Chapter Text
"Hello Planets! Welcome to our newest competition!"
That's all Uranus could catch before his mind spaced out on him, not listening to whatever the Sun or the Inner Planets were saying after.
He never really HAD a reason to listen anyway, he barely ever won these types of competitions, and the times that he did he couldn't help but feel unaccomplished.
Maybe that was because of the Sun's sickly sweet and rather passive-aggressive attitude towards them every time either one of them won or because he barely hung out with anyone in the system, and it's not like he could just go up to them and say hi, It would be too awkward! And The Sun would probably prevent him from ever getting the chance to anyway...it seemed every planet besides him had its inner circle.
and He wished for the kind of friendship that they all had.
Or at least, he missed it.
He missed him.
Neptune, the eighth planet from the Sun, has been gone for over a hundred years, and for Uranus, it was like a hundred aeons. Where he was, Uranus couldn't know. All he knew was that it wasn't friendly the last time they saw each other and talked to one another.
--
[ "--Why can't you understand that It's better to keep quiet!? We can't just go up to them about it, they'll probably fling us out too!" Uranus pleaded, watching the planet's expression in front of him become even angrier. ]
[ "Uranus, stop being so scared! I'm not going to sit back and ignore that they just potentially killed another planet!" Neptune snapped at Uranus, crossing his arms. ]
[ "And what if they fling you out, huh?! You know how ruthless they are, they could swallow up the entire system if they so wanted to! Why can't you understand that I'm trying to keep us from ending up like [???]!?-" Uranus raised his voice, which caused Neptune to step back a bit.]
[ "Ending up like [???]? Oh so did [???] want to confront them about how they're huge jerks, is that why he got flung out? Cause he questioned their so-called "authority?" They could've killed him Uranus, do you not understand!?" Neptune yelled back, and Uranus knew he was just gonna anger his cousin the more he tried to convince Neptune not to go up to the two giants. Their argument was getting so loud that Saturn, who was nearby, could hear small bits of it. ]
[ "--I do understand, which is why I'm trying to do something for once and stop you from making a big mistake!" ]
[ "I'm tired of them pushing us around like we're asteroids! Just let me do this!" ]
[ "I CAN'T! GAH- WHY DO YOU ACT LIKE THIS?" ]
[ For the first time in forever, Neptune didn't come back with something. The silence was uncomfortable. ]
[ Uranus broke the silence, "Every time I try and stop you from doing something risky, you do it anyways. And every single time you get hurt and yelled at or solar flared cause the Sun didn't like that you were out of orbit...Why can't you just do this ONE thing for me and not get yourself hurt?" ]
[ Uranus could tell that Neptune was conflicted, he was staring at Uranus with a furrowed brow, before mumbling something and turning away. ]
[ "Neptune-!" Uranus called out to him, but Neptune didn't even look back. Uranus wanted to go after him but it just seemed like his body couldn't move- like it was telling him to not do it. ]
[ what if the Sun notices he's stepping out of his orbit and solar flares him? flare him so hard, Neptune would be the only Ice Giant left? ]
[ He kept looking between the Sun and Neptune, and that by the time he made up his mind, Neptune was already gone from sight. ]
[ Uranus couldn't describe the feeling afterwards. ]
Uranus thought over this memory time and time again, wishing that it played out differently, that he said something else...
wishing that he went after Neptune.
If he had just taken that step, Neptune would be here right now, laughing and talking with him and the other planets, playing games like he always did and getting into mischief.
It's telling when the biggest event you knew, could've been prevented with such a small change.
Now his fellow ice giant was gone, and he couldn't help but feel it was all his fault.
He kept reassuring himself after that first fight- He's just staying in his orbit, maybe he's just cooling off...
maybe he was flung out of the Solar System.
Uranus bit his nails at the thought of that, a destructive habit he had been told to quit but never stopped.
Why? Why couldn't he go after Neptune? Was he afraid? Stuck up, thinking he was right? Frozen in place- no, that couldn't be the case...
So why? Why was it so hard for him to just move a couple of steps towards his fellow ice giant? His friend, his family?
--
Uranus was snapped out of the painful memory by a sudden scream. Looking over, he saw it came from the smallest planet Mercury, who had been directly hit with one of those painful sun trophies.
At that point, he knew it was time to go back to his orbit as the competition had been declared over. His fellow planets returned to their orbits, and he lost yet again.