurseries," Nebula said.
"You're not supposed to have contact with them," Taurus said, giving her a scolding glare.
"I know, but I swear I recognized one of them," she said, not meeting his eyes.
"Dear, what exactly did they say?" Maribel asked.
"They said they saw things watching them," Nebula said, shuddering slightly at the thought.
"And you're sure it's just not other astrals going down to the planet?" Taurus raised an eyebrow.
"I don't think it was," Nebula said.
"I'll look into it," Taurus said.
"I can speak with the other marionettes as well," Maribel said.
"Thank you," Nebula said.
"Hey Moon," Solar said as he walked in.
He stopped when he saw Moon passed out at the keyboard. He sighed at the sight. He grabbed a blanket and threw it over Moon.
Moon had kept pushing himself, trying to get the defenses set up. Moon Haven and the Sanctuary had helped, but it still took time to set everything up. It was hard to stop powerful entities like dark astrals though.
Solar sat down at one of the desks and began working on constructing a device that would create a barrier.
He watched the screen closely.
Without constant exposure to star power and other resources, it would take another few months for new stars to form from the nurseries. That was annoying but meant he’d have time to recover the subjects. Star nurseries were unable to use magic when it came close to the time when a new star would become independent of them.
He made a note. He’d watch until right before the new stars became independent to capture the subjects. Then, he would have not only the two star nurseries, but his first two stars.
It seemed neither nursery was aware of the forming stars yet. It wasn’t unexpected considering this would be their first time. He was positive both had new stars forming though, he’d checked before the escape and they had showed positive signs.
“Continue watching the nurseries,” he ordered his drones.