Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Anger.

That's all he felt.

Millions of years spent hiding away in the depths of the Kuiper belt would make someone go insane.

He digresses, though.

Spending his every waking moment to watch from the shadows gave him a sense of relief in some ways. They had no idea he was still alive.

Saturn, the idiot, and Jupiter, the so-called 'Big Brother' or 'Father' of the solar system. It was nice to know they had changed after so many years of tormenting him, yet... he still remembers.

He never forgot those days.

He never forgot how Jupiter and Saturn teamed up, using their combined strengths to push him deep into the solar system, knocking him into the Kuiper belt.

One day, sooner or later, they would feel how he felt all those millions of years ago.

« × »

"Let's see... Despina, Galatea, Halimede, Hippocamp, Laomedeia, Larissa, Neso, Proteus, Psamathe, Sao, and Thalassa." Neptune called, then frowned as he blinked slowly, "Wait, where's Naiad and Nereid?"

"Wasn't Proteus supposed to keep track of us?" Larissa spoke.

Proteus averted his gaze, looking down, "Oh, I didn't realize they weren't with us. Sorry, Neptune..."

"Ah, nothing to apologize for, Proteus! I'm sure they must've gotten separated or lost." Neptune reassured his largest satellite, "I'll go look for them; you all look after each other, okay?"

"Okay, Neptune!" The irregular moons bounced up and down in the atmosphere as Neptune flew away.

The blue planet decided to re-trace his steps, spinning his body to try and see if he could find them faster. It only made him dizzy.

"First Trition, and now this..." He mumbled, shaking his sphere, 'It's not like I wanted to forget everything.'

Screams from the Kuiper belt interrupted his thoughts. His eyes widened as he recognized the frightened voices.

"Naiad...! Nereid!" He shouted, turning into his Celestial human form as he dove into the Kuiper belt.

"Neptune!" He heard Naiad yell as a tiny body came flying at him at full speed.

"Naiad, where's-?"

"Help! Neptune!" Nereid shouted as she fled behind him.

"Nereid! Thank stars you two are alright!" Neptune grinned, holding them closer.

"Neptune, we need to get out of here!" Naiad nudged the Celestial being.

"What? Why?" Neptune questioned.

"Him..." Nereid uttered from behind Neptune's shoulder.

Whoosh...

Neptune turned his head towards the asteroids, squinting his eyes as he peered into the depths, raising an eyebrow as he saw a silhouette.

"It's nice to see you again..."

Out from the shadows steps another Celestial being a shade darker than Neptune. His hair was messy and his silk robes were unkempt. In his right hand, he held a strange-looking Trident, only it had an X across the middle tooth.

"Brother."

The atmosphere was silent as Neptune took in his words, still analyzing the strange Celestial's figure.

"Do I know you?" Neptune asked.

This time, the stranger was caught by surprise, his eyebrows raising, "Is this one of your strange jokes or do you seriously not recognize me?"

"Uhm..." Neptune hummed, "I'm afraid not, but hey- you look very similar to me!"

The darker figure sighed, "I literally- y'know what? Forget it..."

"Say, what's your name, strange new friend?" Neptune took a step forward, stretching his hand out.

"I go by many names out here... you can call me X or Nine." He took Neptune's hand, briefly shaking it, "Say, are those little asteroids yours...?"

Neptune frowned, "They're not asteroids! They're my moons, Naiad and Nereid! Sure, they're a little small, but they're just like any other moon in the solar system!"

"Yeah!" Naiad yelled.

"You tell him, Neptune!" Nereid shouted.

"Interesting..." Nine uttered, "You've changed a lot in these millions of years."

"Pardon?" Neptune raised an eyebrow.

"Don't worry about it." Nine shook his head, "You should go back, your... friends, must be so worried about you."

"Oh, I completely forgot about about Uranus! He must be so worried." Neptune spoke, averting his gaze to his moons, "Come on, Naiad and Nereid! We have to get back to the others!"

"Yay!"

Nine watched the Celestial leave with his satellites, humming lowly.

'One down, seven to go...'

« × »

"Soft strokes, mate." Uranus pointed out.

"Pfft- that's what she said~" Earth laughed under his breath while the other Celestial gave him a deadpan stare.

Uranus sighed, his eyes scanning their surroundings, "Huh, I thought the Sun would be yelling at me by now."

"Nope, it's that time of the year Mercury is orbiting behind him. I think he's halfway done." Earth stuck his tongue out as he held the paintbrush tightly in his grasp, swirling it around the canvas.

"Still. It's best to be careful." Uranus spoke, glancing at Earth's painting, "What, uh... is that?"

"Hey! What'd I say about peeking?" The lively Celestial moved away, shielding the canvas.

"Alright, alright- I won't look at it." Uranus put his hands up, backing away as he continued to work on his own painting.

"Since when did the Earth become such good friends with Uranus?" Mars questioned, giving Venus a look as the other held in a laugh.

Venus composed himself quickly, "What? You think I know? I barely know him compared to you."

"Well-"

"Uranus! Sorry, I'm late!" Neptune came bounding over the asteroid belt, causing rocks and debris to fly everywhere.

"Careful, Neptune!" Uranus' eyes widened as he stretched an arm out, stepping up to protect the Earth's Celestial form, "Just because the Earth is in this form doesn't mean he can't get injured or worse."

"Right, sorry, cousin..." Neptune apologized, bowing his head, "But I met someone!"

"Neptune," A voice called as the face of Saturn was seen over the asteroid belt, "My dear friend, do you know that your moons are over here?"

"Don't worry, Saturn, I left Proteus and Larissa in charge!" Neptune grinned before turning back to the others, "Anyway, as I was saying, I met this cool-"

"What are you all doing over there?" The biggest Gas Giant, Jupiter, rose beside Saturn, staring the other planets down.

"We were just, uh..."
"Nothing out of the ordinary."
"Nothing to see here-!"

"Oh, I was just about to tell everyone about the strange and cool Celestial being I just met in the Kuiper belt!" Neptune shouted.

Saturn and Jupiter paused before glancing at each other. Saturn leaned over to whisper something in Jupiter's ear, then the other whispered a response. Saturn nodded as they both turned to look at Neptune.

"Tell us more," Jupiter spoke.

Chapter Text

Saturn and Jupiter watched the other Celestial beings hang out; Uranus teaching Earth how to paint while Neptune seemed to giggle to himself. Luna, Venus, and Mars were playing a card game a few units away. The Sun was distracted with Mercury orbiting behind him, probably telling him jokes.

Jupiter and Saturn turned away from them, eyeing their moons before them.

"It can't be..." The taller uttered under his breath, his eyes widening, "H-He's actually-"

"Jupiter." Saturn took the other by the hand, raising his other hand to his cheek, "Look at me."

Jupiter did so, looking into the other's eyes as he shifted on his feet.

"We've been through this once before, Jupiter... we can do it again." Saturn assured, "We have to keep everyone safe."

"I know that, Saturn." Jupiter averted his gaze, "It doesn't make it any less easy."

"I know... X was our friend, yet..." Saturn trailed off, letting out a sigh as his eyes watered, "Why did it have to happen?"

"X was troubled. The choices he made could've ended up worse. He has nobody but himself to blame." Jupiter raised his empty hand, intertwining it with Saturn's other hand.

"Right." Saturn nodded, leaning forward against Jupiter's chest, "I wish things could've ended up better..."

"Me too." Jupiter rested his head on Saturn's, breathing slowly.

"A-Are you guys dating now, or what?" A rough voice interrupted the two Gas Giants, making them drift apart.

"What?" Jupiter spoke, peering down at Io.

"E-excuse me?" Saturn forced a smile on his face as he eyed the moons.

"Way to go, Io, now they'll never confess their obvious feelings towards one another," Callisto spoke, rolling her eyes as she looked at her friend.

"H-Hey! I just wanted to know since they looked extremely close!" Io turned to her, coughing a few times as Callisto backed away.

"Moron," Ganymede muttered while Europa laughed beside him.

"Ha, as if those two will be together." She scoffed to the moon beside her, smirking. Jupiter didn't seem to hear what was said while Saturn raised an eyebrow.

"What does-"

"HEY! What are you all doing out of your orbits!?" The Sun's voice boomed over the Celestial beings as he grew, "Get back to your orbits or face the wrath of my flares!"

"Agh- looks like it's time to go, Neptune!" Uranus called, feeling himself melting at all the heat radiating off the Star. He quickly gathered his art supplies, glancing at the Earth, "I'll uh- hopefully see you later."

"Sure," Earth smiled, "Come by anytime."

"Come on, mate!" Uranus grabbed the other Ice Giant by the sleeve, pulling him away to the asteroid belt.

"Nice talking to you, fellow planets~" Neptune waved as they disappeared into the rock and debris.

"Ares, Selene, get back to your orbits!" The Sun glared.

"Who's-"

"Better not to ask questions, Luna." Mars pulled the moon away, letting go when they got to the Earth, "See ya, Earth."

Earth nodded, glancing at his moon, "How was it?"

"I was so close to winning my first round!" Luna whined, making Earth laugh.

"That's what happens when you go up against Mars." Earth leaned back, raising his arms to rest behind his head, "The moment you think you're about to win, something important happens and it cuts you off from your moment of victory."

Luna raised an eyebrow, "Oh, really? Is that your excuse for why you suck at Space Poker?"

Earth gasped dramatically, "Hey! I thought you were on my side!"

"What side?" The moon waved his hands, "We're the only ones talking about this!"

"Idiots..." Venus uttered, spotting a small brown sphere out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head and called out, "Hey, Pipsqueak! Did you have fun orbiting the Sun?"

Mercury huffed, "Well, at- at least he's better company than you, Venus!"

...

Uranus and Neptune were halfway across the middle rings when Saturn called out, "Ah, uh- Neptune, if I may have a word with you, dear friend?"

Neptune turned his head a full 180, smiling at the taller Celestial, "What can I do for ya, Saturino?"

"About the Celestial you mentioned- X, was it?" Saturn's eye twitched, not going unnoticed by Uranus, who raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah! I just can't wait for you guys to meet him one day!" Neptune grinned.

"About that," Jupiter appeared beside Saturn, his eyes glancing around wearily, "You should be careful about who to trust, especially in the Kuiper belt."

Saturn said nothing, just nodding slowly as he forced a smile.

"So, what you're saying is..." Neptune hummed, "That I should get to know him better!"

"What? That's not-"
"What we mean is-"

"Thanks for the advice, guys! You two are the best!" Neptune bounced along the atmosphere, floating away, "See you guys later~"

Uranus watched as his cousin left, and then he glanced at the Gas Giants, who looked flabbergasted, "Let me guess, that's not what you guys meant whatsoever?"

"Course not." Jupiter sighed.

"Well, we tried to warn him," Saturn muttered.

"Is something going on? You two are acting weird..." Uranus frowned.

"It's complicated." Saturn glanced at Jupiter, "Uranus, you know who Neptune is talking about, right?"

"Of course, I do!" Uranus crossed his arms, "He's talking about the fifth giant, isn't he?"

"Well yeah, but... do you not remember what happened to the fifth giant?"

Uranus averted his gaze, "What... happened? I don't know, mate."

"You were there when we pushed X out of the solar system, Uranus-"

"Yeah, you practically yelled at us, called us 'monsters' and never wanted to see our spheres again," Jupiter spoke.

Uranus blinked, looking down into the void, "I... don't remember that, and I usually have a pretty good memory."

"Uranus...?" Saturn reached out to him.

"No-" Uranus slapped his hand away, "Why can't I remember that? It's usually so clear, but..."

"Uranus, please calm down," Jupiter spoke.

"No, I-" Uranus backed away, "I need to be alone."

The light blue Celestial flew away, ignoring the calls of his friends. His head was pounding and his ears were ringing. Everything hurt as his eyes watered.

'What happened to me?'

Chapter Text

Uranus opened his diary, scanning the pages as he desperately searched for an answer he would never find.

'Ugh, of course- I've only had this thing for a few centuries.' He huffed, snapping it close, 'Nothing's going to be there except my depressing self-esteem and weird pining over the Earth.'

He let out a soft sigh, lightly pulling at the stardust around him as he transformed back to his normal planetary form.

'It's been a long day... I should sleep it off.' Uranus had gotten comfortable with sleeping on his side. He'd been doing it for as long as he could remember.

The Ice Giant paused as the thought passed by him.

When did he start sleeping on his side? He had just assumed it was because of his tilt.

His tilt? Uranus felt his core rumble from within him. When did he start tilting like this?

He couldn't recall.

'My axis, my tilt, my rings...' Uranus thought, 'Where did it all come from?'

He closed his eyes, trying to recall the events, trying desperately to remember everything from before.

His head pounded. His eyes hurt. The ringing became louder.

"...sin? Can... hear me?" A faint voice echoed in his ears as he felt someone else's gravity pull him in, "-anus? Hey...!"

Uranus forced his eyes open, wincing as the tears burned him, "N-Neptune...? I-Is that you, mate?"

"Uranus! I've been calling your name for minutes now- what happened to you?" Neptune frowned, his eyes scanning the other over.

"It's nothing. I'm just," Uranus paused, his eyes drifting, "going through a rough patch."

"Oh, well- if you need anyone to talk to... I'm here for you!" Neptune drew closer, encasing the other in a gravitational hug.

"Thanks, mate..." Uranus smiled.

"No problemo, cousin!" Neptune grinned, "Hey, you wanna go and meet my new friend?"

"Mmh, no thanks. I'm feeling a bit tired right now."

"Well, alright! Later then!" Neptune flew off into the Kuiper belt.

'I sure hope he knows what he's doing...' Uranus thought, 'Saturn and Jupiter sounded pretty serious about keeping away from X.'

« × »

'This is so boring...' Astrodude huffed as he looked out the window of his ship, "When they mentioned my mission was changed, I didn't think it was going to be this uneventful. Terraforming Mars was more fun! Now I have to watch a bunch of space debris."

"This space debris is unlike any other in the solar system." His computer spoke, "This debris has been tampered with recently."

"You mean an asteroid has been through here?" Astrodude raised an eyebrow.

"Not an asteroid- it was something much bigger, probably as big as one of the Gas or Ice Giants."

"A planet? Way out here?" Astrodude looked around, peering into the darkness, "Are you sure, computer? It could've been more than a few asteroids."

"I know what I'm talking about." The AI spoke.

"O-Okay... well, it's not like I can just go out there and scan them." Astrodude shrugged.

"On the contrary."

...

"Ugh, why am I doing this again?" Astrodude sighed as he tied the rope around his waist.

"Your boss sent you on a mission for alien lifeforms. This is just one of your many objectives."

"Right..." Astrodude pressed a button, the screen sliding down to cover his face, "I can do this. Just use this... thing that looks like a checkout scanner you see at a store, and leave. There's nothing to be scared of..."

He pushed the button for the doors, yelping as the zero gravity pulled him out. He fumbled with the controls, engaging his booster as he flew towards the scene.

"Let's see..." Astrodude pulled out the scanner, pushing the trigger as he scanned over the debris. He waited for it to load before looking at the small screen, "'Recently disturbed'... well, no sh-"

"Astrodude, I am detecting something." The computer spoke through the intercom.

"What is it this time?" He peered over his shoulder, "If it's SAR again-"

"No, this something is much bigger. You should get out of there."

Astrodude perked up. If the computer told him to retreat, then whatever the something was must be dangerous.

"Alright." The astronaut returned to the ship, closing the doors, and getting ready to take off. Before he did, he squinted and looked out the window.

"What are you waiting for?" The computer asked him.

"I want to see what it is."

"That's a terrible idea. Only a human like you would come up with it."

"Hey-!"

He nearly missed it, but out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a shadow zoom past.

"What was that?" He asked, leaning forward in his seat.

Before he knew it, he saw eyes as white as a ghost, and then-

"Warning; incoming asteroids!" The computer spoke as the ship's light flashed red.

Astrodude gasped as he maneuvered the ship around the flying rocks, then pulled the wheel up and twisted the ship around, going in the opposite direction. He kept his eyes on the monitors as he dodged the asteroids.

"Can't this ship go any faster!?" Astrodude yelled, tugging at the lever for the boosters.

"This is the same speed that a bullet travels." The AI spoke, "Incoming asteroid, go left."

Astrodude huffed, "What is this thing anyway!?"

"Identity is unknown to me; it appears to be a planet."

"What? Why would a planet attack us? Don't they know by now that I'm on their side!?" Astrodude frowned.

"This is not a planet that we've met."

"Ah, so maybe this is just a big misunderstanding and they're out of the loop on everything?"

The computer said nothing as the flashing lights stopped. Astrodude looked at the monitors.

"Is it gone...?" He muttered.

"It would appear so."

Astrodude let out a sigh of relief as he leaned back in his chair, "Thank goodness..."

"Hey, Astrodude!" A voice boomed over his ship, spooking him out of his chair.

"Wha- oh, uh... hey, you planets." He waved slightly as he saw Mars, Earth, and his moon.

"So, what you up to?" Mars asked.

"And please don't say terraforming planets," Earth spoke.

"Uh, nope, none of that- I have a new mission now." Astrodude smiled.

The trio waited for the human to say it. Mars drifted forward, "And...? What is it?"

"Well, it's a long story- I basically found lifeform on Titan, one of Saturn's moons, and it followed me on my ship, so I kept it in a jar, and then my computer crashed, and then I crashlanded on the Earth deep within the ocean- I thought I was on some alien planet since none of the creatures looked familiar, and so on, so on, I have a new mission now, bringing us to right now, or before this conversation, where I just had a run-in with a planet who threw asteroids at me." Astrodude rambled while Mars, Earth, and Luna looked on in shock and awe.

"Huh."

"Cool."

"What planet was it?" Luna asked.

"Oh, I don't actually know, not even the computer knows." Astrodude shrugged.

"Well, it wasn't one of us." Earth spoke, "Mars and I were playing cards."

"My computer said it was as big as a Gas or Ice Giant."

"Well, I saw Jupiter reading..." Luna mentioned, averting his gaze, "You can ask the others where they were."

"Maybe... later." Astrodude scratched his neck. He still wasn't used to the talking moons or planets. He wasn't too sure about talking to the Giants yet.

"We better go before the Sun sees us out of our orbits." Mars spoke, "Again..."

"Awh, well, it was nice seeing you, Astrodude!" Earth smiled, "Even if you tried to colonize my friend!"

"I keep telling you- I was ordered to do it!"

"Excuses, excuses...!" Earth shook his sphere, flying away.

"Earth, at least wait for me-!" Luna exclaimed, following him.

Mars sighed, muttering something under his breath. He peered at Astrodude, "I'll see ya around then."

The earthling watched him leave, his face holding mixed emotions, "Space is so freaking weird..."

Chapter Text

"What did you two do!?" An Aussie voice yelled.

"We were only doing what was best for the safety of the other planets."

"What was best- are you two insane!? You guys pushed him over the edge of the Kuiper belt! No one goes that far, no one even knows what's past it!"

"Uranus-"

"No! I'm sorry for yelling, Jupiter, but this is just... you two are supposed to be our Protectors, yet you harm another of your kind?" His voice cracked, "I never want to see your spheres again. At least, not for a while."

"But-"

"We understand."

"But, Jupiter-"

"This is for the best, Saturn."

"Mmh, alright..."

"Just know, Uranus, what X did was beyond forgiving... we had to resort to this."

"Yeah, right... you call him the monster, yet you're just a big hypocrite."

He blinked and before he knew it, he was in a different area. He noticed he was near the Kuiper belt.

"Uranus!" A voice shrieked.

It happened before he could react, his whole body jolting as he felt a large object crash into his side.

SMASH- SLAM

He let out a scream as his vision faded to black.

...

Uranus opened his eyes, blinking the tiredness out of them as his vision settled, 'What was that just now...?'

He hummed as he quickly took out his diary, taking note of the strange dream. He took notes of every dream he had, even the ones with his hopeless crush.

'Could it have been a memory from before...?' The light blue planet thought. It made the most sense, plus he did have a conversation about the fifth giant with Jupiter and Saturn.

Maybe he was a bit harsh on them. They were only doing what they thought was best for the solar system.

'I should apologize to them later...' He turned his gaze towards the Kuiper belt, 'But for right now, I should find Neptune and meet X.'

He took a deep breath, slowly drifting further into the depths of space.

« × »

"...know that I'm never leaving, 'cause I'm Mr. Snow, til death we'll be freezing- yeah, you are my home, my home for all seasons, so come on, let's go."

Mars watched from afar as the Earth sang to Luna while putting a braid in the moon's hair. He leaned forward, propping his head up with his hand as he listened intently with a smile on his face.

"Let's go below zero and hide from the Sun, I love you forever where we'll have some fun- yes, let's hit the North Pole and live happily, please don't cry no tears now, it's-"

"Ahem." A cough spooked Mars out of his daze.

"Jupiter! When did you get there?" Mars asked, looking at the giant Celestial.

"I've been here for a few minutes." Jupiter spoke, quirking an eyebrow, "Enjoying the view?"

"Wha- oh! No, not really- I mean, the Earth is a great view, but I wasn't-" Mars shook his head.

"Calm down, buddy, you're acting like I'm going to hurt you," Jupiter spoke, raising his hands.

"Well, aren't you and Saturn... protective, over the Earth, ever since what happened with Theia and Proto?"

"Sure, but Saturn and I know when to let the Earth make his own decisions." Jupiter shrugged, "He's over 4 billion years old, I doubt he'd allow us to baby him."

Mars chuckled, "Yeah, you're right about that."

"Besides, we still protect him from other things." Jupiter pointed out, "Such as when he's about to make a stupid decision and we always tell him that his actions have consequences."

"That's like every day, though."

"Exactly. You'd think he'd have short-term memory."

"Admit it! You called me dad!" A voice exclaimed, prompting the others to look over.

"Put me down, Earth!"

"Not until you admit it!"

Luna huffed, trying to get out of the Celestial's grasp. He puffed his cheeks, exasperated as he relaxed in his arms, "Please put me down... Dad."

Earth squeaked, reluctantly letting his moon go, "You're so adorable...!"

"No, I'm- are you crying!?" Luna exclaimed.

"No! This is just excess water from my oceans." Earth wiped at his eyes, "Very... salty."

"Earth..." Luna sighed, dropping into his arms for a hug.

Mars smiled at the interaction, feeling his heart thumping from deep inside his chest.

Jupiter crossed his arms, noticing the look on Mars' face, "Hurt his feelings and I'll toss you into the void of space."

Mars' eyes widened as he gulped, slowly backing away, "Understood, Mr. Jupiter."

"Does this mean we can call Earth 'dad' now!?" Deimos exclaimed.

"Don't be ridiculous, Deimos! We can't have two Dads!" Phobos spoke.

"Why not!?"

"It would just be confusing!"

"Oh, yeah... then Dad 1 and Dad 2?"

"Much better!" Phobos nodded.

"Phobos, Deimos... please." Mars interrupted their spiel, "You're not calling the Earth anything but his name."

"Awh...!"

« × »

"Hey, Mercury- what will they call the first interstellar currency?" The Sun spoke, grinning as the small Celestial looked up.

"Uh, I don't know-"

"Starbucks!" The Sun cackled, Mercury laughing slightly.

"Oh, that was a good one, Sun. Haha..." Mercury averted his eyes towards Venus, who rolled his eyes at the joke.

"I know! Anyway, why did-" The Sun stopped his sentence short, his head perking up.

"Sun...? You okay?" Mercury questioned.

The grin on the Star's face slowly fell into a grimace as his eyes swept across the entire solar system. Something felt off. The feeling lasted for a few seconds before the Sun smiled once again.

"Everything's fine!" He waved it off, "Anyway, where was I...? Oh, why did the star go to school?"

"Uhm..."

"To get brighter! HAHAHAH!"

Mercury frowned, glancing at Venus to see if he noticed it too. The other gave a questioning look, in which Mercury shrugged.

They had both noticed the Sun's pause but had no idea what it was about.

« × »

"I'm so excited for you to meet X!" Neptune grinned, peering back at Uranus.

"Yeah, same here, mate," Uranus spoke. They both knew X in the past, but Uranus doubted Neptune remembered.

"Oh, he also prefers to be in his Celestial form..." Neptune mentioned, quickly transforming his body.

"Alright..." Uranus found it odd, but he wasn't going to question it. If it made his old friend more comfortable, he would go ahead and do so. He adjusted his planetoid head, moving a few strands of hair out of his eyes. Even in his Celestial form, he was still on his side most of the time, and no matter what he did, he had stray pieces of hair constantly in his way.

"Let's go, cousin! I think he's this way." Neptune spoke, already flying away.

"Wait up, mate. It's annoying to fly while being in his form." Uranus huffed, following after the other.

"Take a left, and then... X!" Neptune bounced, "I knew I'd find you eventually!"

"Neptune... you're back sooner than I thought." The darker Celestial spoke.

"That's because I have someone for you to meet!" Neptune moved out of the way, pushing Uranus forward, "This is my cousin, Uranus! Uranus, this is-"

"X," Uranus spoke, "It's been a long time."

It took the other a while to speak, his face holding various emotions. He smirked, "Yes, so it has... it's nice to see you again, Uranus."

Chapter Text

"Honestly, I didn't think I'd ever see you again." X spoke, "Given our... past circumstances."

Uranus raised an eyebrow, "Right, well... you should know I'm different than the others."

"Speaking of the others, I take it they know that I'm around?"

"They have their suspicions."

"Odd." Neptune spoke, turning his head to Uranus, "You two speak as if you know each other."

"Neptune, can you gather some ice fragments?" X barely glanced at the other, "There should be plenty near the edge of the Kuiper belt."

"Okie dokie, brotherino!" Neptune grinned, flying away further into the depths.

Uranus furrowed his eyebrows, "You do realize the further someone goes in, the harsher the conditions are, right?"

X hummed, "Yet Jupiter and Saturn didn't seem to care."

"...What are you planning?" Uranus took a step back.

"What am I-?" X raised a hand to his chest as he let out a laugh, "Oh, you're too funny, old friend! I'm not planning anything. If I was, then you'd all be wiped out by now."

Uranus frowned, clenching his hands into fists as he stared wearily at the other.

"Come on, I want to show you something," X spoke, taking Uranus by the wrist.

"What about Neptune?" Uranus peered over his shoulder.

"Eh- he knows how to take care of himself." The dark Celestial smiled, pulling him along.

Uranus huffed in annoyance as he was forcibly dragged along, silently regretting his decisions.

...

"Here we are!" X raised his arms, gesturing at the sight.

Uranus looked around, his eyes widening in awe, "Oh wow, this is a great view- you can see everyone from here, mate."

X hummed, squinting as he slightly scowled, "Almost everyone..."

"What was that?"

"Oh, just something," He cleared his throat, "Caught in my throat. The atmosphere is fragile here."

Uranus nodded slowly, his eyes scanning the solar system, a small smile rising on his face as he saw the Earth playing asteroid dodgeball with Mars and Venus. His eyebrows perked up when he saw the Sun yell something at them, prompting the planets to panic and flee to their orbits. Uranus let out a small laugh, biting his lip upon seeing the strange look on X's face.

Uranus coughed, his gaze diverting to the Sun. He stared at the Star for a few moments, silently realizing something.

"The Sun, he... doesn't see us up here?" Uranus looked over at X.

X hummed, crossing his arms, "Oh, of course not... his light can only reach certain points and we just so happen to be floating at the darkest point in the solar system."

Uranus took in what he said, his eyes peering down from the point. They were still within the Kuiper belt region, only above it- down below, he could see the specs of ice and debris if he looked closely, yet everything around the Sun had a certain glow to it that the outer rings didn't have.

"Do you remember how everything was five billion years ago?" X spoke.

Uranus quirked an eyebrow at the strange question, "Vaguely... why do you ask?"

"No reason." After a few beats of silence, he spoke again, "It was the best time for us."

"You think so?"

"I don't think so- I know it was the best time for us." X said, "There were no pesty rocky planets, no annoying moons, and we were closer to the Sun than anything else."

"Huh, we were, weren't we?" Uranus muttered, then turned to glare at him, "Hey wait- the rocky planets and moons aren't annoying! They serve a function in the solar system as much as us Giants do!"

"Mmh, really now? Last I heard, the Earth got into some deep trouble with the moons." X huffed, "Does the Earth even serve a function aside from being a conceited brat to everyone around him?"

Uranus bit his tongue, holding back the words he wanted to say. He took a deep breath and turned to face X, "Listen, mate, I appreciate you showing me... all of this, but I think it's about time I go."

"Oh, sure, let me see you to the entrance."

They traveled back into the debris of asteroids and ice, not saying a word between them. Uranus felt X's gaze on the back of his neck as he got to the edge of the rocks.

"It was nice seeing you, old friend." The darker Celestial spoke, his smirk never wavering.

Uranus hummed, "I'll-"

"There you guys are!" A voice yelled as blue limbs clumsily slid past the asteroids and made their way towards them, "I've been looking everywhere for you two!"

"Hey, Neptune- I was just leaving." Uranus looked at the other.

"Already?" Neptune blinked one eye, then the other, "Might as well leave together! Oh, X, I put those ice crystal thingies over there... somewhere."

X nodded before flying over to Uranus, pulling him in, and whispering, "If you see Jupiter, can you assure him he's not losing his mind?"

"What...?" Uranus furrowed his eyebrows.

"Oh, nothing." X shook his head, patting the other on the shoulder, "I'll see you again, old friend."

"Uh, right- see ya, mate." Uranus frowned, "Let's go, Neptune."

"Bye, X! It was fun hanging out even if we didn't talk as much this time around!" Neptune grinned, following his cousin away from the Kuiper belt.

...

X smirked to himself as he pulled out a notebook; Uranus' Diary.

To think Uranus didn't keep it in one of his inside pockets was beyond him, but now he had an advantage on one of his targets.

He opened it, reading the latest pages; it was about some dream Uranus had, yet nothing stuck out to X, so he flipped the pages until he got to one.

'Oh...?' He curled an eyebrow as he read the page, "Well, it seems dear Uranus has a small crush on the Earth..."

He let out a small chuckle, snapping the book closed.

"This will certainly be interesting."

Chapter Text

"Uranus? What are you doing here?" Earth questioned, quickly glancing at the Sun, "I know I said you could come by anytime, but the Sun-"

Uranus* smiled, "Oh, I just came to drop by for a little rendezvous."

"A rende-what?" Earth raised an eyebrow as he shared a glance with his moon.

"Rendezvous, as in... crazy adventure." Uranus* winked, "But I'm sure you know all about those, right?"

Earth frowned, "Sure, I guess?"

"Hey," Uranus* moved closer, "You like acting all high and mighty, don't you?"

"I'm sorry...?" Earth backed away, "Is there something wrong, Uranus? Did I do something wrong?"

"I don't know, did you?" Uranus* backed into the asteroid belt.

"Hey-!" Luna yelled, about to fly after him when the Earth pulled him back in.

"Don't, Luna. I don't want you to get hurt."

"But he-!"

"I know..." Earth peered down into the void of space.

"Is it just me or was Uranus acting weird?" Mars floated up to the Earth, looking at the asteroid belt with squinted eyes.

"All the Giants are weird," Venus spoke from behind them.

Earth had a feeling deep in his core- a dragging feeling of dread, almost as if something was going to happen.

He chose to ignore it in favor of listening to Mars' rant about alien life. It made him somewhat calmer, yet the feeling still lingered in the depths of his core.

« × »

"So, why'd you want to meet with us, Uranus?" Jupiter asked.

"I..." Uranus took a deep breath, "Met X."

Jupiter and Saturn's eyes widened, the bigger planet backing away.

"So, he is back!?" Jupiter trembled, his eyes looking everywhere.

"This... is bad," Saturn uttered.

Uranus continued, "He and I had a chat about... things. Let's just say, it was less than pleasant."

"What did he say to you?" Jupiter perked up, moving closer to Uranus.

"Well, not much, that's for sure. He said he wasn't planning anything, but I doubt it." Uranus averted his gaze, "And he said something about how five billion years ago were the best times for us as if we didn't go through excruciating pain when we shifted around the solar system. Like- Jupiter, without Saturn pulling you into his orbital resonance, the rocky planets would probably never have formed."

Jupiter winced, shifting his gaze to the asteroid belt, "Don't remind me..."

Saturn moved closer, trying to give his friend some form of comfort, "Oh, come now, Jupiter, without you, Earth would constantly be in danger of ongoing asteroids."

"You do realize I'm also the reason for the extinction of the dinosaurs, right?" Jupiter glared.

Saturn bit his lip, "B-But that's all in the past! The Earth is fine and the life he has is expanding more than ever- that's all we ever wanted for him, right?"

Jupiter glanced over to the asteroid belt before looking at Saturn, a small smile rising on his sphere, "...Right."

"If you two are done flirting," Uranus interrupted them, "I haven't finished what I had to say."

"Sorry, sorry- go on, Uranus." Jupiter and Saturn quickly separated.

"He insulted the rocky planets, mostly the Earth, and like, every moon."

Jupiter and Saturn were quiet as they glanced at each other.

"Is it bad I want to push him into a black hole?" Saturn uttered.

"I was thinking the Sun," Jupiter spoke. Saturn made an 'o' shape with his mouth as he found the idea intriguing. Uranus huffed, backing away slightly from the Gas Giants.

« × »

Uranus* let out a chuckle as he returned to the Kuiper belt, hiding away from everyone else as he shifted his form, the light blue shades turning darker and darker as the thin rings made out of debris dissipated.

"That was almost too easy," X spoke, cracking his knuckles a few times to relieve the pressure, "And now to wait for-"

"X!? Are you in here?" Neptune's voice shouted, "Nine!?"

X scowled, wincing as he held his ear, "Over here, Neptune!"

Neptune made his way over, jumping along the stray asteroids like a game of hopscotch. He grinned as soon as he saw X, "Heyyyy, brotherino! What have you been up to since... 27 hours ago when we last spoke?"

"Oh, y'know... nothing much." X waved his hand, "Actually, I wanted to ask you something."

"Shoot." Neptune sat on a nearby asteroid, propping his legs up in a crossing position.

"What's your current relationship with the Giants?"

Neptune kept his usual smile, "Great! Uranus is my best friend, and even though I don't talk to Jupiter and Saturn as much, they're very nice to me and they protect everyone from danger."

"Everyone?" X raised an eyebrow, "Look around us, Neptune."

Neptune blinked one eye, then the other. He shifted his gaze around the Kuiper belt, rotating his head a full 180 degrees, "What am I looking at?"

"This is my home, Neptune." X spoke, "Has been for a few million years now- before Uranus got his rings."

"Uh-huh...?" Neptune was still confused, "Say, why are you so far out than the rest of us?"

"Jupiter and Saturn forced me out."

Neptune's smile wavered, "What?"

"I overheard them say something- a plan to get rid of us, the Ice Giants." X huffed.

Neptune started to frown, tilting his head at the words going through his mind.

"Once they found out I knew of their plan, they pushed me out, not caring if I was ripped apart by the asteroids or their gravity, they forced me until I was at the edge of the solar system."

The Celestial who had been listening shifted off the asteroid he was sitting on, "They wouldn't do that."

"Oh? Didn't you say that they barely talk to you, that you barely talk to them? How do you know they're not planning something?" X moved forward, wrapping an arm around Neptune's shoulder, "We're brothers, aren't we?"

"Well, yeah-" Neptune nodded.

"All they want is power- even their moons are afraid of them! I say it's about time for a reality check." X squeezed Neptune's shoulder as he put his other hand out, "Let's say, you and me take Jupiter and Saturn down a peg or two?"

Neptune eyed X's hand, a million thoughts running through his head as he felt a thunderstorm whirring deep inside his core.

"So, what do you say, brother?"

Chapter Text

'Where am I...?' Uranus thought as he looked around the void of space he was in. Before him was the Kuiper belt, 'Why am I out of orbit?'

He turned around, his eyes spotting a small object in the distance. He squinted, seeing the brown and white patches on it, 'Pluto? Why is he over there?'

The dwarf planet seemed scared, his eyes widened as he looked in Uranus' direction. He opened his mouth, yet nothing came out.

'What did he say...?' Uranus thought as Pluto backed away, 'Wait, it's not me he's scared of, it's-'

As Uranus turned around, his eyes grew wide and his mouth fell.

"Uranus!"

BOOM

...

Uranus woke with a start, his eyes dashing around the atmosphere as he realized he was perfectly safe right in his orbit where he was supposed to be.

He breathed out a sigh, 'Another weird dream...'

Uranus shook his sphere, perking up upon noticing Neptune a few meters away. He smiled, drifting closer to meet his friend.

"Hey, mate!" Uranus called out, stopping beside the blue planet. He raised an eyebrow when he didn't get a response. He shifted to where he could look at his face, frowning when he saw a tired expression on Neptune's face, "Neptune?"

"Huh...? Oh! Hey, Uranus!" Neptune looked up, grinning at Uranus.

Uranus could tell it wasn't Neptune's usual smile. There was something off about it. He moved closer, his brows furrowing, "Are you okay, mate?"

"Of course! I've never been better!" Neptune laughed, shifting on his axis as he looked away, "Everything is fine, cousin."

"Are you sure?"

"Promise!" Neptune gave Uranus a look that told him everything was fine and there was nothing to worry about.

"If you say so, mate." Uranus gave him a soft smile, "I trust you."

Neptune smiled, "Anyway, I, uh- have to check if my moons are staying out of trouble..."

"Oh, sure- see ya later, mate!" Uranus called after the other as he flew away.

« × »

"S-So, what? You just l-left Neptune just like that?" Io questioned, stuttering over his coughs.

"Yep. I joined up with the other dwarf planets." Triton nodded, adjusting his sunglasses. Behind the lenses, he shifted his eyes to look at Callisto, "Hey, uh- about what I said during the Moon Revolution..."

"Uranus, why are you back so soon?" Saturn's voice spoke from a few meters away.

"What did you say?" Callisto asked, "I can't quite remember..."

"Wha- we were together when I said it. Io was there; he let the little ones grab onto his gravity." Triton frowned.

"Mmh, nope- can't say I remember." Callisto shook her sphere, "Maybe you can refresh my memory by repeating what you said that day?"

Triton grumbled under his breath as he realized the moon was teasing him.

"Well, I was just circling the solar system and wanted to stop by to talk to my friends." Uranus*' voice responded.

Triton perked up, his eyebrows raising as he turned his sphere around, 'Huh...?'

"We saw you hours ago-" Jupiter spoke.

"And it's great that you want to talk to us!" Saturn interrupted, glancing at Jupiter.

"...Yep. It's just that we figured you'd want to talk to Neptune about... him." The Gas Giant whispered, yet Triton managed to catch it, only making him more curious.

"Triton? Y-You good?" Io shifted closer, but Triton moved past him and headed towards a nearby cluster of asteroids, trying to get closer to the Giants. Io glanced at Callisto, who frowned and gestured for him to follow her.

"So, what's going on?" Callisto shifted beside Triton, peering her eyes over to the planets.

"I don't know..." Triton uttered, pulling his sunglasses down, "Something's not right, though."

Callisto cast a few questioning glances toward him, yet said nothing as they watched the conversation unfold.

"Him?" Uranus* raised an eyebrow, perking up once he realized who they were talking about, "Oh! Right- yeah, I talked about him with Neptune all right."

"And? What'd he have to say?" Jupiter asked.

"He agrees with us, of course."

"Really? He didn't hesitate at all?" Saturn questioned.

"Why would he?"

"Neptune thought of X as a friend he hadn't seen or met before- he must be going through something if he was easily persuaded." The ringed Giant spoke.

Triton bit his lip, clutching onto the bits of debris before him.

"Maybe we can go check on him," Jupiter suggested.

"There's no need, Jupiter! I can go check on him." Uranus*' eyes seemed panicked as he backed away.

"Oh, if you're so sure." Jupiter smiled.

"Of course! Anything for a friend, right?" Uranus* returned his smile with one of his own.

"Say hello to Neptune for us, dear Uranus!" Saturn bounced.

"Oh, I will! See ya later!" Uranus* flew away, leaving the Giants alone to discuss other things.

Triton's eyes perked up as he saw a dark spot on Uranus*' backside. Before he could question it to the others, it faded back to light blue.

Triton shifted from behind the asteroid wall, Io and Callisto calling after him as he headed to where the Giants were, "Hey!"

"Hm?" Saturn hummed, "Oh- hello there, little moon!"

Triton huffed, holding back a groan as Jupiter analyzed the supposed moon. The Giant let out a laugh, turning to his friend, "Not quite, Saturn. This is Triton, a dwarf planet that got trapped in Neptune's gravity."

"Oh, I see! I'm sorry for the mistake, little one." Saturn spoke.

Triton sighed. Being called 'little' was the least of his worries as he peered at the Giants, "How long have you known Uranus?"

Jupiter raised an eyebrow at the question, "For billions of years... why do you ask?"

"Something was bothering me during that whole encounter." Triton spoke, "When does Uranus refer to his friends as... friends?"

"What do you mean?" Saturn asked.

"I orbit Neptune and Neptune usually talks to Uranus who refers to Neptune as 'mate.' Catch my drift so far?"

"Ooh, so what you're asking is 'when does Uranus refer to the people he likes as his 'friends.'" Jupiter perked up.

"Well, in that case... he never refers to us as his friends." Saturn frowned.

"But he does call us his 'mates.'" Jupiter looked at the other.

"That he does..." Saturn returned his gaze, his eyes slowly widening, "Wait, if that's the case, then- Jupiter-"

Jupiter's eyes grew wide, "Oh- oh no-"

"I also saw a bit of discoloration on Uranus- it definitely wasn't his normal blue," Triton spoke.

Saturn and Jupiter looked at each other with panicked gazes. Io and Callisto joined Triton at the scene, the latter humming.

"Something tells me you two have a lot of explaining to do," Callisto spoke as she raised an eyebrow.

Chapter Text

"We have to tell the Sun." Saturn spoke, "He's the only one that knows all of us, even X, inside and out; he might be able to track him!"

Jupiter nodded, turning to the dwarf planet, "Triton, I need you to find Neptune and warn him before X gets to him first."

"Hold on," Callisto spoke, "He's not going without us."

"H-He's not?" Io questioned.

"He might need some cover if we do encounter this planet." The smaller moon explained.

Jupiter smiled, humming, "Good thinking. Off you go now, and make sure Neptune is one hundred percent safe."

"We will. Good luck on your part." Triton tipped his sunglasses.

« × »

A cyan hand glided a paintbrush across the canvas delicately, putting the finishing touches on the product.

"Now this," Uranus spoke, "Is perfect."

He lifted the paintbrush from the painting, letting go of it in favor of taking the canvas in his hands.

"This is much better than that other one. Maybe I should give this one to..." He trailed off, eyeing the canvas, "Ah, who am I kidding? I would be very obvious of my feelings if I gave him another painting of him as my muse."

He let go of the canvas, watching as it floated away.

'I should write down everything that's happened lately.' Uranus thought. He put his hand in his inner pocket, searching for his notebook. He raised an eyebrow upon not finding it, reaching into the other pocket, 'That's weird... I coulda sworn my book was in my jacket.'

He patted down his pants pockets, starting to panic inside as he realized it wasn't on him.

Uranus raised a hand to his head, tugging at his hair, "Ugh, where could it be!?"

Everything was in that notebook; centuries of information and just like that, it was gone. Uranus' eyes shifted everywhere, looking around. That book contained his every thought and feeling- how could he have let it out of his sight?

'This is bad, this is very bad...' He thought, biting his lip as he looked around, 'Who could have...?'

Then he realized who could have stolen his notebook; the only Celestial who had gotten close enough to do so.

'That bastard...' He clenched his fists, scowling as his eyes diverted to the Kuiper belt.

« × »

"Neptune looks sad." Nereid pointed out, "What should we do, Proteus?"

"Uhm..." Proteus looked at the others, then at the Celestial before them who was making droplets of water fall and rise with a swipe of his hand. A lightbulb went off as a smile grew on Proteus' face, "I got it!"

Proteus flew over, peering at Neptune. Neptune took a few seconds to notice the small moon as he perked up, releasing the water droplets back into his system, "Hello, Proteus! What can I do for you?"

"We were just wondering," Proteus peered back at the others, "If you can show us a few tricks."

"Tricks?" Neptune tilted his head.

"Yeah!" Larissa joined in, "Like the juggling one you always do!"

"Oh!" Neptune smiled, "Sure, I can do that one- everyone, gather round to witness the amazing acts of Neptune!"

"Yay!" The moons cheered.

Neptune pulled three dollops of water from his body, his form shrinking and readjusting around his core. He tested the bulbs, tossing one up and catching it.

"Is it normal for his body to do that?" Halimede questioned.

"Neptune is mostly made out of liquids- his form can change into anything as long as he has enough liquid to do it," Proteus explained.

"Correct, Proteus!" Neptune grinned, "Although, it does leave me in a vulnerable state..."

"How so?" Neso asked.

"My core is centimeters deep within my form in this altered state. With my body being comprised of mostly liquids, someone could reach in and take my core out... it'll probably hurt them as it does me since I'm all electricky inside."

"What if someone takes it while you're not looking?" Proteus frowned.

"Now, now, Proteus, I may be... a bit slow, but I can still defend myself." Neptune tossed the dollops of liquid into the atmosphere, juggling them between his hands, "Take these for example, they're not ordinary balls of water. Besides water, I'm also made of methane and ammonia. My atmosphere is hydrogen, helium, and methane. I also have the fastest winds in the solar system, so if someone were to put their hand inside of me, they'd have to be pretty fast to do it, otherwise, the wind current would handle them. I can also shoot these balls of water at them no problem."

"Woah, you're incredible, Neptune!" Thalassa gaped, stars in her eyes.

"Yeah, you're the best planet ever!" Nereid grinned.

"Aw, come on, guys." Neptune caught the balls in his hands, "I don't know about-"

"Neptune!" A voice yelled. Neptune's eyes widened.

His moons gasped, then smiled and cheered upon seeing their big brother.

"Triton! You're back!"

"You came back!"

"We missed you!"

"Triton!"

Triton looked at all of them with a sheepish expression as they flew up to him.

Neptune looked around, slowly backing away. He turned around and found himself trapped as he stared at two of Jupiter's moons.

"Going somewhere?" The smaller one asked.

"Nooo... say, haven't I seen you before?" Neptune asked.

"Probably."

"It was the M-Moon Revolution!" The moon beside her spoke.

"Oh, right! How did your revolution go?" Neptune tried to make small talk.

"Neptune." Triton spoke again, pushing past the small moons, "We need to talk."

Neptune turned to face the dwarf planet, "Triton! What a pleasant surprise to see you- here, of all places! What can I do for you?"

"I came to warn you." Triton took off his sunglasses, revealing tired eyes.

"Warn me?" Neptune tilted his head.

Triton huffed, "You know of Planet X, right?"

"X? Right, right, he's my brother, apparently."

Triton fiddled with his sunglasses, "We- as in Jupiter, Saturn, and I, think he's going after you."

A few moments passed as Neptune took his words in, silently debating what to say.

He hummed, "He's not."

"What? What do you mean by that?" Triton raised an eyebrow.

"Trust me when I say he's not going after me." Neptune spoke, "He would never hurt his brother."

Triton looked at him incredulously, "You believe that!? That he won't attack you for not agreeing to what he says? Are you really that-"

Neptune sighed before letting out a yell, "Triton!"

The area fell into a dead silence as everyone looked at Neptune in shock. The small irregular moons cowered behind Triton. They had never heard Neptune yell or raise his voice before, even the dwarf planet was surprised.

"Sorry," Neptune covered his mouth, averting his eyes before closing them, "I just- need you to trust me on this, Triton."

Triton looked at the Celestial with a desolate expression. He grumbled under his breath as he put his sunglasses on, "Fine. I trust you, Neptune. I just don't... uh."

Neptune seemed to understand what he was trying to say, smiling a bit, "I know."

"Does that mean you're staying, Triton?" Nereid peered at him.

"Nope," Triton shook his sphere, "Sorry, little guys."

"Awe..." The moons looked down dejectedly.

"You'll still visit us, right?" Proteus asked.

Triton sighed, "We'll see..."

"I didn't hear a no!" Nereid grinned, bouncing in the atmosphere with her siblings.

Neptune smiled, looking at his moons with a fond expression. Looking at them so happy, he couldn't help but think of wandering off to the Kuiper belt where they couldn't find him to meet X.

He felt bad, but it was for the better they didn't cross paths with the mysterious planet.

It was his problem and his problem alone.

Chapter Text

"You two better have a good reason for wandering out of your orbits~" The Sun spoke as he peered at Jupiter and Saturn.

The Gas Giants shared a few glances before Jupiter spoke up, "We have a problem, Sun. It's about the Fifth Giant."

The Sun's eye twitched and his grin wavered, "Oh...?"

"He's returned- he took the form of Uranus." Saturn continued, "He might be after us Giants after what happened to him!"

"Fifth Giant...?" Mercury spoke, confused about the conversation.

"Fifth? I thought there were only four Giants." Venus spoke from beside him.

"What's going on?" Earth asked as he floated up to them alongside Luna and Mars.

"I don't know; something about a fifth Giant." Mercury shrugged.

Mars' eyes widened, "What!?"

The others looked at him, confusion set on their spheres.

"What is it, Mars?" Luna raised an eyebrow.

"Man, I thought Jupiter was losing his mind when he told me about some fifth Giant... I didn't think it was real." Mars looked down, averting his eyes.

"So you know about it?" Earth questioned, leaning forward, "What's its name?"

"Uhm... he didn't explain much to me." Mars backed away, "Only that it went by X or Nine and it lives in the Kuiper belt."

"The Kuiper belt? What kind of idiot would live in a place full of asteroids?" Venus frowned.

"Ceres," Mars replied.

"The dwarf planets." Mercury pointed out.

"Some other undiscovered phenomena." Earth smiled.

"Okay, okay! I get your point." Venus scowled.

"What are they doing now?" Mars asked as he saw the Sun in his Celestial Humanoid form.

"I have no idea..." Earth muttered.

Before drifting away slowly, Mercury advised, "Maybe we should back up just in case... I don't want to get solar flared if anything goes wrong."

"Good point." Earth agreed, quickly pulling his moon along as he backed away.

"We were wondering if you could be able to track him," Jupiter spoke.

"Ah, if that's all~" The Sun grinned, his crimson eyes turning white as he chuckled and raised an arm, "I can do more than just track him."

A whip appeared in his grasp as the Guardian cracked it in a different direction, setting off an electrifying explosion.

"It's been a long time since I've used this." He cackled, feeling the energy pulsing through his plasma.

"Okaaay, he's officially lost his mind," Mars spoke.

"Did he have one in the first place?" Venus huffed.

« × »

"Pluto! Lucky seeing you here, mate!" Uranus called the dwarf planet over to him.

"Hiya, Uranus!" Pluto flew up to him with Charon lagging behind, "Have you seen Titan? We were supposed to be playing a game right about now, but we haven't seen him all day."

"Ah, no- I've been here the whole time." Uranus sniffled, gesturing to a canvas nearby, "Just painting."

Charon squinted her eyes, eyeing Uranus' face, "Have you been... crying?"

"Wha- no, of course not! Why would I be crying? I definitely wasn't panicking about something earlier." Uranus averted his eyes, "Anyway, Pluto, mate- now that you're here, I was wondering, well... how do I put this?"

Pluto and Charon glanced at each other, the moon whispering, "Are all the planets like this?"

"I... don't think so. I thought Uranus was the most sane of them." Pluto replied, shrugging, "Then again, I never talked with any of them..."

"Oh!" The Celestial Human perked up, "That's right- I was wondering if you knew about what happened to me billions of years ago?"

Pluto raised an eyebrow, "What happened to you...? How so?"

"How did I end up like..." Uranus raised his hands to his head, placing them on either side of the tilted sphere, "This?"

"Uhm..."

"How would Pluto know?" Charon asked, turning her gaze to her partner.

"Well, I..." Pluto scrunched his face, averting his eyes, "I do vaguely remember what happened that day."

"Can you tell me, mate?" Uranus looked at him pleadingly, "I need to know what happened."

"Are you sure?" Pluto inquired, "It- It seemed to mess you up pretty badly."

"It?" Charon grew curious, "Now I want to know what happened."

"Well..." Pluto stared awkwardly at them before sighing, "Fine, I'll tell ya."

« × »

The Sun garnered all the light he could muster, pulling it into a ball in his hands as he muttered a chant.

"What's he doing now?" Earth asked.

"Quiet- it's best not to disturb the Sun when he's in this state," Jupiter spoke.

The Rocky Planets, Gas Giants, and moons all floated there, staring at the meditative Guardian.

"Quinque, quatuor, tria, duo, unum... notum sit, quintus gigas omnes nos circumdabit." The Sun uttered.

"Anyone know what he's saying?" Mars whispered.

"Something about the fifth giant overtaking us all," Earth responded.

"You actually understand him?" Venus furrowed his eyebrows.

"It's Latin- it's not that much of a dead language."

"Dork."

Earth was about to retort when Jupiter cleared his throat, glaring at the planets. The blue rocky planet moved back, smiling sheepishly.

"Virtute Solis et Terrae et Coeli, da mihi vires ut quae mea sunt recipiam..." The Sun opened his eyes, crimson red now replaced by a blinding light.

Everyone turned away, squinting and closing their eyes from the rays.

The lights shimmered as a thunderous voice bellowed throughout the atmosphere, "I haven't felt this young in millennia!"

Mars and Mercury snapped open their eyes as they heard the voice, suddenly remembering it from when Mars called the ball of plasma clingy.

"Uh, is it just me or did the Sun's voice change?" Earth questioned.

"Oh, dear..." Saturn uttered, glancing worriedly at Jupiter.

"Welp, we didn't think he'd go this far." Jupiter looked at the smaller planets, ranging from various facial reactions of 'fear' and 'terror.'

"Now," The Sun grinned, baring his fangs, "I have a planet to catch~"

Earth was knocked out of his scared stupor, his eyes widening as he realized the Sun was moving from his central orbit.

'Wait, what!?'

Chapter Text

A billion years or so ago, Pluto was wandering in his orbit, finishing his chat with Neptune as the Ice Giant disappeared once more. He always did that, yet Pluto was off-put by it, noticing a strange sense of urgency telling him to run. It was weird.

As the planet floated back to his orbit, he spotted something odd; the asteroids had been moved deliberately. He had no idea how he knew that, but he knew some were missing or destroyed, tiny fragments left in their places.

He hummed, drifting closer to inspect it. At first, he thought about Charon causing the mess, but that didn't seem plausible since this amount of destructiveness was far bigger than what his moon was capable of.

Turning around, Pluto saw the other Ice Giant, Uranus. Maybe he could ask him about it or if he saw anything.

He made his way over to the bigger planet, noticing the planet was carving into a few ice fragments he could've only gotten from the outer asteroid belt.

"Hey, Uranus!" Pluto called.

Uranus perked up, turning around to see Pluto, "Oh, hello, mate! What can I do for you?"

"I was just wondering," Pluto stopped before the planet, gesturing to the destroyed asteroids, "Did you do that?"

"Hm?" Uranus turned to look at the mess, "Ah- no? I got these ice fragments somewhere else. I just got back."

"Oh, that's weird."

"Have ya asked Neptune?"

"Eh... he's probably orbiting around again," Pluto uttered.

"Oh, that's too bad then..." Uranus went back to digging into the ice crystals.

Pluto was about to return to his orbit when he saw a shadow amid the outer asteroid belt. He raised an eyebrow, taking a few paces back.

Pluto noticed an asteroid half the size of the Ice Giant. He called out, "Uhm, Uranus-"

"What is it, mate?" Uranus looked up, only to see the scared look in the planet's eyes. The planet dropped the ice fragments, turning around only to be rocked in the sphere by a large object. The collision caused him to black out.

"Uranus!" Pluto yelled, yet it was too late as he watched Uranus' axis slowly tilt, putting him on his side. The asteroid fragments split up, going in different directions.

Pluto was panicking, wondering what to do when he saw Saturn in the distance.

"Saturn- Saturn!" Pluto yelled.

...

"And that's what happened..." Pluto finished.

"Huh..." Uranus blinked, "Man, I can't believe I got knocked in the face that easily..."

"It was moving pretty fast." The dwarf planet shrugged, "You weren't paying attention either. It looked like you were carving something out of ice."

Uranus hummed, "Ice...?"

"Anyway, I think that's all for storytime. We should really go and find Triton now- don't want to make the others wait."

"Oh, yeah," Uranus nodded, moving to the side, "Go have fun with your game, mates. I'll see you later!"

"We will?" Charon raised an eyebrow.

"It's better to nod and not ask questions." Pluto forced a smile on his sphere, "Bye, Uranus!"

"Bye!"

Uranus waved to the dwarf planet and moon, his arm going slack once they left his peripherals. He sighed, his sideways gaze looking down into the void below.

'Ah, damn it...'

« × »

"Hey, wait- hold on!" Earth yelled to the big plasma ball, "You can't just- move!"

The Sun peered at the blue rocky planet, seemingly annoyed, "And why can't I?"

"Uh, are you forgetting something?" Earth shook his sphere, raising an eyebrow, "My life- the billions of earthlings I have on my surface? I don't mean to sound selfish, but I'd hate for them to freeze to death if you were to suddenly move away."

The others stared at the tense interaction as they watched with bated breath as the Sun glared down at the Earth with blinding eyes.

Sun squinted, crossing his arms, "...You bring up a good point, Terra."

"Terra...?"

"We'll have to come up with a better solution..." The Sun settled back in his place, toying with the whip, binding the rope around his hand, "By the way, where are Poseidon and Ouranus? They should be here to witness this."

"I sent Triton, Callisto, and Io to warn Neptune about X," Jupiter spoke.

"But we don't know where Uranus is." Saturn acknowledged.

"That's not good... if he has returned then he'll be out for all of the Giants, including Ouranus."

"Is anyone else confused on what's happening?" Venus asked.

"Nah, Neptune did this weird stuff a bit ago." Mars replied, "It was Jupiter's orbit affecting him though."

The Sun was eerily quiet as he stared off into the void of space. He looked down, "You said you sent Triton and your moons to Neptune?"

Jupiter nodded, "Yeah, that's right."

The Sun returned his gaze to the outer rings, his eyes glaring daggers, "Hm..."

« × »

"Are you sure leaving him alone is okay?" Callisto spoke.

Triton looked at her before huffing out a sigh, "I mean, not really, but it's Neptune; he's probably been through worse scenarios before."

Callisto hardened her stare.

"What? All I'm saying is- Neptune may act... silly, most of the time, but we shouldn't underestimate him."

"Oh, really? Cause it sounded to me like he doesn't want us to worry about him." The moon spoke, "But hey, what do I know? I barely know the guy."

Triton averted his gaze, adjusting his sunglasses.

Io looked at them, frowning as he bit his lip.

"Triton, hey- wait for us!" A small voice shouted.

"Wha- Proteus?" As soon as the dwarf planet turned around, he was greeted by a bombardment of tiny bodies knocking into his gravity, "Hey, be careful! What are you guys doing here? You should be with Neptune."

"Neptune told us to follow you." Thalassa smiled.

"He said something about wanting to be alone," Larissa spoke.

Triton looked at all the satellites, "Why would he...?"

"Woah! I-Is it just me or did the Sun get bigger!?" Io gasped, backing up.

"Wow, that's the Sun...!?" Neso's eyes grew bigger.

"We haven't seen the Sun in his Celestial form before...!" Nereid awed, "He's so amazing!"

"He looks so cool!"

Triton sighed, knowing he'd have to bring the moons along now, 'Damn it, Neptune- whatever you're doing...'

He averted his gaze towards the Kuiper belt, taking a deep breath.

"Come on, little guys, we still have a little way to the asteroid belt," Triton spoke, moving the moons along.

'At least, come back safely.'

« × »

"Neptune? Where are you, mate?" Uranus called as he floated around the outer rings. He cupped his hands by his mouth, "Neptune!?"

'Where is he? He's usually around here...' The baby blue planet had an uneasy feeling in his core. He raised his hand to his chest, placing it where his core should be, 'Come on, mate... no time to panic now. M-Maybe I should check the Kuiper belt...'

The feeling only worsened as he got close to the rings of asteroids. Knowing that a rogue planet like X was in there. He could attack at any moment-

'No! Don't think like that...' Uranus shook his head, placing a hand on an asteroid.

SHINK!

The sound of the unveiling of a weapon was heard behind him as Uranus froze from a sharp object pressing against the middle of his back.

"Don't move..." A familiar voice spoke. Uranus' eyes widened.

Chapter Text

"Neptune...?" Uranus spoke, his voice cracking as he was forcibly sat down on an asteroid. His wrists were bound with silver braces, and trying to escape or even move made him weaker, "Neptune, why are you doing this?"

The blue Celestial wouldn't dare look at him as he posed with his trident by his side.

"Neptune, come on- I thought-" Uranus huffed, tugging at the steel that hurt him, "I thought we were mates!"

"Family comes first." A voice spoke from the shadows.

Uranus averted his eyes, spotting X floating a few feet away. He scowled, "I should've known you were behind this."

"Yet here we are..." X smiled, gesturing to Neptune, "I didn't think you had it in you, brother. Good job."

Neptune merely nodded, tilting his head down.

"What have you done to him?" Uranus furrowed his eyebrows.

"Nothing- he's doing this on his own volition." X snapped his fingers, "Tell him, Nep."

A sigh erupted from Neptune's mouth as he slowly looked at Uranus, "I'm doing this of my own free will, Uranus. Everything will be-"

X placed a hand on Neptune's shoulder, squeezing it, "See? No tricks here except me getting what I want."

Neptune nodded, avoiding Uranus' eye contact.

"Now, brother, onto the next step." X grabbed the whiteboard, doodling a few pictures, "Now that we have Uranus, Saturn should be the next easy target."

"What-!? You can't-" Uranus interrupted before being silenced by Neptune's trident meeting his neck.

"Silence." He spoke.

Uranus gulped, scooting away from the points. Neptune sheathed his trident, glancing at X and nodding.

X smirked, going back to his plan.

Neptune glanced over his shoulder a few times, his core thumping deep within his chest.

« × »

"Alright, gang," Larissa spoke, "Who should we tell first?"

"We could split up? That way, we can cover more ground." Proteus suggested.

"Yeah!" Nereid bounced.

"Okay! Let's do this, guys- for Neptune!" Larissa shouted.

"For Neptune!" The others exclaimed as the satellites drifted in different directions.

"And listen to me, everyone- do not, and I repeat, do not- go into the Kuiper belt without supervision! It's dangerous in there. I'm going to try to lure the big bad planet out, but I need everyone's help to do it, alright?"

"Okay, Neptune!"

"Good! Now it's time for you to go before Triton and the others get too far." Neptune smiled, "I'll see you all soon, I  promise ."

Proteus, Larissa, Neso, and Nereid went up to each rocky planet, telling them about how Neptune said he might need cover in the Kuiper belt soon.

Galatea, Sao, Naiad, Despina, and Halimede explained everything to the moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus.

Laomedeia, Hippocamp, and Psamathe talked to the Gas Giants, feeling intimidated by the size of the planets.

"...And that's basically it," Naiad spoke, smiling.

"So you all lied to me?" Triton raised an eyebrow.

The small moons were silent as they stared at their big brother.

"Yeah..." Galatea uttered, "Sorry, Triton."

"Sorry..." The others spoke.

"Don't be- I'm more impressed than angry." Triton shrugged.

Once the small satellites told everyone, the Sun looked upon them in recognition.

"I see... so Poseidon must've deemed himself responsible for X's wrongdoings." He spoke.

"But how? Saturn and I were the ones who ejected him from the solar system." Jupiter raised an eyebrow.

"That may be, but Poseidon thinks differently... he bears his troubles alone. As is the way of life for someone who lost his sanity from the isolation he's been dealt." Sun looked on into the void, eyeing the Kuiper belt, "Strange..."

"What is it?" Saturn asked.

"Neptune and Uranus seem to be together."

« × »

"Can I say something?" Neptune questioned.

"Of course... not." X erased the board again, letting out a huff.

"We're brothers, right?"

X grunted, glaring at Neptune for interrupting again, "Right."

"And brothers should listen to what the other has to say." Neptune continued.

X understood what the other meant, humming, "You're completely right. Forgive me, brother, you were saying?"

"We shouldn't go after Saturn." Neptune frowned.

"And why not...?" X crept closer to the other, a questioning look on his face.

"Jupiter, he's- well, they're always together. I doubt you can take Saturn without drawing attention from Jupiter."

"So, you're telling me Jupiter has a small 'crush' on Saturn?" X turned to the whiteboard, "Never in a billion years have I seen that coming."

X ruffled his hair and then without warning, threw a fist at an asteroid, breaking it into pieces.

"This is just great!" He laughed, "That big oaf is in love and so is this pathetic excuse of a planet."

Uranus shivered when X gestured a hand at him. He held his tongue, holding back all he wanted to say, 'So he does have my diary...'

X didn't notice Neptune's hardened stare when he said that, nor did he see how Neptune had gripped the trident.

"I have an idea," Neptune spoke.

"What?" X spat, glaring at the other.

"We can use him as bait."

Uranus' eyes widened when Neptune pointed at him.

« × »

"We don't even know if they're coming here," Venus spoke.

"Well, I guess we'll have to trust the Sun." Mercury shrugged, "Even if he's..."

"Insane." Earth popped up beside him.

"I- I was gonna use a nicer word, but sure."

"Earth, get back." Mars spoke, "I don't want you to get hurt."

"Awe, you care about me, Mars~" The blue rocky planet grinned as the other rolled his eyes.

"Everyone have an asteroid?" Jupiter whispered from beyond the asteroid belt.

The rocky planets and moons nodded, getting into position and scattering throughout the belt.

"I see them." The Sun muttered, "Zeus, Cronus- turn into your Celestial forms."

Jupiter and Saturn nodded, doing what they were told. Jupiter covered the asteroid belt, ensuring nothing could be seen.

Saturn nearly gasped upon seeing Neptune holding Uranus hostage. He drifted closer to Jupiter, holding onto his arm.

"X..." Jupiter glared down at the darker planet.

X stopped a few units before them, smirking as he spoke, "Hello, old friends... miss me?"

Chapter Text

"It's been a long time, Nibiru." The Sun spoke, squinting his eyes at the smaller Celestial, "Tell me, what gives you the right to return?"

X took a step forward, "Nothing, great Guardian of Light... I just came back to apologize."

The Sun scoffed, "Is that so?"

X nodded, "I've seen the error of my ways- I know what I did was wrong."

Jupiter and Saturn glanced at each other, having a sense of unease as the other talked.

"Do you think I don't know that you're lying?" Sun scowled, "I see everything within this area of the Milky Way- I see all, I know all. You will leave if you know what's best for you, Nibiru."

X was silent for a moment, tilting his head down as he muttered, "You leave me no choice then..."

Uranus noticed X pulling something from his pocket; an eight-pointed blue object that shone just as bright as the Sun. His eyes widened as he opened his mouth to call out, yet it was muffled as Neptune placed a hand over his mouth.

"Shshsh..." Neptune hushed him, whispering to him, "Uranus, I know you think I'm on his side, but I need you to trust me."

Uranus peered at him, his eyes panicked and his voice suppressed.

"Do you trust me, Uranus?" Neptune looked at him, concealing his smile as Uranus nodded, "Good- now, follow me."

The two Ice Giants drifted away from X, Neptune pulling out a key and inserting it into the silver braces.

"You're letting me go...?" Uranus spoke, rubbing his wrists.

"Of course- he may be my 'brother,' but you're still my cousin." Neptune smiled. Uranus allowed himself to smile before a voice cut through the atmosphere.

"You claim to see everything," X spoke, raising the object before him, "But did you see me obtain this?"

The Sun's eyes widened as he stared at the item, "You... have a Novastar."

"That's right," X smirked.

"You mean you actually traveled beyond the solar system?" Jupiter asked.

"Of course, and that's where I found this newly ejected Novastar, fresh for the picking by the ashes of its dead Star." X chose his words carefully, glancing at the Sun.

The Sun balled his fists, his face full of fury as his eyes burned with rage. His spherical head set like a hellfire burning brighter and brighter with each new emotion he felt, "That's it... ATTACK!"

At that moment, Mercury, Mars, and Venus leaped out from the asteroid belt in their Celestial forms, weapons blazing as they charged at X.

"Pathetic." He uttered as he drew his weapon. He touched the Novastar to the trident, giving it a power surge as he blocked the oncoming attacks, knocking the Celestials off their orbits.

'I have to get that star away from him.' Neptune thought. He cracked his knuckles before stretching his arm, grabbing hold of X's ankle, and yanking hard.

X went with the motion, gasping as he was swept off his orbit. He noticed the novastar drifting away from him. He scowled before using his trident and slicing through Neptune's arm.

Neptune winced, pulling his arm back as he stretched out his other one to catch the novastar before X did.

"You little-" X got cut off by Venus' lance striking him in the face, "Augh!"

X covered his face, striking Venus back with his trident. Venus managed to block the attack, yet could barely hold him off as he felt the overwhelming power coming from the weapon.

"A little help here...!" Venus called.

"What's wrong, goddess of beauty? Afraid of a little pain?" X grinned.

"Oh," Venus grunted, "You have no idea the pain I've felt..."

Something slammed into X's side, knocking him off of Venus.

"Pick on someone your own size," Uranus spoke, his weapon drawn as he pointed it at X.

"Of course, that idiot let you go," X uttered, his eyes peering over at Neptune who stood behind him with his trident drawn.

"It'd be better if you surrender," Neptune told him.

"What is this? Some kind of intervention?" X questioned, gesturing to Uranus and Neptune who were on both sides of him, "How cute."

Neptune frowned, lowering his weapon, "I don't want to hurt you, X, but you give me no choice when you hurt my friends."

"Am I supposed to feel sorry?" X seemed offended, "You have no idea why I was ejected!"

"But I do." Uranus spoke, "You wanted to destroy Venus and Mars for having life on their surfaces!"

"Because life is nothing but a parasite!" X yelled, "I was the only one who noticed it was hurting them! I bet Earth feels ten times the amount that they felt."

Earth froze from within the asteroid belt where he was eavesdropping.

"Earth, we really should get you back," Luna mentioned.

"Just a minute more, Luna," Earth replied.

"Life is such a silly thing to call something that sucks it out of you, it takes everything from you until you have nothing left to offer." X said, "I was being reasonable when I said we should destroy Venus and Mars' life since... well, they were going to lose it eventually."

Mars and Venus looked horrified as they clutched their weapons in their hands. Mercury stood in front of them, almost as if to protect them even if he was the smallest.

"You've lost your way, Nibiru..." The Sun spoke, "It's about time you stop this heinous actions of yours."

"If you think some lecture is going to stop me..." X muttered, raising his arm, "You're dead wrong."

Ice stalactites came out from his body as he put his arm out, the particles spraying and releasing out into the atmosphere like a blizzard.

SHINK! SHINK! SHINK!

Hundreds of ice fragments stabbed into Neptune's body, eliciting a short gasp from his mouth as he reeled back.

Uranus' eyes widened as he dropped his weapon. Everything felt slow as he watched his cousin fall back.

"Neptune!"

Chapter Text

He was falling, everything burning- everything shattering inside him like glass. His core felt like it was splitting into pieces as he fell back.

He heard someone call his name, he saw a dark shadow over him before disappearing into the void.

Then he felt arms around him, pulling him into safety.

His ears rang as he slowly blinked at the figure holding him.

'U... Uranus...?' He thought, his head reeling as the shards of ice pierced his surface. He winced, letting out a gasp.

"...tune! H... on. I got..." Uranus' voice was filtering through his ears, some parts unclear, "...d still."

He felt Uranus separating smaller ice particles from his surface. Neptune twitched when some were pulled from his head, the blue liquid warping and trying to heal itself. Neptune let out a whine when the winds inside of him picked up, shifting the fragments. He took a deep breath, trying to ignore the pain as his eyes grew weary.

"Will he be okay?" A small voice asked.

"...He'll be okay, mates, he just needs to rest," Uranus told Proteus, looking down to see Neptune sleeping, his breaths coming out in slow huffs. The light blue Celestial slowly raised a hand to the warped markings on his head, wafting over the liquid- guiding it to where it needed to be.

The Sun peered at Jupiter and Saturn who stood before the Guardian.

"Well?"

Jupiter and Saturn shook their heads, shamefully.

The Sun huffed, crossing his arms, "He may have escaped, but he will not get away with this."

Mercury, Venus, and Mars made their way back through the asteroid belt, the two warmer planets shivering.

"Man, I didn't think it was that cold," Venus uttered.

"I tried to tell you, Venus, but you sa-" Mercury got cut off.

"Nobody asked you, Pipsqueak!" Venus yelled.

"Yeah, exactly!" Mercury rolled his eyes.

"You're back!" Earth perked up, flying over to greet them, "What exactly happened? Are you guys okay? Is Neptune okay? I-"

"Earth!" Mars placed his hands on his friend's shoulders, smiling at him, "We're fine, and Neptune is gonna be alright. Uranus is taking care of him at the moment."

"Oh, that's good..." Earth sighed in relief.

"Man, it's been crazy recently..." Mercury muttered.

"Tell me about it." Luna floated up to Mercury's level.

"Where do you think he went?" Mars asked the others, his eyes averting to the asteroid belt.

"I honestly... don't want to think about it," Earth replied.

"Same."
"Ditto."
"Yeah."
"Mhm."

« × »

"You're being pathetic," Callisto spoke.

"What?" Triton looked at her in bewilderment.

"Your planet- well, not your planet planet- was hurt, and here you are, sitting here instead of being there with him, with them." Callisto looked at the other.

"You know I don't deal with planets, and especially not annoying moons." Triton huffed.

"Oh," Callisto's eyes twitched, "Is that how you see me? Am I just another one of your burdens?"

Triton's eyes widened, "Wait- that's not what I-"

"Don't." Callisto backed away, her eyes squinting, "Was I or Io ever your friend, Triton? Or were we just another weight to slow you down?"

"Wait, I- Callisto-!" Triton called after her, watching as the moon left through the asteroid belt, 'Damn it... first Neptune, now Callisto...'

Triton sighed, watching as Uranus held Neptune in his arms, small satellites gathering around them as they worried over their planet.

'Maybe I did go about it the wrong way,' Triton frowned, 'But by doing this, he'll finally see my reasoning.'

"Woah, what happened here?" A voice spoke, spooking Triton.

"Wha- Pluto? Charon? When did you guys get here?" Triton gazed over at them.

"Oh, we just got-"

"We were looking for you everywhere!" Charon cut Pluto off.

"...Yep, and Makemake has a new idea for a game, so... here we are." Pluto finished.

"You guys crossed the entire solar system just for me?" Triton raised an eyebrow.

"Yep." Pluto and Charon nodded.

"Why-?"

"It's Makemake we're talking about," Pluto spoke as if that explained anything.

Triton hummed, not understanding, "Right..."

"Wait, is that Neptune? What happened to him!?" Charon's eyes widened as she fully took in the scene.

"Ah, it's a long story."

"We have time." Charon smiled.

"We really don-"

"We have time, Pluto!" The moon yelled over her planet.

"Alright, so we have time." Pluto rolled his eyes, "Make it quick else Makemake will hunt us down instead."

« × »

'What is this place? Where am I?'

"Hello there."

"Aagh-! Who are you!?"

"No need to panic, my friend, for I come from the same galaxy as you."

"Uh wha-"

"You may call me Messier."

"Oh, well I'm-"

"I know all about you, Neptune, the 8th planet furthest from the Sun and where the winds never cease."

"Are you magic or just really good at guessing?"

"...Both."

"Ooh, so you're like the Sun?"

"N-"

"No wait, the Sun sucks at guessing games... are you like a higher power such as G- wait a second... is this heaven? Am I dead... did I die? Can planets even go to heaven-!?"

"Neptune! Listen to me."

"...yes?"

"You're not dead, just in a coma."

"Oh. That's better, I guess. So, Mister-"

"Messier."

"Why are you talking to me? How am I talking to you?"

"The Novastar. You touched it, didn't you?"

"The thing that X had...? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I did."

"Whoever touches the Novastar gets granted mysterious powers to help aid them."

"Uh no offence, but how is talking to you helping me? I'm literally in a coma."

"I don't know, you're the one who touched the mysterious shiny crystal. It should be able to power your weapon, making it even stronger."

"Just like X did..."

"Precisely. Unfortunately, X stole back the Novastar."

"Wait, so how am I talking to you?"

"I'm the one who chooses my host, and since you also touched the rock, I transferred my conscience to your body."

"Sounds about right... so, do you know where the Novastar is?"

"Of course, I do. A part of me still resides within the Star."

"Man, all of this has been..."

"Incomprehensible?"

"Exactly."

"Mmh, I understand that feeling all too well."

. . .

"Soooo, you were a Star, huh?"

"Yep."

"Cool!"

Chapter Text

'It's been a few days since X attacked... the Sun is on high alert, Jupiter and Saturn are guarding the solar system, doing their rounds every couple of hours. The rocky planets are still on edge; the Earth has been a bit distant. I want to know why, but I have to watch over Neptune, he's my first priority.'

Uranus huffed, gripping the notepad steadily.

'I still haven't found my diary... he probably still has it, unless he tossed it away and it's now lost in the depths of space forever. I can't help but blame myself for what happened to Neptune. I should've seen it coming. I could've prevented it.'

Uranus perked up when he heard a few mutters coming from the other Ice Giant.

'I wonder what he's dreaming about... his moons have been worried; they're currently being watched over by Saturn.'

The Celestial sighed, flipping the notepad closed, 'That's enough of that. I should check on Neptune.'

Uranus floated closer to the sleeping figure. He was curled up into a ball since the others had no idea how to revert him to his planet form. The fetal position was as good as they were going to get.

"Hey, mate..." Uranus muttered, "I know you probably can't hear me, but it's been a few days and... I guess I miss you. The others do too, and your moons are sad, but they'll be fine- they have each other..."

Uranus peered at the other, noticing the way his face twitched in his deep sleep. It was weird; Neptune wasn't normally this quiet. Uranus found himself not liking the silence.

"I hope you wake up soon, mate. It's not the same without you."

« × »

Neptune sniffled softly as he cried, the silence becoming unbearable for him. He had nothing to do and nobody to talk to. He was tired of talking to himself and sick of being alone for over a hundred years as he orbited the Sun. It wasn't fair- why was he all alone!?

"Neptune?"

The Celestial perked up at the voice, "W-Who...?"

"It's me, Messier."

"Oh, you're the Novastar, right?"

"Right... may I ask why you're crying?"

Neptune let out a laugh, "It's silly, really... it's just- when you're a planet like me, and it takes 165 years to travel around the Sun, you start to looooose your mind, forget everyone you once knew- who are these strange planets? They know me, so I should at least make an effort to know who they are! And then with my moons, it's a different story- I mean, they're my moons! Of course, I'm going to remember them, they're all I have in this galaxy! Except apparently, Triton isn't my moon- he's not a moon at all, and I ended up pushing him away because of my horrible memory! L-Like, isn't that just great!?"

By the end of it all, Neptune ended up breaking down, tears streaming down his face, bleeding into his liquid skin, and mixing into it. He covered his face with his hands, sobbing as he tried to wipe away the salty tears.

"I don't know why this is such a big deal now. It hasn't affected me in the past. I'm used to being alone, why am I just now realizing how lonely I am?" Neptune hiccuped. He blinked, rubbing at his eyes, "I'm sorry for ranting like this, Messier... I don't usually do this."

The Star didn't respond, making Neptune bite his lip. He didn't want to lose somebody else to his nonsensical ramblings. He closed his eyes, the palms of his hands digging into his eyes as he held back sobs.

The air shifted and for the first time in decades, Neptune felt warm. He glanced up, his eyes widening upon seeing a blinding white figure emanating blue and green waves.

"Wha-?"

The figure in white reached out to him, hugging him close and holding the other's head to his chest.

"I'm sorry for all that has happened to you, Neptune," Messier spoke.

"How...?" Neptune uttered, confused.

"I'm dead, remember? I can do practically anything with the Novastar."

Neptune gazed at the late Guardian before promptly shoving his head into his chest, bringing his arms around him, "Thank you...!"

Messier held them steady as he rubbed the other on the back, "I can't promise everything will be alright... but I do know your friends miss you more with each passing minute."

Neptune nodded, "Yeah-! Soon, I'll wake up and I'll get to see Uranus and my moons again! Maybe even Triton if he doesn't hate me... heck, maybe Jupiter and Saturn will finally be together, hahah! And the Sun, he'll be so relieved and also stressed that he'll probably shoot a solar flare at me..."

Messier listened to Neptune's ranting, a small amused smile on his face.

Neptune realized he was talking excessively, raising a hand to his mouth, "Am I talking too much? I can shut up if you want- it's just- it's been so long since I've talked to someone who didn't immediately turn away from me, y'know? I'm probably oversharing too much anyway. I can get carried away sometimes- Sorry, I'm just gonna be quiet."

Messier frowned, "Oh, I quite enjoy the talking. It distracts from the... silence of it all. You can keep going."

Neptune blinked one eye, then the other. A grin came to his face, "Well, in that case, let's talk about my moons! Starting with the biggest, Proteus- you wouldn't want to underestimate him, 'cause he's actually very intelligent."

« × »

"Are you doing okay, Sun?" Mercury asked, peering up at the ball of plasma.

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine! Never better!" The Sun grinned. He had reverted to his original form, no longer referring to himself as 'Helios' or referring to the others as mythological names.

He was back to being 'the Sun,' yet Mercury knew better. The Sun was still on edge. He was keeping his eyes out for anything suspicious. He would immediately notice if anyone was drifting out of their orbit, barking an order for them to return.

Everyone was on edge, it seemed. Venus always seemed to zone out, which he never did. Mercury tried to get his attention, and what the hot-tempered planet said stunned him.

"Not in the mood, Mercury."

Venus said it in a dull and tired tone, and he called him Mercury instead of Pipsqueak. What kind of alternate universe did he travel to?

Mercury frowned, watching as present Venus looked off into space. He didn't know what Mars was up to, but if he had to guess, he was probably distracting himself by playing cards- by himself- or staring intensely at the Earth. Or both.

Earth was no better than the two. He didn't look like he had slept since the attack. He seemed to grow paranoid each second that passed by. Luna could only do so much, comforting his planet when he could. Mercury could see that the moon wanted nothing more than to see the Earth smiling again.

Mercury tried his best to keep smiling, trying to be a shield for everyone to rely on regardless of how small he was. He sighed, knowing that it would take much more than wishful thinking to make everyone happy again.

Chapter Text

"Earth, please- you need to sleep," Luna spoke, noticing the bags under Earth's eyes.

"I'm fine, Luna! I'm not paranoid." Earth turned away.

"I didn't say you were..." Luna muttered.

"What do you think Uranus is up to? I bet he's lonely. I know he has Saturn and Jupiter, but even then, they don't talk to each other much. Maybe Mars is..." Earth's eyes traveled to the desert planet, who looked to be in the middle of a solo card game. He frowned, "Mmh, never mind, he seems busy."

Earth sighed, blinking his eyes closed. He felt Luna's staring, feeling a certain unease set in his core. He huffed.

"Do you mind-" Earth froze upon opening his eyes and not seeing his moon, "Luna...?"

He looked around, shaking as he took in what was around him. The Sun, Mercury... his mouth dropped open as he saw the last planet he expected to see.

'Theia...?' He thought, his eyebrows scrunching as he felt his eyes watering.

The planet beside her looked like Venus, yet he had water on his surface.

Earth turned around, aweing at the rest of the planets' conditions.

Mars also had water. Saturn and Uranus had no rings, and X was still a part of the solar system...

"This has got to be a dream..." He muttered to himself.

There was a giggle behind him, "Of course... what did you think it was?"

Earth raised his eyebrows, turning to look at the one who spoke, "Theia...?"

"Who else, Pr- mmh... Earth." Theia smiled.

"What... are you real or is this another illusion?" Earth glanced away uneasily.

Theia raised an eyebrow, confusion marking her sphere, "I don't know about 'real,' but I'm not an illusion either."

"Then, I can..." Earth inched closer, trying to get as close as he could to the other. Theia rolled her eyes, filling the gap as she pulled him closer.

Their gravities came together, making them spin in the atmosphere. Earth's eyes widened as he let out a surprised laugh, Theia following after. The Earth felt himself shifting, pulling the other into an embrace. They came to a stop as arms wrapped around each other, tears streaming down the bigger one's face as he laughed wetly.

"I'm sorry..." He uttered, squeezing his eyes closed.

"You have nothing to apologize for, love." She whispered, rubbing his back, "It was bound to happen eventually..."

"Even so, I didn't want you to shatter. It should've been-"

"Don't. Don't say it." Theia tightened her grip, "Think of all the good things that came out of it..."

"Good things...?" Earth uttered, letting out a breath, "My life."

"And?"

"And... Luna." Earth opened his eyes, "I- I don't know what I'd do without him."

"Exactly. I'm not completely gone, Earth. I'll still be with you, just... in a different plane of existence." Theia pulled away, grabbing his shoulders, "You can't hear or see me, but I can see and hear you just fine, and I know how you feel..."

Earth averted his gaze, cracking a strained smile, "Everything is just too much to handle, y'know?"

Theia nodded, "You'll get through it- you all will."

"How do you know that?"

Theia gave him a look, "Because I know you, and I know the solar system. And because I'm an optimist." She gave him a light jab with her elbow, prompting Earth to chuckle softly.

"Yeah, okay..."

The world around them shifted. Earth looked up, spotting a white light.

"Wh-What's happening?" He grabbed onto Theia's arms.

"Looks like you're waking up." She spoke, smiling sadly.

"But- I- I don't want to leave you alone!"

Theia hummed, "I'm not alone if I'm right there beside you."

Earth could feel himself slipping away from Theia's grasp.

"Trust me, Earth. You have other Celestials who care about you just as much as I do. You need to..."

Earth gasped, his eyes wide as tears cascaded down his face. He took a few sharp breaths, coughing.

"Earth...?" A small voice piped up.

"L-Luna! Thank the stars, you're here!" Earth smiled, quickly wiping away his tears.

"Why wouldn't I be? I orbit around you." Luna spoke, spinning a notebook in his gravity, "You're in your Celestial form."

Earth inched away, looking at his hands, "That I am..."

"What was it about?" Luna asked.

"What was what about?"

"Your dream."

"I..." Earth looked away, shaking his head slightly, "I don't want to talk about it."

Luna frowned, knowing if the Earth bottled up too much, it would end badly for him.

"That was the most sleep I've had in a week," Earth spoke.

"It was only 30 minutes." Luna raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly." Earth placed his hands on his hips, smiling at the annoyed look Luna gave him. Earth floated close to him, noticing the book in his gravity, "What do you have there?"

"I found it floating near Mars' orbit. It belongs to Uranus." Luna spoke, showing him the front cover.

"Uranus has a diary...?" Earth was intrigued, reaching his hands out to take it only for Luna to raise it higher.

"Ah uh-uh, Earth, this is Uranus' diary." Luna snapped.

"And?"

"And personal items are not meant to be read or shared by anyone! We should return it to Uranus."

"Uh-huh, sure... we'll return it to Uranus and halfway there, we'll just freeze to death! Good plan, Luna!"

"Ugh, then we'll wait for Uranus to come over here, how does that sound?"

"Perfect, it's my favorite game; waiting!" Earth crossed his arms.

Luna rolled his eyes, staring at the notebook tentatively. He did wonder what was written inside, yet he knew better than to snoop around. Curiosity did kill the cat, after all.

'Earthlings say the weirdest things...'

« × »

Fuzzy... why was everything fuzzy? His head, neck, chest, arms, legs... everything felt so fuzzy. His eyes were glued shut- he had trouble opening them, but once he did, he saw a big blue blur in front of him.

Oh, that was him. He was looking at his legs. He was sleeping in a weird position. It wasn't comfortable at all. It made something inside pinch deeper into him, making him grunt.

He reached a hand into his chest, going straight through the liquidy surface and grabbing whatever was hurting him. He took it out, seeing an ice fragment. He frowned.

What happened?

Starting to stretch out, his limbs made all sorts of swishing noises, faintly hearing the roaring of the storm whirring deep inside of him. He smiled, moving his head a full 180.

He let out a big yawn, rubbing at his eyes.

"No time for sleeping, Neptune." A voice spoke.

"Wha-!?" Neptune looked around.

"It's me, Messier."

"Messier...? Then," The blue Celestial floated still, his eyes slowly taking in the scenery as he came to a realization, "I... woke up?"

Chapter Text

Neptune clenched his fists, feeling the way his liquid fingers lapped against the palms of his hands. A smile formed on his face as he tensed the water.

"I'm awake..." He uttered, "That means I can see my moons, and... Uranus."

A couple of units away was a cyan-ish figure with a canvas before them, softly going over the portrait with a paintbrush.

"Uranus...!" A grin rose on Neptune's face as he flew over to meet him, "Uranus!"

The other Celestial perked up, his eyebrows raising as he heard the familiar voice. His eyes widened as he got a glimpse before being bombarded with a tight embrace. He gasped, watching his paints go everywhere and losing his grip on the canvas. Uranus was frozen, watching as his creation floated away.

Neptune realized what he had done, "Agh, sorry Uranus- I ruined another one of your paintings. I can go get it-"

Before Neptune had the chance to pull away, Uranus pulled him closer, clutching at his blue sweater.

"Neptune..." He uttered, letting the silent tears fall on the other's shoulder, "Thank the stars you're awake."

Neptune returned the hug, grinning from ear to ear. Uranus wasn't much of a hugger, always cringing away from Neptune's reach, so Neptune used this to his advantage.

After a few moments, Uranus pulled away, his eyes scanning over him, "Are you still hurt, mate?"

"Mmnope!" Neptune shook his head, "I feel great, actually! How long was I out?"

"Uhm... three weeks."

Neptune grabbed the other's shoulders, squeezing them, "What!? Oh no-"

Neptune flew past Uranus, looking out at the solar system.

"Neptune?" Uranus grabbed his hand, "What is it, mate?"

'Nothing looks different... it's been three weeks, why has X been waiting this long?' Neptune thought. He looked over at Uranus, "We have to talk to the Sun."

"What? But you just woke up, mate. You still might be disoriented."

"If we don't go now, everyone else will be in danger!"

Uranus looked into Neptune's eyes, seeing the desperation. He sighed, letting go, "Fine, but- you still have a few ice particles stuck on you."

Neptune looked down at his torso, seeing the bits of ice caught in his sweater. He shrugged, "Eh, I'll live."

Neptune grabbed hold of Uranus' arm, pulling him along.

"Come on, cousin, it's time to face the Sun. Again."

While crossing the middle rings of the system, they happened upon Saturn who spotted them quickly.

"Oh my- Neptune! You're awake!" Saturn exclaimed, bouncing up to them. On his way over, he shifted his physique, wrapping his arms around Neptune, "We all missed you so much!"

"Good to see you too, Saturn!" Neptune returned his hug, backing away once he spotted familiar figures among the ringed Giant's moons, "Hey, are those...?"

He flew closer, his face lighting up once he realized that they were his moons.

"Proteus, Thalassa, Sao, Psamathe, Neso, Nereid, Naiad, Larissa, Laomedeia, Galatea, Halimede, Despina, Hippocamp! All my moons are here!"

"Neptune!" The satellites exclaimed.

"You're awake!" Larissa grinned.

"We missed you, Neptune!" Proteus flew up to the Celestial, "We were so worried you wouldn't make it!"

"Hey, now- I'm Neptune, remember? No matter what is thrown my way, I'll always get back up again."

"That's why you're the best, Neptune!" Thalassa grinned, her brothers and sisters agreeing. Neptune smiled.

"Now- we have to go talk to the Sun, you all stay here."

"Awe, do we have to?" Galatea whined.

"Sorry, gang, but- hey, wait- where's Triton?" Neptune looked around.

"Oh, he went back to the Kuiper belt with Pluto and his moon, Charon. They were very nice!" Larissa spoke.

"I'm going to miss Triton, though..." Despina uttered.

"Yeah..." Proteus nodded.

'The... Kuiper belt?' Neptune's stomach dropped, a pit hollowing inside, 'X lives in the Kuiper belt...'

Neptune fidgeted with the sleeves of his sweater, his eyes darting everywhere.

"Neptune? Weren't we going to see the Sun?" Uranus asked.

"R-Right. You moons stay here- come on, guys."

"Oh, guess I'm coming along then," Saturn spoke.

They traveled close to the asteroid belt, spotting Jupiter reading a book.

"Jupiter~, look who's awake!" Saturn called, waving a hand.

Jupiter looked up, his eyes widening upon seeing the blue Celestial, "Neptune! You're-"

"Awake! Yeah, yeah! I've been through this plenty of times- nice to see you too, Jupiter!" Neptune gave him a quick hug, "Let's go, everyone!"

"Where are we going?" Jupiter inquired.

"Neptune wants to speak to the Sun, and I guess we all have to be there." Uranus shrugged.

Moving the asteroids out of the way, Neptune tumbled out to the other side, nearly bumping into Mars.

The planet looked at him with wide eyes, "Neptune!?"

The yell seemed to catch everyone's attention, the atmosphere turning stale.

It was all quiet. Way too quiet for Neptune's liking.

The Sun's eyes burned holes through Neptune's liquid surface. Neptune took a deep breath, floating up to the flaming ball of plasma.

Once he closed in on Mercury's orbit, he raised his arm, summoning his trident. He held it before him, closing his eyes as he got down on one knee.

"This wouldn't have happened if I were more careful. I had a plan, so I took a chance. I didn't want anyone to get hurt even if it meant at the cost of my own life." Neptune said, "So, I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused and put you all through... I accept any punishment you see fit."

The Sun said nothing, just stared down at Neptune. He hummed, shifting his form from planet to Celestial.

"Rise, Poseidon."

Neptune stood up, his eyes avoiding the Sun's stare.

"I'm not going to punish you."

"Huh?" Neptune perked up, his eyes finally meeting the Sun's blinding glare. He squinted at the light, "But, aren't you mad?"

"Mad...?" The Sun cackled at the word, his eyes twitching, "Mad... oh, I'm beyond mad- I'm fuRioUs! But, not at you."

"Then..." Neptune dispersed his trident, "Who?"

"Isn't it obvious?" The Sun crossed his arms, "The one who hurt you- oh, let me deal with the rest of those ice shards."

The Sun raised his pointer finger down, melting the small shards of ice. Neptune nearly gagged, feeling his body boiling under the pressure of the Sun's heat.

"There- that's better!"

'I think I'm melting...' Neptune frowned, raising the back of his hand to his temple, 'Is that even possible?'

"You'd be surprised." A voice spoke.

"Ack-!" Neptune jumped, surprised.

"Sorry, did I burn you? I sometimes do that to Mercury."

"Sometimes?" The small planet droned.

'Messier, you scared me...' Neptune huffed.

"Sorry, I didn't know when I'd get a chance to talk." The Star apologized, "Anyway, guess who knows what X has been up to?"

'Who?'

"...Me. We're the only other ones who can talk using the Novastar."

'Oh, right! What'd you find out, Messier?'

"Anyway, Neptune, I'm so glad you're okay. You can really take a couple of hits." The Sun grinned.

"Sun." The Giants deadpanned, glaring at the dwarf star.

"What? I'm just saying- unlike some planets, Neptune causes the least trouble out of you four."

"WHAT!?" Neptune exclaimed.

Everyone turned to the blue Celestial, surprised at the outburst.

"Neptune? What is it?" Uranus floated up to him, noticing the panicked look in his eyes.

"It's X... he captured the dwarf planets!"

Chapter Text

Gasps were heard all around as everyone looked at Neptune with varying emotions.

The Sun looked into the depths of space, his premonition telling him something was amiss. He peered down at Neptune, squinting his eyes, "How do you know such a thing, Poseidon?"

Neptune opened his mouth, then closed it. He averted his gaze.

'Do I tell them?' He asked the Novastar.

"That's up to you, Neptune." Messier spoke, "Do you trust these planets and your Star?"

'Well, of course! They're my friends, after all.' Neptune smiled, nodding to himself. He took a deep breath, looking up at the Sun, "I may or may not have touched the Novastar."

The planets all held a look of confusion, glancing around at each other and shrugging.

"And that's supposed to explain... what exactly?" Venus asked.

"You touched the Novastar...?" The Sun frowned, his eyes turning grim, "You are in grave danger, Neptune."

"Oh, don't I know it?" Neptune chuckled awkwardly.

"Who is the Novastar?"

"His name is Messier."

"From the Messier 28 galaxy?" The Sun's eyes darted up, gazing into the distance. He hummed.

"Wait, if X took all the dwarf planets, then..." Mars looked over to the asteroid belt, "Is Ceres gone?"

"Only one way to find out." Venus smirked, grabbing an asteroid, "Oh, Ceres, hope you like the present!"

Venus tossed the asteroid into the belt, waiting. . .

Sounds came from within the rocks and debris as some asteroids crashed and hit each other.

CRASH! THWAP! BANG!

A small spherical object came flying out from the asteroid belt, holding the asteroid that Venus threw while cackling all the way.

"Hehehahahaheheh!" Ceres laughed, throwing it back at Venus.

"Woop-!" Jupiter caught it into his gravity, pulling it towards him instead, watching it explode as it entered his gravity.

"Oh no you don't, you little-!" Venus cut the dwarf planet from leaving, "You're not going anywhere!"

Ceres' eyes widened at the confrontation, turning to fly the other way until being stopped by Mars, the Earth, and his moon on either side of him.

"Hey, Ceres! Remember me?" Luna smiled, watching as Ceres frowned.

"Hehahah..." He laughed sheepishly.

The rocky planets led the dwarf planet over to the others. Ceres' eyes darted everywhere for any way to escape.

"So, X captured all the dwarf planets..." Venus spoke, getting up in Ceres' space, "Know anything?"

Ceres said nothing, averting his eyes away from the planets.

"Neptune," Messier called.

'Yes?' The blue Celestial responded.

"Ceres was there."

Neptune frowned, floating up to the group, "Ceres, you know your way around the asteroid belt, right?"

Ceres nodded.

"What about the Kuiper belt?"

Ceres shrugged, tilting his sphere.

"Yet you still managed to escape X?" Neptune raised an eyebrow, "You must be lucky or something if someone like X, who knows his way around the Kuiper belt, can't capture you."

Ceres averted his gaze, looking down into the void of space.

"Unless... X told you something."

Ceres froze, his eyes widening.

"What was it?"

The dwarf planet's eyes looked at the other Giants and then at the Star. He shook timidly. It was the most emotion anyone had seen of him.

Slowly, Ceres took out a notepad and started to write.

"He can write?" Mars asked.

"I'm surprised he can even read," Earth spoke, earning a light jab from Luna.

Ceres handed the notepad to Neptune, who took it and squinted at the small words.

Do you really eat other Celestial bodies for the heck of it?

Neptune raised his eyebrows at that, "Huh?"

"Such a strange concept..." Messier commented, "Though it's not his fault for misunderstanding."

Neptune flew to the other Giants, saying, "Hey- you might want to read this."

Jupiter took the notepad, adjusting his glasses to read it, "Huh."

"Let me see." Saturn tugged his arm, moving it closer to him. He frowned at the contents, "Oh dear..."

"Other bodies think we do this? Really? I thought the rumor died centuries ago." Uranus huffed, grabbing the notepad.

"Maybe saying I accidentally killed some of my moons to my moons didn't help..." Saturn uttered.

"Saturn..." Jupiter sighed.

"Ooh, you know I can't help it Jupiter- everything I say comes out wrong!" Saturn crossed his arms.

"Really? I haven't noticed," Uranus muttered.

Neptune hummed, blinking one eye, then the other. He turned to look at Ceres, "While it is true that Saturn uh, killed his moons-"

"On accident!" Saturn pointed out.

"On accident, it doesn't mean he meant to do so." Neptune floated, "Jupiter and Saturn's gravity affects us all the time, so of course there would be... casualties."

Some planets winced at the wording. Ceres appeared less than enthused at the response, frowning at the Celestial.

'Did I say something wrong?' He questioned. Messier sighed.

The answer seemed to satisfy Ceres enough as he looked around cautiously before pulling something out.

A pair of sunglasses with one of the lenses cracked.

« × »

"Well, look on the bright side, at least it's like we're playing the game." Makemake smiled sheepishly from where he sat tied up on an asteroid.

"Ugh, seriously?" Eris groaned, twisting her head to look at the other, "Are you really comparing Dungeons & Dwarf Planets with us literally getting planetnapped?"

Makemake chuckled, clearing his throat as he shrunk back in his seat.

"This sucks..." Pluto uttered, shaking his head, "Are you okay, Charon?"

The moon huffed at another futile attempt to escape. She slouched against the asteroids, sighing, "Never better!"

"Triton, what about you?" Pluto looked to the other dwarf planet across from him.

"I'm fine..." He gruffed, his gaze cast down. Pluto frowned, noticing the crestfallen look on the other's face.

"Wh-What does this guy want from us anyway?" Haumea asked, looking around the Kuiper belt.

"Who knows?" Eris scoffed, "Whatever it is, it can't be good. I heard the guy was ejected from the solar system ages ago from 'acting out' with the other Giants. Whatever happened must've been traumatic."

"Quiet." A voice spoke. Out from the darkness floated a Celestial body. It wasn't the planet that captured them, but someone else entirely. She had a reddish hue and was smaller than the dwarf planets before her.

"Who are you?" Charon asked.

"...Sedna, a dwarf planet." She said, crossing her arms, "The others will be here soon."

"Others...?" Pluto raised an eyebrow, expecting the strange dwarf to respond.

Sedna said nothing, turning away from them to look at a whiteboard, drawing what seemed to be a diagram.

The dwarf planets glanced at each other, questions in their gazes, knowing they wouldn't get an answer soon as they sat there and waited.

Chapter Text

"Triton's sunglasses..." Neptune looked at the item in the palm of his hand, "How could I have let this happen?"

"Now, now, Neptune- none of what has happened has been your fault," Jupiter spoke, coming to his side.

"But- Triton left my orbit and I was being too stubborn to go after him! It's all because of my stupidity that he got caught up in this mess. I should've known X would-"

"Neptune." Uranus flew forward, placing a hand on his shoulder, "How were we supposed to know any of this was going to happen in the first place? Sure, it was inevitable that X would seek revenge, but we had no idea how he would do it."

Neptune was quiet as he stared at the pair of cracked shades in his hand.

"He's right, you know." Messier spoke, "None of what has happened was your fault, Neptune."

'Then who...?'

"We shouldn't be looking for someone to put blame on. Instead, let's focus on the moment right now, such as saving your runaway 'moon.'"

Neptune eyed the sunglasses, his eyebrow twitching, "Right."

"Pl-Planet X..." Ceres grinned, "Planet X is..."

"He can talk!?" Mars shifted behind Earth.

"Planet X is... comiiinnnggggg~" Ceres couldn't help but cackle.

"What!?" Mercury frowned, "Does he mean X is coming h-here?"

"X wouldn't dare come here; not after what happened last time." The Sun spoke, "He knows what I'm capable of."

"Knows... X knows..." Ceres kept giggling to himself.

"Stop being cryptic and just spit it out already!" Venus threatened the dwarf planet with an asteroid.

Ceres backed away, his eyes wide as he trembled, yet still contained a grin on his sphere, "X isn't alone~ hehehahah... th-there are o-other dwarf planets b-beyond the K-Kuiper belt~ hahahhahahheheh!"

"Oh no..." Saturn looked to Jupiter, "Please don't tell me it's them..."

"Wait, what?" Uranus turned to them, "There are more dwarf planets?"

"Ejected dwarf planets." Jupiter sighed.

"F-For a good reason, of course!" Saturn forced a smile, looking at the Sun, "R-Right?"

"Oh, yes- I believe there were five of them." Sun nodded, "Gonggong, Quaoar, Orcus, Salacia, and their 'leader,' Sedna. Luckily, they were pretty small, so we could push them out easily. Although, it seems they're also seeking revenge on us..."

Neptune turned to Ceres, who was spinning around in circles, juggling small asteroids while giggling.

"How are we supposed to handle this? Not only is X out to get us, but there are five dwarf planets on his side." Mars spoke.

Neptune hummed, his eyes squinting as he looked at the small swarf planet before him. A smile formed on his face, "I think I have an idea."

"Neptune..." Uranus looked at the other uneasily.

"Don't worry, cousin! This time, it doesn't involve me getting hurt." Neptune grinned, "Hopefully."

Uranus looked unconvinced, crossing his arms.

"I just need..." Neptune raised a hand to his chin, looking around until he spotted the Earth, "You-! Uh- what's your name again?"

"Seriously...?" Earth muttered, shaking his sphere, "I'm the Earth."

"Right! I'm gonna need you, Mars, and... Venus. Is that right?" Neptune squinted his eyes, looking at the toxic planet.

The rocky planets glanced at each other, Mars speaking, "Why us?"

Instead of answering, Neptune turned to Ceres, "Hey, Ceres, have you heard of a game called Asteroid Dodgeball?"

Ceres dropped the asteroids he held, peering up at Neptune with a widened gaze. The dwarf planet grinned, "Havvveeee I...~?"

« × »

"We're back, Sedna." A red planet floated from within the depths, shifting his form along the way. His eyes landed on the captured dwarf planets, "This them?"

"Yep." The other Celestial spoke, "Have you seen X?"

"I thought he was-"

"Has anyone seen that big blue planet!? I've been trying to look for him everywhere!" A planet barreled through the asteroids, destroying everything in his path. He waved his two narrow rings around, nearly hitting Sedna.

"Quaoar, control yourself." Sedna glared.

"Nobody has seen X, it seems." The other one spoke.

"Just who are these guys?" Charon whispered.

"I think they're some kind of gang..." Pluto uttered.

"Ooh, like the one in our game!" Makemake grinned.

Eris grunted, "Seriously? Is this how we're coping?"

"It's more comforting that way..." Haumea spoke.

Triton sighed, "Welp, we're screwed..."

"Oi, stop talking, you lot!" A new voice spoke up as a dark grey Celestial flew by them.

"Salacia, where did you run off to?" Quaoar asked.

"None of your business." She spoke, going up to the whiteboard.

"Where are the others, Gonggong?" Sedna questioned.

"Why do you expect me to know everything?" The other replied, "I don't know where they are."

"Ugh, idiots..." Sedna scowled, "I'm going to find them myself then."

"If you happen to see X, tell him the eagle has landed," Quaoar spoke.

"What in the Milky Way is an eagle?" Gonggong furrowed his eyebrows.

Quaoar shrugged, "I don't know- X said it was an Earthling thing."

"What's an Earthling?" Salacia inquired.

"I... don't know, actually." Quaoar scratched the back of his neck.

The dwarf gang continued on their spiel about what an Earth was and what kind of properties it would have.

"Are they for real...?" Pluto looked at Charon, who shrugged.

"I guess they've never heard of the Earth before."

"That's incredible considering an entire Moon Revolution was out to get him," Makemake spoke.

Triton huffed, "It wasn't just the Earth they were out to get- it was every planet."

"Even yours?" Charon raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Triton looked at her.

"What about Neptune? Where was he?"

"I... It doesn't matter." Triton shook his head.

"Why not?" Charon frowned.

"I'm not his moon- I'm not anyone's moon. I'm tired of being held down and restrained when there's so much more to do out here." Triton looked around at all the asteroids, "I try telling Neptune that I'm not one of them, but this time, running away seemed like the better option."

"Oh, Triton..." Charon maneuvered her arms, twisting in her bindings to place a hand on Triton's, "Don't worry. When we get out of this mess, you can tell Neptune all about what you're feeling."

"Great..." Triton glowered. He didn't have much experience when it came to 'feelings.' He didn't know the first thing he would say to Neptune.

"Oi, didn't I tell you lot to stop talking!?" Salacia scowled, placing her hands on her hips. She glared at the others, "We should be moving on to the second phase, what's taking that blue buffoon so long!?"

"Calm down, Salacia." A familiar voice spoke as a larger Celestial body came into view, "I was merely gathering supplies."

"X, you're finally back. Did you get my message?" Quaoar asked.

"Indeed. The 'eagle' is in a safe spot... for now." X squinted his eyes.

"What is an eagle?" Gonggong inquired.

"Not of importance. What we need to be focusing on is," X floated past his workers and peered his eyes unto the hostages, "Them..."

The dwarf planets shivered as X glowered above them, staring them down.

'Is this really it?' Pluto thought, his eyes squeezing shut as he felt Charon press against him.

Chapter Text

“C-Come on , Callisto, y-you have to talk to him eventually.” Io pleaded.

“Not happening, Io. I told you what he said-”

“A-And I'm saying m-maybe there's more to it!”

Callisto glared at him for interrupting. Io bit his lip, backing away.

“Triton is our friend, w-we should hear him out.” Io spoke.

Callisto huffed, “You can do that, I'm staying right here.”

Io frowned, furrowing his eyebrows. 

“Hey, guys, I have some news~” Europa floated up to the duo.

“What is it, Europa?”

“It's about the dwarf planets.” She smiled, “Apparently, they were captured.”

“W-Wh-What!?” Io stuttered over his words, “A-Are you sure!?”

“Positive. Pluto and his moon, Charon, Eris, Makemake, Haumea, and Triton were all taken by the mysterious planet X.” Europa hummed, “Gotta hand it to him, he's quite bold.”

Ganymede cleared his throat as he appeared beside the smaller moon, “Anyway, the planets are going over some type of plan that involves asteroids.”

“Which doesn't make sense since planet X is an Ice Giant…” Europa muttered.

“Unless they're using Ceres as bait.” Ganymede smirked.

“Hah, please- who would be lured out by that monstrosity?”

Callisto glared at them, starting to fly away.

“H-Hey, wait for me!” Io called after her.

« × »

Neptune put the finishing touches on the diagram, his messy chicken scratch writing hard to distinguish yet still legible.

“Need help, mate?” Uranus asked, noticing the other had been staring at one part for far too long.

“Oh! No, I got this-” The marker squeaked against the board as he rewrote the words.

“Neptune.” Messier spoke, spooking Neptune, “You've been at this for nearly twelve hours- perhaps, you should let someone else go through it while you take a break.”

‘But…’ The marker came to a stop as Neptune quietly sighed. He shook his head, ‘You're right, Messier.’

He turned to his cousin, holding out the marker, “On second thought, I do need a bit of help! Thanks, Uranus!”

Uranus smiled, taking the marker and switching places with Neptune. He squinted his eyes at the whiteboard and hummed, “We're using the moons as a distraction?”

“Mhm~” Neptune nodded, then turned his head to look at the rocky planets, “Actually…”

The blue Celestial went up to them. They immediately noticed him, pausing their card game.

“Hey, Neptune!” Mercury waved, “Can we help you?”

“Possibly… I was wondering who you guys think is capable of leading a bunch of moons.” 

The Rocky Planets looked at each other, Mars speaking, “Why do you ask?”

Neptune blinked one eye, then the other, “Well, Earth caused the Moon Revolution, right? Unless, I misheard my moons.”

Earth huffed, hiding his face with his cards, “Of course…”

Mars looked at the other, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Neptune frowned, shaking his head, “Ah, sorry, Earth- I didn't mean to-”

“Titan.” Earth interrupted.

“Huh?”

“You need a moon who's capable of leading and giving orders, yet isn't domineering; someone who can sway a crowd with a single word.” Earth shuffled through his cards, glancing up at Neptune, “Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.”

“Ti… tan.” Neptune raised a hand to his chin, “Titan… ooh! I ran into him before.” He snapped his fingers, flying off to where Saturn was.

“You're welcome!” Earth called after him.

“Saturn!” Neptune appeared behind the ringed Celestial, wrapping his arms around the taller one's neck.

“Ah- Neptune! You can't just scare someone like that!” Saturn’s hands went up to his chest as he let out a sigh, “How can I help you, my watery friend?”

“I was wondering if I could talk to your moon, Titan,” Neptune spoke.

“Oh, sure! Though, you don't have to ask me for permission. I'm pretty sure Titan can speak for himself.” Saturn smiled.

“Alright! Thanks, Saturino!” Neptune grinned before making his way across the asteroid belt.

“Neptune,” Messier spoke, his voice sounding serious. Neptune let out an inquisitive hum, “He hid the Novastar.”

“Oh? That's… not good.” Neptune  frowned.

“It's somewhere in the Kuiper belt, but I don't know where. I can probably track it down if we were closer.” The Star uttered.

“Don't worry, Messier! I'll get the Novastar for you in no time at all!”

There was a beat of silence as Neptune exited the asteroid belt.

“Thank you, Neptune.” Messier’s voice came out small and genuine, “You're truly one of a kind.”

“Thank you, Messier! Without you, I wouldn't know what to do first. All of this is so… overwhelming.” Neptune let out an awkward chuckle. His smile fell into a frown as he spotted his moons, “I really hope Triton is okay…”

“He's going to be fine, I know it,” Messier spoke.

Neptune waved at Jupiter’s moons as he flew past, “Does X ever talk to you…?”

“Hm, sometimes… it's mostly just empty threats.” Messier sighed.

“Empty threats?”

“He threatened to break my Novastar after I told him I wouldn't help him with his plans, but it's impossible for someone like him to break a Novastar.” Messier explained, “Only a Star has the power to do so.”

“Ah…"

“Speaking of, I sense something's happening on X’s side- I'll talk to you later.”

‘Oh, okay! Byeee!’ Neptune twirled around as he finally arrived at his destination, “Hello, Saturn's moons!”

The moons looked at Neptune, some confused while others smiled at his arrival.

“Hello, Neptune- glad to see you back on your axis.” Titan smiled.

“It is, isn't it? Oh, how have my moons been while I was sleeping? Hopefully, they weren't too much to handle.” Neptune raised an eyebrow.

“They were actually well-behaved.” Dione spoke, “Easily entertained, too.”

“Of course, they were also pretty sad about your condition, so it took a bit of time for them to come around.” Titan continued.

“I understand…” Neptune nodded, glancing at his moons a few units away.

“Is that all you wanted to talk to us about?” Titan tilted his sphere.

“Oh, no- actually, I came here to ask a favor of you, Titan!”

“Me…?” Titan raised his eyebrows, surprised.

“Feel free to say no, but I was wondering if you could lead a moon brigade? We need everyone if we want to defeat X.”

Titan looked confused, “Why are you asking me?”

“You led the moon revolution, right?”

Titan frowned, “Look, I never wanted to bring violence into the revolution, but it just turned out that way. I'm not going to lead a bunch of moons just for all of us to get wiped out by some rogue planet.”

“But you guys aren't bringing violence into this fight. X kidnapped the dwarf planets, so now we have to take action or else something even worse will happen."

“That sounds terrible…” Rhea uttered.

“We just need his attention off the dwarf planets so we can save them. The Earth seems like he has high hopes of you leading the diversion.” Neptune smiled, “And I trust his judgment.”

“Really…? He does...?” Titan’s eyes widened.

“Now, are you going to just stand here and wait for X to take all of you out one by one, orrr… are you going to help us?”

Titan looked at Neptune with a wide-eyed stare. He gulped down his anxieties as he nodded, “I'll do it.”

Chapter Text

"The gang's all here." X spoke, his eyes glancing over each of the captive dwarf planets, "Now, my plans will surely be successful with you all out of the way."

"We did nothing to you, uh- Mr. X. We were minding our own business, playing our game-" Makemake got interrupted.

X rolled his eyes, "Makemake, always the curious one. You always stick your nose where it doesn't belong. Don't you know that curiosity killed the cat?"

"But satisfaction brought it back!" Makemake grinned, "One of my favorite proverbs!"

"What's a cat?" Gonggong uttered to Quaoar.

X squinted his eyes, casting his gaze towards Haumea, "Another ringed dwarf... yet you have a peculiar shape, causing destruction everywhere you go."

"Hey! Haumea isn't peculiar, you oversized blueberry!" Charon yelled.

Everyone froze, staring at the moon with wide eyes. Eris and Triton were the only ones holding back laughs.

"Excuse me...?" X scowled, "And just who do you think you are to talk back to me?"

"Charon..." Pluto muttered, biting his lip in worry.

"My name is Charon, moon of Pluto." She responded, "And I don't appreciate you insulting my friends."

"That makes one of us." X uttered before glancing at Pluto, "Declassified planet, Pluto... keep your moon in check or there will be consequences."

Pluto glared at him, a wave of protection coursing through his subsurface.

"So, you know who we are- big deal." Eris rolled her eyes, "Just what do you plan on doing with us?"

"Nothing," X spoke, turning away. Various noises of confusion were made as the captured dwarf planets glanced at each other.

"But X, weren't you saying how you were tired of them getting in your way?" Gonggong asked.

"Y-Yeah! Can't we at least poke at them for information at least!?" Quaoar yelled.

"Quiet- I already have the information I need," X growled, drawing a few lines across the whiteboard, "I just need the right bait..."

'Neptune' was spelled out in bold letters on the board.

"And the right method..." X uttered, drawing a few lines underneath.

'Sneak attack,' 'Stab through the chest,' 'Rip core out of chest-'

Triton tensed within his bindings as he read the words on the board, his eyes widening. He clenched his fists as he scowled, feeling the gravity shift slightly as he opened his mouth, "You're not doing any of that."

Tip- tip- tap!

He paused, hearing something behind him. Peering over his shoulder, he noticed a few small pieces of debris veering towards him.

"And who says I'm not?" X huffed, "As far as I'm aware, you're not Neptune's moon anymore. Besides, it's not like any of these will work. I know my brother, and he's not an idiot like everyone makes him out to be. Speaking of... Quaoar, go retrieve Sedna and Orcus."

"Yes, sir!" Quaoar saluted with his rings before backing into the Kuiper belt.

Triton frowned, his eyebrows furrowing as he looked down at the bits of debris that were scattered around. He twiddled his thumb and forefinger, grabbing a particularly sharp piece. He glanced up to ensure no one was watching.

Sh-sh-shh-shft...

Triton whittled the rock against the enforced bindings, trying to make as little movement as possible while also trying to move as quickly as possible.

...

Messier sighed, watching on through eyes of torment as a dark blue hand moved a marker across the board.

"X, please." He spoke, "Let the dwarf planets go- they've done nothing wrong."

X scoffed, 'Only a coward like you would say something like that. These dwarf planets have been messing around my territory, and I can't let them talk to anyone about my plans...'

"You'll only make things worse by keeping them here. You let Ceres go-"

'That's because no one likes Ceres.' X paused in his writing, 'He's just another pest I need to get rid of soon...'

"What if he talks to the others about your plans?"

'All Ceres knows is that I kidnapped his pathetic friends. He doesn't know anything else.'

"What about Neptune? He knows what you're up to."

'Yeah, no thanks to you.' X frowned, clenching his fist, 'Let him blab to the Sun, it's not like that big ball of fire can move from his position without causing a shift in the system...'

He smiled at the thought of what would happen if the Sun moved from his place, how pathetic the planets would be, how lifeless the Earth would look...

"X," Messier grunted, "Think about what you're doing. You don't have to go down this path-"

"What makes you think I have a choice!?" X shouted, his voice rumbling throughout the area, causing a shift in gravity as the whiteboard flew back into a wall of debris.

The sudden shift snapped the rest of Triton's bindings, releasing him. He smirked, tossing aside the sharp debris.

"Now, we're getting somewhere..." He uttered, turning and flying away into the depths of the Kuiper belt.

Gonggong tried to follow him, yet X called him back.

"Wait- let him go." He spoke, "Let him think he's doing something. Although..."

X peered over at the dwarf planets, eyeing them one by one.

"Now there's nothing to lose if I get rid of you nuisances once and for all..."

...

"Agh... where am I?" Messier asked himself, "Neptune? X...? Can anybody hear me?"

It was silent as Messier took in the atmosphere. Stars, stars, and more stars... it all made him dizzy as the black, blue, purple, red, and white colors mixed in his vision.

"Why doesn't any of this look... familiar?" He muttered.

"Hello...?" A voice spoke. A warm feeling appeared beside Messier, causing him to shift as he realized someone else was with him.

"Ah- hello? Who are you?"

"Uhm... I don't know, exactly!"

"Oh... is this place your home?"

"Mmh... yes, I think so. Pinwheel Galaxy, I think it's called!"

Messier hummed, "I think I'll call you Pinwheel then."

"Pinwheel...? Hah, I like it!"

Messier frowned. He knew what Pinwheel once was, yet how did he end up in another Star's body? He heard of it happening but didn't think it was possible.

Messier shook his head. He just had to find Neptune's train of thought, which was quite easy since it was mostly nonsense.

Closing his eyes, Messier took a deep breath, allowing his mind to be-

"Hey! You can't leave just yet!" Pinwheel shouted, forcing Messier back into the Novastar.

"You can feel that...?" Messier asked.

"Of course, I can! And I won't allow you to go!"

Messier sighed, "Please, Pinwheel, I have someone that needs my help. You need to let me get to him."

"...No." Pinwheel shook his head, "Then I'll be alone again, and I don't like that."

"I know what it's like to be alone, but you can't force me to stay here," Messier told him. He averted his gaze, staring off into the distance, "Unless, maybe... there is a way."

"What?" Pinwheel shuffled closer.

"A way for you to get what you want."

"Really...? You mean I won't have to be alone anymore?"

Messier nodded his head, feeling Pinwheel take his hands into his own, holding them tightly.

"Give me your word," Pinwheel spoke, his voice quiet.

"I promise."

Chapter Text

"Alright, that should be all of them." Neptune nodded to Titan, "It's now or never, Mr. Revolutionary!"

Titan gave him a look, taking a deep breath as he lifted his body above everyone else, "Oh, boy-" He cleared his throat, "Hello again, moons of the solar system! I wish I could tell you it's nice to see you all again, but we don't exactly have the time for that-"

"Ugh, then get to the point already!" Ganymede yelled.

"A planet has kidnapped the dwarf planets, so Neptune thought it would be a good idea for us to be a part of his plan to get them back and take this planet down," Titan explained.

"What!?"

"Are they crazy-?"

"We'll be crushed for sure-!"

"All of us will become space debris!"

The crowd of moons talked over each other as they shouted their claims, worried for their safety and well-being.

"Calm down, everyone!" Titan yelled, "None of us will become space dust!"

"That's right!" Neptune nodded, "The other Celestials will protect each and every one of you."

"Wait- the others...?" Titan raised an eyebrow, turning to look at Neptune, "But what about you?"

"I have a different goal." Neptune whispered to him before turning his attention to the moons, "I'm entrusting Titan to lead this mission. He has a vast knowledge of this sort of thing."

"I don't know about that..." Titan muttered.

"I would stay with you and plan more, but I need to make sure my moons are alright." Neptune frowned.

"It's alright, Neptune. I'm, uh-- sure I got this covered." Titan smiled sheepishly.

"Great! I'll be counting on all of you from now on~" Neptune grinned, circling Titan before flying away.

Titan watched him leave, frowning as some of the moons bombarded him with questions about what was going on and why they were the ones going to handle it.

'This might... take a while.' He thought, his eyes looking around.

« × »

Triton peered over his shoulder, letting out a breath, 'I wasn't followed... that's good for me, but... bad for the others. I should hurry-'

"T-Tr-Triton! You're back!?" A stuttering voice yelled as Io blocked his path with flailing limbs, "Th-They said the m-m-mysterious planet took you!"

"I was," Triton stepped past him, "I need to-"

"Warn the others? D-Don't worry, Neptune and Titan already informed us." Io jerked his head to the crowd of moons swarming around Titan.

"Oh- wait, where's-?"

"Io, what'd I say about-?" A voice piped up as a dark figure flew up to them. Callisto frowned, "Oh." She crossed her arms, huffing as she averted her gaze, "Hey."

"Callisto..." Triton frowned, furrowing his eyebrows as his eyes looked on in pathetic desperation, "How... are you?"

"Oh, you know... the usual." Callisto shrugged.

Io glanced between them, biting his lip as he felt his skin boiling from the tension.

"...Sorry to cut this 'reunion' short, but I have to talk to Neptune." Triton quickly excused himself as he moved past them, his eyes darting to where the blue Celestial was juggling a few pieces of debris, his irregular-shaped moons watching in awe.

"All it takes is a little practice, and soon, with enough tenacity, you'll get the hang of it!" Neptune grinned as he caught the rubble and flicked it towards an asteroid, causing a chain reaction as the rocks pelted into each other and exploded.

"Wow, you're amazing, Neptune!" Larissa smiled, clapping her small hands together.

"Thank you, but I'm not-" Neptune reached up to scratch the back of his neck when he saw a glance of his long-lost 'moon' a few units away. His eyes widened as he opened his mouth, "Triton?"

« × »

"You said you weren't going to hurt us..." Haumea trembled, inching closer to Makemake.

"I changed my mind." X shrugged, pulling out his trident, "Besides, it was Triton I wasn't going to hurt, the rest of you are of no use to me."

Eris squinted her eyes, "Do you enjoy hurting others? Is our pain that hilarious to you?"

X raised an eyebrow, "Well, yes, that's the point- to make everyone feel the suffering I've felt, but ten times worse."

"You know, that's not a healthy way to deal with trauma-" Makemake spoke, being interrupted when three sharp prongs were stuffed in his face.

"Soon, everyone will realize I had been right all along..." X uttered, electricity burning through his core as his trident sparked around the edges.

Makemake forced his eyes closed as he braced for impact.

"X!" A voice called out. The blue Celestial jumped, turning his head around as his arm moved away from his target.

BZZT!

A bolt of lightning shot out from the trident.

"Agh!" Pluto yelped, feeling his shoulder numb under the electrifying impact.

"Pluto!" Charon's eyes widened as she couldn't help but watch the lightning bolt burn onto his brown surface, making a mark.

"You made me miss." X scowled at Sedna.

"Sorry, sir, it's just that... there are visitors from beyond the Kuiper belt." She spoke, bowing her head.

"Is it that time already...?" X muttered, then nodded, "Alright then, I'll see to it immediately."

As X moved past the other returning dwarf planets, Orcus called him back, "Hey, X...?"

"What is it now?" X groaned, looking at the smaller one.

"I was just wondering... since we're almost done helping you and all... when will we get our moons back?" He asked, timidly.

"What makes you think you're almost done helping me?" X furrowed his eyebrows.

"Well, you said-"

"I said that as soon as you're done helping me, I can help you guys find your moons." X said, "I never said anything about how long it would take."

"Oh. R-Right..." Orcus nodded his head.

"Now, why don't you watch our guests?"

"Yes, sir." Orcus saluted.

X huffed, flying away into the debris.

« × »

"You okay, Sun?" Mercury asked.

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?" The Sun grinned.

"No reason- you just look out of it recently."

"I'm fine! Although, I can't say the same for you guys!" The Sun frowned, "Everyone's out of their orbits!"

"I-It's not permanent!" Mercury waved his hands, "It's just for a few more hours, I promise!"

"Mhm, you best hope you all don't start drifting away from me or worse, colliding into each other!" The Sun glared.

Mercury sighed, "Right, well I'll make sure that..."

The Sun didn't catch any of what Mercury said, his mind started drifting elsewhere. In his gaze, he saw bits of asteroids and debris. The rocks began decaying as four luminous figures made their way to the edge of the cloud. One of them spoke, crossing their arms. A dark figure appeared within the cloud, a conniving smirk on their face.

"Sun? Helloooo?" Mercury waved a hand in front of Sun's face.

"Hm?" The Sun blinked. He moved his eyes, looking in the distance. His eyes widened, a frown appearing on his face, 'Shit.'

"What is it?" Mercury asked.

The Sun furrowed his eyebrows as he bit his lip, "We might... have a problem."

Chapter Text

"What's the deal, Proxima? Why are we gathered here of all places?"

"Yeah, I thought we weren't allowed near this part of the Milky Way."

"Well," The red dwarf started, "Someone asked for our presence; a planet that goes by the name Nine."

"A planet?" Gliese raised her eyebrows, "Are you serious?"

"He seemed reasonable enough." Proxima squinted their eyes at the other. Gliese scoffed, yet said nothing.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Prox?" Alpha spoke beside them.

"Of course." Proxima nodded, "I wouldn't have gathered us here if it wasn't."

"Speaking of, where's Spica?" Sirius questioned, spinning around to look for the other Star.

"As we all know, Spica resides farther out than us." Proxima briefly explained, "She should be on her way."

Gliese sighed, "Well, we have nothing better to do, so might as well meet this 'reasonable' planet."

The other Stars agreed, albeit reluctantly.

Fwoosh- fwip- crack!

A dark blue sphere came from within the Kuiper belt, greeting the Stars at the edge of the Oort Cloud.

"Hello, great Stars from beyond. It's so nice to officially meet you all." The planet spoke.

"I assume you're Nine?" Gliese raised an eyebrow.

"That's right." X nodded.

Gliese huffed, not impressed, "What makes you think we'll help you?"

"Gliese." Alpha glared.

"I'm serious. Planets don't just come up demanding things from us! What makes Nine here so special?"

"...She has a point," Sirius spoke.

X merely smiled, feining an innocent expression, "I completely understand, and you're right not to trust me, but... I would like all of you to hear me out if that's alright."

Gliese squinted her eyes, analyzing the planet before her. She let out a huff, "Fine- go ahead."

X smirked.

One step closer.

« × »

"Luna, what's the brightest Star in the solar system?" Earth asked, his eyes focused on something in the distance.

"I dunno." The moon spoke, "I'm pretty sure Jupiter said it was Sirius A, the Star in the Canis Majoris constellation. It's actually one of your nearest neighbors and is gradually moving closer to the solar system."

"Huh..." Earth frowned, "I don't mean to alarm you, but there's-"

"Everyone gather around for a planet meeting! NOW!" The Sun's voice rumbled throughout the atmosphere.

Earth glanced at Luna, who shrugged, "Must be important. Come on."

...

"That's weird..." The human uttered, "Should this be flashing red, Computer?"

"I'm picking up on some other energies entering the solar system." The AI spoke, "They appear to be moving closer at a rate of 6.68459e-9 Astronomical Units or one kilometer an hour."

"Well, can you tell me what they are...?"

"Look outside and find out."

Astrodude scoffed, "You just said these things were outside the solar system. We're nowhere near the Kuiper, holy shi- what are those things!?"

As soon as he looked out the side window, his eyes widened upon seeing bright flaming lights beyond the asteroids and debris.

"Those aren't... what I think they are, right?" He took a step back, glancing at his monitors again.

"Judging by the components I'm picking up on, they're exactly what Stars are made of."

"Wha- wh- whe- how!?" Astrodude flailed his arms, "How is this possible!? I knew the planets here could move and talk of their own volition which is concerning in itself, but I never imagined it was possible outside of this solar system! This is..."

"Weird?"

"Exactly!" Astrodude collapsed in his chair, "I-I have to do something l-like, uh... Computer, call Houston!"

"Calling Houston..."

...

"What's up, Sun?" Jupiter spoke, "You sounded very..."

"Anxious." Mars interrupted.

"Is everything okay?" Saturn questioned.

The Sun's eyes twitched through his grinning expression, "Oh, yeah! Everything's great, hahahh, except we have a bit of a problem... I don't mean to alarm anyone, but if you look behind you-"

Everyone turned around as soon as he said that.

"Don't turn around, you idiots!" The Sun hissed, prompting everyone to turn back around with fearful faces. The Sun resumed a fake smile on his sphere, "We appear to have unexpected visitors..."

"You mean the Stars?" Earth spoke, "I'm pretty sure me and Luna saw the brightest one there; Sirius, I think?"

"Ah, yep- that's one of them." The Sun nodded.

"Do you know them, Sun?" Saturn asked, "Can you tell us who they are and what they want from us?"

"It's not any of you they're after, I don't think..." The Guardian uttered, "I'm the one they're most likely targeting."

"What?" Mercury raised his eyebrows, "What'd you do, Sun?"

"Let's just say... a lot. A lot I'm not proud of." The Sun broke his grin to frown at the small planet, "I would say out of all of them... Proxima, Alpha, and Gliese are the most upset with me."

"And who are they?" Mars asked.

"Proxima Centauri and Alpha Centauri B- they're brothers." The Sun replied, "I bet Jupiter can tell you more than I can about their properties."

Jupiter's eyes lit up as he took the figurative stage, "Well- they reside about five lightyears away in the constellation, Centaurus. Proxima is a red dwarf, one of the smallest kind of Star types while 'Alpha' - or Toliman - is an orange dwarf, known for being 'Goldilocks Stars,' and may be a candidate for supporting extraterrestrial life."

Earth perked up at that, "That's a thing?"

"Of course! Toliman is just another example that anything can be possible in space." Jupiter nodded, "He's a bit smaller than the Sun by fourteen percent."

"What about the others- Sirius and Gliese?" Mars asked.

"Sirius is the brightest Star in the sky- it can actually be seen from Earth's surface."

"How do you know that?" Earth frowned.

"Reading. I have a lot of free time." The Gas Giant shrugged, "Known as the 'Dog Star,' it resides about 9 lightyears away in the Canis Majoris, or Canis Major, constellation. Within a few hundred thousand years, though, it's expected to become fainter until Vega takes its place of being the brightest Star. Sirius A is about twice as massive as the Sun."

"His twin, Sirius B, used to be bigger than Sirius." The Sun cut in, frowning as he looked down, "Until Sirius B consumed his hydrogen fuel and became a Red Giant before shedding his outer layers and collapsing into his current state as a White Dwarf around... 120 million years ago, I think."

"So, Sirius' twin is... dead?" Mercury muttered. The Sun said nothing, averting his eyes away from the small planet.

"Unfortunately, no one or thing can stop a Star once it becomes a Red Giant." Jupiter spoke, "It's inevitable that all Stars will die out one day. We should be glad that it's not anytime soon."

The Star and planets didn't utter a single word. Neptune looked around at everyone's gloomy faces, a frown settling on his own. He looked towards the Kuiper belt, seeing the bright Stars beyond it. He furrowed his eyebrows, blinking one eye, then the other. He took a deep breath as he turned back to the others.

"Jupiter is right!" A smile formed on his sphere as the others looked at him, "We should be glad!"

Uranus raised his eyebrows, "Are you alright, mate...?"

"I'm more than alright!" Neptune grinned, "But, instead of focusing on the inevitable, we should focus on the possible."

"What?" Venus quirked an eyebrow.

"Care to elaborate, Neptune?" Saturn asked.

"Gladly!" Neptune bounced on his axis, then looked at the Sun, "I'm assuming whatever happened was a long time ago?"

The Sun hummed, nodding his sphere.

"Whatever it may be, they're no match for you, the most powerful being in the Solar System!"

"Hahah, that may be true for planets, but it's a different story for Stars." The Sun smiled, "I'm only one Celestial- I can't take on four Stars alone."

Neptune frowned, raising an eyebrow, "And I thought I was the forgetful one."

"What?" The Sun blinked.

"You're not alone." Neptune gestured to the other planets, "We can take them on."

"That's-"

"He's right." Jupiter nodded, smiling, "We're not letting you do this alone, Sun."

The others gave their own comments, agreeing with the statements.

The Sun looked upon his planets, his mouth quivering as his eyes started burning.

"Are you okay, Sun...?" Saturn questioned.

"Yeah, I just-" The Sun coughed, "You all might wanna move-"

Everyone's eyes widened as they quickly scattered away from the flaming sphere just in time as a fiery mass of plasma was ejected from his mouth.

"Oh-!"
"Agh-!"
"Careful-!"

Once it was over, Mercury was the first to fly up to him, "Feel better?"

"Surprisingly, yes." The Sun laughed.

Neptune smiled, going over to Uranus, "You okay?"

Uranus grunted, blinking, "We should return to our orbits. I think I'm starting to melt."

Neptune could feel the liquid dripping from his sphere, "Good thinking! We can regroup at a later time- I just need to talk to Titan to see how the plan is coming along."

Uranus nodded, "See you later, mate. Be safe."

"You too!" Neptune grinned, making his way over the asteroid belt. He spotted Titan immediately, watching as he marked down a plan on a whiteboard as the other moons listened intently.

"Neptune." A voice spoke.

"Ah-!" Neptune reeled back, looking around, 'Wait, Messier? Where were you? I thought you said you were only checking on X?'

"I was until something went wrong."

'What happened?'

"It's... a long story."

Neptune looked on at the moons, backing up until he turned away from them, 'I have time.'

Chapter Text

"Psst..."

"Mmh...?" The Sun opened his eyes, "Wha...?"

"Psst-!"

He blinked the tiredness from his gaze, looking around wearily, "Where...?"

"Sun, can you hear me?"

The ball of plasma opened his mouth, his eyes enlarged, 'Spica...?'

"Finally! You would not believe how long it took to find the right opening..." She uttered.

'How-?'

"Never mind that! Are you okay?"

'Yes, why wouldn't I be?' The Sun rolled his eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes at me, Mister I'm-so-great-and-powerful-yet-I-got-my-ass-handed-to-me-by-a-Star-smaller-than-me," Spica remarked.

'That was one time!' The Sun seethed, containing all his anger as his eyes and mouth twitched.

"Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that." The Sun could feel Spica's smirk from lightyears away.

'Where are you? I thought you would be with the others.'

"I live further away, dummy. I'll be there in a few more days." She responded.

'And...? Will you be with the others?'

Spica didn't respond, prompting the Sun to let out a huff.

'I totally get it. Everything that happened was my fault-'

"What? No- shut up, Sun." Spica snapped, "Everything that happened was in the past... and it should stay in the past. Besides, Gliese is also to blame."

The Sun snorted, 'Don't let her hear you say that.'

"Ooh, I would love to say that to her face." Spica laughed.

Mercury shifted, his eyes squinting as he stared at the ball of plasma, "Sun...? Isn't it a bit early to be laughing to yourself?"

"Heheh, sorry, Mercury... go back to sleep." The Sun smiled, albeit awkwardly.

"Okay..." Mercury huffed as he moved further away, opting to sleep somewhere else.

The Sun released a breath he was holding, his eyes wandering to the other planets; the other rocky planets were sleeping while the Giants seemed to be talking on the other side of the asteroid belt. Sun wished he could hear what they were saying.

"Friend of yours?" Spica asked.

'Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess you could say that.' The Sun smiled.

"You guess...?"

'Haha, let's just say, I can be a bit threatening.'

"A bit...?"

'...Okay, a lot threatening. You know I can't help it.'

"Just yellow dwarf behavior."

'Hey! What about the others? They're worse than I am!'

Spica laughed, "Hahahah! I almost forgot how fun it is to tease you!"

The Sun's eyes widened as he clenched his fangs, 'Yo- That-...'

"Blackhole got your tongue?"

There was a moment of silence.

'No...' The Sun frowned, 'I'm just...'

"Just...?"

'Mmnothing.'

"Nothing? Really?"

'Shut up.'

"Ooh, strong words for a Star that's smaller than me."

'You can't bring size into this!'

"Too late- I just did."

The Sun rolled his eyes, his gaze landing on the void beyond, 'Huh...'

"What is it?"

'The others were beyond the Kuiper belt, but they're gone now.'

"Maybe they decided this whole thing was stupid and just left...?" Spica guessed.

The Sun frowned, knowing that hoping for peace was useless when it came to the other Stars.

« × »

"HAHAHAHAHhahahh!"

"Sir, it's not funny- there are Stars outside the Kuiper belt at this very moment!" AstroDude exclaimed. The astronaut was met with more hysterical laughter.

"Sta-aha-rs!" Houston leaned back in his chair, "Ooh, that's a good one. Next, you're going to tell me that the planets can move and talk!"

AstroDude deadpanned, looking at the computer, which was making the same face.

"Sir, if you would just listen-"

"Stop wasting my time, AstroDude! Stars can't just appear out of thin air."

"Actually, sir-"

"If that's all you wanted to tell me, I'll be hanging up now."

"Wait, wait, wait-"

beep... beep... beep...

"Ugh, you've got to be kidding me." The human muttered.

...

"Hah, moving Stars..." Houston chuckled at the statement, propping his feet on the center console.

"Uh, sir- you might want to look at this." NasaDude glanced at him.

"What is it this time?"

"You remember Voyager 2, right?"

"What kind of a question is that? Of course, I remember Voyager 2!"

NasaDude tore a piece of paper from a machine, giving it to Houston.

"Am I supposed to know what this is?" The director asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked at the line graph.

NasaDude refrained from rolling his eyes, "Voyager 2 is within the Kuiper belt."

"And...?"

"And it appears to have caught a magnetic force ten to fifteen times that of our Sun."

Houston looked at the other, "Wait, that would mean..."

"AstroDude was telling the truth."

A sigh escaped Houston's lips, "Dammit..." he turned around in his chair, calling out an order to a random newbie, "Call in a meeting with the Big Corps!"

"Uuh..." The newbie hesitated.

"Just- get me on the line with USA, Russia, China, and Canada!" Houston yelled, "And don't forget Mr. Spherical!"

"Yessir!"

NasaDude hummed, "Why Canada...?"

Houston sighed, "Unfortunately, he's important."

« × »

"And that brings us back to right now." Neptune smiled, "Did you get all that?"

Titan looked at the Ice Giant with wide eyes, "I- wow, uhm... and you want us to help?"

"Well, of course! You guys are just as important as the rest of us. We need to work together in order to bring them down."

"Right, and I get that- it's just... with the Stars being here, don't you think it's a bit risky?" Titan questioned.

Neptune frowned, hesitating to answer, "Well, yes, but... I believe that good things can come out of this if we work together."

Titan looked unsure, his eyes moving to look down into the deep void of space. He took a breath before glancing up, "Believing in something isn't going to make it come true, Neptune."

"Well, I know that-"

"It's great that you're an optimist, but sometimes you have to think realistically." The moon spoke, "Will we win? Do we have a chance?"

Neptune blinked one eye, then the other, his frown deepening, "I..."

"Maybe we should think this over." Titan huffed, "I don't think any of the moons are ready to fight anyway."

Neptune could only nod, watching as Titan flew away. He bit his lip, letting out a sigh, 'Maybe he's right...'

"Giving in already?" Messier spoke.

'Yes,' Neptune shook his head, 'No- I don't know! Am I supposed to be feeling this bad?'

"I guarantee that everyone knows how you feel. Look around."

Neptune's eyes gazed over to the other planets. Uranus looked stressed as he paced around his orbit, his moons looking worried. Saturn was doodling on his notepad and Jupiter looked exhausted, eyes scanning words in a book.

Neptune's moons were nearby, sleeping as they huddled around each other, Triton in the middle.

"Pain comes in many forms; physical, mental, emotional..." Messier uttered, "You've experienced them all."

'I have...?' Neptune thought.

"Of course. Everyone here has." Messier paused, "Even me."

The blue planet looked down, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Tell me, Neptune," Messier spoke, "Are you ready to do this?"

'What... do you mean?'

"X is your brother. He has had the last strike before... will he have it again?"

Neptune's core rumbled within him, the winds whipping around as a raging storm continued to mark his surface.

'I...'

Chapter Text

"What do you think, Proxima?" Gliese looked at the other with an expectant gaze.

"I don't know... on one hand, we're after one of our own. On the other hand, this could lead to devastating consequences."

Gliese scoffed, "Devastating for them, maybe. But for us...?"

"Are you saying Helios deserves what's coming to him?" Toliman spoke.

"Well, duh. He deserves to go after what he did to us!" Gliese glared, "Remember when he nearly crushed me, or when he got too competitive to the point where he would use his whip on us? He's always been out of line. We're only putting him back in his place."

Proxima furrowed their eyebrows, their frown deepening, "You're right. He's always had a wild streak. It's only fair that we end it."

Gliese smiled, "Precisely."

Sirius hummed, watching from afar as his friends planned their unbeknownst demise.

'Hurry up, Spica... I won't be able to stop them when the time comes to face Helios.'

...

Spica huffed, peering into her general mind cortex to find where the Milky Way was.

'It should be here... just look for the fog...' She thought, her eyes squinting through the darkness. She stopped upon spotting something in the distance, 'Wait- is that it?'

Spica flew in for a closer look, examining the surroundings. A thick layer of gas seemed to cover what looked to be pieces of debris, or- asteroids.

'This must be it.' She smiled, 'The Oort Cloud is much thicker than I imagined...'

She carefully moved in, pushing the asteroids out of her way.

'All that's left to do is to find the others.'

« × »

"Luna, are you okay?" Earth spoke after noticing his moon was looking out of it.

"Huh-? Oh, yeah, yeah- I'm good, just thinking..." Luna trailed off, his eyes peering into the void, "Hey, uh- dad?"

"Yes?" Earth perked up, smiling at the name. It's not often he heard it- with Luna being too shy or one of the others always hanging around, prompting the moon to speak up barely. The Earth always welcomed moments like these, where it was just the two of them.

"What does Theia look like...?" The question came out hesitantly, almost as if Luna was afraid to ask it.

Earth frowned, his eyes slowly widening as he realized what the other had said.

Luna wanted to know about Theia?

'Theia...' Earth thought, his eyes drifting. He knew the day would come when Luna would want to know more about Theia, but he didn't expect it to be so soon.

Heck, even Earth barely knew anything about Theia, mostly due to the after-effects of the impact.

"What exactly did you want to know about?" Earth questioned.

"Just what she looked like."

'Oh.' Earth hummed, "Is that all? Shades of brown; from light to dark, from tan to umber..."

"What about her Celestial form?"

"I've only seen her Celestial form once; beautiful curly hair that went down to her shoulders, pale yellow eyes that reflected thousands of Stars, and a toga with a golden sash and crown... why do you ask?" Earth raised an eyebrow.

"I think- I may have seen her," Luna uttered.

Earth looked at him incredulously, "What?"

"I- I don't know if it's actually her, or my imagination, though." Luna continued, "I just happen to see something, and it looks real, yet it isn't at the same time... does that make sense?"

"It makes perfect sense." Earth spoke, "Wh-Where do you usually see... her?"

"Over by the asteroid belt." Luna looked across the way, peering at the thicket of debris, "She's not there now, but I sometimes see her poking her head through the rocks, kinda like she's playing a game almost."

The Earth blinked. Theia was known to be playful, finding most of her time playing in the asteroid belt despite Jupiter's warnings telling her it was dangerous. She and Earth would also dance along their orbits together since their orbits were quite close.

It would also bring along the downfall of one, and the newfound life of another.

"You know those Earthling stories about guardian angels...?" Luna spoke.

"Of course." Earth nodded.

"It almost feels like that." A small smile formed on the moon's face, "Like Theia is watching over me, over the both of us."

Earth found himself getting choked up as his eyes watered. His lips trembled as he spoke with a quavering voice, "Y-Yeah..."

« × »

"Something's wrong with Neptune!" Nereid spoke upon seeing her planet frowning.

"What could it be?" Galatea asked.

"Could just ask him." Triton shrugged, already flying up to Neptune, "Hey."

"Hm? Oh, hey, Triton- what's up?" Neptune smiled.

"The, uh- little ones are worried about you." Triton gestured behind him, "Thought I might ask if you were, y'know- alright?"

Neptune glanced at his tinier moons, then looked at Triton, who was avoiding eye contact. The blue planet smiled, knowing Triton was also worried, "I'm alright, guys. There's just a lot on my mind."

"Like what?" Larissa asked.

"Well, you guys probably won't understand," Neptune spoke, "There's a threat, or someone really mean, who wants to wipe out all of us."

"All of us...?" Nereid uttered.

"Even you, Neptune?" Proteus frowned.

"Especially me." Neptune nodded, "I tried to plan what we're going to do against this threat, but I'm afraid that it's not enough... we don't have enough resources to defeat, or get rid of, this really mean someone."

"Not even if we help?" Despina asked.

Neptune smiled softly, "I'm afraid not, Despina."

The tiny moons all looked bleak as they huddled against each other for comfort.

Triton frowned, having seen part of X's plan laid out on a whiteboard before him, he had a vague idea about what the navy Celestial was going to do.

He faced the Sun, adjusting his cracked lenses as he sped off. He faintly heard Neptune's shout of confusion, ignoring it as he focused on making it to the asteroid belt.

He hoped he could make it in time.

« × »

X let out a sigh as he gazed at the trident in his hands, his mind set on the past.

The screams. The pleas for help.

Hundreds upon thousands of crushed planets and moons under their reign of ter-

"Sir?" A hand was placed upon his shoulder.

X blinked, peering behind him, "What is it, Sedna?"

"Those Stars... are you sure they're going to help us?" She asked, fiddling with her hands.

The navy Celestial glared, "Are you doubting my plans?"

"N-No, I was just-"

"Sedna. You're my right hand. My go-to when anything goes wrong." X spoke, "Trust me when I say that those Stars will be our shining beacon of victory."

The dwarf planet nodded, albeit still having a look of wary.

"Now, gather the others," X ordered as he looked away, "We need to get planning."

"Right away, sir." Sedna saluted as she flew away, leaving X alone to his thoughts.

X gripped the trident in his hands, twirling it around before posing it towards the shining beacon of light in the distance.

'Soon... Helios.'

Chapter Text

"There you are, Spica!" Proxima smiled, "We were starting to get worried you wouldn't show up."

The Blue Star hummed, "I wouldn't miss a chance to see you guys for the whole universe." She glanced around, "By the way, why are we here exactly?"

"Did no one tell you?" Gliese shifted towards the other, "We're exacting revenge on fellow Star, Sol, also known as, Helios."

Spica frowned, looking between her friends, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Proxima opened their mouth, yet nothing came out. Instead, they looked to Alpha.

"When the universe was created, we were all much closer." He started, "We were friends, and we were proud of the galaxies that were forming around each of us, yet Sol seemed to want more... it started with small jabs here and there, then with senseless teasing, and then moved on to a more physical approach. By the end, we had all shifted away from each other- thank Stars for that."

Spica was silent for a while, contemplating her next words, "And you think... fighting him is the answer?"

No one seemed to have an answer. Gliese moved to be before them, "If you think we can just talk to him, then you're wrong- the last time we did that, Proxima and I almost died!"

Spica furrowed her eyebrows, peering at the Brown Dwarf, "Gliese, I'm only warning you once."

"I don't need advice from you, of all Stars." Gliese glared.

"Listen to me! You are not like us, you're a Brown Dwarf, you're more fragile-"

"Fragile!?" Gliese yelled, "I am not fragile! Why are you even protecting Sol- is he your boyfriend or something?"

"No, of course not!" Spica growled, "I just think- I know you should re-think this! It's been thousands of centuries since we've talked to Sol face-to-face! Maybe he's changed?"

"A Star like that can't change," Toliman said.

"Yeah. I mean, even his planets are deranged, especially the Gas Giants." Gliese spoke, "A ringed planet like Saturn doesn't come naturally... and Jupiter? I heard he almost destroyed half the solar system in the beginning as well as rid life on a planet when it was at its peak."

"They need to go," Proxima spoke, their eyes staring into Spica's, "And whether you agree with us or not, we're still going to do it."

Spica squinted her eyes, glaring, "If this is how you want to die out, then so be it- but don't say I didn't warn you..."

« × »

"Hey, is that-" Mars was interrupted by Triton flying by him in a flash, "Woah, hey-!"

"Sorry!" Triton yelled back, continuing his journey to the Goldilocks Zone.

Luna was the first to notice him, his eyes widening. Earth raised an eyebrow, turning around to see what it was his moon was looking at. His eyebrows raised upon seeing Triton barreling towards him at incredible speeds.

The captured moon came to a stop, missing Earth by a few centimeters.

The lively planet let out a breath, backing away as he stared at Triton.

"Cutting it close there, uh-"

"Triton."

"Right, haha- I mean, I'm all for adrenaline races and all, but that was..."

"You interacted with X, right?" Triton cut him off.

"I- uh- what?"

"I'm only asking since you're one of X's targets."

"Well, he did try to trick me by changing into Uranus..." Earth uttered.

"Why Uranus?"

"What do you mean?"

"There's Mars, Venus, and Mercury, yet he specifically chose one further away..." Triton trailed off, starting to think about it more.

"Huh," Earth bit his lip, his eyes looking into the distance, "I don't... know."

Luna looked at the interaction.

"Heh, I think I know." A deeper voice spoke, spooking Luna.

Luna backed away from the other two, "Dark Side, you can't just-"

"I know, I know." The Dark Side huffed, rolling his eyes. Soft flipping could be heard on the other side as Luna tried to see what his other side was doing.

"Wait- you better not be doing what I think you're doing!" Luna yelled.

"You mean, reading Uranus' diary to find out why X stole it?"

"You-! Wait, how'd you know X stole it?"

"There are traces of some dark blue substance along the pages... I guess he and Neptune share similar traits, being brothers."

"Well, what'd you find out?" Luna asked.

"I thought you didn't like snooping?" Dark Side teased.

"The fate of our planet is at stake here, Dark Side of the Moon! Are you going to help or not?" Luna scowled.

"Alright, alright." Dark Side chuckled, "Oh boy..."

"Well?"

"Turns out, Uranus has a 'small' crush on the Earth." Dark Side smirked, "He says it's small, but it's written out on every other page."

Luna gaped, "What!?"

Earth and Triton turned to look at the other. Earth raised an eyebrow, "What is it, Luna?"

The moon blinked a couple of times, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, "Uh- wha- n-nothing! It's nothing!"

He heard the faint laughing of his other side.

"Okay...?" Earth looked to Triton, "Surely he won't immediately go for me, right?"

"No, definitely not." Triton shook his sphere, "He seems more set on Neptune and the other Giants."

As they continued to talk, Luna sighed pitifully.

"For the fate of our planet, you said," Dark Side mocked as Luna rolled his eyes for the second time, "Although, there is something else..."

"What is it?"

Dark Side hesitated, his eyes scanning the words on the pages, reading them carefully. He squinted his eyes, closing the book, "Nothing. That was all I found."

Luna raised an eyebrow, about to speak on the hesitance when he was interrupted.

"What are you doing, Luna?" Earth asked.

"Huh-? Oh, just talking to the Dark Side of myself." Luna smiled, returning to his spot next to his planet.

Earth looked wary, "A-ha... and how is he doing?"

"Good, since I don't have to face you all day!" The Dark Side spoke.

"He doesn't mean it." Luna quickly spoke upon seeing Earth's eyes twitch.

"Yeah, I do! Stop putting words in my mouth."

"Nice to see he hasn't changed." Earth pouted.

"Where did Triton go?" Luna asked, trying to prevent his other self from saying anything.

"He went to talk to the Sun about X's plan- or what he thinks is X's plan since he only got a glimpse at it," Earth responded.

Luna nodded, looking around the void of space, watching as the faraway Stars twinkled in the atmosphere. He glanced at Earth, "Hey, Earth?"

"Yeah?"

"No matter what happens... no matter how things turn out..." Luna turned to look at his parent planet, "I'll always look out for you."

Earth let out a confused chuckle, "Uhm, what-? Where did this come from? I mean, I'll always be there with you, of course, but why the sudden change of mood?"

Luna shrugged, turning his gaze to the trillions of Stars millions of lightyears away. A smile appeared on his face, "I don't know- just felt like saying it."

Earth looked at him unblinkingly. He followed the other's gaze towards the spot he was looking at, taking in the view.

They had seen it a million times before but this time felt different. This time, they looked to the Stars to feel a sense of solace, and hope for another day in this beautiful wasteland of ancient debris and timeless masterpiece called home.

Chapter Text

"I knew whatever X was planning couldn't be good." The Sun spoke, peering down at the moon before him, "Thank you for confirming my suspicions, Triton."

"You're welcome, I guess." Triton shrugged, "I wouldn't want X to have the upper hand."

"That's true!" Sun grinned, "Well, you should focus on the safety of Neptune. Those tinier moons can't protect a planet his size."

"Sure." Triton nodded, backing away.

"Also-" The Sun called out, "You should take this."

Triton raised his eyebrows as he watched the Sun concentrate, the surface above his eyes heating up as the mark rose above and beyond til the object was finally ejected into the atmosphere.

"Wha- is that...?" Triton uttered, blinking.

"A trident? Yes, it is!" The Sun grinned, "It's not exactly cool to the touch, so you might want Neptune to cool it off for you."

"Huh, that's pretty cool." Triton took the flaming weapon, his eyes peering at the yellowy-orange flicks fighting against each other, "Uh- thank you again, Mr. Sun."

"I should be thanking you." Sun spoke, "X has no idea the pain he's going to cause us, let alone what those Stars are capable of. I fear for the worse, I'm afraid."

Triton frowned, "All we can do now is look out for each other."

The Sun smiled, nodding his sphere, "Right. Everyone here is under my protection as well as my light. It's up to me to protect you all, and you guys to do the same."

« × »

"Pluto, are you sure you're alright?" Charon asked, looking at her planet in worry.

"I-I'm fine, Charon... it's just a scratch." Pluto uttered, biting his lip as he leaned most of his body weight on his moon.

"It doesn't look like 'just a scratch.'" Eris spoke, her eyes set on the burn mark on Pluto's shoulder, "Can't you heal yourself?"

"I'm trying, but... as a dwarf planet of smaller mass, it'll take some time." Pluto winced, "Which is why the Sputnik Planitia is the way it is... I wasn't able to heal myself after it happened."

Charon looked down, a pit forming in her stomach as she remembered that moment.

Makemake hummed, his eyes drifting between the ex-planet and his moon. He perked up as an idea came to his mind, "Hey, Charon can help you!"

"What?" Pluto looked up.

"How?" Charon asked, leaning forward intently.

"Well, it's said that a moon's powers are at full potential when they're close to their planet. And I don't mean physically close, but..."

"Emotionally..." Pluto finished.

"Exactly!" Makemake grinned.

Charon frowned, her eyes peering past Pluto's torso and setting on the mark on the other side, "But- don't I need to use my hands?"

"Not exactly. You can use any method." Makemake gestured with his head, jerking it in Pluto's direction, "Such as your head."

"Why the head...?" Haumea spoke up, quietly listening to the conversation from where he sat beside Makemake.

"I... don't know. I read somewhere about chakras-"

"Chakras...?" Eris raised an eyebrow.

"Earthling thing." Makemake flushed, shrugging as he continued his rant, "Chakras are energy centers in the body that are associated with the organs and glands in their area. They are said to affect health, mental state, and relationships, and when they are balanced, they can help people function at their best. When one chakra is out of balance, it can disrupt the others, leading to feelings of disconnection, anxiety, and fear."

"But we don't exactly have organs or glands." Eris pointed out.

"I know, but I want to bring attention to the seventh one; the cro-"

"Oi! What'd we say 'bout talking?" Salacia snapped. Makemake shrunk back into his spot on the asteroid he was sitting on. Salacia huffed, "That's what I thought."

Another dwarf planet shifted by the tied-up crew timidly. He fidgeted in place as he spoke softly, "Ignore her... she can be strict when it comes to newcomers."

"Don't we know it," Eris muttered sarcastically.

« × »

"Triton! Where did you run off to?" Neptune flew over to meet his biggest moon, "I was worried something happened."

Triton raised an eyebrow, "I just went to talk to the Sun, and-" He pulled out the trident, "He gave me this."

"Ooh...!" The tinier moons gathered around, aweing at the weapon.

"That's so cool!" Larissa spoke.

"Did the Sun make that?" Despina asked.

"I want one too!" Thalassa exclaimed.

"Watch out, little ones!" Neptune used his gravity to push them away, "It's made of pure flames."

"The Sun said you can cool it off," Triton spoke.

"Oh, of course!" Neptune nodded, shifting to his Celestial form, "Allow me!"

Neptune pulled the trident away. The flaming weapon twirled in his gravity before lying on his left palm. Steam rose into the atmosphere as Neptune used his right hand to encase it between his palms.

"It takes a moment," Neptune uttered, tensing his hands as he felt the fire burning into his surface.

"Are you okay, Neptune?" Proteus questioned, noticing his wince.

"Of course! It barely hurts." Neptune forced a laugh out of him. Triton frowned.

After a few more seconds of silent pain, Neptune released his grasp on the weapon. He was peering down on the now grey-glowing trident.

"Here ya go! One not-burning trident ready to use!" Neptune grinned, giving Triton his trident back. The Celestial glanced at his hands, noticing the creases on his surface, 'Ow...'

"Hey, uh- Neptune?" Triton spoke.

"Yes?" Neptune balled up his hands and crossed his arms.

Triton opened his mouth, then closed it. He looked away, debating what he was going to say and how to say it.

"Be... careful." Triton had finally decided to say, his eyes barely meeting Neptune's, "Don't rush into things, and think before acting."

Neptune's mouth was in the shape of an 'o' as he gazed at Triton with an undiscernable stare.

"Y'know, for the little one's sake." The moon finished, averting his eyes again.

Neptune tilted his head, his eyes blinking seconds apart as he smiled, "Thank you, Triton."

"Mmh..." Triton nodded, pushing his cracked sunglasses up to cover his eyes.

"Can I have a trident?" Proteus asked.

"Hey, I asked first!" Thalassa yelled.

Neptune looked at his moons, "Hey, hey, hey- maybe one day you can each have a trident!"

The small irregular moons bounced around with joy.

Triton watched on, his gaze furrowed and concentrated. He didn't know how to feel yet. He was content being here with Neptune and his moons, but he was also content being with the other dwarf planets.

He cared about Neptune, which was hard for him to admit. He also didn't mind the small moons, which was also hard to acknowledge.

If only he had someone to talk to; the only ones available were either someone who didn't like his presence at the moment or someone who listened to someone else's orders and spewed sulfur dioxide everywhere.

'Man...' Triton inwardly sighed.

"Hey, what's that?" Larissa called out.

"What's wha-?" Neptune stopped in the middle of his sentence as he saw an oncoming bright light, "Now, that's odd."

Triton squinted, his eyebrows furrowing, "It looks five times as big as the Sun."

"Okay, everyone- get behind me!" Neptune used his gravity to pull his moons in, shielding them from the oncoming object.

Triton managed to peer between the blue Celestial's elbow and midsection, watching as the object moved closer. Its body moved steadily, wafting itself through the Kuiper belt.

Finally, the spherical object came through to the other side.

Neptune's eyes widened as he took in the bright blueish-white flames of the Star before him.

"You would not believe how long it took me to get here..." Spica spoke, letting out a huff.

Chapter Text

The Sun noticed something was off the moment he saw it; a blue light in the distance seven times bigger and brighter than he was.

His eyes widened and a smile grew on his sphere as he realized who it was.

The planets stopped what they were doing to stare at the mysterious presence of the unknown Star.

She said something to Neptune, who perked up and nodded. The Blue Star shifted forms, her body adjusting to have extra limbs. She stretched out her arms, raising them over her head before putting one hand on her waist as the other fiddled with a stray hair.

Then, her eyes met his; pale yellow intercepted soft blue.

Neptune must've said something since Spica glanced down at the smaller Celestial and nodded. Neptune raised his hand, moving aside as he gestured widely to the rest of the solar system.

Spica smiled, cautiously making her way towards the other. The planets made way for her, afraid they were going to get sucked up into her orbit if they got too close.

Finally, they were face-to-face.

"Well, well, well... we meet again, Sol," Spica spoke.

"Heheha, it's been a long time coming!" Sun grinned, shifting into his Celestial form. He took Spica's hand, placing a fiery kiss upon it.

"What was that?" Saturn asked Jupiter.

"Spica is a superior Star compared to the Sun. A kiss on the hand symbolizes that relationship." The bigger planet responded.

"I've never seen anything like your solar system, Sol." Spica glanced around, "It's all amazing compared to everything else out there."

"It is amazing, isn't it?" Sun raised an eyebrow.

"I see modesty still isn't your best policy," Spica smirked.

"It never was!" The Sun pulled her aside, his voice falling into a whisper, "What brings you here on such short notice?"

Spica rolled her eyes, "Oh, y'know... I came here to warn you about the other's plans."

"And...?"

Spica furrowed her eyebrows, "Two days from now..."

« × »

"...On other events, reports have been circulating around the world as to what would appear to be... a second Sun." The news reporter said, "Strange occurrences, such as the sky turning a different shade and fatal accidents leading to citizens having to go to the hospital have been happening. The government has issued a warning not to go outside and to wear protective eye gear- and no, sunglasses do not count."

"Oh, dear..." The lady uttered under her breath. She turned to her son, who was playing with his spaceship on the floor, "At least you're inside."

The boy looked up at his mother, still having the same bored expression on his face.

"I hope your father's alright..."

...

"Someone please tell me where that other Star came from!" Houston shouted as he looked at the screens with wide eyes.

"We're not sure, sir. We've been going through all our databases to find where it originated." NasaDude replied, his eyes scanning through an assortment of papers.

"We've found something, Administrator!" A nearby recruit holds up a picture, "This was just captured by one of our telescopes."

"Give me that!" Houston took it from the recruit, his eyes squinting at it, "This is...?"

NasaDude huffed, grabbing the paper, "It appears to be a picture of the binary Star system, Spica..."

"Doesn't there need to be two or more Stars for it to be a binary Star system?" Houston pointed out.

"Exactly! Which can only mean..." NasaDude trailed off, glancing at a different screen showing live News footage of the Sun with its much larger blue counterpart, "That Star is Spica B."

"Well," Houston collapsed in his chair, "Now we really do need to go to space..."

« × »

"What's it like out there?" Mercury asked.

"Well, it's not nearly this lively..." Spica responded, "Though, careful you don't fall prey to my gravity- I don't have a good grasp on it."

The Rocky Planets flew back a few units with wide eyes.

"Alright, the first order of business." Spica clapped her hands, "Sol?"

"Right- we now know that the Stars are to be attacking around here, somewhere." The Sun gestured with his hand.

"Wait- what!?" The Earth yelled.

"Don't worry, Earth, I've got you covered." Sun hummed, glancing around, "Anyone willing to risk their core for the Earth? Please raise your hand."

Mars and Uranus immediately raised their hands, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus following after.

"Well, that's unexpected..." Sun uttered.

Spica elbowed her partner, clearing her throat, "It would make the most sense for the biggest planets to guard the Earth, however... Saturn and Uranus contain icy materials within their surfaces; if they were to go up against Stars, who knows what would happen to them?"

"What about Mars?" Mercury pointed out.

"I have icy permafrost on my poles, but that's about it." The planet in question responded.

"Now that we've got that covered, Neptune, was it...?" Spica glanced at the blue Celestial.

"At your service, great superior!"

The Blue Star chuckled, "Please- just call me Spica. Nine is your brother, correct?"

"Yepperino!" Neptune nodded, smiling despite feeling a pit forming in his stomach.

"Are you sure you can handle facing him one-on-one?" Spica furrowed her eyebrows, analyzing the smaller.

Neptune faltered, his eyes tracing down at his chest; where he was previously injured and put out of commission, "Well..."

"He won't be facing him alone." An accented voice spoke, "I'll be there with him."

Neptune's eyes widened as he looked at Uranus, "Really?"

"Of course, mate! I'm not letting you out of my sight again after what happened last time!" Uranus frowned before huffing and looking away, "Besides, me and him have unfinished business..."

Before Neptune could ask what he meant, Spica's voice rang out, "Alright, that brings us to our last concern; Gliese."

The Sun raised an eyebrow, "What about Gliese?"

"She's a brown dwarf- she may be sixteen times bigger than a planet, but she's technically not a Star. She may have formed the same way main sequence Stars do, but she never gained enough mass to do fusion on the scale of a main sequence Star."

"And...?"

"She's capable of being destroyed under our pressure." Spica scowled, "Imagine what would happen if she got too close to us. It would be history repeating itself, just like what happened with-"

The Sun cleared his throat, his eyes looking back and forth between her and his planets.

Spica followed his gaze, her face falling into a frown, "You haven't told them yet...?"

"I only said I did things I wasn't proud of- not the whole story!" The Sun gestured with his hands.

"Sol..." Spica rolled her eyes, "Well, luckily, we have high odds of winning."

"We do...? We didn't even put Sirius into account." Sun crossed his arms.

Spica looked at him with a mischievous smile, "High odds, Sol."

Chapter Text

36 HOURS 48 MINUTES 26 SECONDS...

...

"Do not be such a drag, Proxima." Sol spoke, "It is not like it was capable of forming anyway."

Proxima averted their eyes, "It was only an innocent being... how could I have let this happen?"

"It is not your fault, Proxima," Sirius assured.

"But it is our duty to look after newly formed beings, is it not?" Proxima bit his lip.

"Indeed. However, we can not foresee such events," Toliman told him, laying a hand on the other's forearm.

"We can help you get your mind off it, though." Gliese stepped in, "What do you say, Proxima?"

"Sure." Proxima gave the others a small smile.

"You coming, Helios?" Spica turned to her friend, whom she realized was not following.

"I honestly do not get what the big deal is," Sol said, prompting the others to stop and stare at the Yellow Star.

"What do you mean?" Toliman questioned, his gaze intimidating.

"Why are you so upset about a planet that was destroyed? It happens all the time." Sol shrugged.

Gliese huffed, "Just because you do not have a single strand of empathy does not mean you get to make everyone feel worse."

"I  do  have empathy, just not for ridiculous things such as this!" Sol scowled. Proxima frowned, casting his eyes to the void below.

"You will hold your words, Helios," Toliman spoke, glaring at him.

"What? Am I getting lectured now?"

"What is your problem, Helios!?" Gliese yelled, "Is this fun for you? Do you enjoy making us suffer!?"

Sol scoffed, flexing his hands repeatedly, "Do not make me laugh, Gliese. Of course not! Why do you always attack me? The others do not seem as bothered as you are."

"Because you are insufferable!"

3... he reached behind him.

"Have you ever had a single thought in your entire existence?"

2... he pulled out a long wire of fire and plasma.

"You act so high and mighty that it is annoying-"

"Helios,  no -!" He faintly heard Spica calling out to him.

1... the whip came crashing down.

...

"Sol." Spica pressed a gentle hand on the other's shoulder, spooking him out of his thoughts, "You okay?"

Sun glanced at her, flashing a smile, "Yeah- just thinking, hahah!"

Spica noticed the crestfallen look in his eyes as he moved away from her, his arms crossing over each other as he returned to his thoughts.

"You're thinking about it, aren't you?" The Blue Star knitted her eyebrows together as she looked at her friend with worry.

"About what?" Sun blinked, biting the inside of his cheek.

"Don't play dumb, Helios." Spica spoke, "You're thinking about what happened all those eons ago, right?"

Sun averted his eyes, casting them toward the void below. He opened his mouth, the word barely above a whisper, "Yes."

"Sol..." Spica sighed, "That's in the past now-"

"Is it?" Sun peered up at the other, looking into her eyes, "If it was the past, then how come it's haunting me? How come you're here?"

"I'm here to help you, Sol- because I care about you."

Sun shook his head, "You shouldn't be here, though. Because of me, everyone I know and love is in danger."

"Do you prefer to fight them all on your own?"

"What? Of course not!"

"Look around you, Sol- you have other Celestials who will love nothing more than to fight by your side! I would give anything to have something like that." Spica frowned.

Sun winced, "Spic-"

"I mean, not only do you have a planet with marvelous rings or over two hundred moons in this place, or a planet that can harbor life- which is unheard of!" Spica turned to face the other, "You, Helios, are one lucky Star to have this much natural beauty in one place."

The Sun felt his face grow impeccably warmer, the plasma rising within him as he held back a solar flare, his mouth contorting awkwardly.

Spica noticed the growing uncomfortable look on her friend's face, raising a concerned eyebrow as she held out a hand, "Are you okay, Sol?"

"Mmh..." Sun nodded, then held up one finger as he quickly turned around and released the flare into the atmosphere.

Spica faltered, watching the intense radiation blasting into space with wide eyes before raising a hand and patting her friend on the back.

The Sun kept his gaze away from the other as he composed himself, his hand coming up to wipe the corner of his mouth.

"That seemed rough." Spica chuckled, "Feel better?"

"Ugh..." Sun grunted, the rising heat from moments ago finally dissipating.

« × »

32 HOURS 24 MINUTES 46 SECONDS...

...

"What are we doing here again?" A human in an expensive suit and sunglasses spoke, peering his eyes across the room, "And why am I stuck in a room with you four, of all people?"

"Well, I'm sorry, America- it's not like I wanted to come here." Another spoke, crossing his arms as he bundled them within his sleeves.

"Where is the guy in charge anyway?" The third grabbed his ushanka, "It's been thirty minutes-"

"Maybe he's out doing your m-"

"I swear to god, Canada! Make another your mom joke and I will strangle you!" America slammed his fist down.

"Chill out, everyone." The cape-wearing superhero spoke, propping his feet on the meeting table, "I bet it's just a simple climate change problem."

"Climate change doesn't exist," China spoke.

"For once, I agree." America nodded with Russia humming in agreement, "It's nothing more than propaganda and conspiracy theories."

Canada blinked.

"Right." Mr. Spherical huffed as he crossed his arms, not wanting to get on the country leaders' bad sides.

The door opened, revealing Houston and NasaDude, the latter carrying files and papers.

"Stack them over there," Houston gestured. NasaDude wobbled, grunting as he messily placed them on the meeting table, "Eh, that's good enough."

"What's the big deal?" China furrowed his eyebrows, "You call up the greatest leaders of the world to come here and give no explanation as to why? This better not be another moon situation."

"Or another Earth is heading into the Sun situation," Russia spoke.

"What-?" Mr. Spherical was confused and concerned at the last statement.

"Well, no, not exactly." Houston awkwardly smiled, "But we are in danger of total annihilation and possibly the end of the world."

The speechlessness was loud as everyone at the table took in the words.

China was the first to break the silence, "You're joking, right?"

Chapter Text

28 HOURS 34 MINUTES 29 SECONDS...

...

AstroDude stared wide-eyed at the other Star in the distance, watching it playfully banter with the Sun. Taking a step back, the human slowly sat down in his seat.

"What is my life..." He uttered to himself, "They can talk, they can- I dunno, shape-shift into humans, they can move out of their orbits-!? Years up here has made me officially lose my mind..."

Beep-beep... beep-beep...

"It appears your boss is calling you." The computer spoke.

A sigh escaped the astronaut's lips, "Of course, he is- he's probably going to tell me I was right all along."

The computer brought up the call screen as the green answer button was pressed.

"AstroDude!" Houston yelled, prompting the human to stand on end, "As it turns out, there is a second Star that has moved into our perimeters!"

'Finally, he noticed...' AstroDude frowned, "And what are we going to do about it, sir?"

"Absolutely nothing!"

"I'm sorry- what?"

"This is a Blue-White Star we're talking about! I've already gone over the plan with the world leaders, which is to gather as much resources as we can and go to space."

"You mean to colonize Mars?" AstroDude perked an eyebrow.

"Exactly! How'd you know?"

"A hunch." AstroDude rolled his eyes, "As much as I, er... 'love,' this plan, I don't think we have anything to worry about."

"What!? We have everything to worry about! Like the Earth getting sucked into that second Sun!" Houston yelled.

"Uh, sir, that's Spica B-"

"I know that, NasaDude! I'm only trying to get my point across!"

"What about everyone else on Earth?" AstroDude pointed out.

"It's one man for himself in this world-"

"Seriously? We're literally doing this?" The astronaut huffed, crossing his arms, "Well, I hope you have fun running away when we can actually be doing something for ourselves. I mean, imagine the stories we'll tell when we make it through this-"

"If we make it through this." The computer spoke from behind this.

"Thanks for the input, Computer." AstroDude droned.

"You're welcome." The AI spoke, not understanding sarcasm.

"Look, I'm just saying- maybe, the Earth is capable of handling itself? It did great when the asteroid wiped out 70% of its life. Sure, the dinosaurs went extinct, but it's for the best. Life still found a way to thrive on its surface."

There was a moment of silence as Houston's display icon went dim. AstroDude raised an eyebrow, looking at his computer to see if there was a glitch.

"He's right." A new voice spoke.

"Huh...?" AstroDude looked at the screen, "Are you with someone, sir?"

"Oh, yeah- meet Mr. Spherical." Houston grunted, "I told him he was excused, but he wanted to meet the guy in space, so here we are."

"Wait- you mean the Mr. Spherical!?" AstroDude's eyes widened, hands going up to his mouth, "Awhhh...!"

"Pull yourself together, AstroDude! He's not here to listen to you fangirl over him." Houston spoke, then said away from the speaker, "Sorry about him, Mr. Spherical... he's very weird."

AstroDude deadpanned, hearing what he had said.

"That's, uh- alright, Houston."

"That's not my-"

"Anyway, AstroDude, I agree with your sentiment in protecting our Earth." Mr. Spherical spoke.

"You do?" AstroDude smiled.

"You do...?" Houston sounded exasperated.

"Of course! The Earth is worth protecting no matter how many... world-ending wars happen." Mr. Spherical gritted his teeth before letting out a small hum, "Say, AstroDude, you're in space, how is it looking right now?"

"Uh... well, the other Star isn't doing much other than talking to the Sun." AstroDude shrugged.

...

"Talking to the-?" Mr. Spherical turned to Houston, who awkwardly smiled.

"Ah, that AstroDude and his inside jokes that no one else gets, am I right?"

Mr. Spherical frowned, his pointer finger adjusting his sunglasses, 'Interesting...'

« × »

23 HOURS 07 MINUTES 36 SECONDS...

...

"Hey, Sun- can I ask a question?" Mercury asked, slowly inching toward the Guardian while keeping his distance from Spica.

"You just did!" The Sun beamed, grinning at his best friend, "But go ahead, Mercury!"

"Is it true that you see and know everything?" The small Celestial questioned.

Sun faltered, his smile falling from his sphere, "Eh... well."

Spica laughed beside him, "You told them that, Sol?"

Sun sputtered, "Wha- I-I had a perfectly reasonable explanation!"

"So, it's not true?" Mercury frowned.

Spica peered at the Celestial, "In all honesty, little one, no one Star has the power to see and know everything. Knowledge comes from hardships faced along the way, and we've dealt our fair share of them, but I can tell you that when Stars come together, it's a force unlike anything you've seen before..."

Sun nodded, humming in agreement, "Exactly!"

"Then why'd you lie...?" Mercury crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow as he looked up at the Sun.

"Uh..."

"Yeah, Sun, why did you lie?" Spica leaned in, a smirk rising on her face as she already knew the answer.

"Ugh..." Sun groaned, glaring at the other as he responded, "Because I wanted to be intimidating!"

The response caught Mercury off-guard, prompting the small Celestial to laugh, "Hahahahah!"

Sun flared up, feeling the plasma rising again as he glared at him, "Wha-What's so funny, Mercury!?"

"It-It's just, pfft-" Mercury covered his mouth, trying to calm himself down as he took a couple of steps back, "Y-You're already intimidating without even trying! I mean, look at yourself, Sun!"

The Sun blinked as he realized he was leaning over Mercury with a raging fire and a sharp scowl. He coughed, straightening himself out as he crossed his arms and looked away, "Ah, well, this is..."

"Sun, you don't have to pretend to be tough." Mercury spoke, his eyes softening, "We all know you're the most powerful being here, with or without us."

"Well-"

"He's right, Helios." Spica nodded, "Stars are on a whole different wavelength than planets and their moons; we're the Guardians of this vast universe- we have to protect it no matter the cost."

Sun looked between them, his eyes burning from plasma. He slowly smiled, "You're right."

Spica met his small smile with a grin. She passed by him, brushing against his shoulder, "Now, I have someone I need to meet, but I'll see you all later."

"Who...?" Before Sun could ask his question, Spica had flown off. He huffed, "Blue Stars..."

After a beat of silence, Mercury peered up at the giant Celestial with a smile toying his face, "Sooo~ you and Spica~?"

"Hermes." The Sun turned to him with a glare that could kill.

"Just kidding!" Mercury raised his hands, shifting away.

Chapter Text

21 HOURS 31 MINUTES 46 SECONDS...

...

"Regulus? Where are y- ah!" Spica gasped upon feeling something tap her on her shoulder. She turned, breathing a sigh of relief when she realized it was her friend, "Regulus, you can't scare me like that!"

"Hehah, sorry 'bout that, mate!" The Star laughed, twirling around to get a good look at the other, "My, my- it's been a long time since I've seen you, you haven't changed one bit!"

"And I see you haven't gotten any bigger." Spica smiled.

Regulus huffed, "Give me a break, Spica. There's more to me than just my size!"

"Is that why they call you Little King...?"

"Mmh... it's not funny, mate. I'm not laughing, see my face? Not laughing." Regulus crossed their arms, "I get your message telling me to come here and all I get is harassed- how daft of you."

"Sorry, I just haven't spoken to you in so long." Spica spoke, then frowned, "It's about Helios."

"Let me guess, it's about the others teaming up with some planet to attack Helios and his planets." Regulus rolled his eyes.

"How'd you-?"

"Toliman approached me and asked if I wanted to join them... I said no, 'cause what they're doing is complete bollocks."

"Even when Proxima went with them? And is partly leading the attack?"

"Er... I try to separate my personal feelings from... drama." Regulus averted their gaze.

Spica frowned, stance tensing, "Regulus."

"I don't want to hear it, ay?" Regulus shook their head, "You should return to the others."

Spica sighed, tapping her fingers against her arm one by one, "At least... think about it, okay?"

Regulus bowed their head, "Of course."

"Thank you, Reg." Spica gave her friend one last smile before turning away towards the Oort Cloud. She looked over her shoulder, "We miss you, y'know?"

"Same 'ere, mate." Regulus spoke, "Tell Helios I said 'ello."

Spica let out a small laugh, waving as she started the return. "Will do."

« × »

19 HOURS 45 MINUTES 15 SECONDS...

...

'How did I end up here again...?' Triton thought as he stared at the radiant moon before him.

"S-So..." Io looked between them, "I u-understand something h-happened between you, and I want to h-help fix it!"

'Ah, that's right.' Triton adjusted his sunglasses.

"There's nothing for you to fix, Io." Callisto spoke, "Nothing is going on..."

Triton frowned, looking away.

"Except for my stupidity."

Then he looked up, his eyes widening in surprise.

"Triton, instead of running away, I should've heard you out." Callisto sighed, "When you were taken, I realized that I may never see you again, or that we would never hang out again, and that... also made me realize how much you matter to me."

Triton felt heat rising to his surface, which didn't usually happen unless he was facing directly to the Sun.

"Callisto, I..." Triton averted his gaze to the void below, "It's not your fault. I should've been clearer about what I meant. The truth is, you're... more than a moon to me."

Callisto froze, her mouth opened, "Wha-"

"That sounded way cornier when I say it out loud," Triton spoke, a small smile rising on his sphere.

The darker moon smirked, letting out a chuckle, "Hah, you're right, it was very corny..."

"Yeah, yeah..." Triton rolled his eyes, looking away.

The two looked at each other, feeling a sense of serenity and a weight lifted from their cores as they smiled at each other.

Io looked between them, a smile growing on his face, "W-Well, looks like y-y-you two patched things up!"

Callisto and Triton looked at the yellow moon, having forgotten he was there even though he was the one who had gathered them together. The two smaller moons shared a look, having the same idea.

"Thanks, Io," Callisto spoke.

"Yeah- without you, we probably wouldn't have faced each other again." Triton nodded.

Io grinned, "W-What are friends for?"

"Triton!" A voice called.

"Proteus?" Triton turned around, seeing the biggest of the irregular moons flying up to him, "You know Neptune doesn't want you wandering off by yourself."

"But I'm not by myself." Proteus spoke, "Nereid and Larissa are right- huh?"

Proteus turned, his eyes wide with confusion as he didn't see the others.

"Wha- but they were right behind me." The smaller moon frowned, turning back toward Triton, "Th-They must've gotten lost on the way here."

"We'll find them, Proteus." Triton knitted his eyebrows as he looked at the smaller, "They can't have gotten far."

"What will Neptune say once he finds out I lost them...?"

Triton shook his head, sighing, "He won't be upset at you."

"But-"

"Trust me, kid."

"We'll help look for them," Callisto spoke.

"Y-Yeah!" Io grinned, "We'll search a-all eternity if we have to!"

Triton smiled, mouthing a silent thank you to Callisto, who returned the gesture by nodding. Triton turned to Proteus, adjusting his sunglasses, "Well, what are we waiting for? Lead the way, kid."

« × »

17 HOURS 38 MINUTES 46 SECONDS...

...

"Let go of us, you rude... dwarf!" Nereid yelled, struggling against the orbit of the dwarf planet.

"Wow, I'm so offended," Quaoar spoke, rolling his eyes before glaring at the other dwarf planet who lagged behind, "Orcus, why are you dragging your orbit!? Hurry up before X gets mad at us!"

"S-Sorry..." Orcus apologized, "I'm just not used to holding this much mass in my orbit."

"Me neither, but do you see me complaining about it?"

Orcus sighed, watching as the other dwarf planet went ahead. The moon in his hold looked at him, her eyes softening.

"Why do you let him treat you like that?" Larissa asked.

"Because he's bigger than me...?" Orcus spoke almost as if it was obvious.

"So? Just because someone is bigger doesn't mean they get to treat you like a bully." Larissa frowned.

"Doesn't it...?" Orcus raised an eyebrow.

"No! Come on, there's got to be a smaller dwarf planet that nobody, not even Quaoar messes with."

"Well, there is Salacia..."

"See?"

"But Salacia is tough inside and out. She means what she says, she goes through with things, and she's like a neverending flame of pure spite- no one messes with her..."

"No one?" Larissa uttered.

"No one." Orcus shook his head.

"Not even that big, mean, and mysterious planet?"

"Are you talking about X? I mean, Salacia does as he says without a word."

Larissa hummed, the gears turning in her core.

"X, we're back!" Quaoar called out as he got to the middle of the Kuiper belt, "And we got the presents."

"That's gre-" X froze once he saw what the dwarf planets were holding, "Are those...?"

"Yep! Two Saturnian moons right here!" Quaoar nodded.

Nereid stopped struggling, her expression turning confused. She looked to her sister to meet the same puzzlement.

X face-palmed, taking a slow breath, in and out, before speaking slowly, "Those... are not Saturn's moons, you idiot."

"What...?" Quaoar's face fell, "But they were in Saturn's orbit-"

"They are Neptune's moons, you fool!" X shouted, "Ugh, this is exactly why I don't trust dwarf planets with a simple mission. Do you even realize how hard it is to make Neptune mad? Just imagine the consequences once he finds out two of his precious kids were stolen!"

Quaoar looked down, "I-"

"I don't want to hear it! Release them, at once!" X ordered.

Before Nereid and Larissa knew what was happening, they were set free from the dwarf planets' holds.

X glared at the small moons, "Return to Neptune. I don't care what you say to him, just make sure to watch your back."

Nereid and Larissa nodded shakily before flying off.

"As for you two," X turned to the dwarf planets, his glare hardening, "Do you even want to find your moons?"

"M-More than anything!" Orcus looked at the planet, pleadingly.

"Then prove it." X turned away from them, flying deeper into the depths of the Kuiper belt.

Orcus felt tears welling in his eyes as he avoided looking at Quaoar, 'Vanth... I wonder how he's doing right now... if they're still-'

He cut off the thought, shaking his sphere.

"Well, see you later," Quaoar mumbled, turning to fly in a different direction.

"Th-That's not the way to the hideout..." Orcus uttered.

Quaoar scoffed, "I know, idiot."

"Wh-Where are you going?" Orcus asked.

"None of your business." The brown-ish grey dwarf planet scowled, "Why do you even care?"

Quaoar flew away before Orcus could think of an answer.

Chapter Text

15 HOURS 58 MINUTES 35 SECONDS...

...

"Saturn's moons...?" Makemake uttered as he squinted at the words on the whiteboard, "Why would they need Saturn's moons?"

"Because," X made his way out from the darkness, shifting the asteroids in his path, "If not for Saturn, I wouldn't be stuck in this mess."

"What?" The tied-up dwarf planets glanced at each other.

"Are we talking about the same Saturn?" Pluto asked.

"I've met Saturn and the guy seems barely capable of hurting anyone." Eris frowned.

"That's what you think." X scoffed, "But... it was Saturn's idea to toss me into interstellar space in the first place."

The group's eyes widened, horrified at what they were hearing.

"What? That's not possible!" Charon yelled, "You're lying!"

"Y-Yeah, Saturn's not capable of doing anything like that..." Haumea agreed.

"Well, whether you want to believe me or not, it's the undeniable truth." X shrugged, turning to the board, "'Crown Jewel' of the Solar System... give me a break."

Sedna and Gonggong watched the scene with unwavering eyes. Gonggong prodded his elbow into Sedna's side, giving her a look.

Sedna rolled her eyes, letting out a sigh as she drifted up to the navy Celestial cautiously, "X, can I have a word with you?"

"Go on, Sedna." X barely cast her a look as he continued scheming.

Sedna averted her gaze, "I was just wondering, well, all of us were wondering... what, exactly, is your goal here?"

X turned to face the dwarf Celestial, "Isn't it obvious?"

Sedna shrugged her shoulders, "Mmh..."

X glared at the hostages before humming, "Follow me; Gonggong, watch them- and tell Salacia when she returns to make arrangements for our guests."

Gonggong nodded, his eyes scanning the tied-up Celestials.

« × »

13 HOURS 46 MINUTES 28 SECONDS...

...

"And there's nothing you can do?" A female voice spoke through the comm.

"Well, that's what my boss said, but Mr. Spherical says otherwise." AstroDude spoke, "I just don't want to quit when I know there has to be a way out of this."

"I hope so." His wife sighed, "Looking up at the second Star through the window every few minutes makes me uneasy."

AstroDude glanced out the window of his ship, "I don't think there's anything to worry about for now."

The astronaut perked upon seeing something out of the corner of his eye. He hummed, turning and letting out a yelp, "Agh!"

"Is everything okay? Honey?" His wife called.

"Uh, y-yeah..." AstroDude gulped, his eyes widening upon seeing Ceres enter his peripheral, "Listen, can I call you back?"

"Oh, of course! I have to get our son to bed, anyway."

"Great, love you, bye!" AstroDude ended the call hastily as he grabbed his microphone, projecting the sound to the outside speakers, "Can I help you...?"

"H-Help... hahahahah!" Ceres cackled, rotating around the astronaut's ship, "Follow... hahahah!"

The dwarf planet flew away, continuing to laugh to himself.

"Okay...?" Ignoring his instinct to fly in the opposite direction, AstroDude decided to follow the weird dwarf.

« × »

12 HOURS 57 MINUTES 36 SECONDS...

...

"Are you sure?" Neptune asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Positive." Triton nodded, "Proteus made sure they were following him-"

"I couldn't have looked away for more than ten seconds!" Proteus yelled, "Or was it fifteen...? I don't know, but it wasn't enough time for them to be taken!"

"Unless there was more than one attacker," Callisto spoke.

"Possibly." Neptune nodded, his eyes looking over to the Kuiper belt, "And there's only one place where they could be..."

As he averted his gaze, tears welled in Proteus's eyes, "I'm sorry for losing track of Nereid and Larissa, Neptune... I didn't think this would happen."

"It's not your fault, Proteus," Neptune assured, pulling Proteus into his hands, "None of us knew this was going to happen."

Proteus sniffled, "Now what are we going to do...?"

"Find them, of course! They couldn't have gone far." A smile rose on Neptune's face as he blinked one eye, then the other. His eyes peered at Triton, "Come on, gang! We're losing time sitting around doing nothing. Proteus, watch the other moons for me."

"Really? After what I did?"

"You didn't do anything, Proteus. As long as you all stick together, nothing will happen, okay?"

Proteus nodded, a small smile residing on his face.

« × »

10 HOURS 52 MINUTES 48 SECONDS...

...

Saturn fiddled with his fingers, his eyes wandering around unblinkingly as his lips pressed into a thin line. He felt his core whirring in his center, the ongoing winds rising before cascading down like millions of whirlwinds, making him feel sick- at least he thought it was sickness, Celestial bodies of his stature didn't feel pain since he didn't have a 'solid' surface.

'What am I going to do...?' Saturn asked himself.

Squinted eyes peered at the planet.

"Titan, give it a rest." Dione spoke, "Saturn obviously doesn't want to talk."

"Not like we want to talk to him." Iapetus continued.

"Guys," Titan sighed, turning towards the others, "He's our planet- we should worry about him, after all, there is a planet targeting him and the other Giants."

"Yeah." Rhea nodded, "Maybe... he needs someone to talk to."

"Agreed!" Tethys grinned, "We should check on him, at least."

Dione sighed, "Fine."

The moons flew up to their planet, Dione gesturing for Titan to speak.

"Uh, hey, Saturn."

Saturn jumped, turning around to see some of his major moons gazing at him, "T-Titan...! And... Dione... Rhea... T-Tethys? And Iapetus...?"

The satellites stared at him with wide eyes.

"D-Did I get someone's name wrong again?" Saturn glanced away, his hands rising to cover his face, "After I went through all that trouble of writing them down hundreds of times over!"

"No! No, Saturn, you got it all wrong!" Titan moved forward, "You got it right."

"Surprisingly," Iapetus uttered.

"I-" Saturn peeked his eyes through his fingers, "I did...?"

"Yeah!" Titan smiled.

Saturn breathed a sigh of relief, his hands moving to his chest, "Oh, thank Stars! So, what did you come to me for?"

"Well, we were wondering-"

"Mostly Titan." Dione corrected.

Titan deadpanned, "I was wondering why you seemed panicky."

"Panicky?" Saturn quirked an eyebrow.

"You weren't blinking for over ten minutes." Iapetus spoke, glancing around as everyone stopped to stare at him, "What? I couldn't help but keep track."

Saturn smiled, "Thanks for the concern, but I'm fine."

"Really?" Dione asked.

"Are you sure?" Rhea knitted her eyebrows together.

"Is it about that planet X that everyone is worried about?" Tethys questioned.

"Ah, uh..." Saturn blanched, "Uhm..."

"So it is." Titan nodded, "Why are you afraid of a planet smaller than you?"

Saturn opened his mouth before shaking his head, "You wouldn't understand."

"What wouldn't we understand?" Dione rolled her eyes, "You treat us as if we're nothing."

"I-I'm sorry, I just-"

"Planet meeting! Planet meeting, everyone!" The Sun bellowed.

"I..." Saturn glanced down at his moons, his eyes glistening as he smiled, "I'll be right back."

The Celestial flew away, discreetly rubbing at his eyes. Titan noticed the gesture, his frown deepening. He turned to the others.

"We have to do something." He spoke, "We can't let anything happen to the planets."

"What can we do, Titan?" Dione asked, "We've been through this before, the planets are far bigger than us! We can't just attack a planet and some Stars."

"Who said anything about attacking...?" A smirk rose on Titan's sphere.

Chapter Text

10 HOURS

...

The Sun's eyes hovered over each of his planets, analyzing their Celestial forms before realizing-

"Where's Poseidon?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows in concern.

Everyone shook their heads, not having a clue where the clumsy blue Celestial went, all except one.

"Ouranos." Sun prompted, "Where is Poseidon?"

Uranus twiddled with his index fingers, staring at the Sun with a pained expression, "Uh, well... two of Neptune's moons were taken."

"...And?" Sun gestured for him to continue, "I know that's not all."

"Neptune decided to go into the Kuiper belt to search for them." Uranus finished, "...And he took Triton, Callisto, and Io with him."

"What?" Jupiter's eyes widened, "Is he insane!? They could be destroyed out there!"

Uranus shrugged, "They seemed pretty determined to me. Also, have you met Neptune? He's about as sharp as a marble!"

Jupiter frowned at the other, making him feel scrutinized under the stare as he backed away.

"We're running out of time." Spica spoke, "Only ten hours..."

"Ten hours..." Sun repeated, his gaze looking down, letting out a small breath before glancing around at the others, "So we better be prepared for anything. We know they'll probably use the dwarf planets as some sort of leverage against us and we know they're after me and probably the Earth."

Saturn bit his lip, his breathing unsteady as he silently whimpered. Jupiter heard the sound, looking at him in worry.

"Mars, Venus, and Mercury will be keeping the Earth and his Earthlings safe from harm's way- Uranus, since you can't get too close to the Stars, I want you to flank Gliese, the brown dwarf- she doesn't have the same intensity to burn or melt anything in your atmosphere. Jupiter, you're the backup- I want you behind me. And Saturn-"

The ringed Celestial squeaked, having barely paid any attention to what was happening.

"Does everyone understand?" The Sun finished, eyes blazing as he stared intensely at everyone. Sounds of rushed agreements and hums came from the other Celestials, except Saturn, who was frozen still, "Good- meeting dismissed, get back to your orbits! Saturn, I need to talk to you."

Saturn held his breath, slowly shifting before the Sun, "Y-Yes, Sun?"

"You seem... anxious. Are you feeling well?" The Sun squinted his eyes.

Saturn realized he was stuck. He couldn't lie to the Sun, the Star would know immediately.

"U-Uhm, well..." Saturn averted his gaze, "You remember all those years, er- millennia ago, when Jupiter and I tried to cover up what we did to X?"

"Well, sure! I remember it like it was yesterday." Sun grinned.

"And how we both took the blame for it?"

"Mhm..." The Sun's grin twitched.

"There's something I didn't tell you."

The Sun's smile fell. He glanced at the other Star, "Spica-"

"Got it." She nodded, backing away from the duo to give them space.

"Go on, Cronus."

Saturn shivered, clearing his throat, "I... I, um..." He closed his eyes as he forced the words out of his mouth, "It was my idea to eject Nine from the solar system."

The ringed Celestial kept his eyes shut, not wanting to see the fury of the Sun directed at him.

Yet, instead, all he heard was a single hum.

"Is that all? I already knew that."

Saturn opened his eyes, "Wait, y-you did...? But I never-"

"You didn't have to tell me. I found out a few days after I confronted you two about it. Some things you guys said didn't make sense, so I came up with my own conclusion." The Sun shrugged, crossing his arms.

"Oh..." Saturn flushed.

"But, if you don't feel safe being around the other Stars, you can help by being the distraction."

"Distraction...?"

"Your rings are quite marvelous, Saturn!"

"Oh, why thank you- oh! I see!" Saturn's eyes widened, glancing at the particles of ice and rocks surrounding his neck.

The Sun smiled, nodding, "Alright, now get back to your orbit!"

« × »

9 HOURS

...

"Nereid! Larissa!" Neptune called, his head twisting everywhere to the point it made him dizzy. He placed a hand on his forehead, trying to clear his senses, "Where could they be...?"

Triton looked at his Celestial planet, an apprehensive expression buried on his face.

"D-Don't worry, they have to be s-somewhere around here!" Io tried to assure the blue Celestial.

"Right..." Neptune smiled, yet Triton knew it was forced.

Everything seemed eerily quiet in the atmosphere, making Callisto weary as she looked around, 'Something's not right...'

Triton seemed to have a similar idea, his eyes squinting as his frown deepened.

And then-

"AAAHHHHH!" Screams came from the distance, prompting everyone to turn to where the noise was resonating.

"Nereid! Larissa!" Neptune called, flying forward, flinging and destroying any asteroid that came close to him.

"Neptune!" Triton called, dodging the debris of the scattered rocks as his Celestial left the moons to follow.

"Woah-!" A piece of debris nearly came into contact with Callisto, Io pulling her to the side just in time.

"Th-That was close!" Io winced.

"You good, Callisto?" Triton asked.

"Yeah." The darker moon nodded, "We should follow him before he causes more destruction."

"L-Let's go then!" Io gestured for Triton to lead the charge into the depths.

« × »

8 HOURS 30 MINUTES

...

"I don't get it, why did you lead me here?" AstroDude asked the dwarf planet through the speakers of the ship.

"W... Wait," Ceres spoke, having the same grin on his face as before.

"Wait for what?"

"See..."

"See?" AstroDude huffed, "I feel like we're speaking two different languages here."

"I think he's telling you to wait and see." The computer spoke up.

"Wait and see?" AstroDude uttered.

"Hahahahehehehaahah!" Ceres cackled, "W-Wait... and-d seeeee!"

"Huh." AstroDude frowned, "How'd you know that was what he was trying to say, Computer?"

"It was easy for an AI, such as myself, to understand." The computer said, "Humans, such as yourself, aren't as intelligent."

AstroDude deadpanned, watching as Ceres cackled even more, spinning and twirling around almost as if he were a dog chasing its own tail.

"'Space is normal,' they said... 'nothing happens in space!'" AstroDude quoted as he leaned back into his chair, "I could've done scientific engineering, but noooo... I'm stuck here, getting mocked and laughed at by my own ship and a literal dwarf planet the size of Texas."

"I will never understand humans and their emotions." The computer spoke.

"Shouldn't you be doing something else, Computer? Like analyzing or copying something?" AstroDude snapped.

"I have not been given a task, so I have not been doing anything."

The astronaut huffed, "Fair enough..."

« × »

8 HOURS 30 MINUTES

...

When Triton, Callisto, and Io found Neptune, the blue Celestial was lightly crying as he gazed down into the palms of his hands.

"Neptune...?" Despite his sense of uneasiness, Triton pushed himself forward, flying over to Neptune to see what he was crying over. Before he could get the chance, however, two small figures bombarded him, dancing around him.

"Big brother!" They exclaimed.

"Nereid... Larissa..." Triton found himself smiling as the two irregular moons spoke at the same time, their voices overlapping.

"It was crazy-!"

"We were following Proteus-!"

"Those dwarf planets came out of nowhere-!"

"They wouldn't let us go-!"

"Until that big meanie X said to let us go-!"

"Apparently, he wanted Saturn's moons-"

Triton looked between them, his eyes darting back and forth as they talked, "Hey, hey- sorry to interrupt, but it would be best if we continue this later when we're not... in the Kuiper belt."

Nereid and Larissa looked embarrassed, "Sorry, Triton!"

"If I may," Callisto shifted forward, "What made you guys scream like that earlier?"

The small moons looked at each other, their eyes saying a full conversation between them. It was impressive how they had a connection like that.

"Well, it was the faces..." Larissa uttered.

"Faces?" Callisto perked an eyebrow.

"The s-scary faces..." Nereid hid herself behind her sister, "The ones etched on the rocks."

"S-S-Scary faces...!?" Io hid behind Callisto, even though he was bigger than her, "Are they still here!?"

"Don't worry! Neptune took care of them!" Larissa grinned.

"Yeah! Neptune's the best!" Nereid exclaimed.

'Neptune?' Triton peered at the blue Celestial who still had his back turned to the group. He adjusted his sunglasses, "That's good, but we should really return to the others before it gets too late."

"Yeah, wouldn't want to miss the epic battle." Callisto rolled her eyes.

Triton scoffed, leading the others away to the outer rings. He noticed Neptune wasn't following.

"You guys go on ahead," Triton called out to Callisto before turning to Neptune, "You okay, Neptune?"

Neptune didn't acknowledge him at first. Triton didn't think he was going to answer, until the blue Celestial let out a sigh, "Yeah, I'm fine, Triton. I just need some time to think."

"I, uh... don't think this is the best place for someone to think." Triton frowned.

"I know, Triton." Neptune spoke, smiling as he glanced at his moon, "Just- I'll be right behind you guys, I promise."

Triton hesitated before finally leaving the area.

Neptune sighed, his smile dissipating as he looked at the piece of rock in the palm of his hand, blue substance traced what was left of its features as it lay there.

'I'm sorry it had to come to this, my friends...' He thought, crushing the asteroid.

Chapter Text

8 HOURS

...

"Mr. Spherical, I know you want to help and all, but what exactly are we going to do?" Houston asked, "I can't ask the world powers to give us more resources."

"I know, Captain, and I'm not asking you to do that." The cape-clad hero turned to face the other, "But you can't expect me to sit around and do nothing when our planet- our home- could be destroyed at any moment!"

Mr. Spherical brought a hand up to his face, breathing in before letting it out slowly. He took off his sunglasses, his other hand clutching a corner of his cape as he brought the fabric up to wipe the lens.

"They're still here, right?" He asked, placing his sunglasses in one swift motion, "I'm going to have to talk to them."

...

"You want us to do what!?" China asked incredulously.

"Are you for real?" Russia's eyes were wide as his hands clenched into tight fists.

"Can't we just go somewhere else?" America crossed his arms.

"No one is leaving the planet!" Mr. Spherical placed his hand atop the table, "It's either Earth is blown up into a thousand pieces while we sit around doing nothing, or we actually do something about it and hopefully... have a chance to make it out alive."

The room was silent as they took in the superhero's words.

"Hope?" China scoffed, almost as if the other made a bad joke, "Hope, Mr. Spherical, will get us nowhere. We'll be dead before we have any chance to know what hit us!"

"He's right." Russia agreed, "Besides, we don't even know the source of the problem! How are we supposed to 'fix' it?"

"For once, I'm agreeing with the communists." America nodded, "All we know is that there are a bunch of unknown Stars that entered the solar system, and one of them has gotten more than a few thousand citizens injured in the past few hours."

"Well, what if there was a way to get more information?" Mr. Spherical perked an eyebrow as he leaned forward.

"How would you go about doing that?" Russia asked, "Unless you went up into space yourself."

Mr. Spherical smirked.

"Wait." China frowned, "You're not going up into space, right?"

The superhero said nothing.

"Right!?" China and Russia sat up in their seats.

America perked up, "Ooh, that's a great idea! You know, I bet you can help me find some space oil- the other guy in space let me down."

China collapsed into his seat while Russia face-palmed, exasperated sighs exiting both of them.

"Wait- something's missing." America lowered his sunglasses, taking in the room, "Where's Canada?"

The room fell into silence again.

"Eh, I bet he's fine." America shrugged, pushing his sunglasses up as he leaned back into his chair.

« × »

7 HOURS

...

Wee-ooo! Wee-ooo! Wee-ooo!

AstroDude perked up at the alarm blaring on the control panel.

"Agh- what's happening, Computer!?"

"Something is heading towards the ship at full speed." The AI responded.

"What!?" The astronaut yelped.

The dwarf planet on the outside seemed to respond to the noise the ship was making, his eyes wide and alert as he looked around.

In the midst of the asteroids sprung another body that clumsily zipped past the spaceship before colliding with Ceres.

"AHAhahahahah!" Laughter was heard as the body separated from the surprised dwarf planet, "I-I got... you!"

Ceres took a moment to register what had happened before his frown turned into a wide grin, a cackle emitting from his body as he laughed with the other.

AstroDude took in the scene, his eyes wide and his mind racing with a million questions; who was that?

"Four Vesta," AstroDude jumped upon hearing the computer speak, "The second most massive body in the asteroid belt. NASA's Dawn spacecraft circled Vesta on July 16th, 2011, until September 15th, 2012, when it departed and started making its journey to dwarf planet Ceres."

"Huh." Was the only thing that escaped the astronaut's mouth.

"The giant asteroid is almost spherical, and so is nearly classified as a dwarf planet. Unlike most known asteroids, Vesta has separated into crust, mantle, and core, much like the Earth. Understanding why this was so was one of the Dawn's missions. The answer turned out to be that Vesta formed early, within one to two million years of the birth of the solar system. Short-lived radioactive material that was incorporated into bodies that formed during this epoch heated them to the point where- in cases like Vesta- the objects melted, allowing the denser materials to sink to the asteroid's core and the lower density materials to rise."

"Wow, that's... really cool." AstroDude's eyes widened at the diagram on the hovering screen that portrayed the asteroid. Then his amazement turned into puzzlement, frowning as he looked out the window again, "But, wait- I thought only planets and moons were... animate. How is Vesta...?"

"Perhaps it's because it has a purpose?" The AI said, "Vesta accounts for almost nine percent of the total mass of all asteroids, and it has the components of a planet. The only thing that sets it apart from the planets is that it's not exactly spherical. Vesta is also believed to have lost about one percent of its mass less than a billion years ago."

"So, the massive collision that happened is responsible for Vesta not becoming a dwarf planet?" AstroDude inquired.

"It's possible, but of course, this is only a theory."

"So, are there more asteroids who can move around and talk?"

"It's possible." The computer repeated before changing its screen to show a photo of the asteroid belt, "The only asteroids that could be animate are Two Pallas, Sixteen Psyche, One-Zero-One-Nine-Five-Five Bennu, and Four-Three-Three Eros."

"Isn't Bennu that one asteroid that flies past the Earth every six or so years?" AstroDude commented.

"Yes, although, it has a zero-point-five percent chance of crashing into Earth in the year twenty-one eighty-two."

"Well, I'll be dead by then, so..." AstroDude shrugged.

"True, you humans are feeble in comparison to AI."

AstroDude was about to remark, then sighed when he realized it was right, "Yeah, that's true..."

« × »

6 HOURS 30 MINUTES

...

"Where's Neptune?" Proteus asked Triton.

"I, uh- don't know." Triton admitted, "He should've been back right about now."

"Is Neptune going to be okay?" Galatea's voice was soft as she barely spoke above a whisper.

"I'm sure he's going to be just fine." Triton tried to calm the moon's nerves, "He's Neptune! He always bounces back."

Larissa smiled, "Yeah! Neptune's the best!"

The irregular moons nodded, spouting out their own words of agreement.

Triton sighed as he watched them go into tangents about the stories Neptune would tell them. He cast his eyes to the Kuiper belt, his eyebrows knitted in worry for his planet.

He would never admit it, but he was scared; scared about the outcome of this battle, scared when he lost sight of not one, but two, of the irregular moons, scared about where his planet always disappears to and scared about if his planet was safe or not. He knew Neptune never played it safe, he was always a 'do things without thinking' kind of planet, and it got him into trouble countless times before.

So, of course, Triton was scared, but where did fear get him? Nowhere. He wasn't allowed to feel fear- he wasn't allowed to feel anything, not after he tried so hard to get away from it all; to be free from it all. Feelings never got him anywhere.

So, why was he scared?

"Hahahah! You can't get me Nereid!" Larissa exclaimed as she flew away from the other.

"I sure can try, Larissa!" Nereid yelled.

Triton turned to look at the moons- the irregular, small moons of Neptune. They didn't seem like much from an outsider's perspective, and they weren't. After all, they had the minds and likeness of Earthling children.

Triton removed his sunglasses, his eyes darting between the thirteen moons.

Why was he scared...?

Because he cared; he cared about them so, so much.

« × »

6 HOURS

...

"Am I getting warmer?" Neptune asked.

"No, no- the other way." Messier voiced.

"Which way?"

"Right."

"Your right or my right?"

A sigh was heard, "They're the same right, Neptune."

"Ooh, right." Neptune followed the Star's directions, "Now?"

"Wait... take three steps forward and go left."

"Alright..." Neptune moved the asteroids out of his way as he did as he was told. In the distance, he saw a faint light, "Is that it?"

"Only one way to find out."

The blue Celestial flew a few paces, his eyes squinting once he saw a bright object covered underneath rocks and debris.

"Be careful, Neptune. Once you grab it, X will-"

Neptune barely paid any attention to what Messier was saying, his body moving forward.

"Neptune, wait-!"

He crushed the asteroids containing the NovaStar, quickly grabbing the celestial item.

"Neptune! What have you done!? Now that you touched it, X will soon realize it was taken!" Messier yelled, his voice filled with rising panic.

"That's what I'm hoping for," Neptune spoke, a frown set on his face as he peered down at the NovaStar, the light reflecting in his stormy gaze.

Chapter Text

6 HOURS

...

X felt it; the sudden urge that was slowly rising deep within him, screaming at him that something was wrong.

He furrowed his eyebrows, glaring at the tied-up group of dwarf planets, squinting at them as if they had something to do with it.

"Can we help you?" Eris was the only one brave enough to speak up.

X scowled as he uttered, "No," before turning his gaze towards Sedna and Gonggong, "Watch them. I have something I need to take care of."

Before they could respond, X flew off.

Salacia, Quaoar, and Orcus entered the area, two of them arguing while the other quickly made his way to the other side of the clearing.

Sedna decided she had enough, stepping between the two, "Hey, what's with all the yelling? We're trying to keep a low profile!"

"It's those bloody Stars, that's what!" Salacia exclaimed, "I told you we never should have trusted them- they're outsiders for a reason!"

"You don't trust anyone!" Quaoar argued, "You don't even trust X!"

"Why would I trust X!? He's telling us to do these things in favor of him looking for our moons- but can we really trust him? He hasn't left the Kuiper belt to search or anything!"

Sedna frowned, though Quaoar narrowed his eyes and scoffed.

"Then why are you doing the things he tells you to do if you don't trust him?"

"Because I actually care about my moon!" Salacia turned her head away as she slowly lifted a hand to her face, shakily wiping her eyes, "I know my moon is bigger than yours and Orcus' combined, but still... it's not safe for a moon like her to be somewhere out there."

Quaoar opened his mouth, words failing him. He had never seen Salacia so emotional before, and judging by everyone else's reactions, nobody had.

Quaoar only nodded, "Right. Yeah, no- I'm also worried..."

"I think all of this has messed with our heads a bit," Sedna spoke.

"No kidding." The oblong Celestial uttered.

Salacia nodded, "We should get back on track... oh, also, the Stars wanted us to join them."

"What?" Sedna raised an eyebrow.

"To escort the dwarf planets." Quaoar gestured.

"Why us?" Pluto asked.

"Ooh, maybe they're going to sacrifice us!" Makemake grinned.

"Wh-What!?" Haumea yelped.

"Calm down. They're not going to sacrifice us." Eris spoke.

"Yeah, they're probably going to threaten our lives to get the Sun and planets not to attack them..." Charon guessed.

"And that's better how?" Haumea tensed, clenching his hands repeatedly.

"...It's not, but it could be worse." Charon smiled.

"Charon!" Pluto lightly glared at the other.

"What? I'm just saying-"

"Do you guys ever shut up!?" Salacia yelled.

The atmosphere was silent as the hostage dwarf planets and moon looked at the smaller.

"You could say please," Charon spoke.

« × »

5 HOURS

...

"Is everyone ready?" Proxima asked.

"Ready." Toliman nodded, joining his sibling's side.

"Ready," Gliese smirked, brandishing her Zweihänder.

When there wasn't a third response, Proxima glanced at the biggest Star, "Sirius...?"

The Blue Star hummed, snapping out of his daze, "...Ready."

Proxima kept their eyes trained on the other as they spoke, "Less than five hours left. We have to be focused on the goal, which is...?"

"Take down the Sun and his planets or whatever," Gliese spoke.

"Well, yes- and no. X told us to use the dwarf planets as bait."

"Which is why we're bringing them with us," Toliman spoke.

"Exactly. Our main focus is to force the Sun not to fight us. While he's distracted with me, Gliese will go around and attack the planet with life- only one hit will do the trick."

Sirius furrowed his eyebrows, "This is a risky plan, Proxima. One wrong move, and it'll be over before it starts."

"Which is why we have millennia of experience! No planet can cause extreme harm to a Star."

Sirius cast his gaze toward Gliese, his eyes tracing the cracked area around her left eye from where Helios had struck her. It faded with time, yet it was still visible.

"No, but-" Sirius got cut off by a grunt, prompting him to turn around as he watched small bodies enter the area heaving bigger bodies.

"We're back!" Quaoar announced, "And we brought presents."

"This better be worth it- it was a pain just to drag 'em here!" Salacia scowled.

"Well, you are smaller than us-" Makemake was about to say before shutting his mouth when he was shot the deadliest glare Salacia could muster.

"Well, we move in three hours." Toliman spoke, "Might as well rest until then."

"Wasn't X going to join us...?" Proxima questioned, looking at the dwarf planets for answers.

"He said he had to take care of something." Sedna answered, "Gonggong, can you take over watching them? I'm going to go find X."

"If you insist." Gonggong shrugged, crossing his arms as he rested on an asteroid.

« × »

4 HOURS 30 MINUTES

...

Earth held the cards in his grasp, his vision hazy as he barely focused on the game.

"Earth...?" Mars said his name, leaning forward to try to catch the other's gaze.

"Yo, Earth!" Venus snapped his fingers in front of the blue Celestial's face.

Mercury looked at Luna, gesturing for the moon to do something.

Luna frowned, his hand slowly making contact with his parent's shoulder, "Earth."

The Celestial blinked hard, looking up and finding his cards now scattered all over the place, drifting in the gravity, "Wha- uh...?"

"Dude, you okay?" Mars asked, concern lacing his features as he looked at his friend.

Earth took a moment to process the question, "Why wouldn't I be okay?"

The others looked at him with doubtful faces.

Luna, who had gathered the cards, returned them to the original owner, "Earth, what did we talk about?"

"We always talk, Luna. You're going to have to be more specific." Earth forced a smile on his face.

"You know what I'm talking about, Earth... with the Sun, and the lessons... about how important it is to-"

"Okay! Okay, I remember! You can stop now." Earth pushed him away.

"What about the Sun?" Mars questioned.

"Nothing, don't worry about it." Earth quickly responded, his expression dropping as he frowned.

"Then, what's the problem?" Venus raised an eyebrow.

Earth breathed out a sigh, "Me."

The Rocky Planets and moons looked at him with wide eyes.

"Oh, snap!" Deimos yelled.

"I did not see that coming!" Phobos exclaimed.

"You? I'm sorry, did I travel to an alternate reality or something?" Mars asked, pinching himself to see if he wasn't dreaming.

"There is no way that Earth, who has an ego that can rival the light of the Sun, just said that he was a problem." Venus waved his hands.

Earth shook his head, knowing his friends would freak out.

Once they calmed down, Mars was the first to question him, "Why do you think you're a problem?"

"It's not that I'm a problem..." Earth crossed his arms, turning his head away, "It's that I'm a liability. Not only do I have a risk of getting hurt, but I'm also getting you guys involved by protecting me."

"Well, yeah." Mars shrugged, "That's kinda the whole point of protecting someone."

"But, you guys-"

"Heh, I didn't suffer from global warming sucking the life out of me to suddenly becoming a hellscape for nothing!" Venus smirked, "I was born to kick some Star core!"

"And even though I have ice caps on my poles, the majority of my water has disappeared." Mars smiled.

"At least you guys have something." Mercury gave them a deadpan stare.

"Shut up, pipsqueak, don't you have tectonic activity or whatever?" Venus waved his hand.

"That's not nearly as cool!" Mercury yelled.

"Anyway," Mars ignored them as he took Earth by the hand, "Whether you like it or not, we're not leaving your side, dude."

Earth's eyes lowered, his gaze set on the pair of hands. Mars' hand felt cold, yet somehow, it was pleasant.

Mars noticed the troubled look on Earth's face, promptly letting go of the other's hand, "I, uh- better get going. I have to prepare for later... and whatnot."

Earth watched his friend leave the Goldilocks Zone. He raised his hand to his face, "Huh."

Luna watched the scene play out with wide eyes, a million questions in his mind as his gaze wandered from Earth to Mars, 'What the hell- how many planets like my dad!?'

"Where'd Mars go?" Venus shifted up to Earth.

"Back to his orbit," Luna answered.

"Ah, yeah, I should head back too. Uh-" Venus squinted his eyes at Earth, "I doubt you'll do anything stupid, but just in case... don't do anything stupid, you idiot!"

"Agh, okay! You don't have to yell all the time!" Earth covered his ears.

"How else am I supposed to get my point across?" Venus asked.

Earth huffed.

Chapter Text

4 HOURS

...

"Everything's in place and ready for lift-off, sir," NasaDude spoke through the intercom.

"You sure you can do this?" Houston turned to Mr. Spherical, "I mean, you haven't been to space, and you're not wearing the appropriate gear for it."

"I'll be fine. I'm immune to most conditions- I doubt space will be any different." Mr. Spherical spoke as he looked towards the sky.

"Well, just in case," Houston handed him a space helmet, "There's no air in space, so this should keep your face covered."

Mr. Spherical took it with a smile, "Thanks, General."

"America, chill out, I can see you sweating bullets from here," China complained.

"What!? No, I'm not, China!" America pointed his finger at him, "You're the one who's sweating!"

"Can you both shut up?" Russia grunted.

Mr. Spherical placed his index finger and thumb in his mouth, whistling to get everyone's attention, "Alright, men, listen up! We may have one shot at this, so-"

"Wait, who put you in charge?" China questioned.

"Yeah, if anything, I should be in charge!" America demanded.

Russia laughed, "That's a good joke! I never knew capitalists had humor!"

America glared at him.

"Anyway, despite what happens out there, we will go out fighting for the world we love." Mr. Spherical placed the space helmet on his head, "Suit up, men!"

« × »

3 HOURS 30 MINUTES

...

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Messier asked.

'I hope so, and that's good enough for me!' Neptune ducked as he dodged oncoming asteroids, trying to ascend to the peak of the Kuiper belt. He ignored the dragging feeling in the pit of his stomach as he heard collisions in the distance. He grunted, seeing how he was so close to the ethereal.

"Neptune-!" A whoosh from behind interrupted Messier's sentence as Neptune felt the gravity shift.

The blue Celestial reached behind him, blocking the oncoming attack with his trident. He grunted as he pushed against X.

"Nice to see you too, brother." Neptune smiled.

"You took it..." X uttered, putting full force on his weapon as he intercepted Neptune's trident.

The tides pushed and pulled against each other, Neptune having to use both hands to get a better grip on his trident as he met his brother's eyes.

"What's the matter, Poseidon? Can't handle a little storm?" X raised an eyebrow.

Neptune scowled, "I can handle you just fine." He let out a yell as he pushed forward, taking the other by surprise. The blue Celestial shifted his gravity, using his offhand to fling asteroids towards him.

X used his trident to slice through the rocks, huffing in annoyance as he soon realized his brother was gone, "You can't hide forever, Neptune."

"I wasn't planning to!" Neptune's voice rang out from behind.

X's eyes widened as he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. Looking down, he saw the glow of three prongs. He coughed, "Ow."

"Looks like you're the one who's in pain," Neptune commented.

"You do realize... I can just heal myself, right?" X rasped as he stuck a hand inside his stomach, making quick work of the injury.

"I know." Neptune nodded, "That's because I'm Neptune."

"What?" X furrowed his eyebrows, ignoring the lapping of water rising in his stomach. It felt weird whenever he acknowledged it.

"I knew you would heal yourself." Neptune explained, "That's why I chose to stab you there instead of multiple times with stalactites."

X let out a shaky breath as he retracted his hand from his abdomen, "Is that so...?"

Neptune tilted his head forward.

"Well, I can do so much worse." The navy celestial held his trident close to his chest, "Yet, you always hold back."

Neptune frowned, biting his lower lip as he held the other's gaze. He tried not to falter as he spoke, "Not this time, Nibiru."

X smirked, "Bring it, Poseidon."

« × »

3 HOURS

...

"Jupiter, have you spoken to Uranus?" Saturn flew up to the other, his eyes wandering around.

"No... wasn't he talking to Neptune's moons?" Jupiter asked.

"Well, yes- I tried asking them, but they said he... wandered off." Saturn glanced toward the outer solar system.

"Where?" Jupiter furrowed his eyebrows, "Saturn. Where did Uranus go?"

"...Kuiper belt."

Jupiter sucked in a breath, "First Neptune, now Uranus... what are they thinking?"

"They're both after X, I know it," Saturn spoke.

"If that's the case, it might be best if the two of them were there instead of just Neptune. It gives them a better chance."

"But X is very... sporadic. We could barely keep him at bay when it was just the two of us and we're bigger than him."

"This is Neptune and Uranus we're talking about, Saturn. If anyone can keep up with X, it's them."

"I guess you're right..." Saturn frowned, raising a hand to his mouth as he bit his nail, "I'm just worried of something going wrong- I mean, anything could go wrong."

"Saturn." Jupiter placed a hand on his friend's shoulders, "It'll be okay. They'll be fine."

The ringed Celestial looked at him, gazing into the other's eyes and blinking slowly, "Right... of course."

Jupiter smiled, pulling away and looking around the area. His expression fell upon realizing something, "Hey, uh- Saturn?"

"Yes, Jupiter?"

"Uranus and Neptune aren't the only ones missing."

Saturn raised an eyebrow, following the taller's gaze and seeing nothing.

And that was a problem.

"Our moons," Saturn's eyes widened, "Where did they go?"

« × »

2 HOURS 30 MINUTES

...

"We should start heading out," Proxima spoke.

"Finally." Gliese huffed.

"Wh-What about Sedna and X?" Orcus questioned.

Proxima opened their mouth, yet was interrupted by Gliese, "We've waited long enough for them to show up. It's their loss for missing out on such an important event in universe history."

Orcus frowned, watching as Gonggong, Salacia, and Quaoar started lifting the hostages in their orbits, Salacia spouting out orders. She scowled upon noticing Orcus not doing anything, "Orcus, stop lazing around and get to work!"

He curtly nodded, moving to the other side and heaving.

"Useless rocks..." Gliese uttered, "Say, how do you think Helios will respond upon seeing us?"

Proxima shrugged, "He'll most likely be upset."

"He'll probably throw a tantrum." Gliese rolled her eyes, "Like always."

Alpha frowned, clicking his tongue as he looked to the side.

Gliese heard the sound, turning to face the orange star, "Have anything to add, Toliman?"

Alpha pressed his lips together, breathing through his nose. He shook his head, "...No, I don't think I do."

Proxima blinked. They had almost expected their sibling to lash out.

Gliese narrowed her eyes, yet said nothing else, "Alright then. Proxima, I assume you want to lead...?"

"Oh- uh, sure." The red dwarf nodded.

Sirius stole a glance toward Alpha, who looked back at him. They shared a small conversation using their eyes only. Eventually, Toliman glared and shook his head, brushing past the bigger star with force.

Sirius huffed, shaking his head as he followed the group. He could only imagine what could go wrong.

Chapter Text

2 HOURS

...

"Here we are, everyone," Titan announced, gesturing to the field of asteroids.

"The asteroid belt." Ganymede spoke, "And we're here because...?"

"We're going to help some friends in need." Titan smiled, "Now where is...?"

Titan's eyes skimmed the area, turning to meet someone else's eyes a few inches away from his own.

"Woah-!" The moon backed away, eyeing the smaller body, "Oh, hey! I was just looking for you, Ceres!"

The dwarf planet was grinning, "I got... astronaut."

"You got AstroDude? Great, where is he?" Titan glanced around.

"Over... there..." Ceres blinked, his face unwavering. After a few seconds, Ceres took off.

"H-Hey-!" Titan flew after him, finding Ceres holding something in his orbit.

"Aghhhh! Ceres, let me goooo!" A familiar voice rang out through the atmosphere as the Earthling yelled into the intercom. Ceres did as he was told, throwing the spaceship toward Titan. AstroDude screamed, "Not what I meant!"

Titan tensed, ducking down and using his orbit to slow the rocket down. AstroDude pulled a lever and pressed a button, prompting the gimballed engine to pivot the rocket. The astronaut held his breath as the spacecraft rotated. It took a minute until it came to a stop, floating there in the gravity of space. AstroDude let out the breath he was holding, collapsing into his chair.

"Uh- you okay, AstroDude?" Titan peered into the small spacecraft.

"I'm great," The astronaut frowned, "Thanks for asking."

"Right..." Titan awkwardly smiled, "Anyway, the reason why I called you here-"

"Wait, you called me here?" AstroDude looked at the moon.

"Yeah? Did Ceres not tell you?"

AstroDude glanced toward the dwarf planet in question, then turned back to Titan, "No offense, but does it look like he can form a full sentence?"

"...Fair enough." Titan tilted his sphere, "Anyway, come along AstroDude, Ceres. We have some planning to do."

AstroDude raised an eyebrow, watching as Titan returned to the other moons with Ceres giggling from next to him.

'Well, it's too late to back out now...' AstroDude thought, pushing a lever to force the spacecraft forward.

« × »

1 HOUR 30 MINUTES

...

"I can see them," Spica spoke from beside Sun.

"Mhm..." Sun hummed, squinting his eyes as he noticed the bright lights of the other Stars coming closer, and closer. He turned to his planets, "Everyone, in position!"

The Celestials nodded, Jupiter and Saturn huddled closely while the rocky planets gathered around, Earth being guarded by the other three and his moon.

Sun looked around, letting out a sigh, "We're down two Celestials..."

Spica rested a hand on the other's shoulder, "Don't worry, Helios. As long as we stick to your plan, nothing can go wrong."

Sun nodded, placing his hand upon Spica's, "Right..."

Spica glanced down at their hands, frowning, yet not letting go, "Do you remember that old saying 'A stella maxima infirmitas ipsa est?'"

"Are you talking about Betelgeuse's ramblings? 'Cause we all know that Star is a nutcase."

Spica rammed her elbow into Sun's side, "Helios. Betelgeuse is our superior."

"Not for much longer. I heard they're going to go supernova soon."

"'Soon,' as in...?"

"Sometime in the next hundred thousand years."

"That's plenty of time!"

"Well, Betelgeuse is old-"

"Now you're just making excuses to insult a superior."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Uh-huh. You can play dumb all you want, Helios Ra Apollo, but you're not fooling me."

"The Inti..." Sun spoke through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"It's not just Helios Ra Apollo- it's Helios Ra Apollo the Inti."

"Oh-ho-ho, I'm sorry for offending his majesty then." Spica mockingly bowed, "Please forgive me."

Sun rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as he averted his gaze.

"Omnia causa," Spica spoke.

"Another Betelgeuse quote?"

"Mm-mm... that was a Rigel quote."

"Ah, no wonder it sounds ominous."

Spica gave the other a deadpan look before looking away, "Well, in any case, let's hope this doesn't get out of hand. We don't want the Superiors to unleash their rage on us."

Sun gave a curt nod, "Sit lux universitatis in favorem nostrum."

"...Arcturus, eh? Nice."

"Why, thank you."

« × »

1 HOUR

...

SHINK!

FWOOSH!

"Getting tired yet?" X huffed, noticing the faltering shifts in Neptune.

Neptune breathed heavily, barring his trident close to his body. He cracked a smile, eyeing the other from across the field, "Nope."

X scowled, "You don't know when to give up, do you?"

A small laugh escaped Neptune's mouth, "Nope!"

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into." X glared.

"And you do...?" Neptune frowned, "This- what you're doing- isn't right, Nibiru."

"As if you know what I'm after."

"You don't like the thought of any of us having life. You want everything to go back to the way it was- when it was just us five."

"Of course... that's all you planets are capable of understanding." X lowered his weapon, "Life is useless, if not a nuisance. All it does is take and take, and it never gives back... but that's not all I want."

Neptune sheathed his weapon, "Then what is it? What else could you possibly want?"

"Be careful, Neptune." Messier spoke, "This could be a part of his plan to catch you off guard."

Neptune barely acknowledged the warning, gazing at his brother with lenient eyes.

"To be included again." Nine spoke, furrowing his eyebrows as he raised his voice, "You Celestials seemed to have forgotten I existed altogether, but no- I'm still here! After millions of years, I'm still- here."

The other was seething with anger as he clenched his fists, remembering all the times he was in the background and never the limelight.

Neptune's eyes were widened, "X-"

"That's just it!" Nine snapped, "That's not my name! You all call me X so you don't have to be associated with me."

Neptune raised an eyebrow, "I didn't know..."

"Of course, you of all Celestials don't know my name. That's not surprising."

The blue Celestial averted his gaze, "I'm sorry..."

Nine scoffed, "I don't need your pity, Poseidon. Once I achieve my goal, everything will change..."

"You don't know that, brother." Neptune rasped, "Sure, you'll get what you want, but at what cost? How far are you willing to go?"

Nine didn't say anything, yet Neptune noticed how the other's eyes flickered with something else other than rage.

He readjusted the weapon in his hands, "As far as I can..."

Something appeared in Neptune's peripherals, distracting him from noticing the navy Celestial charging at him.

He was late to pull out his trident, his eyes widening as he saw the three prongs before his face.

Neptune closed his eyes.

KSSHHHK!

BOOOOM!

Chapter Text

45 MINUTES

...

Everything seemed to slow down.

Neptune felt himself flying across the Kuiper belt, crashing into every asteroid, the rocks exploding on impact.

"...tune!" He barely registered a voice calling his name as he felt arms wrap around him, "Neptune! Mate-"

He tried prying his eyes open, peering up at the figure above him. He grunted, his voice failing him as his eyes shifted closed again.

"No, no, no-! Stay with me, mate." Uranus held the other close, his fingers tapping against the other's face.

"Wh..." Neptune rasped, "Where... is he...?"

"The same state that you're in." Uranus glanced up at the navy figure across the field, watching as he twitched, "What was that, anyway?"

"What was... what?" Neptune began to sit up, groaning as he felt an agonizing pressure in his head.

"Careful, mate." Uranus warned, helping him on his feet, "And I'm talking about that big beam of light that shot into the atmosphere. You could probably see it from the inner zones."

"Beam of..." Neptune trailed off upon seeing his brother waking up. He appeared to be reaching for his trident, which wasn't by his side. Instead, the weapon was floating a few units away, as well as the NovaStar.

"Oh no, Messier!" Neptune forgot about his previous pain, flying to where the NovaStar was. Upon closer inspection, Neptune couldn't believe it, "No. No, no, no, no...!"

Taking the object in his hands, the blue Celestial eyed the cracks within the surface. It was noticeably dim, no longer having its usual pristine beauty.

"Messier..." Neptune whispered, "Please. Please talk to me..."

No response. Tears welled up in Neptune's eyes.

"Please, Messier, I can't be alone." Neptune pleaded, "Not again..."

Once again, there was nothing.

Nine watched the display, his eyes unreadable. Uranus could've sworn he saw regret within his gaze.

"Ugh... ouch..." A voice spoke, causing Nine and Uranus to look over.

The navy Celestial's eyes widened at the sight of his right-hand dwarf planet, "Sedna...!?"

« × »

45 MINUTES

...

"What was that?" Spica asked, her eyes wide.

"I don't know." Sun responded, "But that's where Neptune and Uranus are..."

"Let's hope whatever it was didn't..." Spica trailed off, casting a glance at her friend.

Sun shook his head, "I still feel their resonance. They're still standing."

"That's good."

Earth frowned, feeling a sense of dread as he looked out into the atmosphere where the light came from, "I hope they're okay..."

"No kidding. I could feel that from here!" Venus spoke.

"I'm sure they're alright." Mercury said, "They're Giants, they can handle anything."

"Almost anything." Mars corrected, "They're not as powerful as Jupiter and Saturn."

"Well, yeah, but they're still strong."

Luna glanced around his surroundings, letting the others. The moon knew they had about forty minutes until they attacked, yet Luna felt the need to watch the atmosphere, his eyes hyper-fixated on the way everything shifted and moved, looking out for any sudden movements.

"Luna," Earth spoke, spooking Luna out of his concentration.

"Huh-?"

"You're tense... what's up with you?" Earth looked at his moon, eyes soft. Luna found his parent planet looking at him like that more often, never finding the reason.

"I just feel... paranoid, I guess," Luna uttered, opting to be less talkative like he usually was around the other Celestials.

"We have less than forty minutes until they attack," Earth said.

"I know, but something is telling me to keep an eye out just in case." Luna's eyes started to look away.

Earth just smiled, "Well, if you say so."

The lively Celestial returned to talking to the others while Luna went back to keeping watch.

Time seemed to go by as it was twenty minutes until the Stars attacked and Luna finally caught a movement in the corner of his eye. From the asteroid belt, a flicker of movement.

"Earth! Look out!" Luna found himself yelling as he saw a sword aimed straight at the blue and green Celestial. Luna wrapped his arms around him, protecting his guardian with every fiber in his core.

"Earth!" Everyone seemed to call out as they raised their arms.

A flash of light appeared, striking the Zweihänder into a million pieces.

Luna heard the metallic nose, wincing before opening his eyes.

Earth's eyes were already wide open, not believing what was before him.

Those brown curls, sepia and tan vitiligo skin, and the white toga with golden tassels.

'Theia...?' Earth opened his mouth, yet nothing came out.

The transparent figure turned her head, looking at Earth with golden eyes. She smiled, nodding.

And just like that, she disappeared.

"Was that...?" Luna muttered.

"Mhm..." Earth nodded, "That was her, alright."

Earth held Luna close, never letting go.

"I know you want to protect me, but putting yourself between me and a sword is not the best decision." Earth breathed, running his fingers through his moon's hair.

"I know. I just wasn't thinking..." Luna uttered.

"Are you always?" Earth smirked.

"You're one to talk, Dad." Luna scoffed.

Sun furrowed his eyebrows, his eyes scanning the area. He squinted, "Gliese, I know that was you. Come out before I take extreme measures."

There was a beat of silence before a Brown Dwarf sixteen times the size of Jupiter came shifting out of the asteroid belt, "Extreme measures, eh? More extreme than what you did to me way back when?"

Sun frowned, "You can threaten me all you want, but do not go after my planets!"

"Or what? You'll whip my other eye into oblivion?" Gliese raised an eyebrow, "Give me a break, Helios."

"Appears we're right on time!" Proxima smiled, "What'd we miss?"

"Not much. Tried destroying the Earth, but it didn't work." Gliese glared.

"What...?" Proxima turned their gaze on the lively Celestial, "Odd..."

"It's nice to see everyone," Sun spoke, glancing at the Stars before him.

"Skip the formalities, Helios, you know why we're here, right?" Gliese questioned.

"Yes, and I will not give up easily. Not without-"

"See? I told you guys he wouldn't back down without a fight."

"You didn't let me finish." Sun shook his head, "I won't give up easily. Not without you guys hearing me out first."

"Hear you out...?" Proxima echoed.

"I don't want to fight anyone, let alone fail a battle I know I'll lose," Sun spoke.

Gliese scoffed, "Whatever- you're probably distracting us from an ambush."

"What...? No! Why-?"

"It's not like you can attack us, lest you want someone to get hurt." Gliese checked her nails, "The dwarf planets."

Gonggong, Quaoar, Salacia, and Orcus dragged the hostages from where they were behind the Stars.

"Can we have a break yet?" Gonggong asked.

"No. Put them over there, and keep an eye on them." Gliese ordered.

The smaller dwarf planets huffed out of breath, before pulling the hostages again.

"And where's your leader?" Spica asked.

"Leader...?" Gliese blinked.

"X, or... Nine."

"Nine isn't our leader. We chose to do this."

"Well, there has to be someone to lead the charge. It can't be all of you."

"Obviously, it's-"

"Proxima is the perfect candidate," Toliman spoke.

"What?" Gliese glared at the orange Star.

"I agree." Sirius nodded.

"Awe, thank you, guys...!" Proxima flushed.

Sun smiled, realizing what Spica was doing, "Don't worry, Gliese, it's not a big deal. After all, friends should support each other."

Gliese's eye twitched, "Right..."

« × »

10 MINUTES

...

"We have one try. Is everyone ready?" Titan whispered to the others, watching as they nodded, "Beta and Omega Team should be in their positions..."

"This should be good." One of the dwarf planets spoke, "Salacia, you and Orcus watch the back, me and Gonggong have the front."

"Yeah, yeah..." Salacia waved a hand, "Come on, Orcus."

"Y-Yes, ma'am."

Titan lifted his arm, index finger and thumb touching to make an OK sign.

"Beta and Omega are moving in." Hyperion spoke.

"Good." Titan smiled, "Phase one is in order, now to wait for phase two. Hyperion-"

"On it." Hyperion nodded, flying away to signify the man in the rocket ship.

"Now to just..." Titan squinted at the scene before him, watching as the dwarf planets were instantly distracted by the surrounding moons, "A-ha! It worked- now for phase three; the astronaut."

'Okay, no pressure...' AstroDude thought, 'You're just doing a mission that might get you killed, nothing to worry about whatsoever!'

AstroDude noticed the signal sent by Hyperion, knowing that was his time to move. Pushing the lever, the spacecraft moved forward.

He carefully maneuvered his way between the asteroids, seeing the moons distracting the dwarf planets. They had moved from their positions beside the hostages, so AstroDude seized the moment.

He pressed a button, watching as a laser shot out, cutting into the binds that held the dwarf planets.

"Huh, why haven't I used this before?" AstroDude spoke aloud.

"You didn't know it was there until I pointed it out the other day." The computer responded.

"Oh, right."

Charon sat up, feeling the binding holding her down becoming loose. She peered over her shoulder, spotting the astronaut she'd heard so much about. When she felt it get near the middle, she wiggled, tensing her arms and shoulders as the rest of the rope snapped. She let out a breath of relief, stretching her arms.

"Thank you, Mr. Astronaut! I'm sure I can get it from here." Charon went on to undo Pluto's bindings.

"Ooh, a rescue mission! This story is getting better by the second!" Makemake grinned, "I can't wait to recreate it in our game."

"Yeah, yeah, talk about the game later. For now, let's get the heck out of here." Pluto quickly untied Haumea.

The hostages and AstroDude escaped the area.

The smaller dwarf planets returned, only to realize how foolish they were.

"You've got to be kidding me..." Salacia uttered, clenching her fists.

Chapter Text

45 MINUTES BEFORE

...

"Sedna...!?" Nine flew over to where the small dwarf planet floated, "What're you doing here?"

"I... came looking for you," Sedna answered, holding her arm. She grunted, "The others have probably gone ahead."

"Your arm..." Nine furrowed his eyebrows, eyeing the cracks marring her surface. Small bits of debris fell from her hand as she raised it.

"Oh." Sedna looked at the display, her face holding no emotion, "Don't worry, it will reform. Eventually." Sedna winced, groaning in pain as more cracks formed, taking over the left side of her body, "Eventually..."

Nine said nothing, yet his eyes said everything.

"Is this what you wanted...?" Neptune whispered, prompting the other to look at him. The blue Celestial gazed at him with pain-stricken eyes, tears falling down his face as he spoke, his voice cracking, "No matter the cost, you're willing to get rid of anything that's in your way despite the pain it does to you?"

"I don't-"

"Did you try...?" Sedna asked.

"What?" Nine glanced at the dwarf planet.

"Did you try to search for their moons?" Sedna clarified. Despite the cracks spreading, she spoke with force, "We trusted you, Nine- I trusted you. You made this mission your own that you forgot about us. You think lowly of us... just because we're small doesn't mean we can't do anything!"

"Sedna."

"I wanted to believe there was hope for us. Y'know, since we're the outcasts of the dwarf planets- we're the forgotten ones. When you offered to help us, I thought it was too good to be true."

"Sedna."

"Maybe it is too good to be true, but we'll find our moons with or without you."

"Sedna! Shut up!" Nine ordered, "All of your talking doesn't help the cracks go away."

Sedna blinked before slowly looking into the void below, "Of course. You never really cared about me, Gonggong, or Quaoar... you only care about yourself. Why pretend now?"

"I'm not-" Nine bit his tongue, shaking his head.

Sedna peered up at the navy Celestial, "And this," The dwarf planet winced, shaking as she felt the cracks rise to her face, "This is nothing compared to the feeling of losing a moon..."

Nine said nothing.

"I lost my moon millennia ago." Sedna gritted her teeth, "But the others... there's still hope for them finding their moons." Tears fell from her eyes, "Is this what I get for helping you, Nine? A slow and agonizing demise?"

Nine faltered, his eyes wavering as he looked at the trembling dwarf Celestial. He took a breath, closing his eyes, "I see..."

The navy Celestial turned to face Neptune, who was still cradling the NovaStar in his clasped hands.

"This is what you meant." Nine shifted closer, watching as Uranus pulled out an arrow, pointing it at Nine's neck.

"Come any closer and I won't hesitate to decapitate you." He spoke.

"Since when did you care so much about Poseidon...?" Nine questioned, "Whatever the case, I see what you meant, Neptune; how far I'm willing to go to get what I want."

"And...?" Neptune frowned.

Nine grunted, biting the inside of his cheek as he released a breath he didn't realize he was holding, "And I..."

Neptune raised an eyebrow while Uranus looked disinterested in what the other had to say.

They were both caught off guard by the other's words.

"I made a mistake."

« × »

NOW

...

"I suggest all of you back down before this gets out of hand." Spica spoke, "Especially you, Gliese."

"You think I'm going to waste this opportunity...?" Gliese scoffed, "Please, Spica, why are you always defending him?"

"Because I was the only one who saw the good in him." Spica spoke, casting her glance toward the other Stars, "Come on, guys, you can't seriously think Helios is the same Star as he was billions of years ago, do you?"

Sirius and Toliman averted their gazes while Proxima frowned.

"He caused us the most pain." Proxima bit their lip, "Why shouldn't we attack him?"

"Because he knows what he did was wrong." Spica gestured to the other, "Right?"

Sun nodded, "It's been billions of years since what happened. I've grown and learned from my mistakes... and I know that apologizing now won't excuse my behavior from before."

Gliese squinted her eyes, her gaze hard. Proxima rested a hand on her shoulder, only for her to shrug it off and shift forward, "I don't believe you."

Sun had a pained expression on his face as he uttered, "I know..." The Guardian cast a glance around, "Stand down, everyone."

"What? But Sun-!" Jupiter tried to object, only for Sun to snap his fingers, forcing the Giant to be quiet.

"It's alright, Jupiter," Sun spoke, a smile forming on his face.

"Helios...?" Spica raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing?"

"It's only fair for the opposing team to strike first." Sun responded, "I'm only giving them what they want."

Proxima frowned, their eyes wide, "W-Wait, hold on-!"

"Perhaps we need to have a team meeting?" Toliman suggested to his sibling, his voice wavering.

"Uh, right! Time out! We have to- discuss some things." Proxima pulled Gliese into the group where they huddled together.

"Time out...?" Venus scrunched his face, "That's not how wars work."

"It's better than them straight up attacking us." Mars pointed out.

"What are you thinking, Toliman?" Proxima whispered to their brother.

"They seem genuine." Alpha responded, "Plus, I'm having second thoughts about this whole thing. I have a feeling Sirius is too."

"Indeed." Sirius nodded.

"You've got to be kidding me. After everything he's done to us, you're just going to forgive him just like that?" Gliese asked.

"We're not forgiving him. I say he has to earn our trust back." Toliman spoke.

"Hm... I agree." Proxima smiled.

Gliese looked at the others, a shocked expression on her face. She bit her tongue, holding back what she wanted so badly to scream in their pathetic faces. She took a deep breath, forcing a smile on her face, "Fine by me."

Proxima beamed at the other, while Sirius and Toliman shared glances. Before either could say anything, Proxima turned on their orbit, facing the Sun with a grin.

"We've decided not to go through with our plan!" They exclaimed.

"Really...?" Sun uttered.

"Really!" Proxima nodded.

"Well, this feels anti-climatic." Venus huffed, crossing his arms.

"Which means, we'll also give you back the dwarf pla-" The smaller Star paused upon noticing the apprehensive stares of Salacia and the others, "Uh...? Where did they go?"

When Salacia and Quaoar didn't respond, Gliese started to put the pieces together. Her eyebrows furrowed as she clenched her jaw.

"You let them escape!?" She yelled.

"I-It was the moons...!" Orcus tried to explain, only to be cut off.

"I don't want your excuses! How could you all be so useless? How can Nine trust a bunch of dwarves to take care of anything!?"

The dwarf planets before her flinched, backing away as they took on the insults. Despite being smaller, Salacia's arms were wide open in a defensive position, guarding the others.

"Hey- HEY!" Sun's voice echoed across the atmosphere, prompting everyone except Gliese to turn to him, "I command you to back down, Gliese. You're in my domain, and what I say goes!"

Gliese scowled, whipping around to face him, "You think you're so special just because you're a Superior Star compared to me, just because you're the only system that we know of that has a planet that can support life... well, everyone may have forgiven you, but I certainly won't." Gliese pulled out her Zweihänder.

"Gliese, I don't recommend doing this," Spica warned.

"This is between me and Helios- stay out of it!" Gliese spat before charging towards the Sun.

Sun took a deep breath, never pulling out his whip as it would create more harm than good. Instead, he let it happen, his eyes burning with unshed plasma tears.

FWOOSH!

...

CLANGG!

Chapter Text

"Stop this at once, Gliese." An accented voice huffed.

Gliese scowled, "Regulus...? You dare block my attack?"

The Blue Star pushed back Gliese's weapon, throwing it to the side. He aimed his bo staff at her chest, "This isn't right and you know it. Back away or I'll make you."

Gliese scoffed, blinking unbelievably at the bigger Star, "Seriously...? Is everyone on his side now?"

"I'm not on anyone's side, I'm just stopping you from getting hurt further," Regulus said.

"Listen to them, Gliese." Proxima spoke, "You don't have to do this."

"Oh, really?" Gliese turned to face the others, her voice cracking, "But, don't I!? Look at what he did to me!"

"Gliese." Sirius cautiously moved forward, "Despite everything that happened, you're still going strong. You were knocked down, but you managed to get back up again. You have been permanently scarred, yes, but it shouldn't stop you from doing what's right, which is..."

Gliese sighed, gesturing to her Zweihänder, "Not doing this."

"Exactly." Sirius nodded.

The brown dwarf crossed her arms, "Even though I hate this, I know you're right." She sheathed her sword, turning toward the Sun, "But I do not forgive you."

"I know..." Sun uttered.

"Happy now?" Gliese frowned at Sirius.

"That'll do, I suppose..."

"Good, because I am not forgiving him." She moved away, standing behind Toliman.

"Wait, does that mean it's over?" Mercury asked.

"I guess...?" Venus shrugged.

"What a weird way to wrap up a fight..." Earth uttered.

« × »

30 MINUTES BEFORE

...

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Uranus shook his head, his hand faltering as the arrow was clutched tightly in his grip.

Nine said nothing, biting his lip as he averted his gaze. He huffed, "I'm not going to repeat myself."

"You're not going to repeat that you said you made a mistake because you know what you did was wrong?" Neptune leaned forward, his face getting real close to Nine's before the latter pushed him away.

"Yes! Yes, okay, I... ad-" Nine clenched his jaw, his teeth biting through the surface. He hunched his shoulders, whispering, "Admit- I made a mistake."

"You act as if you've never admitted to making a mistake." Uranus rolled his eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Nine scoffed, "Have you met Jupiter or the Sun? With their God Complexes rubbing off on everyone, it's hard to accept defeat."

"Okay, why don't we just relax and breathe for a second?" Neptune stepped between his cousin and brother, moving the arrow in Uranus' hand away.

"We don't have time to relax." Nine spoke, "By now, the Stars will have faced the Sun already."

"Well, what are we waiting for? We have to go!" Uranus spun around.

"Wait-" Nine's eyes focused on the smaller body a few units away. He moved forward, sweeping her into his grasp, "Hold on to me, got it?"

Sedna gave a weak nod, clutching at the fabric from Nine's jacket.

« × »

NOW

...

"Woah..."

"Welcome to space, men- where everything is dead silent and absolutely nothing is-"

"Uh, Earth-? I think some of your earthlings are escaping." Luna pointed out.

"What? Where?" Earth's eyes widened, looking around sporadically until he finally caught sight of a spacecraft and an earthling outside of said spacecraft, "What the- well, that's new."

The earthlings gazed out the window in a trance, their jaws to the floor.

"I think you scared them, Earth," Mercury spoke, popping up beside him.

"Nonsense! How can my own earthlings be terrified of me?" Earth frowned before turning his gaze to the small spacecraft, "Seriously though, can one of you talk?"

Mr. Spherical blinked. He flew, er, glided in the atmosphere, his arms waving as he tried to get a handle on the change in gravity. He peered at the Celestial being, "Uh, yes- my name is Mr. Spherical, and this is America, Russia, and China. We've come here because we were concerned about the second Star."

"Second Star?" Earth hummed, "Oh! Do you mean Spica? Well, it's a long story, but we were in sort of a war with these other Stars-"

"What!?"

"But now it's calmed down, I think." Earth peered over his shoulder.

"Oh, so the situation has been handled?" Mr. Spherical asked.

"For the most part."

"Uh, yeah, I got a question." America's voice sounded from the intercom, "Are all of the planets... like this?"

"And the Stars. And moons." Earth nodded.

"We have planetoid shapes though." Mars spoke, "We can 'shape-shift' whenever we want."

"And we have Space Poker," Earth grinned, "Which we play 24/7."

What's 24/7?" Venus asked.

"An Earth thing. You wouldn't understand since you have 5,832/1,701." Mars said.

"What...?" Venus squinted.

"Anyway, I'm the Earth, your home planet." Earth grinned, "And this is Mars, Venus, Mercury, and my moon, Luna."

"The moon has a name...?" America whispered to the others.

"I hope you enjoy your time outside of my orbit. My friends are off-limits for colonization. I wish I could give a tour, but I have to stay here at all times." Earth scanned the area, frowning at the liminal space he had up to the asteroid belt.

"Cause of the Goldilocks Zone." Mr. Spherical hummed.

"Exactly!"

"Aren't we already making preparations to colonize the moon...?" Russia turned to China, who nodded.

"Chang'e Six finished its mission not long ago," China spoke.

"Ooh, it got the sample from that basin or whatever?" America queried, intrigued.

"The South Pole Aitken Basin, yes." China huffed, "Took nearly fifty-three days."

"Shorter than the orbit of Mercury." Russia stroked his beard.

"I suppose."

"What are they talking about?" Luna asked the Earth.

"Nothing!" Earth blurted out quickly, "They're definitely not leaving me in the near future, that's for sure."

"Earth-" Mars got cut off by Earth pushing past him.

"Anyway, hey- look!" Earth called out suddenly, his face brightening, "Uranus and Neptune are back!"

At the sound of Earth's exclamation, the Celestials turned their gazes upon the asteroid belt, watching as two blue figures emerged.

"Neptune! Uranus!" Saturn grinned, pulling the two in a body-crushing hug.

"Oomf- can't bre... breathe, mate." Uranus muffled.

Saturn let them go, giving an awkward look, "Sorry-"

"Did you guys do it?" Jupiter moved beside Saturn, "Did you guys defeat him?"

"Uh... not exactly." Neptune turned his gaze to the asteroid belt.

The Celestials tensed upon seeing a navy figure stepping out from within the rocks.

Chapter Text

"Nibiru...?" The Sun was the first to break the silence, watching the navy Celestial's every move.

Saturn and Jupiter shifted away, the former hiding behind the latter, holding onto Jupiter's sleeve with a strong grip.

"X-" Saturn covered his mouth.

"It's Nine." The Ice Giant corrected before turning his gaze to the Sun.

Sun looked at him with knitted brows, a wavering frown upon his face as his illuminated gaze analyzed him.

Neptune nudged his brother's arm with his elbow, giving him a slight nod of reassurance.

Nine bit the inside of his cheek as he glanced at the other. Slowly, he made his way toward the Sun, his gaze cast downwards. He took a moment to collect his thoughts, a heavy breath exiting from his mouth as he blinked up at the Guardian.

"Sun." He spoke, his nerves on edge, "I... realize that I..." He trailed off, shaking his head, "I've... come to realize that I..."

It was on the tip of his tongue.

"I-"

"You're forgiven."

Nine blinked, his eyes blowing wide open as he stared at the Sun, "Wait- what?"

A small smile rose on the Sun's face, "I'm not clueless. I know why you did all this."

"And- And you're forgiving me...? Just like that!?" Nine couldn't help but yell as he furrowed his eyebrows, "I made your lives difficult, I planned a whole attack against you with your old friends! I literally shifted my form to look like Neptune and Uranus!"

"Wait, what-?" Uranus raised his eyebrows.

"I'm a terrible Celestial!"

"Yeah, you were pretty terrible," Sun nodded, his smile never faltering, "But so were we."

Nine opened his mouth, yet he couldn't find it in him to speak.

"Neptune made me realize just how hard you have it. Being so far away from everyone else, having no one to talk to for centuries at a time... no wonder you did all this- you were angry and I bet you were grief-stricken upon the Giants ejecting you from the Solar System."

Saturn and Jupiter averted their gazes shamefully.

"Although, what you did that day..."

"I know- and I'll do anything to make up for it. I didn't mean to cause harm." Nine spoke.

The Sun looked him up and down, giving a curt nod, "I know, Nibiru. By the way, is there some way I can help you...?"

"Huh?"

Sun gestured to the dwarf hanging on Nine's back, "She looks as if she's about to fall apart."

"Sedna." Nine gently swooped her up, cupping her in his palms, "She's like this because of me... I didn't know she was in the area."

"Sirius, mind doing me a favor?" Sun turned to his friend.

"Of course." Sirius nodded.

"Sirius is the best healer out of all of us." Sun assured, "If anyone can help her, it's him."

Nine nodded, cautiously handing the Dwarf Celestial off to the Blue Star.

"Hm... some of these fractures are deep." He uttered.

"Can you heal them?" Nine asked.

"I can certainly try; hold still, little one." Sirius cupped his hands around Sedna, careful not to squeeze too hard. He closed his eyes as he chanted, "A potentia mihi ab universo collata, sana has cicatrices et eas dispergere fac."

His hands lit ablaze with blue flames, engulfing the Dwarf Celestial.

"What-"

"Shhhh... just watch." Sun placed a hand on Nine's shoulder.

Sirius breathed in and out, repeating a few times as he concentrated all his powers on Sedna.

He opened his eyes, peering down at the flame. He whispered something before unfurling his hands.

"I did my best," Sirius spoke.

"Is she-?"

"She's alive, just sleeping." Sirius handed the Dwarf to the other, "I've healed as much as I could, but there'll still be scarring upon her surface."

Nine frowned, gazing down at his companion. It was all his fault she was like this. He blinked away the tears starting to form in his eyes, "Thank you."

Nine shifted away from everyone else while still holding onto the small body in his hands.

"Neptune, don't think I forgot about you." The Sun called.

"Hm?" Neptune frowned, raising an eyebrow, "What about me?"

"Come here." Sun waved his hand. Neptune cautiously flew up to him, "Where's the NovaStar?"

The Blue Celestial shifted his gaze away from the Star. Huffing, he pulled out the fractured object.

"I knew it..." Sun mumbled, crossing his arms and raising a hand to his face, "That was what the bright light was about."

"Can we cut this short? I was hoping to make a mural for..." Neptune coughed, "To remember him by."

The Sun scrunched his face in puzzlement, "Why? It's not like he's gone forever."

Neptune frowned, his eyes looking at the cracks in the NovaStar, "But he is...?"

"Hasn't Messier told you? A NovaStar can't be destroyed by a planet- only by the power of another Star." Sun scoffed.

"Then how...?"

"It's only fractured on the surface, which means communication is lost on both sides," Sun explained, "But you're in luck 'cause Spica is the exact Star for this."

The Blue Star shifted forward, "Let me take a look, dear."

Neptune gave it to the Superior Star, watching with curious eyes.

"Well, this is the obvious work of a trident, but I'm guessing you're the one who didn't do it?" Spica smiled, looking at Neptune.

"Ah, no, that was..." Neptune trailed off as he looked over at his brother, "You know."

Spica hummed, raising the NovaStar to her face, placing a kiss upon the fractured part before raising it up towards the void, her eyes shifting close, "Per potentiam donatam mihi per universum, hanc stellam benedic et eos qui eam protegunt."

The NovaStar glinted with enlightenment, giving off a shine unlike any other. Its surface, which was dull before, now had a new sparkle to it.

"Here you are- good as new." Spica breathed out once she opened her eyes and returned the NovaStar to Neptune, "Well? Try communicating with your friend."

Neptune fiddled with the object, his eyes wavering, "Messier...? If you can hear me, please say something."

There was a moment where everything was silent and tears started forming in Neptune's eyes the longer he waited for a response.

"Mess-?"

"Neptune! Thank the Stars you're alright!" A voice piped up.

Neptune couldn't help the tears that fell from his eyes as he let out a watery laugh. He clutched the NovaStar close to his chest as he grinned, "Messier! You're okay!"

Everyone watched the display with smiles on their faces.

"Nice to know I haven't lost my touch." Spica winked at the Sun, who laughed.

Nine gazed at the other Celestials, watching them celebrate and have fun. They all looked so happy, but where did that leave him? He wanted to ruin- destroy this place, but seeing how carefree and elated everyone was made him feel... what was the word?

Guilty.

That was it, he felt guilty.

He let out a sigh, looking down at Sedna.

"Nine." A voice spoke behind him.

"Salacia." Nine acknowledged the smallest Dwarf Celestial, "Quaoar, Gonggong, Orcus..."

They looked at him wearily.

"Sedna. Is she alright?" Gonggong asked.

"Yeah, she'll be fine. Actually, if you guys don't mind, can you take care of her while she heals?"

"O-Of course! Anything for Sedna." Orcus smiled.

"What will you do now?" Salacia questioned, "With you fessing up, and the Stars giving their old mate a second chance, you have nothing to do."

"Sedna," Quaoar grunted.

"What? I'm speaking the truth." Salacia crossed her arms.

Nine frowned, his eyes wandering between them, "You're wrong; there's still one more thing for me to."

He handed Sedna to Quaoar, flying away.

"What- Where are you going?" Gonggong called out.

Nine peered over his shoulder, "To look for a few missing moons."

Nine didn't wait for a response as he crossed the asteroid belt.

« × »

"Wow, your earthlings are amazing!" Neptune was awed at the one without a proper spacesuit, "And one of them can withstand the extreme measures of space- that's amazing!"

"Thank you...?" Mr. Spherical sweated, feeling intimidated by the large Ice Giant. He mentally kicked himself, 'Well, he's not called an Ice Giant for no reason.'

"Just wait until Nine sees this-" Neptune grinned, averting his gaze towards the others. His expression slowly fell upon realizing his brother was nowhere to be seen, "Nine...?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a glimpse of something moving into the asteroid belt.

"Nine!" Neptune perked up, moving quickly through the atmosphere.

The blue Celestial managed to catch up to him at the halfway point of the belt, his hand reaching out to hold onto the other's sleeve.

"Neptune- what do you think you're doing?" Nine glared.

"Stopping you from missing the chance of a lifetime!" Neptune responded, having a death grip on his wrist.

"What?"

"You should be hanging out with the others, not going off by yourself." Neptune frowned.

"The others won't notice. It's not like they care-"

"I care! The others care- of course, we care about you!"

"You guys only care because you pity me. Face it, you guys are giving me another chance just because you're supposed to. That's what being a good 'System' is about- working together and creating balance within the universe."

"That's not true." Neptune uttered, "It's what being a family is all about. Forgiving others for past mistakes no matter what they did. You- You're like my brother, Nibiru, I can't just pretend you don't exist forever."

"Well," Nine looked away, managing to wrangle his wrist free, "You're going to have to."

"No- Wait!" Neptune yelled, wrapping his arms around Nine.

"Neptune! Ugh, get off of me!" Nine tried to pry the other's arms from around his neck, finding it difficult to do so, "What's the big idea!?"

"I can't lose you..." Neptune whispered, "I don't want you to end up like me... all alone for centuries, having to talk to yourself until you end up painting faces on debris and pretending they're your friend..."

Nine had stopped struggling, listening to his brother speak as tears ran down his face, mixing into his surface and creating a dripping mess, the droplets falling on Nine's shoulder.

"I don't want you to end up like me; mentally unstable." Neptune laughed bitterly, "An amnesiac..."

"Neptune." Nine decided to interrupt, "Let me go."

Neptune sniffled, slowly unfurling his arms as he shifted back. Nine sighed upon seeing the look on Neptune's face; it was reminiscent of a child, a child who lost their entire world.

"If it makes you happy, I'll come visit." Nine spoke.

Neptune wiped at his eyes, "Really...?"

"Really." Nine nodded.

"...Promise?" Neptune held a pinkie up.

"Neptune-"

"Nibiru." Even when his eyes were full of tears, Neptune had managed to glare at him.

"Promise." Nine huffed, raising his pinkie and intertwining it with Neptune's.

Neptune smiled, "And I promise to come visit you as often as I can!"

"I don't doubt it." A small smile made its way onto Nine's face, "I should really get going to find those missing moons now."

"Be safe." Neptune hesitated, contemplating.

Nine knew what it was he wanted, gesturing him over, "Come here."

Neptune smiled, giving the other a strong, but loving, embrace as if he was afraid he'd lose him again.

"I love you," Neptune spoke softly.

Nine closed his eyes, letting himself enjoy the moment as he buried his face in the other's shoulder.

That was all Neptune needed to know his brother felt the same.

« × »

"Well, that was a waste of time," China complained.

"I know, and there wasn't a single ounce of vodka on the ship! Who is running this place?" Russia huffed.

"Man, I didn't get the chance to ask about the space oil..." America sighed.

The three leaders sat down at the meeting table. Mr. Spherical had taken off as soon as they landed, mentioning something about a revolution.

America tapped his fingers against the surface of the table. He frowned, looking around the room, "Man, where is Canada? I thought he'd want a piece of space, but we haven't seen him at all today."

"Hm..." The other two hummed.

"Something tells me we shouldn't have left the rocket unsupervised..." China fiddled with his mustache.

The building shook, prompting the leaders to hold onto the table as they looked up at the ceiling.

Russia glanced outside the window, watching in the distance as the spacecraft they had just used started igniting, "Well, this can't be good."

The three watched the rocket fly into the sky. The ground settled as the rocket got further and further into the air.

Silence took over the room as they glanced around.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," China spoke.

"I doubt the rocket has any gas left to take him further than Mars," Russia added.

"Good riddance." America kicked up his feet, splaying them on the table. The other two looked at him with annoyance.

"Whatever happens, we blame that Spherical guy," China spoke.

"Agreed." Russia nodded.

« THE END »

An est...?