Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You’d loved staring into the sky for as long as you could remember.

You’d been a young teen when you learned the term “Objectum '', and had taken the term and ran to the hills with it. Computer boards, Laptop casings, and telescopes were your lovers of choice, and when given the chance you cherished every circuit board you could get your grubby little hands on. They weren’t actually lovers, more cherished friends who were positively gorgeous, but they never held a candle to the stars you grew to adore.

You fought tooth and nail as a child to go to a summer camp that would let you near the kinds of equipment you dreamed of; Telescopes, supercomputers, the like. You saved up your hard earned allowance for months to go. Of course, they didn’t actually let you touch any of that, but they let you play with the more replaceable pieces while the workers did the fancy stuff, and they introduced you to another Lover-not-Lover of yours.

The Sky. A gorgeous collection of every concept humanity has dared to keep in its white knuckle grip to pass along. Every creature, fiction or real, every person of myth and legend, every worshiped god, was either kept in humanities skies or preserved forever with its names for the planets. It was a goddess blessing the earth with its own thoughts, a permanent message to everyone who had ever stared up at the sky that millions of years ago the pinch point human they might have all came from looked up there too, and may have seen the same stars. An unending pile of the most gorgeous collection of impermanence to ever exist, so long lasting it’s Tuesday was hundreds of human lifetimes. If a star could speak, a human might spend their lives trying to decipher just the way it bats its lashes. But oh, how gorgeous those lashes would be…

Conceptum hadn’t been on your list priorly, but suddenly you were digging through as many books as you could over it all. Most of it was the same thing over and over, but each new piece was a miracle to find. The history of each major constellation in horoscopes… the main stars seen in areas with high light pollution… the etymology of the words humans have used for the sun… it was all just so gorgeous.

All of this to say, it was a fairly normal occurrence to be lounging outside a random building looking up.

It was daytime, and you were sighing wistfully at the baby blue sky in between patches of clouds. Your family, having wanted you to come to attend a relatives birthday party, had long since given up on bringing you inside without food or anything else that appealed to bribe you. They made too many jokes about you and the animatronics for you to feel comfortable looking at the robots, and you didn’t care to see the mistreated swaths of arcade machines inside the death trap they called an arcade. You had walked outside to find something to do, and with nothing else available you were sitting in the grass, staring up at the sky on one of the very few places fazbear didn’t own the rights to charge you for sitting in: the outside.

You hadn’t really noticed the little lights blinking around you, but someone else had apparently noticed you there from the inside. A robot, wearing a hood and a little attached cape, was walking towards you from a distance. You hadn’t wanted to assume they were walking towards you, but it became clear after a while that's their direction, so you stood up and turned to talk to them.

“Hello?” You called, wanting to know why they were walking towards you before they got there. They seemed to not want that though as they continued walking, just now at a more casual looking pace.

Once they got close enough to talk comfortably, you looked nervous and the bot looked more curious than anything, “Hello! Why are you out here?”

Well shit, it's the feds. “...I have a ticket to the ‘plex. My family is inside, I just don’t like the crowds. …Please tell me I’m allowed to sit out here.”

The bot looks relieved, and smiles and nods, “Oh! No problem at all then! Just needed to make sure you weren’t doing anything shady. …You aren’t doing anything shady, right?”

You shake your head no, wanting to not get in trouble, but also not upset the bot by being too serious with the joke presented, “No si- ma… Not at all. No plans for trouble, just… waiting for it to get golden hour.” You look back up at the sky and smile a bit, wanting to rave a bit out how pretty it is but… not wanting to get hate crimed either. You can picture the headline now, Local weirdo wants to kiss space, knocked on their ass by robot! Absolutely great, wonderful. …What were you doing again?

You finally look down from where you had been staring up into the sky blankly, and realize that A, you had been staring up at the sky like a weirdo, but also B, the robot had begun looking up at the sky as well. They were looking up with an almost fond look in their eyes, and were staring at one spot in particular. You look up and realize the clouds have cleared enough to reveal more of the darling blue sky, and as it grew closer to golden hour it was darkening enough to show a handful of bright stars. You can spot Vega, and if you squint past the clouds you can also see Deneb and Altair as well forming the summer triangle. The bot must also be enjoying the sights then.

You sit back down, but this startles the bot. You hold your hands up in surrender, but after a moment the bot just moves to sit by your side. It’s awkward, but you both get lost in the sky again after a little while. The clouds slowly begin to part more and more, and the needed rain seems to dissipate in favor of framing the sky like the heavens attempt at a fluffy picture frame. Golden hour finally hits, and it’s 8gorgeous. You have no idea how your family has been inside for this long, but you're adoring the view. When you turned 18 your uncle bought you a nice telescope with a fancy traveling case. You only brought it on camping trips and such, but you wished you brought it today. The weather was perfect, like the clouds themselves were parting for something to view it all

You and the strange bot sat there in peace for a bit, before you finally turned towards them and began talking, “What’s your name?”

They had apparently been quite lost in thought, and jumped a little when you began talking. They bounced back though, and the big happy smile on their face felt a bit rehearsed, “I’m Lunar! What's yours?”

You wave your hands a bit, trying to decide on giving the bot your name, when you look up again and begin gaping a little, “...Holy shit. Hey, hey. You can see scorpio and hercules right now!”

At the word Scorpio they whip around, seemingly looking for a person, but you grab their shoulder and point them skyward, and they relax a lot more. You’re curious, but don’t ask. Instead you guide them towards the various constellations, “...That's Scorpio, and that's Hercules, both are very rare in the summer months, and oh!! I think I can spot Pollux- er, that's the brightest star in gemini-”

“I know.” they respond, looking up fondly at that one.

You look up, trying to decipher their expression, “...Is that one your sign? Or just a favorite?”

They look flustered for a moment, but looks away and speaks just as cheery, “Just a favorite! I don’t really have a sign… I, uh, took several months to be coded and such. …not quite there yet…”

You hum, trying to think of a suitable option for the bot. You bolt up suddenly, and begin looking through your phone for something. The bot finds this interesting, and looks over your shoulder as you look for their star sign, “Machina Electrica. It is technically visible during December, but it’s no longer considered a constellation as the committee of astronomers deemed it too faint to be a true one. But it is there! So… uh…” you lose steam rapidly, and feel like a complete idiot by the time your ramble is done. You avoid their eyes, trying not to find out if they thought that was offensive or just lame.

You do have to look up eventually though, and you realize they have moved to face you with the most amazed eyes you have ever seen. They look at you for a moment, but make a hand motion to continue. You begin rattling off everything you know about Machine Electrica, and its sister constellation the Officina Typographica, or the printing press, and all the other machine based constellations. They move closer and closer, until they are holding down your priorly rapid moving hands with their own as they lean over to listen to you. It does something for you, with you not being used to having someone so attentive over your hobby.

They look back at the sky and straighten up, and you worry they’re bored now until you feel them make themselves comfortable on your shoulder and the wall and begin pointing up at clusters of stars, and asking questions. They’re all surface level things, so very few require you looking it up. The two of you sit there for a good long while, with Lunar leaning in as the time passed and you slowly getting comfortable with the bot as well.

By the time it was proper darkness and you were spotting the lighter stars the bot had damn near snuggled up to you, and you were sitting side to side pointing things out in the darkness. For a person so unaware of things like “when is that one (gemini) visible” it knew a lot about some of the rarer things. Like knowing that Taurus was oddly likely to appear recently due to some odd weather patterns astrologists had been looking into, and that Gemini had been appearing repeatedly in Utah during times it wasnt typical for it to be. They talked like they knew the information personally, as if the scientist who found it out had gone on a lunch date with them moments after the discovery. It was deeply interesting to you, and you got a fluster everytime they pointed out something you didn’t know and gave this big, much more genuine smile.

The two of you fell into a mild silence eventually, and it was… oddly calm. You normally disliked random strangers, but you just… had a sense about this person. “...Is it weird if I said that I feel like I know you somehow?” Oh dear god, why did you say that?

They turned to look at you confused, and you began moving around the only hand they hadn’t captured on their own, “Well- it's just- …Do you ever really love a topic, and just… start to associate that with a person? I feel like that, but almost… for longer?”

They look at you confused for a moment before shock and wonder spreads across their face, and they begin to quietly grin, “...You associate me with space?”

You nod awkwardly, and they seem overjoyed at the idea. They flap their hands and make an odd rumbling noise, talking as they do so , “I… I really like space. I have since I… I have for a very long time. I… Became friends with some people who gave me the same feeling, and it was very special to me. I didn’t even realize how special it made me until I connected the dots fully on why they felt so familiar, and… thinking that you feel like that for me means alot to me.”

You feel seven flavors of anxiety suddenly, feeling like somehow this has turned into every romantic rejection you have ever received or given. Why did that come across so… romantically? Why was the bot acting like you confessed your love?? Somehow despite having never had a crush on the bot before this very moment you were scared they would turn you down and walk away.

They just laughed though, and seemed to be blushing quite a bit. Ah. perhaps you weren’t doomed quite yet after all. They seemed to be thinking of something, and they raised a hand to one of the constellations you were talking about before, “Castor is finally out. So are the rest of Gemini.”

You look up to look, and are amazed to realize that without your telescope several of the stars normally dimmed by the atmosphere were much more visible tonight. You itched to breathe the moment and grab your camera, but you just leaned into the bot again. “...Such a perfect night.”

“Huh?” they replied.

You keep your eyes on the gorgeously twinkling stars, “...Tonight is the best night I’ve seen for looking at the sky in years. It's like the sky is laying them all out for us… if you weren’t here I'd be trying to set up an impromptu photography setup to take long exposures of them all. “

They look flustered and turn away. You worry for a moment you offended them, but they turn back very awkward looking, “Maybe… Maybe the person who controls the weather just… really enjoys us having a stargazing session.”

You laugh hard, looking back at the stars, “Maybe. God knows if something like that existed though we’d just be blimps on the radar. I gave up trying to get good luck from ‘The person who controls the weather’ years ago… But maybe. It’s never no afterall…” You turn to look at them with a smile, “Maybe it’s aliens!”

You wanted it to land as a joke, but they just look slightly sad as they look back up at the sky, “...Maybe you're the nicest person the person who controls the weather has met in a while. Not many people like the sky this much.”

You look back up, still anxious from it all, “Yeah… maybe.” you hum for a moment, before turning to look at them, “I bet the sky loves you lots and lots. A robot who goes outside each night to stargaze… you must be a one in a million treasure.”

They light up bright baby blue, and turn to calm their flushing cheeks from where the teal accenting on their faceplate spreads across their face and down into the very small section of exo revealed by their ribbon-y collar, “Space- Space doesn’t like me.”

You laugh and nudge them, wanting to play them at their own game, “Oh come on! You live basically forever compared to humans. I’m sure your it’s favorite of all time! Besides, just because I know all the names and stuff doesn’t mean I win! You… You're really sweet and all that…” you lose steam again, this time more from flustering yourself, “...Space would be really lucky to have you.”

They look back at you surprised and very flustered themselves. Very quietly, they mutter something under their breath. You lean in and ask them to repeat that, and nervous eyes appear from the cliff formed by their downward facing hood, “You… Space. Space probably wouldn’t mind sharing. If you… wanted to be lucky to have me. Also.”

They’re waving their hands around after a moment, trying to explain themselves and say that it’s so fine if I got it wrong, really you wouldn’t be the first person i’ve messed this up with! When you lean forward just a hair, and they calm and slowly lean forward just a bit too.

The plastic of their faceplate is slightly cold from the night air when you meet them in the middle, and they jump back almost startled afterwards. You startle from them as well, but you start laughing when they begin pinching themselves and feeling their face to check if they are awake.

You lean in again to plant a kiss on their cheek, getting a good handful of the softness of their hood, and pull out some scrap paper from your ticket inside to scribble your name and number on to hand to the bot. They grab it with wide eyes, and you wink at them as you stand up and begin brushing yourself off, “Sometime when you're done with whatever you and space are doing, give me a call! Maybe we can have another stargazing date!”

You walk off, trying to look cool before you explode, but apparently Lunar lost that internal battle before you did. Just before you exited earshot you heard him jumping up and down excitedly, giving out loud yells into the night sky about it all.

Your family had been waiting for hours, it turns out, and you didn’t notice their messages for long enough that there were only two buses home. It was worth it though, and you ate the punishment with a giddy smile and a promise made by a nerdy robot outside a random amusement complex.

—--------------------------------------------------------

It was a sweltering hot July day, and Lunar was sick of being told to jump into the pond-lake thingy. It was a pool of water, and there was a crap ton of algae at the bottom that Castor blamed him for, saying the lightning had hit the water and killed the algae’s natural predators. Hence, why whenever he swam back to the top his feet were stained green.

It was still quite the nice day for training, and pollux loudly announced they were going somewhere again today. Castor made a fake annoyed noise of them being interrupted (It was time for them to stop anyways, he had learned that he never meant it when he complained like this) and Lunar let out a cheer for the distraction. They were almost done getting their things before teleporting when Pollux piped up, “Who was the human you were sitting with the other night?”

Lunar turned a bit red, before turning with his best attempt at being serious, “A good friend. …Very good friend.”

She giggled, and the Castor didn’t seem to react much to it all. They all moved closer together, and the moon got flustery at the proximity. Pollux caught on, and grinned at him, “Probably shouldn’t be getting so flustered when you’ve got a new ‘very good friend’.”

They shrugged, “They agreed to share.”

Chapter Text

You hadn’t expected a call back so soon.

When you had given the bot your number that gorgeous summer night you had expected… nothing to be honest. You kissed them and ran away. You didn’t tell them your name even, just wrote it down on the piece of paper!

You expected a rejection hotline in return and maybe, if you were lucky, a rumor spread around saying some cute robot boy was telling everyone a loser had kissed them outside a random building.

The fateful meeting had been a tuesday! For all you knew the bot only worked Tuesdays and was planning on coming back next Tuesday to make jokes about it all to their coworkers… you were likely never going to be able to return to that place without the workers snickering at you.

It was Thursday afternoon when you got a call.

You had been checking your phone like a maniac since you gave the bot your number, and had taken far too many robocalls and not nearly enough Robot calls. You had honestly been expecting to wait a week to hear anything (bad) but… dumb hope was still hope. So on thursday when the phone yet again rang, you picked it up and tried not to expect anything.

The voice on the phone was tired but undeniably happy, “Hey! Is this my stargazing buddy?”

You were so capable of being normal about this. “Hey! Yeah this is…. Yeah! How are you? How have you been?” Great, you sound mostly normal, maybe this can pass off as-

“I’m great! Currently covered in dirt but I’m set up in the forest behind the Pizza Plex!” Oh thank fuck they’re weirder than you are.

You calm a bit and lean against the wall, chuckling just a bit as you do so, “Oh? And why are you out there exactly? Bit of an odd place to call from.”

The other side laughs a bit, before you hear the wind move around them like they twisted around, “Picnic! Come have a picnic with me! In the forest… that sounds bad. We can have a picnic somewhere else! Or, er, I can move the picnic closer to the plex! That way it's more… safer? I’m sorry, it was spontaneous-”

You cut them off laughing again, “It's fine! Just… where in the forest are you?” Your racing to pick out something to wear, throwing on a nice looking jacket and socks, “Like, cardinal directions? Or do we have a meeting spot?”

You were throwing on your shoes when the other end finished it’s uhhhh noises to find a place to meet, “Where we met first! The wall outside the daycare! The picnic is just a little ways away from there! …plus we avoid going around the back of the building.”

You are grabbing your keys and starting the car as you hear that, “I’ll be there in twenty. …Should I bring my telescope?”

They are audibly grinning on their side of the phone, “Don’t bother. I think I got us in a good word with the person taking care of the weather, it’ll be clear enough with just our eyes.”

—------------------------------------------------

You finally arrive at the spot, having run around the building out of fear of upsetting the bot by being late. They were pacing in the same spot you had been before, the grass still flattened and a little dark from how much the two of you moved around there and how long you had stayed. They finally turn to walk back to their starting position in their pace when they see you and literally light up. You grin and wave, and continue running towards them. They meet you in the middle and you crash together into a hug. Laughing and excited, you press your face against their hood to feel with your face how soft it all is.

You assume they do something similar with your hair as they nuzzle in as well, but moments later the robot picks up off the floor to swing around a bit, “I missed you! How have you- Picnic! We should go do picnic before we start talking!”

They pick you up into a stronger hold, and begin moving at a faster pace than safe for humans to carry someone but far too slow to make you worried they would drop you, “I brought pizza, salads, and sandwiches, and… uh… I brought juice! And I grabbed some fancy looking not-wine-stuff from my family… And I have a nice blanket!”

You were focusing on looking normal as the bot brought you to the picnic area; trying to appear as calm and collected as possible as you were leaning into their shoulder. You tried not to look for a scent or anything about them, but they were so clearly fragranced by the smell of ozone and oil that you couldn't help it. It was like a perfume company ignored all logic and made a smell just of the dreams of every astronaut. ..You were totally being normal about it all. Ignore the fact you were itching to pull back that hood and see if any of the plating there was removable. …Was that the robot equivalent of second base or surgery? Perhaps let's not find out.

The bot carried you most of the way there, seemingly too in their own head about… whatever it was they were talking about to notice they were still carrying you. By the time you got there they actually turned to look where you were, and their faceplate gave you a small whack from the motion. They jumped a bit and looked quite flustered, but you just laughed it off and moved your legs to get back on the ground. You only had to walk a few steps to reach the blanket.

It was a very nice blanket, perhaps too nice to be used for a picnic blanket. There were two baskets on it, one filled with what seemed to be food and a pizza box strapped on top and one that was basically a cooler filled with drinks. You snagged a bottle of green tea off the top (As the other things were far less picnic appropriate, the bot had somehow grabbed a bottle of oil and a mini bottle of sparkling wine of all things) and sat down. The bot happily settled in next to you and grabbed for the bottle of oil. They began setting out the picnic, and things began to fall into place. There were random bags of chips and animal crackers, little packets of saltines, three sandwiches worth of bread and two open containers of cheese and meat respectively..

The bot, The loveable bot, had thrown random shit in here at the last minute.

Normally this level of carelessness would just annoy you, but the look of earnest anxiety at it all was somehow just so charming in the moment. Less like a well planned date turning to shit and more like… They hadn’t known tonight would be date night until an hour ago either.

You smiled as they worriedly handed you a plate and began rooting through the container for serving supplies, trying to nudge whatever was hiding in there back to where you wouldn’t be able to see it. From where you were sitting, you were fairly certain it was a whole roll of paper towels and a family size box of hot chocolate. You watched them eventually hand you a sandwich (made from a large and oddly shaped hoagie roll) and some chips and desserts you were fairly certain were made for children. God knows you didn't mind, three tiny packets of cheese-its and two packets of Scooby snacks was still lunch in your eyes.

They sat back with their own food, mainly desserts from the pile, and began eating like they were starved, seemingly trying to hide their face with their food. You laughed when they grabbed for another bite of their sandwich while talking again (this time about the plan for tonight. Stargazing again, talking about stuff he seemed to be trying to brush past, and you telling him about space stuff.) And realized there wasn't another bite of sandwich to eat.

They turned bright red, and you realized you might have been laughing at them far too much. You turn away yourself, trying to find a way to fix your social blunder. You hear the bot let out a pained noise, but when you turn to apologize for being so rude they just seem more flustered.

They notice you looking and sigh, “I… planned on calling yesterday. I um. I have this sorta… practice? In the afternoons after work…” he said, trailing off as he talked, “me and my… trainers? Went out somewhere afterwards, and I took a really hard fall while there. I was gonna call anyway, but after I got back I found out it was worse than I thought it was. I'm fine! It just still stings a lot.” They take a big swig of their drink, trying to hide their face.

You look them up and down, trying to tell if they are wearing more over their midsection than they were yesterday. You apparently got it right as they sigh and untie the (in retrosight very out of place) jacket from their waist to reveal a patch of plastic sitting in the wrong spot with the wrong color.

You're torn between acting weird about it or acting sympathetic, so you manage to act an idiot by doing both, “...Woah. Does it hurt? I mean- I’m sure it hurts, but… Sorry, I’m trying to be normal about this. I’m a huge mechanics nerd, so I'm trying not to act gross here. I feel a bit like an aunt who stares at your injuries and rambles about working in nursing…. I should shut up now.”

They surprisingly shrug it off and begin talking to fill the space your own ramble had left in the air, “My cousin is the same way. I wasn’t sure if he was excited to test out his brand new replacement exo or if he was worried about me for the first hour of this stuff setting. Trust me, you're being significantly more polite, you haven’t started taking paint samples to see if the new mood paint replicator was working, Lunar, we need to know if it works in case you need more, Lunar. Think about the benefits, Lunar. Quit squirming when I poke you with needles, Lunar. …But I think anything is better than that.”

You're yet again torn, now between going against what you just said and laughing again and wanting to comfort them. You end up with your hand on their shoulder, “...Well, are you… feeling better now? Not still hurt, I mean? …Most of the things I work on don’t have… Soft nervous systems? Would it be a nervous system if there's no nerves? Is-”

They place their hand over your mouth and make shushing noises. “Don’t… don’t think about it too hard. They tried explaining how I work once, and I just find it easiest to assume I’m a Schrodingers microwave. I’m exactly like any other piece of tech until someone looks inside.”

You try to make a joke, but with the hand on your mouth you can’t quite. They snicker a bit, but jump back when you lick their hand. They’re laughing fully now, wiping their hand on their pants as you point your tongue out at them. “I was trying to say, “ you start, “I hope it all ends up alright. Here's to hoping when you get opened up next they find… normal things in there!”

They laugh and shake their head and move to speak before shutting themself up quickly and turning away. You continue on though, the mood still feeling light from where their hand had flickered on your tongue, “Don’t tell me they found something weird in there. …Did they?”

They move their hands around for a moment, before sighing and turning to you. The air sorta… changes in a sense. They try to keep it all light and pizza box picnic but it’s fairly obvious this is a talk of some kind.

The bot focuses on you and Lunar begins talking quietly, “There's… a lot of non robot related stuff going on with me that I… can’t really tell you. It’s really unfair, and I understand if that's a deal breaker. I’m just… not really a robot anymore? Not human either though, before you ask. Just… odd. I don’t get it all yet, and I’m pretty sure if they weren’t trying to get me to be more robot-like in order to spare some feelings they’re convinced I have… The people in charge of training me would be horrified by me dragging you this far into this. I… might be able to tell you more one day, but I don’t know. I want to say I could tell you more, but… that's sorta the reason. I… want to be alot for you, but there's just…”

They seem to give up on trying to convey your point, and before you can stop them to explain that you get it, that you’ve had the same sorta situation and you know how sucky it feels to be there, they begin pressing down on the sides of their exo until a subdermal release switch hits and the frontal panel of their upper torso opens up.

Inside is clearly damaged, whoever did the work was clearly trying to do a lot in a very short amount of time. It was a crisis fix, the duct tape holding the ceiling up. However the more odd sections lay inside. The cooling system, clearly shown by the upward pointing fans, were laid in with odd types of connectors and seemed to be designed with upgrades in mind. They connected to tubes that turned more wire like the higher they climbed…

Which tied into the other issue. The giant glowing mass above where a human diaphragm would be.

Lunar, sweet darling but just plain odd Lunar, had an oddly liquid looking shape within their chest cavity that seemed to flood to fill the space, and upon closer inspection all the wiring that ran through the area seemed to be warping to fit it more. Connectors that housed multiple kinds of wires diverged into a wide set of single types of wire that turned more rebar like the closer it got to the center, and tubes that ran through first became covered in current resistant plastic before running through to turn back.

You reach a hand in and are amazed to discover that there was cool air flowing from the cooling system in their pelvis despite the tubing turning to wire and going through the mass. You swish your hand through the air, wide eyed at the coolness running along your palm despite having somehow turned into seemingly pure light at one point. You look up at Lunar to tell them your amazement and realize upon seeing their wide eyed and fixated stare that you were running your hands through something that essentially functioned as a secondary circulatory system for them.

You move away and begin to warble, trying to form an apology. They just stare on before just tilting their head slightly.

Eventually you just give up on trying to get words out and just stop to hold your head in your hands. You hear and somewhat feel the bot move closer. The fabric of the blanket you're sitting on bunches up as their knees touch yours, and you finally look back at them to see they have lowered their plating and returned their exo to normal position.

The two of you sit much closer now, not quite enough for you to reach out and get there without use of your upper arms but close enough you were touching. They leaned forward and wrapped you up in a hug, which surprised you. At first you worried that you had made them concerned, that your own worry had suppressed their upset and that this was a temporary polite motion, but they clung on tight enough that you doubted that after a bit.

You slowly pat their back. They flinched a bit, but otherwise they seemed to just rumble into the hold. It was a slightly slower moment, the serious air being torn away via the soft tactile feeling of a robot weighing you into considering the blanket a mattress. After a bit though they started mumbling, and eventually you got some words out of them, “...The others think it’s freaky.”

You're confused by that for a moment, but they clarify, “...All my friends who get robots think the star stuff is weird. All my friends who get the star stuff have never seen a machine before. I don’t think anyones else.. Wanted to see it before. …Felt like you were looking skyward again, when you… uh… yeah. Sorry, I just… Didn’t realize I cared about that! Heh…”

You think on it for a moment, but you rapidly decide on your answer to all of the hard questions the animatronic had laid out for you. You place your hand on the side of their face and scritch a bit, but pull their hood back from where they’d been trying to hide behind it half the conversation and press dawn feather kisses along the lining of their faceplate before leaning down to kiss their cheek properly. They’ve turned bright blue again, trying to hide what they no longer can with the hood with their hands.

“I really like you, “ you start, “...If you happen to also come with some weirdness then… I guess it's two for one thing. Besides, a little weird is better than boring. …Maybe one day I’ll get to find out all about your secrets and stuff, but I seriously doubt I’ll be too worried about it when I have all the interesting things outside of that to discover. I mean, when would I have time to focus on that when I could be focused on…” You move their hands away again, getting an opportunity when they move their fingers to peek at you from their hiding place. You pepper kisses along where a brow ridge would be on a human, and you watch those blue eyes hide away again as they scrunch up to make a mock upset face at the attack. It’s followed by laughing and more blushing, and hands grab at your hair to pull you in to meet them properly in the center.

It was a very odd kiss, less slow like the first and therefore much less smooth, but the two of you find a way despite needing to lean in again three times to find an angle that doesn’t smash your nose against flat faceplate or have you turned such different directions your doing a sideways spiderman kiss. By the time you figure it out it’s all out the window though, as by kiss two they had started laughing hard enough once the angle was right you were laughing too, so it was more a forehead bump followed by them finding a chinrest right above your head. The two of you laughed there for a bit, trying to catch your breaths.

Somehow, after all of that, the two of you found the time for some cuddling and stargazing. There was serious stuff discussed after, mainly if your whole “Space can share” thing was a real sentiment, but eventually you settled on everything well enough that it wasn’t worth wasting any more of a perfectly good night.

You, your darling, and your metamour the night sky settled in for another lovely night of telling each other whispered secrets about the infinity before you. They told you things that made you wonder if the cloud themselves mentioned it to them, and you told them little things that made them turn alight as if you opened up a new realization in their dictionary of little secrets to keep away.

You missed every bus that night, and when you came home the next morning with messy and leaf tangled hair and a story of the most wonderfully framed stars in the world you were yelled at for missing dinner again. Your keys were taken, you were cooking dinner for everyone to apologize, and you were being told you had a curfew you knew would last maybe three days at most. You didn’t listen very well though, you spent the entire lecture staring out the window.

—-------------------------------------------------

Lunar was in deep, deep shit the moment they got home. They knew, reasonably, that stealing a crap ton of food from the daycare and just about anything he could grab from the fridge in Moon’s house was a bad idea. Terrible, even. However they had woken up the morning after getting everything fixed post getting pushed off the bridge (Note to self, if Pollux insists that training can technically continue to win over Castor it is a trap. You may die in the process.) and walked outside to get enough signal to reset their connections to… the rest of the world when they had looked up.

They had loved space for a very long time. They really loved space recently, having the new found knowledge that somewhere up there was someone they really, truly cared for. But knowing that they could now spot the exact location they were in the morning?

They had woken up that morning guiding their hand the way you had the night before to where Deneb was visible and ran along for Altiar, and guided themselves with the gentleness you had towards were the star Pollux sat resting in the sky, slowly fading away under the gentle sway of the atmosphere. Castor would probably give a satisfied but happy nod knowing he could feel the gentle ebb of the currents there mixing the gasses just enough to turn just slightly opaque, and conceal away their missing… whatever they were to call them right now.

They had stood, half broken and still hurting, and knew that morning it would be worth it. So they lay there that afternoon, human acting as a pillow, and looked up at the stars for as long as they could. Their hand guided itself along the summer triangle, and found their missing constellation. It twinkled in recognition as they blew it a kiss.

Maybe it was them moving the atmosphere slightly, and the light bouncing around. They would probably never know.

—---------------------

Somewhere, millions of lightyears away in a grandiose garden where the leaders of those who protected against the great darkness sat, a normally quite stoic star became just slightly aware that he had been caught blushing a little.

Chapter Text

You had gotten another call around noon yesterday. 

After your late night rendezvous (mid day rendezvous actually. You just fell asleep in the woods and it turned that way) had landed you in just enough hot water to get you banned from doing anything for about three days. On day four you had been doing the extra housework you’d been appointed to do while imprisoned when a call came through from a certain someone. You’d tried to play it cool, talking to them like you would any other, but your friend caught on quickly and suddenly you were playing phone keep away with your roommates who were dead set on scolding your new stargazing buddy for “kidnapping” you twice in one week. You managed to work out a meeting place before you had to hang up to get the phone away, leaving you with a rough idea of a where but not really a when. Sometime tomorrow.

Hence why when you arrived at your usual spot (After sneaking out) you came prepared for a good long wait. You didn’t know when you would be meeting, just that it would be sometime after their work but before everything in the building closes down. 

Which led to the other odd thing, you were meeting them at their work. 

Normally you would meet outside of their work, on the wall connecting to the daycare they were stationed in, but today they needed to meet inside instead as their family… Honestly you had no idea why you were going in. The second half of the call had them running away as well as they were also in trouble for sneaking away and you meeting them there had something to do with meeting their family so they could meet up with you again. You understood, but were also hoping that this was a formality rather than a proper First time meeting the parents! …You’d had to sneak out in some older jeans and a less than formal top with most of your fun date night items and snacks packed in a ratty old backpack that caught on everything. 

All of this was why, after a whole day of planning it out, everything went to shit like it always seemed to. 

See, you hadn’t known when to go in other than when the daycare closed. So when you went inside and found it had already been closed when you got there you assumed they were likely inside waiting for you. So you knocked, but no one answered. So you sat outside for a bit. …And waiting until someone walked by. She had been wearing a janitor's uniform and a tired look on their face, so you tried not to bother them too much when you asked about where to wait for someone. …You had only bothered them with that much since they were about to start mopping the floors. 

They had seemed confused for a moment before they lit up a bit and began pointing towards a hallway a ways from there, “If you're looking for Moon he’s usually at the computers and stuff at the big doorway. Sun’s on the floor around there ninety percent of the time too, and he can tell you just about where any of the robots in that family are at a given time. The rest of ‘em just wander about. Not likely to come by here, so you're best off that way.”

You nodded,  thanked her, unstuck your backpacks straps from the bench, and headed down the hallway. 

The hallways of the building were oddly done and confusing to navigate. You’d headed toward the told direction for a while before coming across a new style of hallway, and had to backtrack twice after that. You went down some stairs, and then up some stairs again, before finally finding your way to the first floor of the building and coming across the foretold Large Door. 

It was an absolutely massive fairytale style door, which looked like a grand castle had been planned there instead of a childcare facility. …God bless the architects that built this place. Screw whoever made the maps though. You knocked on this door, and unlike the other a voice immediately answered from the other side.

“Hello? How can I help you?” The voice was somewhere between polite and monotone, and while it carried a fair amount of emotion it felt more like a preset speech program than your circuited darling.

“...I’m here to see Lunar? Or… meet some people? I’m not fully sure, Lunar told me to meet them here. Something about meeting their family?” You were nervous as you talked, worried this was an older bot than your darling. God, imagine you offended them and it was their parent or something. You tried to focus instead of just spiraling but apparently did a fairly bad job as you completely missed the door unlatching very audibly.

The voice chimed in when you didn’t respond to the door’s noise, “Come in.”

You pushed on the door and was surprised it was so easy to open, feeling more like an automatic door than a large and heavy wooden one. The voice apparently knew what you were thinking though as it popped back in, “My name is Spaniard. Lunar said something about you coming by before he left for his shift. …I do believe that he may have failed to tell the others though, hence where your welcome party may be. I would give them around thirty minutes at most to get through their discussion and arrive. Please feel free to take a seat wherever there are adult sized chairs. There is one behind the computers and several beanbags courtesy of your friend being stored near the ballpit until Sun inevitably reorganizes again.” 

You decide, after remembering the workers mention of the desk chair being Moon’s, to settle in near the ballpit. 

You venture the overgrown forest of a children’s play area. The floors were oddly dull, less in the way little feet beat away at a plastic and more in the way that chemicals slowly turn a nice shiny surface into a waxed shade to protect and destroy it all at once. The plastic of the large play place was a similar shade but you assumed from your many years of experience in the much lower quality versions in Mcdonalds that it started that color. You ventured towards the large sea of multicolored balls and passed many little tucked away bins of toys left at the right height for children to collect. Many little signs littered them in big, friendly letters reminding kids to put things away and the dangers of falling while running. Little laminated signs with handwritten messages littered the entrance to the pit with messages about pirates near little boxes of costumes and little treasure maps were taped up on the far wall where a divot in the wall marked X on the otherwise well planned educational scavenger hunt. Other little built in games were littered around, and a few bottles of TB cleaner sat next to a bucket filled with dirty rags and other cleaning supplies. You settled in on a chair for an adult table right near the wall to the pit but around five arm-lengths away from the nearest game, a little guide on how to use gentle hands via balloons. 

You pulled out your phone, trying to get away mentally from the almost obnoxious colors clearly catered to small children, and began looking for any sign of your friend or their family. You’d heard a small almost buzzing noise and had assumed it was your phone, but when you looked there you had no notifications. 

The buzzing noise started again though and you whipped around looking for it. It wasn’t a phone buzz, more like some kind of massive bee. The kind of noise that reminded you soundwaves were vibrations with the way it almost shook the air slightly. You couldn’t spot the noise for a moment before you realized something. Inside the pit the balls were shaking oh so slightly from the noise. They shook just enough that the rest of the world almost looked like it was shaking if you centered your eyes on the pit just right. It shook slightly more towards the center though, and you could almost spot them vibrating straight after where the miniature island in the center of it was. 

The voice from before, Spaniard, suddenly came over the intercom with the sort of calm only achievable in a program made to always sound happy to help with more work than is worth putting in for anything less than a death sentence, “Step as far away from the ballpit as you can, as fast as you can. Something is attempting to come through.”

You tried to move back, scared at the voice’s tone and the way the pit had rapidly shifted from just rippling slightly to moving in a frenzy, but you quickly discovered an issue. Your backpack, which you had sat down wearing instead of placing to the side, was hooked on the cheap plastic folding chair you were sitting on. Your sudden up movement combined with your backing away motion from where you had turned to examine the pit knocked you over onto the table and flipped the chair, dragging you down with it. You fell to the floor near the pit as the AI bega audibly clicking on security features of some kind as you struggled yourself up, having to yank yourself up where you couldn’t unattach yourself from the bag. It would be your downfall though, and the ground below the pit seemed to argue and shook as you rose to stand with the chair attached to you, knocking against the wall of the pit and sending you spinning again.

You thought of how your roommates had told you that keeping such a strong eye on you was to protect you from things that might hurt you as you felt the wall hit your back. The last thing you thought before yelling as you felt the wall slide down to your legs was the irony that you brought this damn bag because they had wanted to protect you. You didn’t really think as everything went dizzy afterwards, just sort of screamed.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When you came to you were in an odd space somewhere between reality and disreality. 

For a moment you were convinced you were somewhere beyond earth itself, bound in the sky and forever lost to humanity. Dead, in a sense. You wondered if this is what Lunar meant when they explained being part Star, having given up mortality. Death being just another way to sell your humanity to something. You prove that idea wrong rapidly though, because the idea of living without ever seeing Lunar again makes you begin crying quietly. You knew the stars couldn’t hold on like that, so you knew it must be something else. Besides, you were cold. Stars shouldn't be this cold.

So you drifted for a moment, until you felt a pull. It was a pull in the way falling was a pull, slow at first but rapidly becoming something familiar as you began screaming as you rapidly approached the center of whatever ass you were being drawn towards.

You cried out again, scared of where you were being pulled towards. 

You plummet towards an unknown space, slowly realizing the clouds below you were not the thick and land covering piles of cotton they had appeared but instead thin and hazy hideaways for the horrific landscape below you. 

If you had spent your life learning to love the way the ground grew life and beauty it would be damnation incarnate. Life itself had been torn from the stony remnants like a mother being ripped away from her child with bloodless white fingers. The ground was devoid of anything other than what looked like marble from this distance, and tall manmade pillars took refuge against the lack of life to destroy it all as far in the unforgiving sky as they could. You were rapidly plummeting towards an almost clear area in the center, filled with busts of people likely long since gone standing on little checkered squares. 

You braced as best you could on instinct, less trying to survive the fall and more feeling your muscles lock up uncomfortably as your body knew it was about to hurt before it got better while your brain tried to remember if you told the people you loved who you wanted your college fund donated to. 

Somehow though, you seemed to almost slow. You went from being drawn towards the isolated plate at a rate you could never survive to one that was almost withstandable, to one that felt more like you were falling from a small height. You ofcourse didn’t notice this, you were screaming like a banshee and trying to simultaneously wiggle your way to freedom against the cold air whipping around you and locking up to shatter instantly, but you did eventually slow to an almost reasonable level.

Eventually you floated slowly to the ground, tears staining your face a gnarly red and your throat feeling somewhere between wind bitten and scream broken. A large figure stood in front of you, holding their hand above their head and slowly lowering it. They released their hold on the invisible object they were miming and you suddenly dropped to the floor, much to their mild entertainment. 

You sat up, terrified from the whole thing and hoping this person could somehow help you from wherever you were. 

The figure was larger than you by a good margin, standing a hefty level about you with a thin frame. The bot was clearly also space themed, but where Lunar was themed almost after the concept of the stars this bot felt more based on a children’s story book explanation of the night. It was pale blue and white with a light neon tiara holding its head together. It was cracked in places, but seemingly fully stable. Despite draping itself over a throne the area looked damn near collapsed, giving the image of a king pretending to have power despite only having a crumbling kingdom. Or a warlord looking over their newest pile of ashes.

They turned to you, seemingly growing bored at your lack of talking, “Who are you? Where are you from? …Are you from where the other travelers are from? Say something!” The ground almost rocked as they yelled, seemingly getting more and more angry at your silence.

You fumbled to begin talking as quick as you could, “I, uh, I don’t know. I don’t know, I’m sorry. …Lunar?”

The deeply broken bot looked at you with sincere surprise in it’s eyes, “Oh! You are then! It’s so rare to see any of you nowadays, most avoid me now! …Largely because I kept tearing apart the council’s base, but still! Who are you? …Why are you here?” They look overjoyed at the idea, suddenly rushing forward to pick you up and spin you around. You stutter at the motion, confused at how this… clearly somehow Lunar was so different looking. Where your Lunar was a shorter but more densely built robot this one was wisp thin and taller than should be allowed for… anything, honestly. It was built less like a glamrock and more like some kind of thinly covered metal stick. However despite this, and despite their broken nature, the bot seemed stronger than even your Lunar, moving you around without the little motions of weight. As if it could have lifted you with just a finger. 

It smiled extra wide, but turned to look at something in the distance. They turned back to you, joyful again, “I have to go for a while, but- Oh! You can meet my new pets! You're going to love them! They’re almost trained! Oh this is going to be great!”

You looked up at them, confused, before a strong pain started in your head and you slumped down in their arms.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You awoke for a second time curled around yourself groaning. Your backpack was still on you somehow, and it was dragging across the floor uncomfortably as you fought to keep your breakfast down despite barely being awake. The angry sound of something loud and reverberating was nearby, but honestly a damn mariachi band could be playing the national anthem and you would still be focusing more on your stomach. Your head hurt. You wanted to go back to sleep- no, you wanted to go home. You needed to find a way out of here, hopefully quickly.

You sat up and began looking around a bit, having to sit back down and stare at the floor every now and again to regain your ability to see. You discovered water bottles sprinkled around you, many full but a few empty. Slowly you looked around the area before seeing it.

Some sort of… perhaps an angel of some sort, was clawing at the bars of the enclosure. You stared out, and realized to your horror you were not staring out at a black wall. That was the sky.

Where there should have been your darling sky, your one true constant, the only divine force that stayed with humanity, was a black veil holding nothing. Nothing stared back from that awful wall of nothingness, like the stars themselves had been plucked out of the sky. The… light being? Or whatever it was turned to you, seemingly calmed from its curiosity. You pushed past it though, and let it move away to let you stare out the window in horror. It was gone. Your forever connection to home, to life, to everything was pulled from the heavens like an army of monstrosity had feasted on the wings of every angel you had ever prayed to. You stared up at the almost empty night sky and damn near started crying. 

You looked around, trying to find the summer triangle in the sky. You search, and search, but find nothing. You're almost out of hope when you look up and gasp, finally feeling some relief. Right in the corner of your vision, almost out of sight from that angle, was the slowly fading form of Pollux, the brightest star in Gemini. 

You looked close before feeling the thing from before press against your back. You shifted closer to the window, wanting to see it in the final moments,  but it seemed to also want to see. The two of you shared the window for the final moments of the night sky being visible, and they slowly but surely relaxed the hold on your shoulders as it faded gently as light took over the horizon. 

Eventually you moved to turn from the window, but realized from the angle that you couldn’t until the bright being did first. So you sat there for a little while, being held in place by the larger being as it scoped out the horizon. It released you though, and began writing on the walls in notes in another language.

You try to not stare as it worked, but noticed you recognized the little patterns on the sketches it was drawing.

“...Are you making a star map?”

It turned to you, almost looking surprised. Eventually though it seemed to regain it’s ability to speak, “...Perhaps. Have you seen anything else while you were outside?” It had… very different tones of speaking. Almost two separate voices. The tones were clearly overlaid with something almost like feedback, like the light it was dispelling was messing up the words as they came out of its mouth. 

You moved over to the map, and began thinking. You slowly began looking it over, trying to review your thoughts, “...Either the symbol means something different here, or you're accounting for the wrong type of star here. The star closest to us is more blue light based, it was burning way closer to its end.”

It began talking rapidly under its breath, and began moving things around on the wall. You realized after a moment it wasn’t muttering, but having a discussion in its two voices under its breath about the topic. You watched them edit the wall, seemingly relieved to have figured out something they were missing. They also moved several points in a specific section of the wall to another area, seeming relieved as they did so. 

You looked along the wall, finding the scratches there odd. They were… old. The wall looked worn down under the movement of their scratching, and there were more spaces where they had slid their claws along the wall to erase the scratches than there were areas that looked unblemished. Eventually they finished, and turned to you. They seemed curious, but didn’t race to pick you up like the not-Lunar had. They were slower, and were looking you over almost.

They did talk eventually though, “You're not from this universe. Why are you here?” 

You move your hands around a bit, more slowly than you usually would, before just beginning to ramble in almost tears. About how the ball pit had begun rattling, about something trying to come through, about how this Lunar looked so much like your Lunar, about… everything. You just sat down and let everything out in a sense, trying to get rid of the weight settling dead in your stomach than you were actually talking to them. They seemed curious by the information though, so you just kept talking. About your Lunar, which they seemed to almost recoil at towards the beginning, about your universe as a whole, which they seemed more receptive towards, and about your universe's night sky. You almost started crying again as you talked, saying how beautiful the sky was and how much less… empty it was back home. They seemed to settle in, and asked you questions about various things. It reminded you of how Lunar would ask questions, they did it with such a deep knowledge of something that you didn’t but with so little of the common knowledge you had.

Eventually the two of you settled down into sitting next to each other, quietly discussing your universe's night sky. They seemed… almost relieved? That all other universes hadn’t ended the way this one did. Eventually though, you asked the fateful question, “...What happened here?”

They paused, and looked away for a moment. It took a bit to decipher their expression due to the shifting nature of their form, but you realized it was a look of deep and foreboding shame there. They seemed to struggle slightly, but the one with the deep voice began talking, “...The person you met. Lunara. They destroyed everything they could reach. They started with earth, but then moved outwards. They tried to everserate everything in their path, and when they met a challenge they would pour themselves into defeating it. Eventually they found… a council of sorts. We were tasked with protecting the universe from threats like them. We had always won before… but something was different about this one. The Star they use, a man made thing, produces both positive and negative power. We went into fighting thinking we had found just another person using the positive power, but we realized the error too late. …By the time the councils could have teamed up to stop them it was far too late for that. We’re just… waiting to find out what they want from us now.” They seem solemn for a moment, and eventually just end the entire thing with a quiet little mumble under their breath.

 They seem to debate for a bit, but they rise again and begin looking over the star map for some kind of escape route. You look over the wall, realizing a pattern. The little symbols they were tracking were all astrological symbols of constellations. Some niche, while some were part of the zodiac. You looked over them, finding an impressive amount of niche ones placed over the walls. Some were placed on a little list on the corner, while others were placed along the map on the walls. Others were placed in a list on the other wall, covered in little flowers one of them had carved in as well. You realized you recognized them as a crude drawing of spider lilies. A graveyard. 

You realized after a minute though one of them was missing, and aftering looking over them all you turned to the being confused, “You… you're trying to draw where all of the constellations are, right?”

They turn back to you, nodding and tilting their head as if asking for you to continue.

You hum and look back over the wall, wanting to double check that you hadn’t misread any of them or just flat out missed it, “...You didn’t mark Gemini on here. Or any of the stars within it. The other zodiacs are all on there…”

They seemed confused for a moment before the lighter voiced one began to laugh. They turned to you, clearly amused and pointed to themselves, “We don’t need to track where we are silly!”

You look confused as they just giggle a bit, seemingly far too amused for such a simple situation. They look at you still laughing slightly and begin explaining, “We’re- we’re marking where the astrals associated with each sign are right now. We’re the one associated with Gemini, so we don’t need to track ourselves.”

You tilt your head at that, trying to think about it. The memory of your picnic with Lunar returns to you like a lightning bolt, of them telling you all about the glowing mass in their chest, about how they were dealing with things beyond your knowledge to do with space. You look back, suddenly understanding why they had asked the same seemingly bizarre questions Lunar had.

Speak of the devil though…

The doors to the area you were in suddenly began making rattling noises and the astral turned to it and began making noises somewhere between a storm brewing angrily overhead and the wind whipping around a hissing monster. They raced towards the door, leaping forward with a bright glowing force, only to be knocked back making more of the monstrous noises as the Lunar from before walked in, carrying….

Your Lunar. 

They were pissed, trying to swing at the other, taller bot. You nearly screamed as you raced to them, and were almost surprised that you were not knocked back like Gemini was. You reached them quickly, but were suddenly separated by the taller monster throwing them back towards where Gemini was being pinned by invisible forces against the window. You were hauled over their shoulder, kicking and screaming, as Lunar reached for you without even getting close. As quickly as you woke up there you were dragged out again, and carried like a toy.

It was devastating, watching the person you cared so deeply about be thrown back in there as you yelled. Slowly, you forced yourself to focus more on the way you were being led rather than your yelling, unfortunately much to the delight of the one carrying you. 

The halls were winding as you were carried, once covered in fine niceties but now rotting along with the lifeless planet holding it above ground. You struggled some still, but found little hope to do so when the walls crumbled away to reveal the courtyard, showing the empty sky. 

You felt blank for a while after that, eventually feeling yourself be moved from your position on their shoulder into a chair. You were talked at for a little while, with you somehow responding mildly, but they seemed to just get more upset at this. Eventually you felt a hand on your face and tuned back into the robot standing over the table, wildly upset, “I did not invite you here for you to ignore me the entire time. So I will ask again, What is your universe like?”

You look at them but just quickly look down. You calculate a low chance of them reacting well to your answer, but also figure you're just as screwed if you don’t do something, “...You're a lot nicer. The sky is nicer. There's… things in it. …You're not an asshole who keeps angels locked in their basement.” 

You brace for the impact of a slap, or perhaps a harder hit, but are surprised when they sit back down and begins making annoyed sock puppet motions with their hands, “Oh blah blah blah. We have things, our Lunar is a crybaby who didn’t get the star. Womp womp. Like I haven’t heard that all before! Tell me about something new! Something I can make! Something I can destroy!”

You rack your brain for a moment, trying to think of anything your Lunar liked that could be done with such a large hole in his very soul without a sky to look into, “...He… he really likes nutella? And sweet things… I think he likes thumbprint cookies.”

They tilt their head, and after a moment let out a quiet quarry, “...Nutella?”

You try to figure out how to explain nutella to an alien version of the person you loved most, “It’s- uh- hazelnut butter. Mixed with a sorta chocolate ganache? It’s a spread, you put it on toast. …Lunar likes eating it by the spoonful.”

They seem to run the idea in their head, and you realize you can hear little clips for various videos playing quietly through internal speakers as they race through what must be left of the internet rapidly. They raise a hand and snap their fingers and when you come out from hiding behind your hands a jar of nutella is sitting on the table. They pick up a spoon and open the jar, curious. Slowly they gather a spoonful and place it in their mouth. They slowly lean back and make a deep humming noise that rattles your bones ever so slightly. They open their eyes and begin eating it slowly, but rapidly increase the pace until they are holding the jar as they shove it in their mouth. They’re halfway through when they look up at you, and you realize they likely forgot you were even here. 

The two of you stare at each other for a moment before they fill the spoon again and offer it to you. You look confused, looking between the spoon and the bot, but quietly accept the bite of nutella. They light up slightly, and begin switching between eating their way through the jar and talking to you, feeding you nutella as they went, “So, you know me well enough to know what foods I like! We must be close then… What other things does other me like? You mentioned thumbprint cookies? We should make those next! Oh, this is going to be great! I don’t see myself getting bored of you for at least a human lifetime, so by the time you're good to be gone you’ll be old anyways! It’s a win for both of us!”

They seem to light up more, and turn to you grinning, “The other me said something about us dating in your universe? Maybe we could date! Oh, I’ve never done dating before! This will be so fun! And then you can make me more food- Oh I'm not going to get bored of you for at least fifty years! Oh this is perfect!”

You shivered at that, suddenly wishing this meeting was going worse. You would prefer talking with the ancient space being in the basement for eternity than roleplaying as this thing's partner. 

You wish your Lunar was here. …You wish Gemini was here. Honestly, you wish anyone but this thing was here. 

Perhaps something out there loved you though, because it seemed like one of your wishes was granted. 

A loud roaring noise like a hurricane bursting through the sky ripped through the air, and with a surprised look from the false-Lunar and a look of terror from you the buildings behind you were ripped apart like tissue paper by a being rapidly forming into something larger than it had been before. The being sitting at the table began cursing under their breath and turned to you with an annoyed smile, “So sorry, It seems like my new dog has gotten off its leash again. Give me a couple of hours to get it back inside, I’ll be back right after! …Don’t let the debris hit you.”

It rushed towards the thing, and in a burst of light something struck straight from it to the center of the rapidly forming energy. It drew back after the hit, but before you could recuperate to see how they reacted you were being slung over someone's shoulder again. 

This Lunar was much shorter, and swearing much more clearly as you were potato sacked, “Portal, portal, portal- Computer if you don’t hurry the hell up I will replace your hardware with shitty old drives from the ancient ass arcade machines I swear- Portal!”

In a motion that deprives you of what happened in the fight or the time to ask questions you were dragged through yet another portal, this time to a far away place you called home.

—-----------------------------------------------------------

You came to surrounded by people, with someone very rapidly chewing someone else out. You tried to focus in but once you moved enough you were held close to a familiar chassis. The voice continued yelling though, “Lunar, I seriously doubt anyone would want to be held by you after you placed their life in danger like that! After you placed your life in danger! Why the hell was the portal open? Who left that open? We didn’t even have confirmation that humans could survive that, much less going back and forth! You need to hand them over, it might need medical attention!”

You finally looked up to see Lunar standing over you protectively seemingly looking for injuries over you. A foreboding figure loomed over them and for a moment you thought it was the thing from the other dimension, but upon closer inspection it was instead another animatronic of a similar model with more yellows and reds in its otherwise black and blue design. It bore a similar hat to the other Lunar, just with more dark details and brighter yellow stars. A similar yellow model stood behind them, seemingly trying to argue for Lunars defense. 

Lunar ignored them though, just looking you over. You hugged them close, just happy that at least one star in your night sky was alright.

After the lecture ended you were offered a ride home or to stay for the night, and you chose to just stay there. Your phone was blown up by your friends, but you just texted them that you were staying with your boyfriend again and they dealt with it. You spent the night stargazing for a little while, reminding yourself that all was well in at least your universe, and cuddling up to your darling starlet. You two eventually cuddled up to sleep, and you tried to focus on them as you kissed them goodnight and not the slightly overcast sky behind them. 

Try as you might, you found on memory where the set of solitary stars you left behind for one final fight for their universe sat in your night sky. In a move that you're sure Lunar would have laughed at you for if they were still awake you slowly blew the two figures in the constellation a kiss, mumbling something half asleep to each one that you hoped everything would be alright. 

A lovers prayer completed, you fell asleep under every star you knew, and with your head resting on the shoulder of the one you wanted to spend eternity learning.

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Lunar had expected… quite a lot to come out of the incident involving the dimension hopping. They knew that Castor and Pollux would be able to see what happened, and had assumed meeting up with them again would be a bureaucratic or perhaps interview-like affair. However instead they seemed distracted during training. They didn’t bring it up so Lunar didn’t either.

At the end though their curiosity got the better of them, and they finally decided to just ask, “...Did you guys see the stuff that happened yesterday?”

They nodded and seemed more interested in the grass suddenly. They took that as a cue to end the conversation. It was odd to them though how they both seemed to mutter a bit slightly about it all. 

All he really caught was Pollux saying something about both of them being too similar, and Castor muttering something about why does it have to be both of them?

Lunar didn’t notice it too much though and tried to focus on the now. They took their stars by the hands and began leading them back to the area they usually sat in during resting times, “Lets go do something! Like… Uno! I think I have a deck on me!”

Lunar kept their eyes forward, wanting to continue on. As a result they missed the glimmering shine of them both flashing a slight, flickering blush.

Chapter Text

Spending an entire night wiki-diving after being kidnapped by an interdimensional being was... a poor health choice. 

You had some bad ideas in your life, but some were just worse than the others. After your date with your darling bot you’d been left confused about everything that had happened, but you had accepted that you’d already learned a good amount more than you were supposed to. The alternate world had reflected your in some ways, but other than showing a version of your darling that was completely mad with power and the angel they had locked away forever... it left you confused as to why you were suddenly being scorned from all information on the topic. 

You had been invited to stay with your darling’s family for a little while, partially due to the upset from your housemates but more out of worry that the false Lunar would somehow appear again. Their family had been incredibly kind to you the entire time, if not just to be outright cruel to your beloved. They didn’t listen when you said that the ballpit activated on its own, and insisted that Lunar must have done something since they were the first back to the daycare. 

It was a mess, and it just left you feeling angry the entire time. 

They insisted that Lunar would be ‘making it up to you’ until they found out for sure what happened, but so far that had only included them forcing your darling piece of the night sky to do more work within the daycare. Something about teaching them the importance of safety. It was a load of garbage, and it left you alone in the room they had given you while you waited on them to finish. 

...The room had a nice view of the sky, though. 

The area they placed you in was a little guest room in... god knows who’s house. It was comfortable, but most importantly it gave you an amazing view of your darling lovers in the night sky. You were not the type to pick favorites, but ever since you were young you had adored the time of year when you could easily see andromeda. You were happy nowadays to pull a long exposure to kiss at it’s visage, but it was a glory to see in person. 

...You found yourself staring at the constellation Gemini though, wanting to know if the angel of the same name was alright. You had asked Lunar a few days ago about them, but the answer was sadly lackluster. “ They’re tough. I helped with breaking out, I doubt they would have rushed out as well without a plan. Chances are, evil me is dead already ” ...Somehow, you felt like the being that destroyed so much would not fall that easily. 

You were more of a hopeless romantic than a stubborn believer, but you chose to believe in the impossible for the angel’s sake. 

...Since you were already being stubborn though, you thought you deserved some answers. If they wouldn’t (or couldn’t, in Lunar’s case) tell you what was going on then you would find out for yourself. 

The wikipedia page for the constellation and mythos of Gemini seemed like as good of a place to start as any. You memorized mythos anew, studied the forms of the visible and invisible parts of the constellation, learned the names of every lesser star and every interesting phenomenon happening within that region of space. You studied the details of sextuple star systems and the exact phenomenon within them. You learned every detail on the little exoplanet off of Pollux (Formerly Thestias, now Pollux B because science was full of killjoys.) You found the physics and the meaning of St. Elmo’s fire in the same texts that talked of heroes of the sea like another sailor’s deity at the docks. In the end you found a thousand little excuses to stare out the window, but nothing to help you in your angelic quest. 

It was a prime afternoon to continue pouring yourself into anything that could explain the name of the angel of the night sky when Lunar appeared after a day of work. 

Lunar had been making a point to visit as much as they could, largely for assurances that you weren’t actually upset, and bring you little gifts each day. Usually this was snacks you would munch on together while they described their day in the little amount of time they had free in the afternoons, but sometimes your darling of wires and starlight would bring you crafts they had made while at work. Usually on those days they would be in a rush to head off to training, or receptionist work, or extra filming after work to ensure there was a backlog. It was too much in your opinion, but it made them happy. 

You greeted them warmly, all hugs and affection. They laughed a bit when you sprinted up to them, but the actual act of you holding them close and giving them a flustered kiss on the cheek left them whirring and slightly glowing in the face. It was hard to see with how your own eyes closed in nervous giggles, but you could swear the parts of their face they were unable to hide by tilting their head away was swirled with a thousand little glowing freckles. 

It was adorable, and if they hadn’t cut you off you would have informed them of this yet again. 

They placed their hands on your shoulder and cleared their throat artificially, trying to get their fans working enough to clear the warmth from their face. 

You were pushed far enough away to look at them, and they began talking in what you vaguely recognized was a somewhat serious tone of voice for them, “After some talking with the others, some people would like to talk with you about what happened... before. With evil me. Nothing bad! Just... wanting to hear what you saw. ...They’re convinced I’m making half of it up, but they said if you agreed with me about what happened then it’s going to be resolved. The dimension we came from has been blocked off, regardless, but they want to know if this is someone we need to protect ourselves against.”

Lunar speaks clearly as they talk, the slightly silly way they normally hold themself absent. You nod, trying to look as serious as you could while still very visibly in your pajamas. They either didn’t notice or didn’t care as they smiled at you before releasing you to beckon through the door, holding it open for you. 

You scrambled to throw your shoes on, having to wear the sensible sneakers you had worn before without socks due to the time crunch, and hurried out the door with your jacket barely around your shoulders. The bot chuckled at your scrambling, but made a point to walk with you at your pace once you were out of the house. 

The two of you walked hand in hand to the portal just outside the house. You hesitated walking into it, worried about what had happened last time. 

The night after you had been thrown in the portal was... a substantial reason why Lunar was in such hot water with their family. You had cuddled up to them the last night to stargaze before falling asleep outside on the grass. It was a picturesque way to end such an endeavor, but when you had woken up scared when your living pillow had vanished (inside to go get some breakfast) their family decreed it to be the last straw for Lunar putting you in harm's way without good reason.

 All to say, you were chaperoned through the portal to a nicer place to stay for a long talk with the family therapist. And you learned, very quickly, you disliked the portal. Therapy was canceled in favor of your darling’s older brother declaring you sick from stargazing after the intense nausea of having your atoms rearranged left you rearranging what was left in your stomach into the kitchen trash can. 

So now you were standing at the same portal you had been banned from walking through alone. You glanced at the bot for comfort, holding their hand tighter with worry. Your hand squeeze isn’t returned, instead leaving your hand to fall to your side as they lean down to pick you up instead. 

Your hands flutter about, moving to grip onto ruffles and soft material around their arms. They grin at you from your slight struggling, turning to a laugh when you pout and push your head into their ruffles. 

They walk you through the portal, holding you tight as the mana attempts to whip you around. They walk out on their feet, unlike you did, and carry you over to the nearby desk. You assume you're being carried somewhere with them, but they place you down at a desk seat on the side.

 They move around in the background as you try to separate your stomach churning from your heart fluttering. Eventually you focus back in to realize that they have been bringing you things, placing a trashcan near your knees and piling little snacks like crackers and animal cookies on the desk, leaning against said desk to look at you. You smile at them, grabbing for some animal crackers and sitting up. 

You make a slight ‘gimme’ motion at them to gesture them closer, making them chuckle and pull up a seat. It’s a quiet moment that you vaguely recognize out of character for them. You realize that they were likely stressed about it all, torn in one thousand directions and still staying by your side. You try to think of what you could do, but nothing really comes to mind. 

So, with your brain focusing on how to help, your mouth takes the reins to instead begin spouting bullshit, “I’ve been researching the person we saw in the other dimension. I mean, not them really. They... showed me a star map, and they said some stuff about that universe. I looked into the stars that they talked about and I found some interesting things. Nothing really- ah- useful? Just... interesting.”

Lunar turns to you mildly intrigued as you realize you’re rambling, but you're too close to full blown infodumping to stop, “Did you know that the second brightest star in Gemini is actually a star system? It’s a six star system with three sets of stars that internally rotate around themselves, and one of the sets of stars frequently eclipse the others due to being darker. A pure stellar eclipse! And- and did you know that only eight of the stars within the constellation have planets? One of the most famous stars within it contains one, but it’s just an exoplanet. And- And the comets! Oh, the comets! One of the richest sets of comets is tied to the constellation that comes by in mid December! There's also a neutron Pulsar star within it that's very interesting- if you enjoy those-”

You end up waving your hands, trying to find a way to continue. Slowly, you slump into the chair in embarrassment, placing your head into your hands to hide away. You knew you were alot, but damn. A full blown ramble about your interests while trying to comfort them? God, no wonder everyone who dated you before just wanted you to shut up, by the time the bot breaks up with you they’re going to end up regretting ever asking you about space to start.

Your torn between telling yourself off for your space rambling and kicking yourself for thinking negatively about something you consider a loved one (What kind of precident does it give for Lunar if the night sky you love is something you mock? ...God, you had issues.) when you felt a nudge against your shoulder.

Lunar had rolled their chair over to yours, looping an arm around you. The nudge against your shoulder hadn’t been their arm, but instead them poking you on the shoulder. You slowly moved from your spot hiding away to look at them, watching as they seemed to calm as you came out of your metaphorical and literal shell again.

They clicked their faceplate to the right three notches, “Are you alright?” ...Joy. You’d worried them. 

You stutter out a dismissal before looking around the room, sighing and talking, “...I’m sorry. For rambling. I just... I know you enjoy that stuff, but I know it’s just- ...I promise I’m working on not talking over people. It’s taking a while, but I am working on it.”

The bot clicks their head again in what you realize is a 90 degree angle of confusion before straightening it in one rapid motion, “I- I didn’t mind! I didn’t know most of that! I thought it was fun! ...It made me feel better!”

You smile at them and look away. It was nice of them to say that, it made you feel a bit better.

They didn’t seem to be happy with just a ‘bit better’ though, moving the arm around your shoulder to pull you just a hair closer and your eyes to theirs, “I love hearing you talk about this stuff! It’s- it’s so interesting to hear about! I always love anything to do with space, so learning about it from that front is so unique! ...I thought I knew everything there was to know on earth about that constellation, but there’s more!” They brighten before turning to look away and cough, “I mean, I probably should tell you to stop researching that constellation, not that you would be able to find much you aren’t supposed to. ...But it’s amazing to hear about.” They turn to you at the end, softening as they seem to think about what you said. 

You move forward just a hair, talking softly, “What’s your favorite part about outer space?”

They fluster a bit, having been lost in thought seemingly thinking about something far off. For a moment you think you’re going to have to repeat yourself, but they respond after a bit to process, “...The stars. The rest of it is interesting but... those are- ...It’s complicated. But the stars.”

You light up a bit, grabbing your phone and digging through your history. The bot leans over to look as you dig through for your notes, starting to explain what you’ve figured out, “Alright so- The Gemini constellation is difficult to research since alot of the things that pop up are about the Gemini observatory in Hawaii. However! Alot is kept very well recorded due to the fame of the constellation being on the Zodiac. There’s alot of history with it, aswell as alot of very odd decisions regarding it’s naming and designations since it was done very early into the process due to it’s fame. For example! Normally the main, or Alpha for the military style alphabetical coding, star is whichever is brightest! However since recording devices for measuring brightness came later they accidentally named Castor to be the brightest, when it’s actually Pollux! Those two stars are named after the greek mythos, with Alhena being named for the constellation’s alternate name in Arabic which refers to a different constellation system, where the same star is part of a camel. Alot of the star’s in the brightest star’s list follow the trend of being either binary or multiple star systems”

Lunar stared on as you rambled, seeming to only move to react to what you said in little clicks of their faceplate or to move their hands around. You were moving like wild too, overjoyed to explain, “It’s so interesting too! Did you know that there are only 18 discovered sextuplet star systems ever discovered! And- and the specific set up is so unique too, due to the rarity of the systems! A triple system of binary systems! With one of the Binary’s orbiting the other two circling each other! And- And....”

You trail off, trying to catch your spot where you were. You look back at the bot to ask if they remembered where you were, but they were very clearly lost in thought, thinking of something far away. You sigh and sit closer, shaking them back to the real world again gently. You end up quietly discussing the stars you had been worried about with held hands in the daycare, Lunar glancing at the door every time you brought up the twin stars. Waiting for the twin brothers, you assume. It was sweet though, and you hold their hands close to you as you described every little thing you learned, Lunar only stopping you to correct you on the smallest of things. How they remembered that Pollux was a yellow hued star you had no idea, but you listened in quiet as the two of you talked. 

It felt... safe again. For the first time since the Monstrosity had stolen you away. ...You finally felt like the stars were in the sky again. 

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Talking with Lunar’s family... sucked. 

They seemed like nice people! You enjoyed their company! But they completely distrusted you for the most part.

The large Moon bot had begun the conversation, “So, Lunar says you remember the same story as them about the universe you were dragged into. Care to explain- without Lunar’s input?”

It was clear the entire conversation they were convinced you and Lunar were full of crap somehow. A version of someone with the star that not only took over the planet, but also the extended universe? It felt unreal. You knew nothing about the star they talked about, but once they saw your reaction to what the false lunar did with it they seemed to almost doubt you completely. They reluctantly agreed to look into it (At Sun’s request, who you were growing a rapid preference of. He was too overprotective when you first met, but at least he was willing to listen to you.) 

All you knew about the situation was that there was something you were saying the falsity had and had done, and those two were not lining up in a way that pointed to good things. 

Lunar had stood both their own and your ground, not quite standing up against their siblings but making a point to not let them talk over you. If you said something was important they would butt in until you were heard, but didn’t say what they felt about it all. It was sweet.

Eventually the group agreed to find more hard evidence to find what was going on, largely to avoid some kind of retribution. 

Moon had looked worried towards the sky, as if looking for something up there listening in, “If the twins suspect there’s even the possibility of the star somehow doing that kind of damage, I doubt we would have been allowed to keep it for that long. Not to mention if Lunar was capable of doing that kind of damage I doubt they would have been allowed to keep their abilities.”

You had looked up confused at where he was talking about, trying to find a hole in the ceiling to let either the light or the night sky through. It must have slipped through somewhere though, because you heard Lunar give out a shout before you could whip around. 

A... Man? About Lunar’s height, perhaps a touch taller, was suddenly standing between the two of you facing towards Moon with a mildly annoyed look on their face. He stares at moon before turning to look at Lunar when Moon doesn’t clarify, “What kind of damage, exactly, would cause me to take away the things I have explicitly told you not to mess with exactly?”

Lunar waves their hands around in a noticeably worried way, and you realize the figure before you isn’t exactly human. It reminded you of an interpretation of the fear of biblical angels, where someone was comforting someone else about the monstrous things. About how you shouldn’t fear the ones not changing shape since they came without a reason for you to be afraid, but instead fear the ones pretending to be human since they were the massagers bearing the impossible tasks. 

The thing before you wore an attempt at humanity, and it made you hyper aware of the flaws in the disguise instead. 

His hair flowed in ways you couldn’t quite name for a moment before you recognized the pattern from the flow of stellar wind, and his curls seemed to loop around themselves in patterns you only recognized in the swirling clouds of Europa. His skin seemed to glimmer in a way that shone more like light reflecting through a swirling cloud of opaque liquid than it did in glimmers, but little thin spots in the swirls shone through like the universe giving someone the world’s truest angel-kissed freckles. The very fabric of their being seemed to shine through the haphazard warning in their appearance, and yet the tunic he wore that drifted to his knees was stitched in a way that betrayed gentle hands with many small, carefully placed stitches. An angel wearing hand stitched clothes, come to deliver divine opinion on the discussion. 

Lunar looked like they’d been caught by the space feds. 

The bot began nervously explaining rapidfire the situation, “Well- You know how before I asked if you saw everything that went down in the whole me getting dragged through to another dimension fiasco? Well... I asked that because another version of me- that was much younger, and different from me-me, got the star and did some really nasty stuff. They acted really really cruel, and they ended up making alot of people upset. We were agreeing they likely can’t do as much as they pretended they could though, since you would know more than us if they somehow got the ability from the star to do that type of stuff! So! We’re not messing with that stuff again! Someone was just.... Mean to us using it! In another dimension!”

The angel seemed to think it over for a moment, and for a brief second you wondered if you were going to taste holy fire. He looked back over to the ballpit before turning to Moon, “However you keep people from another dimension out, do that for everyone like that. There’s no point in figuring out what the ‘Newton star’ could have done, we already know enough about it- that it shouldn’t have ever existed. No testing about it, just let that universe be.”

The angel began to walk away, cueing Lunar to run after him with more explanations about everything. Something about what the other Lunar had done, something about the others thinking the both of you weren’t correct... Just generally giving a presentation on it all while the angelic being seemed to barely be listening. 

You turned back to the group to ask if this was alright, but they seem to barely be phased by it. When Sun sees you confusedly watching Lunar walk away with the angel they smile a bit and explain, “Lunar and the twins... they tend to forget they were originally in conversations when they start talking. Lunar and his sister both tend to run off, and I suppose he's so used to them that he just assumed it’s normal for Lunar to drop things at random to follow. So they tend to walk in one direction and forget what they were going in the other. It’s just how they are. No offense was meant, I’m sure.”

You nod, surprised the angry being was apparently doing this as an affectionate measure. ...Hey, anything to keep you from getting in trouble with whoever that was. You wonder though why Sun had been so keen to keep his name to themself, as if he somehow feared retribution from the being. ...Lunar had mentioned that several of the people they worked with didn’t want them saying anything about what they were learning, but it saddened you somewhat to know you couldn’t even meet their friends. Still, you were sure they would get along with you eventually. You would stick around long enough to get to know them, they had to tell you their names eventually. 

You ended up sitting in the daycare, being told to stay away from the ballpit and under the watch of the Moon animatronic while they waited for Lunar to come back so they could finish deciding things on the Evil Lunar situation, this time with more input from the angel they were purposefully dodging saying the name of. 

The daycare was... about as it was last time. Lots of independent work coloring and treasure maps, lots of little laminated things and papers placed into paper protectors to keep juice away from the important put away lists and the cleaning lists placed behind the desks. You saw binders filled with various cleaning logs and the assorted guides on what protocols to follow for if children were sick, or people needed to file various reports. Several were messier than others, with the protocol book for cleaning the various soft structures tellingly covered in various arts and crafts colored substances. 

It was well lived in space, that sung of the years spent there by both the children who played there and the people who kept it running despite the likely low wage. It felt homey, in a sense. 

It was why you rapidly noticed the flowers. 

You had been looking around the area when you saw the little vase, carefully made with what seemed to be terracotta. ...It was the texture of terracotta, but the clay that made it up was almost too bone charred white. The flowers inside were almost glowing in a sense, but you had the odd feeling that despite knowing next to nothing about botany you felt as if they didn’t belong in this area. They were too bright, and warped in ways that made you doubt they would ever be shipped here for decoration. They were big, fat, misshapen blooms that seemed to almost meld together, like somehow had tried to fire a whole bouquet of glass flowers at the same time and they melted instead of tempered. The leaves were bright green, but the dense green flowers bunched together with swollen and water logged stamen. 

You got the feeling that whatever deity had made these hadn’t studied flowers for very long before deciding to leave them here. 

You got up to approach the vase, worried now that Lunar’s friend would be upset that these were here somehow. You found the vase to have been carved with little patterns of swirls, each having a matching swirl before connecting to an unmatched swirl right below. There was a small yellow card on it, simply labeled with your name. 

You stared at it before picking the thing up, feeling the odd need to show Lunar about the strange flowers before anything else. ...You got the sense that the familiar bot would know more about what was giving the deeply odd feeling that you would, or atleast know more about who to ask about it. 

You began walking through the building, hearing yelling in the floors below but chalking it up to the employee’s fighting over something. Moon didn’t bat an eye at you leaving, too entrenched in his own work to notice you ever stood up. You walked out, listening for the sound of what you realized was likely construction on the floors below and for the sound of talking further away. 

In the distance you heard a light, gentle laughter that sounded like an angel’s choir, so you figured you would follow to try to find Lunar’s friend if no one else. 

You came across a room out of the way of the rest of the Daycare, up a set of stairs and into a sunroom labeled the theater. An exhausted employee that looked like sun manned the ticket booth, but due to some dubious ethics and him being passed out still clutching a coffee pot you slipped through the line after the noise. 

...It was for the sake of the multiverse after all. You were sure Lunar’s... Weird clone of their bright yellow brother? Would understand. 

You followed the noise into the movie theater, spotting the large fluff of white hair before anything else. 

A lady with bright white hair was excitedly pointing around the paused movie’s screen to point things out in the movie as the person beside her nodded and listened, only commenting when she pointed out something they seemed to find interesting. The taller lady, who you realized must be the large but kind Earth Lunar had mentioned before, was excitedly showing some scene from an animated move made in early 2000’s 3D animation. She was pointing out facts about the actors and the story, but the person beside her only commented when she brought up things like the animals or the type of grass. Eventually Earth swung her arm around far enough to change the angle of her head, and she caught you out of the corner of her eye enough to turn to face you.

It was quiet for a half moment before you heard a rustle, and another face popped over the seat to stare at you aswell. 

This one, which you instantly realized to be the sister twin to the angel you had seen before, had longer hair and much more earth-like features. She wasn’t more human than her brother, but she was far more acclimated in a sense. Her hair resembled the patterns of grass and swirling water rich clouds, and she seemed to have turned the little dots along her into melanin faked dots instead of allowing the light to shimmer through in rich droves. She smiled at you in a way that made you hyper aware of the human second sense for something pretending to be a packmate before the larger, more humanoid looking robot finally talked, “...Hello? Did you rent out this room? Solar said there was no one who needed it, but we can leave if-”

You begin waving your free hand around, not wanting to already make an awful impression on Lunar’s sister, “No! You’re fine! I just... I heard what sounded like Lunar and their friend, and I was trying to find where one of them went! I’m sorry, I think I mixed up your friend laughing for her brother. I just... I found a plant? And I wanted to show Lunar. I think there’s something wrong with it.”

The sister thankfully seemed more amused that you mixed her and her brother up at such a distance, but Earth seemed to delight in the news of an odd plant. She was rushed over to you excited to see it before seeming to slow as she came closer, eventually towering over you looking at it confused. She was slowly looking at the thing before turning to the sister star and giving what you could only describe as a worried pout. Said starling came over to investigate herself, looking it up and down and rocking on her feet for a moment. It was... the closest you had gotten to either of the angels, it was filling you with a feeling you normally only felt for automated programs on old computers and the ways the stars shone in mathematically calculated ways. For a perfect, blissful second you understood perfectly how a machine would feel being calibrated to find the distance between one star and another using the most familiar star in the night sky, the world’s more perfect marking place...

“...Would your name happen to be Pollux by any chance?”

She turned up happily to you to nod her head, looking back at the plant to turn it around. Earth seemed surprised before mumbling under her breath about how Moon wasn’t supposed to have told you that, leaving you confused as to how you had known on such an inherent level that the being before you was somehow connected to the place you found everything else in the night sky. ...You couldn’t complain too much though, she was just familiar in a way that made her knowable to you in that sense. 

She finally hands the plant off to Earth, happy to turn to the two of you and report back on her opinion of the thing, “That's not from this universe! It shouldn’t be here.”

...You get the sense your reading of her being happy at the moment was wrong somehow. 

She turns to Earth the same smile on her face as before, but if you were careful to watch her eyes you could catch what you was certain was an undercurrent normally unseen on planets- a rapid swirling saved for the moons and rare gas giants that contained winds moving too fast to keep the soil held in place. Worry, perhaps. Anger, more likely. 

She turned to you and took your hand, and in your prior analysis you would have been overtaken by the joy of holding something so familiar so close. You now just felt the prickling worry crawl over from before about higher beings pretending to be human as she began to drag you out of the theater. 

You were pulled out as Earth followed behind, seemingly trying to apologize for the angel with the tight grip on your wrist. You followed, suddenly aware something was very wrong, but got the sense the navigating star was less the threat but far more what she was leading the ship towards. You approached the daycare again as you heard the low hum of construction below, looking around rapidly. 

The guiding light looked around the area, trying to sense for something familiar. You wondered if she was literally sensing or somehow trying to locate with the universe itself when she turned at random to look down, as if she was looking through the floor. Despite being on the first floor, you were suddenly aware the noise from below was on the level straight beneath you. 

You turned back to the star to realize that she too was suddenly gone, a rush of wind being all that remained.

Earth finally caught up, looking around for the star as she rushed to continue apologizing and telling... someone off. She jolted when she felt the construction shake the building around you, jolting to look down before yelling for you to get into the theater and running for the stairs. 

...Construction work shouldn’t jolt the building around it. 

You heard what sounded like a wall falling below you, and suddenly realized Earth had pressed the vase full of mangled flowers into your hands. ...The flowers that looked like something that didn’t ever love the concept of life enough to learn to imitate it. 

...Before you could decide if what you were doing was even remotely the smart decision, you were rushing after the robot, dashing down the stairs and rushing towards the employee only door behind the admissions desk. Earth was yelling for you to go the other direction, the stairs too long for you to run after her without being audibly behind her. Whatever was happening was too worrisome for her to actually stop you though, so you just had to trust your instincts and rush in after. 

The room you entered... wasn’t pretty. 

Pollux was standing behind a wall, yelling in some language you didn’t understand as someone- Moon, upon better look- tried to stop her from rushing in. She turned to scream at him but the building gave a roar like it was fighting the urge to turn to the rumble from whence it came. You were hauled along with Earth towards the hideaway, but you caught a glimpse of the nightmare beyond the veil in the seconds between the walls separating the doorway. 

Flashes of light pounded against the room as whatever inside was fighting shrieked at each other in a tongue you didn’t know. A blast would rip through the air in the room right as the bundling of noise within would compound, like it was swallowing the sudden rush of air. The shrieking would continue, only for the air itself to deflate right before a secondary wave of compounding would strike, all before the cycle started again.

You were pulled over to the huddling group, looking around like wild for Lunar and their angel. The only people in the room were You, earth, Moon, and the star Moon was trying to keep from rushing into the room. The bot handed over a ringing phone to Earth to focus on hauling her away from the doorway, much to her upset. You were left confused why she was so worried about the situation, not holding the air of cosmic yet pure intention she had before.

You were staring at her yell and shove the bot away when another one of the unintelligible shrieks went through the air. She turned to the cry and made a similar noise, and you realized with a horrible, sinking dread what was making that noise inside. 

When something cracked within the room you were suddenly aware the monster within was snapping angel wings. 

The being of light shoved the bot off to rush forward to protect the angel within, but the bot grabbed her shifting form as much as he could to haul her back, “Pollux. Listen to me, for the love of god. We can’t fire the portal if you are in there. If Castor gets pulled through he can’t reform if you’re pulled through, right?”

She whipped around in a motion that left her hair flaming around her, a pissed off corona, “He won’t need to reform if I get in there! Neither of us will! Let go of me, or I will teleport in and pull you with me , regardless of what's in there.”

Moon went to respond to the Star when the wall gave a deep groan, and you had to dodge as the wall gave under the pressures within the room. You were thrown off your feet by the rush of air back into the doorway, barely kept near the new entryway by the rocks that had fallen just in time to make a good foothold to keep your place.

Pollux had rushed inside in the spare moments between the walls falling down and Moon stumbling back to his feet, creating what sounded like a whole new hellstorm within. You were brought back to the room you were already in by Earth pushing the drywall off of herself, looking around and rushing out while holding the phone to her ear while yelling for someone to do something with a portal. 

You dragged yourself a touch more forward, trying to see where the doorway was. To your right was the hallway out, but on instinct you glanced left into the room where the chaos was happening. 

There, in the middle of the room whipping reality around them like an unlucky garden snake, was the false Lunar. 

The room was havoc incarnate, with the faux robot walking towards a form you barely recognized as Lunar due to all the powered drywall piled onto them. They’d been thrown through a wall at some point, and the other-Lunar was slowly but surely making their way over to them. The falsity kneeled down to where they were laying against the disaster of it all to gently lift their head up, turning to say something mocking by the look on their face. 

There was a flash of light rushing forward, but the Other-Lunar was on their feet and tearing the location of the room apart before it could reach them. Reality was thrown around like a toddlers least loved toy as the light was thrown in it’s path sidewards, rushing it into the concrete of the wall. The earth shattering crash that ensued caused the building to rumble in the way you realized had caused what you had assumed to be construction noises earlier, but the mind breaking shriek that followed it sounded more like a ghost crying out the sound of the cassowary that gutted them. 

The light that had poured itself into the wall following the switch around of locations and reality stumbled out of the newly formed dent, reforging itself into a humanoid shape. The light solidified into formations the eyes could see, shifting through the color spectrum before letting the blues linger into yellows around the hands and feet. The angel- the one from earlier, now no longer as humanoid in appearance- was warping around itself in ways that made you understand why those who witnessed such a thing insisted they had wings that shifted to conceal them. 

In the time it took for your mind to process the formation of the being back into what was knowable and understandable it had shifted again into something nonphysical, flinging itself at the Falsity. The world around you seemed to hear it’s anger as the surrounding rubble swarmed the other-Lunar, tearing through the air in ways that made it feel like they were more tuned into the movement of the currents than the rubble flying through it. The light was dodged again though, and the rubble was ripped apart or vanished entirely before it could reach where the oddity was sitting proudly next to the true Lunar. 

The following crash was largely ignored by the proud looking bot, who walked over to the clearly injured beloved of yours to scruff them by the hoodie and haul to their feet, despite clearly being disoriented. Your darling looked sick to their stomach and hurt, with the fabric of their hoodie having been torn asunder to reveal their shoulder had been ripped at like a feral dog had found them to be too tempting to not try a taste of. The circuitry of their upper chest cavity was barely visible under the dust, with the faint glow of starlight filtering through the wiring and debris. Their arm, hanging on by reinforcements to their joints, was loose by their side from where the ball in the balljoint seemed to have been ripped out in a fashion less injurious and more surgical. 

The reality between you and your sweetheart was distorted again as a flash of aquamarine light ripped through with a sound like a fighter jet racing to land rushed the two bots and was thrown off course again. The ensuing crash sounded more meaty this time, and with a glance you realized with a grimace that the being had reformed into a physical form before reaching the wall, making the dent smaller but the angel visibly more distorted. 

Your scruffed bot was abandoned, dropped to the floor like a forgettable stuffed animal, in favor of the monstrosity moving to look at the fallen angel’s broken wings. 

You heard a shriek like wing rushing through a tunnel too weak to hold it before you heard yelling from a distinctly robotic voice. The oddity didn’t bother to turn back to even look at it though, continuing towards it’s new ragdoll with seemingly more joy in it’s eyes. They reached the being of light with a joy in their step, approaching him with a skip and a hop as he struggled to reach his feet again. He looked moments from reforming into light itself when the false Lunar reached him and swung their foot forward, sending his head cracking against the floor again with a loud snap. The shrieking call of something angry beyond concept echoed through again, and the oddity smiled bigger as they swung their foot backwards to deepen the arc and the eventual whip-crack of the angel’s bones against the unfinished floor. 

Before the wind could rush through and destroy the structure of the unfinished basement your darling stumbled to their feet, with a look of hatred so deep in their eyes one could feel it in their bones. The monstrosity turned to them curious, placing their foot back down to where the newly concussed angel was regaining his focus, as your darling stumbled to their feet to move towards the being of destruction with what you could only assume was violent intent. The false Lunar waited until they had gotten close enough to begin yelling at them, screaming about how monstrous they were, to swing a hand and have the world around them glitch until the bot was snapped against the wall in a way that audibly sounded like the internals of a computer falling apart under pressure, like a laptop giving under a too thin casing and a handhold not filled with love. 

You were racing into the room after them before your mind could reason otherwise. 

The rubble around you did not circulate into the air as you moved around the newly re-bouldered concrete to reach your darling, nor did you feel the snap and crackle of the world disjointing itself to meet the whims of something that did not love you or it.  Instead you reached your darling in a fit of fear and horror, moving to lift them to check for damage. 

Their shoulder had been damaged more, taking the blunt of the impact, but part of their faceplate was cracking in ways that made their hat sag without the additional support to hold it tall and proud. The fluffy white hem now sat over their brow, barely revealing their dazed but visibly still powered eyes. You waved a hand infront of them, horrified, and gave a whole body shudder of relief when they blinked in vague recognition. 

Dread replaced that when you heard the dragging of something being barely washed out by the continued shrieking of the wind. 

You sheltered your eyes from the sight, choosing to focus on your darling and moving them into a stable position where the wind could not pull them around. It would do little if the universe itself was moved, but it was all you knew to do to protect them from the thing twirling the world around you. The wind seemed to calm as you did so, and while your body wanted to relax at the sound of the world quieting your brain instead used the quiet to hyperfocus on the sound of a prone body being dragged towards you. 

You felt the heat of something trying to pull the fires of the sky down in retribution more than you truly noticed that they had reached you. 

The angel was back to struggling again, not really having the strength to sit up but instead trying to form itself into light to send the world around them into the skull of the being dragging it. The falsity smiled wide at you once you turned to them, walking up to you holding the astronomical equivalent of a rapidly firing hydrogen bomb like a misbehaving toddler. They hauled the being by the rapidly reforming and disforming bundle of faux cloth around his neck as they dragged him forward, swinging their arm in their stride to slide him across the floor. 

You moved to dodge, but the being slammed into you regardless, pushing you back a foot or so into a small pile of rubble you had tucked Lunar behind. It was odd touching the angel, feeling the heat of him trying to surpass the laws against matter becoming light as he raged. He would move to rise and then fall again, less in the way a solid matter would and more in the way a liquid would bubble as it turned into a solid. Like a cake, or a rapidly forming block of ash. The False being ended your introspection into the nature of such a thing early, leaning down to look at you over the horrifically angry angel with almost mocking eyes. 

They took your hand gently where you had instinctively placed it onto the angel’s shoulder in the crash and moved to towards the side, where the angel’s reforming and disforming body was trying to place an arm to lift himself into a sitting position, “Keep this here, alright? I’m about to show you something fun these guys do.”

The decay riddled bot smiled wide as they gently talked, as if trying to teach a child a new way to color or make a craft. They smiled down at the bot with a loving look in their eyes as they swung their arm back and tore it down through the air at a speed that betrayed them moving the matter around them rather than actually moving themselves. You caught a look of anger and upset on the angel’s face before their brows were covered by the beings fist, cracking the being of light against the floor again with a force that made you worried for the small portion of your legs underneath the piece of sky. 

The light on him died down as he solidified again, now a more night-sky mauve that you recognized from when you met him pre-conflict to be the color his others were layered on top of. His eyes looked different than how Lunar’s had before, something you realized when the monstrosity lifted his head to show you his face more clearly. It was kneeling infront of the angel’s legs to analyze his face, looking up with you with proud eyes and an expression made more for cats catching canary than a destructive force that nature never intended. 

They tilted the angel’s head up slightly more, revealing in the action they were holding him more by the neck than the chin, and began explaining their little trick to you, “When they form into a body similar to that of another species, they have to pick a place to hold most of their energy. This one is a star system, so they have to find a place that holds the energy while concealing the movement within. They usually do this by adding layers to themselves, like the bangs here, see? So when you hit them there, it gives... a slight disconnect from the place they are in space and the place they are in their body. Like sending human’s into a dissociation fit! Very convenient for when they are acting... annoying!”

You glanced between the seemingly out of body being slightly in your lap and the corrosive parasite pretending to be the one you held dearest, “...Why are you here? How?”

They smiled sweetly at you, “I wasn’t finished with our time together. Sure, your dimension’s moon was rude enough to block me from interacting for a while, but after a few years I got bored enough to come through and see for myself how you were doing. The conversion time between our universes is pretty extreme, so it wouldn’t have been long here... but I missed you! So now I’m here again! Fun, huh? Besides, I would never pass up a chance to see these two again! My Gemini hasn’t unfused since the first few decades of me having them! Not willingly, anyways. It’s been a while since I put in the effort to force them apart, so this is a good chance for me to take in the sights of them again! I almost forgot how fun Castor’s reactions are! Look at him, struggling to reform. Adorable. ”

You looked back at the injured piece of cosmos, who was infact twitching as he seemed to be trying to pull the blues back into himself. Lunara placed their hand on his head again, turning back to you instead of re-injuring him immediately, “Do you wanna do the honors? I know you probably haven’t been shown how to do it properly yet, but I’m happy to show you! ...He makes this amazing expression when he comes back fully at whoever knocked him out, it’s worth the elbow grease.”

You shake your head no rapidly, much to the beings clear delight. You talk though, since it’s taunting gives you an in to ask questions, “How- how are you-”

It cuts you off before your fair end of the game can be fulfilled, “Using my powers in another dimension? Oh, don’t worry too much about that. When you’re the only thing in a universe still remaining from what was originally there, you get... special privileges for where you can use your ability to warp that universe. Besides! The beings here get.... Special rules for who can do what to them. The magic power to manipulate light itself transfers alot easier for moving around light in other worlds than say... making something in another world!”

“I... I meant... how are you here. Why are you here.” it was a stuttered sentence, with lots of repetition from the times you had to wet your tongue to speak it due to how dry your mouth had become. 

They sighed a picked up the limp body of the angel to wave at you, holding him by the neck and arm to gesture with like you had just asked something deeply stupid. You looked between the semi-conscious body and the oddity before clarifying yourself, “What are you going to do. While you are here.”

It glanced between the crumpled angel and you again before expanding on their annoyed expression, “...To continue what i’m doing. Duh . I’m here to have fun! Everything in my universe to do has been done already, and you have fresh meat here! I bet this version of him hasn’t ever been torn apart yet! I mean... actually. That sounds like an amazing introduction for you! Here, you place your hands on his head and I’ll start the process.”

You watch in horror as the being draws their claws, grabbing your hands with far too much force to place on his shoulders with a careful circle rub on the back of your hands, stinging instantly from where the claws quickly drew blood just a hair upwards. Their eyes linger on the fresh red blood before moving down to where the star was twitching in your new forced grasp as they approached the light’s chest, beginning to tear at the tunic to reveal the yellow skin of his collarbones. 

He was awake. He wasn’t passed out, he was fully aware. You... you were about to watch the sleep paralysis demon come to life flay him conscious and unwilling. 

In a moment that made you feel infinitely more like a martyr than a hero you were releasing the beings shoulders to throw yourself at the entity. 

You were caught around the neck by sharp, laughing claws. The entity lifted you up in a smooth, simple motion that betrayed the original intent in how they had sat, and you were lifted to standing and struggling by something you realized had intended to taunt you to fighting back the entire time. 

You were slammed into the pile of gravel as they leaned forward with a joy filled look in their eye, “It’s alright... hey, it’s alright! I’ve learned since I’ve trained the first few friends I’ve kept. You have to teach them what they’re allowed to do! Where the boundaries are! Everyone gets scared the first time, it’s alright. Just sit back down, and I’ll let this one pass, alright? No punishment the first time.”

The felt something akin to rage as you swing your hands at them wildly, trying to tear at them in some meaningful way for long enough to give the angel below you time to rise up again. They just smiled though as your nails harmlessly grazed them. 

You were panting but ready to continue fighting when you were placed back next to the rapidly re-rising angel. The counterfeit seemed overjoyed at the fact, placing your still struggling hands against his shoulders again, “Now this time, you’re going to let me work. Or else I’ll have to give dear, sweet Lunar a lovely little trinket to remember you by! I think... an eye would suffice! They save quite well in resin.”

The direct threat quelled the retribution rushing through you into cold fear again, and where once the adrenaline coursing through you had made you feel untouchable you now felt like a forgotten slide still lingering in a microscope. 

The being placed themselves back over the stellar force, tearing at the tunic again gently to pull away the symbol emblazoned on his chest. He struggled a bit, eyes still to glassy to show much but with enough recognition in them to prove he was back in his body. They drew their claws and in a movement too swift to even give the hint of them intending to let you cross and tear them away tore into the flesh. 

...You expected a wound. You expected few and yet many things. Yet when the two sides of the cut were separated somehow you were surprised to see a consistent matter within the star. A solid, not unlike the images of hot plastic perfectly uniform and yet putty like in it’s solidity, laid within rather than forming a true cavity. It was mesmerizing for a moment, giving you a looking into the stars itself 

And then the light came rushing out. The star gave what sounded like a pained exhale as the matter within rapidly came to terms with being visible and either rushed outwards onto the falsities hands or within the form a false cavity like a humans, devoid entirely of a heart of respiratory system and yet trying to reflect the emptiness of a human’s chest. 

You watched in horror as the entity reached within with a hum, pulling a handful of the golden lacquer and looking to you with the filled hand moving towards your face. Their other hand was suddenly in your hair, and you had an awful feeling about the destination of that poisonous ambrosia. 

Before he could reach you something collided with the band of their tiara and threw them from you. 

The faux-Lunar was thrown backwards, suddenly hissing like a red hot wire hitting a bucket of water. Your darling, your starlet incarnate, stood over you looking like an angel of vengeance with shaking, red hot anger flowing through their cooling system instead of coolant. The falsity rose again in a similar way, shaking and twisting in ways you were certain no amount of ball bearing could achieve, twisting the plastic of their body in places where the white of the material betrayed how fragile they were turning their form. They looked equally, if not more, pissed than your Lunar did. 

You noticed suddenly, due to the sudden lack of silence that the roaring of wind through the tunnel had started up again, this time without the loud yelling of robotic tones.

It went silent again as your darling threw themselves forwards. The two began trying to rip each other apart, slashing instead of pulling the universe into the fight. 

You scrambled backwards, dodging the rapidly accumulating debris before realizing the angel in front of you was in the line of fire. He seemed to be healing rapidly, twitching as he stitched himself back together. You still grabbed for his shoulders though and dragged him back, moving in front of him to give him time to attempt re-attaching himself.  

The two clashed as you watched on, wrapping the world around them or pulling the water from the atmosphere respectively as they clashed in what you could only compare to two weapons of destruction getting so angry they burst into a match of hand to hand combat instead. 

The angel of death swung for the faceplate of your darling instead of just whipping the world around, only to be blocked with an angry grab from your darling in an attempt to pull them downwards so your version of the bot could punch them dead in the throat. The hoax looked delighted by the whole thing, seemingly overjoyed at the new activity. 

You felt the red hot light of the angel finally finishing the process of coming back to life behind you. You turned to see pure fury and indignity on his face, the expression feeling almost wrong on what you had assumed before to be a cold character. You realized that while he was almost certainly going to need time before he could reform into light again that his pause was less of a rest and more of a rage filled stare, not focused on pulling himself into strings of light and more focused on finding every detail in the thing he was about to tear from ever having been part of this reality. 

You looked back to see Lunar throw a good punch and send the parasite back a good few feet, much to their enjoyment. The wind in the tunnel started to rush again before it quieted again as Lunar closed the gap, trying to rush forward like a boxer only to be thrown back by the faux-lunar with a punch to the shoulder. 

The star’s hatred induced staring at the fight drew you to watch it carefully, realizing that the wind in the area was spiking everytime the two were separated for long enough to pull the false bot backwards. 

You were suddenly remembering the conversation in the hall just prior to the wall falling down. The star rushing in to protect the rest of herself, the way moon talked of the portal pulling them both in...The way she had vanished in a burst of wind to find him down here. 

The wind rushing into the tunnel. 

You stared upwind with a look of sudden recognition, watching as the lights of the nearby room flickered when the two separated slightly. She was waiting for the monster to be far from the others . 

You felt the angel before you shift and attempt to stand, and all extreme devotion died down for a moment as you grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back. He whipped around rapidly, with a look of hatred on his face as you cut him off in a rapid whisper, “No! She’s trying to get them alone!”

He looked angry still, but where before he had been rising against your hands now he calmed in what you were forced to assume was him giving you permission to continue, “The- The star girl. Pollux. She and moon were talking about the portal. The wind only fires when the other-Lunar and Lunar are away from each other. I think she’s going to push them into the portal upstairs. If you rush them, they’ll get too close to you to push them through.”

He turned to the room, watching as Lunar proved your point with another punch that induced the air of the room to rush forward. His eyes seemed to cloud for a half moment as his mouth twitched like he was resisting the urge to move it to words not being audibly said. He turned to the situation again, seeming to believe you. 

He moved to stand again, and while you didn’t want to let him, you knew that he likely had a plan. He reached his feet with a sway before steadying himself against the unstable wall, looking at the fight. 

Once the set of Binary starlets twisted around again so Lunar was the one facing the two of you he yelled out, “Lunar! Wind! Push Lunara Northeast!”

The bots both paused for a half moment, with Lunara turning to the angel in humored surprise as the other loaded the command. The wind rushed forward in a way distinctly different from the hurricane the missing twin had been inducing, pushing the falsity away from them a bit. 

They looked humored, halfway through the process of beginning a snarky comment about Castor having to command the bot when the wind picked up again. Before they could say anything about the any of you, the ceiling above quaked with a pressure only describable as the force of a spinning tornado pulling the roof of a house down into it’s living quarters as hundreds of plastic balls flowed from the ballpit above. Lunara only had moments to glance up at it before everything in the room was thrown a little to the left and upwards, sending you careening against the wall with a crack and Lunar assumedly the same. 

An anger filled screech echoed through before the sound you remembered from being pulled through fired louder than before, an injured machine giving a harsh pull through. 

A final blast sounded moments before you were dropped from your place on the wall and you heard light flash forward to tackle something. 

You were laying on your back recovering, watching in the corner of your eye as the twin stars seemed to be united again. The lighter one- Pollux- seemed to have flash-tackled her other half into the ground. He seemed wildly uncomfortable, but he was focused on comforting her. 

You sat up, trying to feel for broken ribs. When nothing felt destroyed in any permanent way you made your way to your feet, feeling too dazed to realize how ridiculous it was to feel mildly embarrassed about having to pass around the reuniting forces of light. 

You slowly but surely made your way to where Lunar had landed, getting there a few seconds before their family did. You wrapped yourself around them before they could reach either of you, pressing your face into where the bot’s hood had fully fallen down. You held tight when hands attempted to gently pull at you, and you heard an equally dazed voice dismiss someone before an arm wrapped around you in a weak but tight embrace. 

The two of you were pulled out of the basement, with Lunar’s younger sister embarrassingly having to carry the two of you. You would have let go to walk, but you weren’t aware of the event largely. For a solid half an hour the world around you was just the confusing noises of your body processing the damage and the feeling of your starlet’s hood against your nose, focusing on the subtle ways they twitched to prove they were still alive. 

Eventually you tuned in to them rubbing your back as they talked to someone, more lighthearted sounding than expected. You lifted your head up to see their family talking in the corner of the room intensely about the whole of it as Lunar talked with the Stars. Pollux seemed to be back to her chipper-ish state while Castor seemed deeply annoyed, glaring at the now torn fabric of his shirt you were realizing was the topic of discussion.

The twins broke off into their own talk about how Pollux would be repairing it when Lunar turned to you, softening upon looking at you more aware. You moved yourself closer to sitting up with their help, wrapping your arms around their shoulders. They smiled softly at you, a look that seemed sad on their slightly warped faceplate. 

Their hand that was sat at their side twitched when you laced your fingers through, slowly but surely moving to hold your hand back. They started to talk, “Are you alright? Are you going to be alright? ...Do you want to leave?”

They were halfway through starting what you were certain was a series of dumb, self deprecating questions when you leaned forward to kiss them, pulling them towards you slightly with the arm around their shoulders. 

You could feel the hand supporting them consider rising to meet your shoulders before the head attached to it realized better. You pressed a second kiss onto them before they could respond, making them seem visibly frustrated that their only working hand was too busy to hold you back. You pulled away to giggle at them pouting at being unable to hold you closer. They sat up, forcing you away just a hair, before using the new position to free up the arm and pull you close again for another kiss. 

It was sweet, and filled with the love only achievable when you’ve just been drained after a rush of adrenaline. ...They were silly though, so after a few moments of kissing you were already laughing into it, unable to stay serious through their mumbles between kisses about how uncomfortable the concrete dust on the both of you was. 

You were laughing into their dust covered hoodie in minutes, too busy catching your breath laughing to continue your endeavor. The usable arm was wrapped around you, holding you close as Lunar seemed to finally find it funny as well. 

You were about to tell them just how cute they were when you looked up to notice the stars slightly closer, Pollux leaning over to investigate your amusement. You fluster at her looking at you laugh so hard, wrapping an arm around the bot to brace yourself into a more appropriate and professional looking position. 

The sudden weight change sends you and Lunar both sprawling backwards, the room now devoid enough of your laughter to hear the ringing of bells that was the angel laughing at the two of you. You sat back up to see her moving forward a bit more, much to your embarrassment. The more solitary twin was grinning at the bot from behind her as the two took in the soft moment. 

...The discussion in the back of the room proved that you needed to continue the repair of the situation, but now everything felt... connected enough. To give a moment to breathe between plans and the such. 

You flopped back onto where Lunar was still sprawled on the floor, giggling slightly. You heard a dragging of knees as the still sitting star moved forward a bit, and the bot seemed to give slightly as another weight piled onto them. You cracked your eyes open to see Pollux playing with Lunar’s hood, hands on their chest as she fidgeted with the bot. They seemed calm at the motion, likely used to it by the reaction. 

...You let the world around you continue spinning as you quietly took in the relief of the world feeling normal again, letting a second but equal weight settle onto your side as someone settled beside you to inch towards your bot to also fidget with the hat. 

The world spun peacefully, and you took a few minutes to breath somewhere between the atmosphere of your piece of sky and their angels. At long last, your adorations seemed to be something you were between, and not staring up at. 

Chapter Text

How in the world they made the floors in this daycare, you had no idea.

A hole in the material was a few inches from your head, revealing the softish plastic stuffing and the cut through what seemed to be tarp material. The Floors had to be custom made, you figured, since the material was interwoven with fibers you could only guess were there to keep the animatronics moving around on them from destroying the plastic layer on top.

After some more thought though, it may be for the children. Harsh hits of sneakers on floors, the terror of high heels attached to parents who only talk to people they meet through their children, and the harsh chemicals you could only imagined were dumped onto it at the end to clean up the rubber marks from the first and the thrown coffees from the second’s rage.

The plastic rip inches from you was likely the result of one such of the second case, perhaps worsened by excessive cleaning afterward. The plastic was warped in ways that tempted you to say heat, but then again it was in a spot that left it lightened and fraying with age. It could have been any number of things, but you somehow doubted it was anything normal given the people who cared for these floors.

...Speaking of abnormal.

You were still draped over your darling, who had long since stopped trying to catch their breath following the events of the incident hours prior and had moved solidly into rambling their heart out. Their family was sitting behind the lot of you, sprawled out on the floor still. The group has shifted slightly, mainly so the local mechanic could check if the limp arm was seriously damaged. It was, but the group wasn't asked to move. The mechanic had said something about how the damage was easily contained, and that while they would have to wire the bot to a new arm they weren’t in a position where they would be forced to move.

You and your darling had been willing to get up... but the slightly less familiar others hadn’t budged.

The sources of light- what you were still being forced to assume were angels- had barely even looked at the mechanic. The one behind you nodded along, at some points placing a hand on your shoulder to lift himself up to look taller for the mechanic, as he explained in fanciful terms that they would be staying here to continue working on the situation involving Lunara.

You don’t remember everything he said, but this seemed accurate. You were still trying to decipher if you were asleep when this maintenance happened, most of your knowledge was from someone else telling you. The yellow star- Pollux- was still playing with the bot’s hat when they had rambled at you following your panic induced sleep. Why, pertell, you kept falling asleep following stressful things you didn’t know. It was convenient enough for Lunar, who liked playing with your hands as you slept, but worse for the loved ones who were still mad at you for your message dodging endeavors.

Regardless, you were still laying on the floor, pressed between the star at your back and your darling bot.

Following the mechanics visit the star behind you had moved closer, trying to chase the mechanic away without having to put in much effort. He’d moved from playing with the bot’s hat to playing with his twin’s hair, supposedly trying to pull a clump of the concrete powder from her or the bot as he talked minimally. He spoke up to grumble about his torn outfit and to respond to his twin, but largely it was him either sitting above the bot to run his fingers across various fabrics or leaving his weight spread against you and Lunar.

It was... something! You were being quite normal about it! ...You weren’t being normal about it, but you were doing amazing keeping your mouth shut about the situation. You had only come close to full blown embarrassment once, when the star had leaned his head against yours to look at something on Lunar’s jacket that was at an awkward position to see. You’d frozen completely when he moved his hands to your shoulders to gently move you away, leaving you hyper aware of the fact that he didn’t breathe and that if he had, you would have been in contact with far too much of him.

You’d turned beet red, but he either didn’t notice or didn’t care. The kind of gall someone needed to have to hold someone a literal breath away. ...You wanted him to do it again.

He still had an arm around your shoulder, mainly using it to position himself as he talked with his twin. You were doing your best to focus on other things though.

Like the other angel, across the way.

The twin of the angel at your back was still sitting next to Lunar, although she was moving around like wild everytime a new conversation topic came up. She’d lean against your darling, and then the wall, and then walk around to lean against her brother. She’d move her hands as if she was trying to make up for how little Lunar could, and when she wasn’t the one talking she would move towards whoever was the most relevant to the conversation to pile her hands into whatever they were wearing or doing.

While her brother would run his fingers across things gently, like he was feeling the very fibers of the object, she would bury her hands in it. A difference between a feather light skim and a handful that grabbed at anything underneath. She’d grabbed your hand at one point, getting distracted in an attempt to pull you away from Lunar to tell them all about something. Her grip had been tight, almost dragging you across the bot. She’d held at that same pressure though, moving her hands instead of changing her grip.

The same grip that put painful pressure against the root of your palm turned into one that just barely tugged at your wrist. She eventually moved to the rest of your hand, pulling at the fingers and playing with the knuckles as she talked. It had taken a twitch of her head that you suspected was her twins telling her to knock it off for her to stop, but she’d had gently placed your hand down, flustering you and Lunar by choosing to do so by splaying your hand across their chest. ...You suspected she knew it though, since moments after she splayed her own across the bots before jumping forward with the new way of holding her weight to surprise them.

All to say you were focused on a thousand things in the room, but not very much about the recent threat. The group seemed to talk without you, but all attempts to leave saddened Lunar. So they pulled you within it, isolating you while draping themselves onto every surface they could. It was opulent and lonely, except for when the bot would turn to you and speak like you were a deciding factor in the sub-conversations new argument. The actual facts of the Lunara situation weren’t explained and the topics you were asking about were spoken over, but the group seemed eager for you to osmosis your way into it. So you sat within but outside, and stared at the floor and the hands. ...The hole in the floor could be from anything. Possibly even from the night sky falling down onto it.

You look up just in time to see Pollux begin moving around again, this time leaning over and across your beloved to reach for her twin's hair. He was sat closer to Lunar’s shoulders now, having since given up on entertaining draping himself over you. The Star continued her ramble at the bot, something about her newest vacation ideas. They seem interested in the concept, looking between her and her twin who had begun idly playing with their hat again.

You water the two groups within the daycare, allowing yourself to ignore the planned vacation plans and how they were being shut down by Castor in rapid succession to focus in on the others across the way. Solar was talking with a yellow version of themself- Sun. Talking to Sun and his brother... Moon? With the sister character. ...Earth. Yes, Earth. Solar seemed to be working through the various explanations for how Lunara got in past defenses while Moon worked through his own ideas. The two were halfway draping across each other as they talked, but they did seem to respect when the others butted in. From what little you could hear over the discussion of the ‘best places in Wuhan to eat breakfast that didn’t include your weird taste in noodles, Pollux’ they seemed to be discussing the building itself.

The Sun themed brother was halfway to a fit about it from what you could see, moving himself in a slight rocking motion as Earth soothed them. She was professional in the caring, with minimal touching and more speaking, though very familiar in the motion. The Moon themed bot was more lighthearted, only discernibly talking about the building when the Solar bot said something funny and he joked about what would happen if it did come down. The two seemed convinced it was structurally sound, only still on the topic by the yellow bot’s concern.

The only person in the room other than you who still seemed worried about the invader was the Earthen bot, glancing clearly between Lunar, the passage the two of you had run down before to get to them, and Sun. Whatever Moon and Solar had come up with about the situation must have either been put off or deeply unsatisfactory, since she didn’t seem soothed about it in the slightest. She twitched about in a way that was likely being hidden by her comforting of the bot, less in how she physically made motions and more in where she stared in the room. At isolated areas or desks, like she wanted time to process instead of a conversation that only served to give her someone to comfort.

You zone back into the conversation about the vacations if just to focus on Lunar again, feeling weird about staring at their friends and family members. Pollux and Lunar were discussing the best kinds of hotels now, while Castor ignored them. He hadn’t seemed very pleased about the entire idea of the vacations discussion, voicing that they didn’t ever have the time, and therefore treated the subsections of it as a discussion solely between Pollux and Lunar. He was half focused on Lunar’s hat when you turned to him, and with nothing better to do he turned to look back at you.

You flip towards the other direction. You... Didn’t really know how to talk to the angel. It was hard speaking to someone when your first introduction to them was... Lunara. Your mental image of him was torn, shifting between the sophisticated and terrifying angel of justice who appeared from nowhere to scold and demand answers to the crumbled body on the floor of the area beneath your feet. The impactfulness of his stone cold gaze was hard to give proper respect when all you saw in those eyes was the fury and fear of someone being thrown around by a monstrosity from outside your very existence.

It was less that you didn’t think highly of him and far more that... it was hard to see something definitely made of light in anything other than worry once you’ve seen them hurt at your feet. ...The gash running along their shirt didn’t help, him fiddling with the fabric only showing the issue more. The longer they sat here the more it frayed, and it wasn’t exactly a clean cut now.

You turned back once more to see he was still staring at you. You couldn’t turn away again (you’d been avoiding his gaze for something close to two hours now. ...It was night, and you weren’t sure how much longer this facade of a post victory party you could keep up) and you couldn’t just pretend you didn’t notice him looking, so you accepted your fate and waited for him to talk.

...He wasn’t talking.

The two of you stood awkwardly as you stared at each other, only looking away to glance when Lunar or Pollux made grand enough hand motions to disrupt their conversation. They were too wrapped up in a very avid conversation about swimming pools to save either of you though, so the staring continued. He finally glanced away to stare at the concrete on your shirt, and you used the opportunity to pretend to readjust your sitting position. It had you conveniently facing away from him (and therefore unable to stare any longer) but looking dead at a wall, making it feel so, so much worse by the end.

You hoped (Prayed. Hymned. Fucking sung gospels in your mind to any heavenly deity) that he would take the hint that you hadn’t meant to get his attention, but despite it all you could hear him slowly move himself forward.

The conversation about the hotels died down a bit as Castor moved, the other two watching him readjust due to how rarely he had. You heard him move the arm Lunar had wrapped casually around him before finishing the movement, seemingly sitting close to where you were apparently deeply inspecting the paint chips in the shoddily done drywall.

You were halfway through bullshitting a discussion point on the shade of tan that this section of the daycare’s mural was painted when you felt your hand get moved from your side. Turning slowly, praying to avoid the same blue eye staring into your soul, you looked over to the hand to investigate.

The angel was slowly picking at the concrete dust on your sleeves, frowning at the places where his blood had stained the material.

The group seemed to finally shift focus away from the vacation topic, and the others across from you seemed to sense the quiet formed by a lack of Pollux and Lunar talking. The room goes quiet with the movements of a single star, and you try to look professional in the newly formed limelight.

Lunar is the first to follow Castor, gently lifting Pollux to shuffle over as well. Concerned likely, they were still working through the idea that you weren’t hurt. While the blood you had been covered in had clearly been shed by something more... golden than you, you had been doused in the resulting spray of organics formed by Lunara opening someone up in your lap.

...You eyes moved away from Castor again, trying not to picture him halfway flayed in your lap.

The hands picking at the concrete dust paused. You wondered if you had proven your original idea on accident, having finally driven the rude nail into the coffin with everyone staring. Instead you felt a thumb begin to gently smooth itself over your wrist. You glanced to see him still staring at your sleeve, resumming the action of picking the bits of debris off of you.

Lunar reached you and wrapped their arms around you, earning a hearty glare from the star. You chuckled as you realized that they were trying to protect you, making an attempt to stand between you and the star. Said star didn’t seem to care, more annoyed that his fidget was being moved away from him.

Pollux cleared her throat and the small group turned to where the others were still. It was... silent as the reality of the situation seemed to finally be remembered.

The group starts by staring at Castor, but Pollux has the group turns to her before he could say anything, “You said before that you have met... It before, Lunar?”

Lunar goes deer in the headlights at the sudden topic. They move to talk, but Castor cuts them off before the words leave their mouth, “They gave an in depth explanation before all of this. Lunar had... encountered them by accident. Something to do with a false portal malfunction. They reportedly are a clone of the bot, holding onto the Newton Star within their home dimension. Most of their universe was destroyed as a result of their own negligence and the failures of their own Astral court, and so they were reaching out to other worlds in an attempt to begin filling their world with more population. They likely came through for similar reasons, although they insisted on acting as if they were familiar with me during the limited time I was near them. Their comparative age suggests that they weren’t aware of the various rules regarding other dimensions, hence why they came through.”

Pollux hums, agreeing mildly, before getting to the issue weighing the situation down, “So! How did they carry that power through with them?”

You turn to Castor, expecting him to continue speaking. They pause though, staring at your sleeve as the room around you waited on the decisive reasoning to occur so they could make their own rationalizations. He sat up more formally, as if addressing the entire room as he spoke, “We don’t fully know. They claimed it was through absorbing power from within our universe, but this is unlikely. Using another power source to harness starpower, even if the other source is another dimension’s starpower, would have put off too much negative energy to have been as secretive as they were.” He readjusts himself before speaking more, trying to project his voice so the group behind Pollux (who were still talking amongst themselves, with a large amount of murmuring coming from the two with their arms still interlaced) would hear him better, “Their source lacked a negative root as is typical in uses of the Newton Star, but also lacked the required markers of harnessing a source of Starpower that you are not directly connected to. The best we can assume is they somehow temporarily pulled us through to their own universe. It’s hard to tell with the limited information.”

Castor slumps back into their prior position, turning to Lunar and very clearly startling them. They flounder for a moment to begin speaking, finally settling to talk much less formally than Castor and with a faux upbeat in their tone, “Most of what we know was from when we were downstairs. They... Came through the underneath of the ballpit, instead of the top. From what we can tell since the device to pull things through is in the bottom, they came through there instead since their portal is entered from that angle. Once in they just... Started trashing things. By the time we got there they seemed harmless, and so we didn’t really engage them. Castor told them to leave and they ignored him, so I tried talking to them. They seemed to be calming down when they started attacking- Without powers!- but part of the way through they went after Castor. He.. Pretty quickly showed that was a terrible idea-”

“They didn’t have the reactions needed to dodge hits.” Entered in Castor, seemingly trying to rush Lunar’s analysis of him.

“-They didn’t have the reactions to dodge hits, so they got hurt bad!” Lunar repeated, “But when Castor got close... They suddenly switched attitudes to how they were acting before. Thats when the building started shaking, and suddenly the tide turned. I think.. They were trying to catch us with our guards down.”

The duo behind Pollux finally unlocked their arms, switching around to finally begin their section of dialogue. The Moon started them off, “They won’t be here to try it again though. Computer!-”

The disembodied voice from before crackles a bit before speaking, “The dimension they arrived from has already been blocked.”

Moon turns with a smile to the group, watching Earth deflate a bit in relief while Castor seems to just regard it confusedly. Solar is part of the way through beginning to talk when the Computer cuts through his beginning explanation of dimensional ‘blocking’, “The dimension was blocked prior to their arrival as well.”

Moon’s jaunty pose is weakened by them opening their eyes to give the flooring a panicked look, and Solar buffers before starting their preexisting explanation, “...The system that the dimensional portals uses includes a blocking system. Due to the nature of the multiverse, it isn’t really possible to create a portal so much as... Enter a system of them. Infinite universes means infinite worlds where someone created it earlier than you, and at some point that is incalculable whoever made the system implemented an opt-in to be able to blacklist dimensions. In short, you delete their dimension, any dimensions that will arise from their dimension through diverging timelines, and any dimensions you enter after that point will not be reachable by crossing their their section of reality. If each universe was... a bite of a cake, you either become unable to access the layers of the cake it’s between unless you go left or right to avoid it. ...But on a fifth dimensional scale, to avoid people going back in time to bypass it and so you aren’t actually geometrically locked in a multidimensional cube. Since the number of universes required to seal off a universe from the multiverse is higher than the number of people statistically capable of working together on a single project it’s only possible in extreme circumstances, so-”

“-It isn’t theoretically possible for them to enter our dimension. We ‘blocked their number’.” Explains the computer. ...You were quickly realizing the computer either disliked these people or favored sass quite a bit.

Moon takes it in stride though, stepping forward a bit as they seemed to think, “Unless they entered our dimension through going through a sub-dimension to portal hop they shouldn’t have been capable of it, but even then it doesn’t quite explain it. The portal can misfire but the links between blocked dimensions shouldn’t be able to be undone that easily. Combined with the inability to directly access our dimension and most Lunars...” He has the decency to look away, “...Lack of mental tenacity... They shouldn’t have been able to hack through to our dimension.”

Lunar huffs a bit but doesn’t respond, and Sun and Earth look on worriedly. Sun turns to ask a question but pauses, seeming to doubt himself before appearing to reword it, “If... we blocked their ‘number’ how are they able to... hack us?”

The computer scoffs and the bot crumbles, not helped by Moon talking as if they weren’t watching him at all, “Well, for starters it’s alot more than us ‘blocking’ them. It’s a dimensional code that corresponds to their very being, and there isn’t a way for them to change that number without extensive physical changes to themselves. Their ability to ‘hack’ us would require them having someone they don’t have in their own universe to access our systems, and would then require someone who isn’t ‘blocked’ by us to do the hacking for them.”

...That... Didn’t make any sense.

Moon continued to talk to Sun about the nature of the system as he nodded along, seeming desperate to absorb any information about the situation. Lunar on the other hand ignored them, focusing on readjusting you in their arms. A slight nudge was given to your shoulder, and a very quiet curse was given under their breath when Castor interpreted it as a cue to continue fiddling with your sleeve instead of listening. You turned to the bot as they were finishing up, somewhere between a scowl that looked just a tad too much like a pout to be taken seriously and the calm but focused face they tended to make when looking at you.

You must have been making a face yourself because it turned to a slight worry as their eyes tilted slightly, glancing between the star picking at the dust on your sleeves (now at your shoulders) as if considering asking him directly to stop. You looked away before leaning in a touch to whisper at the bot, “...Why is your brother lying?”

The hand on your shoulder paused, and a single blue eye was staring you dead.

...Right. Angel of judgement was right next to you.

Lunar seemed wildly confused, and you began trying to backtrack without alerting Moon of your topic, “He- He’s talking in a very purposefully vague way. Not lying I mean. Just... Why is he talking about it like that?”

Lunar tilted their head before blinking as they talked, “Like what?”

Yeah. Operation accuse their brother was making you look like a complete asshole. Woo-hoo! “They... they keep talking about the portal system like they’re talking to a toddler about it during certain parts, but focusing really hard on other parts like they’re trying to use as many words as they can. ...He spent the entire conversation with Sun explaining again how the portals worked, but when Sun asked how they could ‘hack’ it he pretended Sun asked a completely different question. Sun asked how they would be able to ‘hack’ us, and when Moon answered he never said.”

The bot pauses before glancing over to their brothers. Once they see Moon still deep in conversation with Sun they lean forward and begin talking quickly, “When Moon doesn’t know something he... Omit-Lies. He hates saying he doesn’t know something, so instead he’ll give a lecture on what he does know. There shouldn’t be a way to hack our system, so he’s going to tell Sun an indepth explanation about everything there is to know about the ballpit. Asfar as Moon cares, he’s already solved it and just needs to work backwards on his proof. He’s a genius so he’s right, but he has no idea why he is.”

You balk at that. He... Had no idea what he was talking about. The local scientist was stumped and... just telling everyone to shut up.

Yeah, no. No way in hell.

You turn quietly to the angel again, pulling your top a touch so more of the fabric would be draping over the shoulder he was working on. Trying to pay him in fidget for discussion, you begin quietly talking as he works, “Please tell me you aren’t depending on them to keep that thing out.”

Lunar gives a laughing noise behind you that earns them many glares by the others in the room, and a very pointed look by their sister. Castor doesn’t react at all, continuing to work as if you didn’t speak.

The bot buried themselves ashamedly in your shoulder as Castor’s twin responds in his stead, startling you at her sudden appearance behind Lunar, “Oh no, we’re not risking letting them take care of it!”

The group turns to where Pollux had appeared (had she... actually appeared there? You had assumed that you’d lost track of her during the conversation, but the rapid reaction didn’t make sense assuming the others would have been in clear eyesight of her the entire time...) before Solar responded to her directly, “We have it under control. We’ll just have to block their dimension, and any dimensions that have visited theirs. It won’t be easy, and it might take few days-”

Pollux continued like Solar hadn’t started talking, “We’ll be making sure they don’t come through again! We don’t have outer-dimensional jurisdiction, but we can communicate with the Astral court of their world that they need to take care of it! Considering that their world supposedly runs faster than ours they’ll be dead in around five hours from now!”

...What a sentence to say in a chipper tone. You glanced back to Castor to see if he had a reaction, but he just nodded like she was reading off the news. Moon on the other hand looked annoyed from over Castor’s shoulder, but Solar looked relieved. Earth seemed torn on the matter, seemingly wanting to speak up. But what worried you was Sun. Sun... didn’t seem to be reacting at all. He just turned to moon and gestured for him to continue, though he didn’t. He pulled Solar into a conversation on the matter, leaving Sun and Earth in the room. The planetary bot began cleaning, so the Stellar bot moved their attention to the ballpit.

From what you could tell he was the one with the least understanding of the thing. He’d repeated similar questions on it until even you had understood the premise of the answers despite the distance, but always treated his replies like he still was struggling. ..And yet he looked on at it like he knew it most. Like a sailor who couldn’t read the weather color comparing the night sky to decide if they should fish the next day.

The group settles in to continue discussing vacation nonsense as Castor finally switches to picking at the dust on your other arm. The topic of better breakfasts in Shanghai comes up (They had abandoned plans of Wuhan after it came to light that Pollux was banned from one of the biggest allures there after badly misunderstanding how the skylifts to the Yellow Crane tower worked, though she had a very interesting sounding story about ziplining now) as you watched the cooler star across from you press their hands along the textures on your sleeve.

Your voice is quiet as you talk to the star, using the chance to speak to something you have always found sacred on something you feared was already deathly obvious, “...Lunar has talked about you before. You... You are quite smart, yes?”

A pause, and then a nod. He doesn’t really regard you, only visibly listening out of a desire to stay out of Lunar and Pollux’s planning. It’s an abuse of his desire to not get roped in, but you take it regardless, “...When someone with alot of experience and someone with a lot of knowledge disagree, is it better to assume the one with experience is right?”

They don’t pause this time, but turn towards Lunar and Pollux more fully. It’s a dejection of some nature, but you accept it. He watches their hands as they talk, seemingly checking if they could be used for this instead of you. His eyes catch Lunar’s still messy sleeves, but turn back to yours after a moment of hesitation.

He responds, surprisingly, “I don’t find that something you should be concerned with.”

The two of you sit isolated from the conversation as Lunar and Pollux try to find another location, having found a fault in going to Shanghai now. Something about Pollux having done something or the other. It was a... very cyclical conversation. Hands moved against yours until a star slipped under the fabric of your sleeves, palming at your wrist from under the grime. You turned your head away from the holiday planning, but too far to look at Castor. Your eyes were staring at the bot looking onwards at the ballpit as Castor began talking again, “...But generally speaking, you should be concerned with staying away from it entirely. Assuming you’re talking about Lunara, it’s best to avoid them and their dimension as much as possible. We’ll keep you updated as needed, so don’t worry about the comparative sources. As you said, Moon isn’t a reliable source on the matter.”

You stare on at the bot in the corner of your eye, finally understanding their mouth movements. They were counting under their breath, now at some number high enough that it seemed to have three decimals, while staring dead at the unmoving pit. You felt hands resume their motions on your sleeves as you drifted to stare at the pit as well, trying to find what they were looking for.

The music of the area buffered for a half moment as the world seemed to calm, and you watched as a single ball within the pit shuffled as the spheres within resettled.

You heard more than saw Sun readjust, the bells on his wrists giving him away instantly, and you realized that he had stopped counting. He turned on his heel to begin gathering cleaning supplies, headed for the wipes behind the desk.

Lunar gave a quiet noise of upset behind you, cueing you to turn around. They were watching Sun sadly, monologuing for your benefit of why it was upsetting, “...Today was his deep cleaning day. I think he’s going to skip it- he loves deep cleaning. It’s the only day he’s allowed to clean near Moon’s stuff since otherwise it’s free game for any of it to be active.”

You turn slowly to the bot gathering his things to begin his usual shut down list, and see him begin filling out little forms. After a breath he opens a much newer filing cabinet than the others and pulls out a clipboard, writing down a three digit number and marking it with a check mark. He dates it with the chunky sharpie he’s holding for tomorrow around five in the afternoon before closing it up behind himself, gathering the wipes and beginning to clean the areas of the desk.

You and Lunar are both watching the scene, but when you turn back to the bot they just smile gently at you. It’s.. not a very good fake smile, and you catch something other than just sadness in their eyes as they turn to Pollux again, “Well, I think we’ll have to postpone training.”

Castor looks up from your sleeves, “Why.”

Lunar flounders a bit, trying to come up with something as they smiled big. Pollux laughed a bit at the act before turning to Castor and shaking her head no regardless. Lunar didn’t seem serious as they talked, and their eyes looked no more dull than ever when they finally began to bullshit an excuse, “Well, I think I’m going to have extra work tomorrow. See, I think we’re going to be filming at around five pm...”

...You had a date it seemed.

Chapter Text

You had no idea how to outrun a deity, but somehow stopping to get gelato didn’t sound like a great plan.

You were picking at your gelato- You’d asked for the cashier's favorite and she’d given you some green mess that was apparently the owner’s personal creation made to taste like pear jelly beans- and walking calmly through the nearby park. Your arm was claimed in an elbow lock that looked quite romantic, but due to the awkward mess of you trying to eat the gelato and Lunar trying to actually eat their hazelnut monstrosity was more the two of you fighting over who should be using their non-dominant hand to eat. You kept insisting you weren’t eating anyways, but Lunar kept insisting they were ambidextrous. So you both ended up lifting your cups to your mouths like the creamy gelato was a beverage of some kind, trying to evade the spies in the bushes. 

See, Lunar had explained it quite simply: Gods weren’t supposed to meddle in the affairs of mortals. The twins could mess with Lunar all they wanted since they were already weird in their eyes, but a whole crowd of people? That was impermissible. They couldn’t pull lunar from a work filled with children, the news of them would spread like wildfire. And they couldn’t pull Lunar from their videos, that would put them dead in the line of a video camera. 

So now the two of you were following the crowd. They were quietly talking about their day and what their day was normally like, describing in great detail the gorgeous practice grounds they were avoiding. They had also explained the plan earlier, between bits of being out of earshot of the twins, while pretending to eat through their mildly interesting gelato. Their plan was... less than simple. The two of you had a lovely, scenic date that happened to be around as many people as possible. They didn’t want to go to training after all! The plan here ended according to Lunar, but somehow it didn’t feel like it had. Because where Lunar claimed it ended was right where your own guesses aligned to fight theirs. 

Lunar, dear sweet Lunar, was not amazing at lying once you got past the hard part of cracking them. Lunar, the lovable brother, lied to their family. Lunar, the lighthearted protegee, was always skipping practice on the days when something bad would happen if they went. And Lunar, the sweet and thoughtful boyfriend, didn’t tell you when bad things were going to happen that would scare you away from being there. 

Which is why today’s date plan ended at four pm, just in time for them to drop you off at home and rush off to film a video at five pm. Right as the crowds just so happened to go past the Pizzaplex for their usual pre-dinner rush, ‘forcing’ them to drop you off through there. So they’d be right next to the portal to drop you off, and unable to be dragged off to practice by the twins due to the daycare being open- In one of the side rooms, due to Sun having closed it down for ‘who know’s what reason!’.

You brought your pear gelato to your mouth for another bite-sip right as Lunar did, making you spill a bit of the vile concoction onto your mouth and Lunar to lift both of their elbows into the air like they were doing a vertical yoga pose. Your cup went back to it’s usual height with a snort, only for you to break into a full blown chortle. Lunar looked over with a lopsided grin and a noise you could only describe as an imitation of a fond nasal exhale of laughter, right before whipping forward and cursing. 

Right as you half turned to ask them what the issue was, your own leg swung into the concrete of the half-wall of the raised flower bed you’d run into, making you half-kneel in a similarly pained pose to the robot beside you. 

Deciding the melted gelato could go fuck itself, you rested it down on the flower bed as you sat down, making your decent trying not to start hopping to keep off the newly injured leg. Lunar had different feelings about the injury though, looking mournfully at the flowerbe-

...Ah. Their hazelnut gelato was smeared all over the bushes. 

The bushes- A waxy pointy leafed thing that looked like it was built for somewhere cold, was finely decorated in a dark brown smear of the very melted chocolate. Small bits of chunky hazelnut that Lunar had been mumbling complaints about for the first ten minutes of getting it were dripping down the spikes like chunky raindrops, making the scene look more like a drunkard had puked it there than it had melted onto the leaves. It was... shit Gelato, clearly dyed to hell and back. And yet Lunar was staring at it quietly, looking more like a kicked puppy than their normal exaggerations allowed them to. ...They hadn’t even liked the icecream that much. 

You quietly looped an arm around them and pulled them slightly closer to you, watching them sit and stare at the ground as the audible sound of icecream landing onto the soil continued. They seemed to stare off for a bit longer before turning to you, and chuckling. 

It was a sad chuckle at first. You gave one back, ruining the mood a bit more. They glanced back to the ruined mess before looking you in the eye with the same expression, giving a smaller laugh before mumbling under their breath. You must have gave the wrong reaction because they repeated it again, “...The plants are gonna get spoiled. Giving them the good stuff.” You give a chuckle before turning back to your own full cup. You stare at it for a moment before reaching over the bot towards the plant with it in hand.

You quietly pop the open dome lid before tilting it slightly over the plant to dribble some of the green goo down as well, “Here, I'll give them some of the bad. To even it out.” You felt the bot chuckle from your side, moving to wrap an arm around you- 

Their arm pressed down too much, and you jolted forward a bit. They caught you quickly, only a touch slower than you catching yourself, but not fast enough to prevent the movement. The shitty green gelato slipped from a dribble to a dump, and the plant was coated in green slop to match its new dirt colored leaves. 

The two of you stared at it before you felt Lunar’s arms tighten on you just a hair, feeling more than seeing them turn to you, “...It’s green again!”

It’s. It’s green again. 

You stare at the now green- The again green plant before abandoning the cup to hold yourself up. A chuckle leaves your mouth as your diaphragm shaked a bit before you had to move your gelato dumping hands to hold yourself up. It was... It was fucking awful joke. It wasn’t funny. 

You felt Lunar laugh before they yelped, grabbing you as you tried to gracefully lower yourself so you could begin chortling into your hands as your middle began to hurt from the half-plank. “It’s- It’s green now!” Aaaaand you were face down in the planter trying not to swallow dirt. You were laughing your ass off, only held in place by the now also laughing bot clutching your sides to keep you from falling ass over tea kettle. 

Lunar audibly began to laugh harder as you did, squeezing your sides and moving an arm to presumably begin covering their own mouth. The two of you looked like fucking morons on the raised garden bed as you laughed about- It’s fucking green now! About the newly-repainted plant!

You felt a woodchip begin to stab you in the ribs as you struggled to cover both your eyes and your mouth from the dirt as you tried to stop laughing, only making your stomach hurt worse from the movement. It was terrible. Today had been terrible. All of it. 

A woodchip stabbed your side as you abandoned your mouth protective hand to clutch your sides about- about- “Lu- Lu it’s fucking green again!” About the fucking green plant !

A noise more similar to a bubbling kettle squealing than an actual laugh left the bot as they grabbed at their hood, now visible from you turning to see them to yell about the plant-

The moment their hands left your waist you fell off the planter onto the paving stones. Everyone in the pavilion not already staring for spying or judging reasons turned to your stupid asses as you smacked the stones and Lunar completely stopped laughing to look down worried. You made eye contact as they glanced at the stones for blood as you felt the blood you weren’t oxygenating return to your system from the shock. 

...The two of you burst into another fit of face scrunching laughter. Shit. Oh god, this wasn’t that funny. And yet Lunar was somehow smashing their face into a weird imitation of a human’s face scrunching from laughter as they tried to cover their mouth as they snorted and full on belly laughed. And yet you were blinded and unable to witness the rest from smashing your own hands over your eyes before clutching at your sides, trying to hiss out noises of pain from the aching in them between full body seizes of laughter. 

When the dust cleared and your complaints about your sides finally overtook the chortling Lunar sat on the cobbles next to you, pulling you up to scan you over properly. They finally looked in the moment again, the Lunar you normally knew, as they ran hands over your sides to check if you were really bruised in the ribs or just in the funny bones.

A serious threat of a second episode of rib breaking occurred from a bit of the green being found on your cheek, mixed with a fairly sizable woodchip and a bit of dirt, but you damn near put your hand in the bot’s mouth to shut them up before they could get out more than “Now you’re g-”.

In the middle of a crowded farmers market, mildly uncomfortable about being around others in clothes you were still reusing from the first night Lunara had appeared, being stalked by a set that didn’t believe you about the very real doom approaching, your hand was smashed over your partner's mouth as they laughed their ass off. ...Like a complete dork. 

The two of you look at each other, and for a moment you worry it’s going to go back to how it had been for the past hour. Arms wrapped around uncomfortably, finding slight joy in each other and complete dread in the situation. Lunar looks to the left and you sigh, letting the moment end. You’re halfway through considering if you need to grab your gelato cup from the bush when Lunar picks you up and takes your arm into a looser hold, motioning for you to walk with them back into the crowd. You smiled up at them, an understanding but unhappy type of motion, as they leaned over to rest their head on yours as you walked. 

You felt their hand tighten on your waist a bit before you heard Lunar chuckle near your ear, “When I count to 3, we’re gonna run like hell and lose them.”

...Oh. 

You felt the deep ache in your stomach come back from laughing as you trying to justify this as Lunar slowly counted, bracing themselves a little as their count got to three. There was no way the two of you would outrun them, you’d just make bigger idiots of yourselves in the already judgemental crowd.

When they said three you braced your feet and bolted, letting the bot move you forward a bit with the locked arms before loosening them to bolt freely, ducking around people and making complete asses of yourselves as you ran through the crowded market like a fire had just broke out. You were making shit time, your stomach hurting like hell still, but you chased the bot like you’d lose the game as you moved around stands and columns to duck around the market, only followed by the alarmed looks of people around and the wind rushing around your ears as your bangs tried to bite your eyes from the movement. 

The two of you had to stop when you damn near kneeled over from the movement in a random side hallway, Lunar sitting next to you as you slid onto a wall panting from joy filled exhaustion.

You stared at them as they watched the entrance to the hallway with a grin, finally meeting their gaze as they deemed the plan successful. You half glared at them as you laughed out a response, “..That was terrible.”

Their face scrunched into the seemingly impossible mimicry of laughing again as they nodded an agreement. They leaned over you to rest against your shoulder, wrapping an arm around to pull you closer. You chortled one final time before squeezing in as well, moving in close to hold them back. You looked up as they looked down, watching amused as despite it all they looked away hurriedly from the proximity. 

You reach up to grab at their hood like you had all those nights ago to pull them in for another kiss, melting slightly into them as their faceplate met your still overheating face. They had the decency to kiss back even though they were clearly flustered, leaning in a bit to follow your backing away for a second. When the two of you broke apart you were staring at each other fondly, with you still holding onto their hood as they kept their arms around your waist, trying to let the moment linger between the breathlessness still sat in your chest and the deeply emotional expression the bot was making. 

A second hand, notably not yours, wrapped over Lunar’s hood before the bot was pulled away from you by a very angry looking star being. 

...Ah. The two of you weren’t in the crowds anymore. 

Castor looked beyond annoyed as he began dragging your darling bot, only barely giving them the time to stand up and be dragged walking, into the little side street to begin seemingly thoroughly telling them off for the indecency they had committed both in the market and by running away from their duties. You tried to listen in for the exact details, catching a bit about Lunar skipping being detrimental to their training, before hearing Castor quietly hiss and seemingly pull Lunar’s lecture just out of your earshot. 

You looked on wondering why they had moved when you turned and saw Pollux still staring at you with the same half smile she’d given when you showed her the plant what seemed like forever ago now. ...Ah. So she’d ratted you out. 

The two of you stared at each other before she moved to sit where Lunar had, adjusting her hair with a slight grin as she talked, “So! You two have a date riggghhhhtttttt when we said Lunar couldn’t come out and have one, huh ?”

You sigh and turn to look down the other alley, trying to avoid her eye. You’d... pretty clearly played a role in this, and you doubt that Lunar’s... whatever they were to Lunar were very pleased about the situation. Castor seemed somewhat legitimately upset, and from the sounds in the sidestreet Lunar seemed to be responding enough that they sounded actually guilty. You... very clearly didn’t know enough about any of this to know the situation, but assuming she wasn’t going to start handing out facts like halloween candy you were going to have to accept you ran into something without a good reason to start running. 

You hear her begin humming a few moments before you turn back, seeing her continuing to play with her hair as she cuts you off in a way that couldn’t have been coincidental with how long the pause between her talking had gone, “As a note for future reference , since Lunar has made it clear in the past that humans don’t follow rules very well unless you very clearly lay them out, if we need Lunar for something that makes it a priority. Especially if the other activity is... rushing through a crowded market instead of training for-” she turns and hums for a moment before cheerily standing up and moving to go. 

You watch her for a second, watching her overly adjust her skirts before she turns and leaves, before asking a question, “...instead of training for...?”

She whips around cheerily, like the preamble had been her setting up for this, “Oh! I realized! You don’t need to know that! We realized part of the way through this you don’t really contribute anything to Lunar’s training, and while you’re good for their... Humanity? We don’t really need that. So we’re going to have a talk with Lunar about it! So don’t worry about when to schedule your dates with them, we’ll take care of that!”

You open and close your mouth like a fish. She seems amused by the reaction, watching you gape like it was nothing more than what she expected from you. She turns on her heel as you open your mouth to talk, but because she had backtracked a bit trying to let you ask your question she doesn’t reach the opening to the side street, even at her slight skip, before you get your response out. 

“...You realize doing that sort of thing would push them away, right?” ...It’s not a very professional move. It was... kind of a dick move if you were being fully honest to imply that. 

As much of an insecure statement as it was, it makes her pause a touch in her skip cycle. She turns back cheery again, a touch more light in her eyes despite the new slight furrow in her brow, “Oh?” She twists around a bit more, smiling with something less likely to be described as being too angry and showing teeth and more like an alien smiling with too much gums, “Pushing them away ? I didn’t know they considered us being here as us being friends !” 

She approaches you, getting close enough you are reminded from the lack of warm air brushing your face that she didn’t breathe,  “How sweet of them! I’ll be sure to bring up that you consider yourself to be something worth leaving their duties for when we discuss the consequences of them ditching training to waste time here!”

Her stare stays firmer on you, like she was trying to win a game of tug of war with you via eyesight. You blinking back didn’t seem to automatically disqualify you though, so you didn’t honor her with any particular reaction other than disbelief. Unable to formulate why she would choose to act so... Childish? Like a coworker from a shitty office drama? You continue like she hadn’t responded, “...Lunar tends to dislike people who treat them like they need to be herded. They make a point to schedule around people who act like they can read their mind, because if the ‘mind reader’ guesses wrong he or she assumes lying is afoot. And as a rule, they tend to respect the opinions of people who show them the maturity that comes with treating others like they’re adults. Having... semi-mature conversations about things if nothing else. They view the world as against them most of the time, and...” you pause a bit, debating on if Lunar would even be comfortable with you saying this, ‘...Already view you as not respecting even basic parts of their identity.”

You look down and force her to get ever so slightly more out of your face as you adjust your sleeves, hyper aware of the fact you were just copying her hair messing pattern from before, “They told me once that all the.. Ah. Space people? I don’t remember the term they used, they were purposefully vague. View them as inherently different. They’re convinced you find their very existence kind of gross, and they think everyone on this planet finds them gross for the opposite reason. Being too space-like. ...And you’re not going to suddenly make them like the space parts of themselves by denouncing every part of them that is solid matter.”

She looks wildly confused now. You hadn’t seen it before, with the sleeve fidgeting and all, but she didn’t even look remotely understanding of the current point. You fight the urge to hand wave as you talk, trying to look mature for Lunar’s sake, “...You’ve just... threatened to end our relationship because I went on a date with them on a bad day. If I'm being fully honest, I know for a fact they didn’t plan this just to avoid whatever the hell their training is, though I doubt if they avoided telling both of us you’d believe me if I said why. Point is: I’m fairly certain by now they adore you, but know you don’t adore them. You’ve spent... However long this tactic has been going on presumably doing some kind of damage to their life, and while I get the whole ‘ to change you gotta break a couple eggs’ thing this... isn’t going to make them like you.”

The alleyway is silent as she doesn’t respond. Her face has gone still in a way a human couldn’t, with too much blood and nerves in their face to ever truly go still, as she either contains a rage she doesn’t want to voice or thinks over what you’ve said. 

...A part of you is bracing to suddenly be in the center of a very small, targeted hurricane when she moves away and turns to exit the alleyway. She doesn’t... step forward though. She watches the sliver between the buildings and seems to readjust her feet in a shuffle that seems intended to be her first step forward, but otherwise she doesn’t really move. 

Castor and Lunar seem to be gone, if the lack of noise was anything to go by. The side street she was slowly fidgeting by sounded empty, and she herself seemed a touch more alone than she had before. ...A part of you suddenly felt terrible about this. Feeling like you were the one to get her alone to rant at her. Had that been a rant? You felt better after it, unloading perhaps a few too many emotions about the situation you’d been in while stuck with the Sun and the Moon and the Earth while waiting for Lunar to return from work. 

Her hands seemed to still as she turned only slightly, only the side of her face with the single showing eye being visible as she turned her neck and not her body, “...Do you really think you know them better than us?” It was spoken with a fierceness to it, but the word ‘better’ had... a slight touch too much earnesty showing through. 

You look to observe the pebbles near you and examine the little bits of concrete scattered around, “...No. But... I know one of the first things they ever said to me was that the stars didn’t like them the way they wished they did. ...And that I was the first person in a long time to look at them like they were something worth looking at. So... I’m sure you’re nice,” You flick one of the little granite looking bits of the concrete, “ I don’t think you’ve been kind though.”

You don’t look up, but you hear her heel finally begin to move. Theres a bit of movement and then silence, but noticeably a lack of noise completely. You finally look up but don’t find her where she was standing, simply absent instead of having walked away. 

The silence stretches around you as you sit. You bother to glance around a bit more, feeling the need despite it all to double check that she was missing and not climbing the walls of the buildings or similar, but you eventually dust yourself off. You walked to the entry of the alleyway and looked around, hoping that Lunar hadn’t been carted off by Castor for a lecture in a place you couldn’t get access to. You check the time and wince, catching the 4:47 marker like how you’d catch a baseball with your mouth. Not great . 

That left two options. Option A, Lunara was here, causing chaos, and Lunar left you here to keep you safe. Option B, Lunara wasn’t here yet but Lunar wasn’t going to make it in time to protect you. It technically left an option c where Lunara was here and Lunar was forced to abandon you and an option d where they were already hurt... But neither seemed likely. Castor seemed... annoyed enough with Lunara to let Lunar out of a lecture to attend to them. And you seriously doubted Castor would have let Lunara near enough to try the fake out tactic like last time. 

Or option E, where you, Lunar, and Sun were all stupid and everything was fine. ...You didn’t like that option very much though, as that left you making an ass of yourself to Pollux and Castor for no good reason.

You began to walk the streets slowly as you thought, trying to make your way to the plex as you worked it through. The streets were strangely empty for the dinner rush as you made your way towards the shuttles to the large building, crossing your fingers and praying that the time it took to catch the bus wouldn’t be too late to help if something had gone wrong. A few people were scattered though the area, seemingly either busy in conversation or worriedly tapping at their phones. Perhaps something was already happening then? You hoped it wasn’t. 

You heard someone approach you slowly, and turned worried to the figure moving to sit beside you. 

...It took everything in you not to start laughing your ass off again. 

Lunar- Your darling Lunar, not the evil clone made of warped madness- was sat beside you covered in what you could only imagine was some kind of seamoss. They were drenched in it, smothered in the slimy looking goop despite looking bone dry, though their clothes looked like they hadn’t been washed in eons. You were chuckling a bit when you looked up at their confused face, letting another giggle slip when they glanced confusedly between their shirt and you. 

You began quietly working on swiping away the newly found accessory as they seemed confused at your cleaning, “Lunar- Did Castor throw you into the ocean ? Where did he even...”

Lunar seemed to stiffen up a bit, likely embarrassed about it all. They resumed their usual level of laxness, looking at you with a more curious look than an embarrassed one. You did your best to smile up at them, trying to look kind and caring, as you tried to brush away Castor and Pollux’s new attempt at Lunar fixing their wardrobe.

You were close to getting a bit of the moss off when the bot cupped your hand, pulling you away from the mossy-algae. You turned to look up at them readily, smiling a bit at them taking your hand. Now looking thoroughly confused, they smiled a touch nervously back at you. ...ah. Nerd.

Your hand gently grasped their hood to pull them in slightly, watching their eyes get wide quickly as you placed a slight kiss on the algae-fied part of their cheek. You moved back with a slight snicker, smiling at the bot’s clearly flustered reaction. You know you’re making a smartass comment before you say it, but it slips out anyways, “...Perhaps we need to get the gunk off of you before I give you a proper one, hm?”

Lunar mimics your prior fish impersonation, making you damn near cackle when they glance around and quietly pinch their hand like they had on the first night you met them. You grip your side a bit (you’d laughed way too much today, god your side ) as you heard a small cackle of electricity leave your darling. You injured yourself a bit more snorting at the sound of them electrifying themselves over a cheek kiss, though it does wonders for your ego. ...You should kiss them more often. 

The wind around began doing something odd, howling in a way that it normally wouldn’t otherwise. You listen to it for a moment while Lunar quietly crackles next to you, realizing with no small bit of horror it was damn near identical to the howling it did when Castor was halfway to vivisected on your lap. 

You turn to Lunar terrified, gripping their hands worriedly, “Lunar,“ You feel like you're crushing their hands, and they seem mostly mildly surprised at the sudden grip, “Where is Castor? Where was Castor?” 

They look surprised at the question, and hum a bit before quietly answering, “..I wouldn’t know! Haven’t seen him in a bit. How do you-”

You grab the sides of his face with a fairly manic grab, “Lunar, look at me. Where is Castor . The last time the wind did this was when Pollux was trying to get Lunara out of here. Where is he .”

Lunar gapes for a bit. They look at you like you’d just answered some mystical puzzle in front of them, but didn’t explain. When you were halfway to gripping their faceplate harder they seemed to connect something and looked... depressed? Deeply saddened in some nature, as they seemingly put something together, “...Oh. It’s you.”

Left shocked at what that was meant to imply, you heard the wind begin to whip around in a way it shouldn’t. You damn near screamed as a letterbox nearby was ripped out of the concrete and flung in a random direction, and watched in real time as people scrambled to get out of the way of the suddenly rabid weather. 

People were rushing, screaming, some having to catch themselves to keep from being pulled back while others clung to things, as you watched from where Lunar seemed to now regard you as something that needed some level of pity instead of, oh I don’t know, answers .

The screams of the wind ripping out telephone poles suddenly met the screams of a terrified woman as-

Oh. Oh dear god. As Lunara rounded the corner. Pollux’s hair was no longer the pretty thing she had fixed into earlier, now being ripped at by the monstrosities claws as Lunara pulled her along the cobbles. She seemed enraged by the treatment, clawing at their arm even though they weren’t reacting to the formation of new gouges, only stopping her when she actually threatened their grip by whipping her up a bit to smack her down against the cobbles again. She looked beyond pissed at the situation, regarding the whole world around her as something to rip apart as the things around you very much tried to hit Lunara. 

A bookshelf, a series of glass that used to be several window panes, and the roof of the building you were now screaming in as Lunar held onto you, all swung at Lunara despite their dodging. Lunara looked excited to see you and Lunar, waving to the two of you despite clearly having their hands full. You turned in horror as Lunar waved back, moving to grab around your waist before lifting you up to begin approaching Lunara. 

As soon as you realized where they were walking you started to fight back, but they simply dragged you along like a ragdoll. Lunar walked up to the beast right as you and Pollux seemed to finally make eye contact, though she didn’t seem to care at all as she continued trying to remove Lunara’s spinal cord through their arm. 

The bot didn’t seem worried at all, smiling at Lunar like an old friend as they began talking, “Lunar and this universe's Castor caught on a bitttttt too early to really get close to, but lookie! I caught someone we don’t normally catch!” 

You hear something whip around you, barely letting Lunara dodge it, as the statement processed. You slowly turned to Lunar- Not. Not lunar. You turn to not-lunar as they seemed to sigh and regard you again, looking partially embarrassed to have kept up the ruse. They turned to Lunara with the same slightly embarrassed look on their face, “..I think this is the one. They knew who Castor was by name, and...” They look away, as if this was a sin worse than the homicides they were likely helping Lunara in, “...Kissed me on the cheek.”

The manic bot holding the star cackled a bit before scowling slightly, making a grab for you as well. You fought it, even feeling the other not-lunar fight it a bit, but Lunara pulled you in. They held you straight for a moment before pain clawed its way through your leg, making you damn near kneel over before a thump against the ground forced it to release. You looked down at your injured calf to realize Pollux had, in her continued panic, grabbed for you to lift herself up.

 Lunara pulled you away from her to face you to themself. You looked on confused before they scowled a bit, rolling their eyes at having to ask you instead of communicating with their currently busy hand, “Well? Am I going to get one?”

You felt three sets of eyes on you suddenly. The entire group watched as you softened a bit, leaning forward to gently move towards a rapidly growing smug Lunara. 

The plastic shattering crunch of your fist surprising them and breaking their faceplate didn’t help the situation... but it made it a little less shit. 

The hiss Lunara let out was more steam engine than human, releasing Pollux instinctively to grab for your throat with a look that screamed that all their desire to keep you was suddenly second to the desire to watch you suffocate as your windpipe was crushed between their fingers. 

The wind seemed to scream again as Pollux used to movement to reach forward to grab them by the crown as the Not-Lunar gave a tired sigh, moving forward. Pollux whipped around and hissed like wild, acting as if gearing up to teleport the moment the other Lunara’s magic began to crackle. 

...And suddenly the world around you was pitch black. 

It didn’t load at first, and you felt things instead. The crack of you being thrown to the ground, and the wild hissing of the sound of Pollux screaming filling the air so thoroughly it vibrated your body. She seemed... Upset. No. no there was something else there that made it so oddly off despite it being screams of anger. 

You felt hands at your side as your eyes adjusted to the darkness, and the algae covered Lunar gently lifted you into a sit to check you in disturbingly similar motions to how Lunar had before as you watched, horrified as Pollux slowly but surely bagan to grow dimmer, and dimmer. Her light- something you hadn’t been able to really see before due to only being around her in artificial light- was rapidly turning to something closer to a nightlight than a nuclear reactor. She hissed in horrified anger as she whipped the air around you into something to fight... and then tried to whip the ground. And then the gravel. 

Slowly but surely her magic seemed to begin failing her, and right as Lunara was able to walk close enough she looked terrified as her glow settled into something mild. 

The other Lunar couldn’t stop you- didn’t stop you from standing up. You were injured, your side still hurt, and you were readjusting to this place being a different gravity as you stumbled forward. Pollux was curling into a ball as Lunara turned to recognize you, watching mildly amused as you stumbled to stand in front of the star and stare down the entity before you. 

Lunara looked humored, and you knew damn well you were about to either die or be forced to watch something terrible. 

The staring match was cut off by the Lunar behind them coughing a bit and drawing Lunara’s attention, much to their dismay. They turned around annoyed to the other bot as they seemed to summon a bit of tech from nowhere, it cackling like it was formed out of lightning, “...We need to focus on keeping them here unhurt and not entertaining ourselves with hurting them. Assuming the human is still in the process of properly forming you could kill them, and if you hurt Pollux she won’t heal. She’ll just die and reform in her home universe, defeating the purpose of bringing the human and someone else.” they adjust their laptop, gazing at you and the defeated looking Astral before messing with the device again, “...Need I remind you that without someone to lure Castor here that we’d be stuck here without a way to go and get them again? We kinda used up the last of my time being useful for dimension jumping, and unless you wanna bet that Castor would let that Lunar go for a single human...”

Lunara looked pissed at the end of it, turning back to the two of you and smiling, “...I think Atë would be a dear and help out, wouldn’t you ?”

The false lunar looks unimpressed, “Atë has said before they absolutely would not. And if you suggest using the lab rat I will personally shove ten million metric meters of vine up your intake port. That kind of covers the available options, unless you wanna hinge our survival on Spaniard being the world's stupidest version of themself.”

Lunara turns around again pissed and makes a wide motion with their hand, cueing the other lunar to dodge downwards to narrowly miss a nearby column being thrown at their head. They look back up at Lunara unimpressed, and begins walking forward and ignoring Lunara’s threats to destroy the very atoms of their body and reinvent a new way to flay animatronics in gorey, vivid detail to instead smile as they approached you, seemingly no longer pretending to be talking to Lunara as they discussed things, “...Hello. I’m Phanes, a pleasure to meet you. This is your universe now.”

...Shit.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Atë had given up on finding new versions of themself to go through long ago. Sure, there were duplicates. But after a certain point in time it was repeated. Lunars who wanted to be with their Gemini, Lunars who missed their Bloodmoon. Lunars who wanted to feel whole above all else, Lunars who had nothing and wanted to feel empty to mourn it all. There was a lot of repetition.

They loved and adored the repeats! They loved every version of themself. Every Lunar they chose to accept as a new piece of themself they loved and adored, and that piece grew to love and adore them too. Same for their Devotions, whoever they picked. Sure, the Castors and the Hunters usually fought back, desperate to protect someone, but eventually it all worked out. Some were still arguing it, having been part of Atë for centuries and still refusing. It was.. Hard some days. Hearing the voices of their perfect clones trying to assure them it was in fact alright, that it was just different now.

Atë worked hard to keep them happy. And bringing in new people was part of that! But... very rarely was that the case. Lunaras were few and far between with their new teammate- Oh, how odd it was to have an external teammate! How fun! And while Phanes fit their usual type perfectly , Lunara insisted on keeping them. So they waited, and hoped a Lunar would arrive and be different. Be devoted to something other than the usual. The three main groups, the Family devotions, the Escape devotions, and the Star devotions. All lovely, but all...

Boring. No, no that was rude. That was a cold thought from a part of themselves that they rapidly turned to lightly scold. 

...They wanted fresh meat. The many- the grouping of thousands upon thousands- listened quietly as Lunara seemed to be pitching a fit while Phanes talked from the other side of the wall. They listened closer and heard Phanes talking to someone over Lunara, something they hadn’t done in a while. 

Must have gotten close quickly to the new one . Hmm... Perhaps. A logical choice from one of their logical sides. A defensive case to defend the Pollux that had gotten the slight scold. They rotated within themselves to align the two for comfort, fulfilling all the reward the Castor seemed to have wanted for the point made. 

The person Phanes was speaking to seemed to be a Pollux by the tone- They always spoke to her differently, treating Polluxes and Castors with a regard they didn’t give others and always a slight tint to their tone for Polluxs. They spoke while the other did not, giving them a slight air of-

The person responded and all of Atë silenced at once as they replied quietly through the wall, making Atë move to press their ear to listen as much as they could, lower arms reaching for each other to hold their own hand from excitement. Oh, this would be perfect . This would be spectacular. No need to hunt down a new lunar after all- in however long it took for Lunara’s plan to fall apart they would have something better!

They kept their ear to the wall as several of the Polluxs’ gave giddy laughs and some of the Blood moons chortled along, the being of devotion being filled with discussion of the sweet sounding voice. 

Oh, it had been so long since a Lunar picked someone new! You would be perfect.

Chapter Text

It was a sign of a good story when there were patterns to be upheld.

The best stories knew what their patterns were, and how to play them well. A good tale started with the same thing, and knew when to break from that pattern. A text that always started with one character that randomly cut to another was either a sign of authorial laziness, or the kind of extreme panic that reminded one of bomb defusal work.

It had been a long time since Lunar was under that kind of pressure, but they were fairly certain they were facing a tidal wave that stood a good twenty feet over the kinds of panic they regularly dealt with. 

A digital brain often leads to a digital way of thinking of things. They learned to write in a free online font, and when they did math they had to force themselves to use the smooth swooping motions the symbols were designed with and not the simplistic 5 line style that was displayed on their HUD. As a result of this way of thinking Lunar was processing the situation as they ran in a very digital fashion. 

It had been forty two minutes since they had been talking with Castor. He teleported them to the training grounds, despite claiming so many times before that they simply wouldn’t do such a thing, to lecture them on the terrible decisions they had been making. They had held their tongue and not said a word, because they knew if they did their rationalities would be torn apart in ways that Lunar could be punished for disagreeing with. It was forty two because the exact series of events that unfolded were more... layered than singular. No particular second could be pinned on when Castor realized. 

By the end of the minute though, it was clear on Castor’s face that confusion was settling in though. He seemed dazed, looking to his left and right like he had suddenly forgotten something. He turned to Lunar slightly bewildered, halfway through his speech mumbling out something about needing a moment due to some kind of migraine before his eyes turned wide with what Lunar could have only assumed as abject terror .

...And then he was gone. In a flash of light, Castor very visibly teleported somewhere without a word. Lunar had sat in place for approximately two minutes staring at where Castor was standing moments earlier before cursing to themselves about Castor teleporting them there only to leave. They began walking back to the Plex- still upset by the time they got there- only to watch as the people around them were panicking. Some kind of storm had rolled through, and it was visible that it had the security devices activated. 

Approximately twenty three minutes ago Lunar had jumped onto the nearest method of transport near them- a trolley type device that was used to move people between the entrance to the Fazbear parking lots and the small, pseudo mainstreet that fazbear built to simulate the ‘small town’ feel their older establishments had, and waited panicked as they slowly but surely realized that Lunara had absolutely made their way through and you weren’t picking up messages. 

Twelve minutes ago Lunar had found where the trolley was destroyed- the railings holding it up were wrecked in- and they began running to where the tracks led instead. 

Three minutes and seven seconds ago (They would be able to get specific with this number, but if they did they would have to keep re-specifying due to the smallness of the quantities) they found Castor, shaking in the alleyway where they had left you about an hour ago. 

Lunar had spent the three minutes scaredly watching the astral, unsure of what to do. 

It was... selfish of them to be hoping Lunara had grabbed someone else. They knew they were after you and them specifically, but they had hoped Lunara would stop targeting the already fragile human they were getting so much of their limited self esteem from. But watching Castor panic- his magic wrapping around him before slightly dimming before repeating the process- left them wondering what Lunara could have taken that would have affected Castor of all people. 

They watched the emotionless star waver in the wind of the alleyway, seeming to fade and unfade as he stared at the empty area like he was expecting it to suddenly have someone appear there. 

Lunar looked on, trying to find what he could be looking for. They had been here with you just a little while ago, and while Lunar was sure that Castor didn’t hate you they had gotten just a slightly too long lecture about sneaking off with you to truly believe that Castor was doing all of this out of a suddenly appearing concern. That was all that Lunar could think of though. They’d left you here after Castor had pulled them away, saying something about having a chat with them while Pollux talked to you-

...

The alleyway was empty as Lunar watched Castor waver slightly in the light of the alleyway, and they realized with a slow, dawning horror that neither you or Pollux were there. They didn’t fully allow themselves to think it at first, watching as the oranges of the early sunset bathed Castor’s blue and yellow form in a warm but sad tone. They had to watch Castor quietly stare horrified at the blank area before it finally hit them. 

Lunara had taken someone other than you. 

The bot... The bot didn’t know what to do. They knew, reasonably, that they needed to act- To do something!

...It had been six minutes of them staring at the alleyway before Castor turned around and looked quietly, and oh so distantly, surprised to see Lunar there. He didn’t really... react, so much as he paused the motions he was already in the process of making before continuing them. He turned and walked into the square of the market to stare blankly at a bush. Lunar quietly followed him, trying to figure out what he was staring at.

It was a very thin bush, with two cups of shitty sorbet hidden behind it. Lunar peered over at them and realized it was blue raspberry and lemon sorbet, one of which was entirely full of melted ice cream and the other had two spoons inside. They looked up to see Castor staring off into the depths of the mostly empty blue raspberry container before he finally looked up at Lunar. 

He seemed... Haunted. Like he had seen something he shouldn’t have, or was aware of something he shouldn’t be. He seemed to struggle for words before quietly turning back to the cups.

It left Lunar forced to be the one to say it, “...Did they... take-”

Lunar felt. Well, no. Felt was the wrong word. Every fiber of Lunar’s being was filled with a grief they could only describe as being otherworldly as Castor turned to them and spoke into their very mind a simple, short sentence, “ Don’t .”

Lunar felt their emotions return to them as a single bit of rain formed in the sky, leaving Lunar hyper aware that if that sentence had been longer they would be in the middle of a puppeted hurricane. 

They looked at Castor afraid- they weren’t used to him forcing his powers on people like that- when Castor seemed to shatter a bit more internally, and they watched horrified as Castor seemed to lose all his brightness and color all at once. 

He just... fell to the ground like a ragdoll. 

They were quick to move him up, hauling him into a sitting position as Castor weakly tried to do something, struggling as he tried to move. It was... horrific. Like watching someone become a shell of themselves in moments of real time. 

Castor didn’t react nearly as much as they should have when Lunar pulled him into their arms, cursing under their breath before dialing Moon’s number. He didn’t pick up the first time, but when he did the second Lunar didn’t give any niceties, “Moon. Teleport. Now.”

They heard yelling on Moon’s end as he seemed to be trying to resolve some conflict on the other side, “Lunar- not now-”

“Moon, I swear to all that is holy if you don’t pull me through right now I will shove old moon’s stupid ass stick right up your ass. Space emergency . Teleport. Now. ” Lunar adjusted the shaking astral in their arms before pulling him close, more preparing for the jump of teleportation than actually needing to persuade New Moon any more.

A silence echoed before a sigh, and they felt themselves be pulled through space and time in a way that particularly spoke to Moon’s recently relearned lack of magical prowess. They stumbled forward after the landing- They were fully carrying Castor now, and they’d had to move their legs from where they’d been close to the ground holding him- as the others stared at them appearing. 

At first it was scolding and surprise at Lunar’s sudden appearance, and then it was silence. Finally, after Lunar was already part of the way to hauling the limp star to somewhere he could lay down mildly comfortably, it was panicked. 

Sun was the first to begin yelling about why Castor was hurt, and Earth followed suit. Solar tried to calm them as Moon and he began panicking as well about what kind of firepower you would need to hurt an astral. Lunar turned them away, hauling Castor to where they had been sitting the day before after the last Lunara scourge. They piled Castor onto the soft ground before spotting your sweater still abandoned from the day before. They threw it over the star like a blanket before sitting him up, watching him blankly consider the world around him as Lunar began yelling to the Computer, “Spaniard! For all that is fucking holy, open a portal to- wherever the fuck Lunara went!”

The others were quick to yell out, Moon calling for it to be cancelled immediately. Spaniard himself shot it down as Sun and Earth began talking about how Lunar needed to be rational. The bot ignored them all, working on lifting Castor’s arms up despite his confusion to begin putting the sweater on him properly, “Pollux was pulled through, “ Lunar cringed at having to say her name, seeing in real time as Castor got ever so slightly more of his fight back before ragdolling again after, “If I don’t go after her, then we’re all fucked. So Spaniard. Wherever they went. Now .”

The room was slightly more silent as Lunar propped Castor up against the wall. They turned and watched Moon continue yelling to everyone in the room about needing a plan, but Lunar ignored him as they approached the pit anyways. 

Moon’s hand grabbed their shoulder as the tuned out yelling became clearer (“This isn’t a plan Lunar, this is just you jumping into things. We need to find a way to do this together ...”) before they all heard the pit activate without Moon’s approval. 

Moon turned to yell at Spaniard at just the right moment for Lunar to completely tune them out, and they threw themselves forward into the pit. They had moments before they hit the bottom of the thing, hearing the bot rattle off their reasoning into the panicked air of the daycare. (“By my calculations, Astrals contain a small portion of the actual power contained in their star. Assuming Lunar is referring to that collapse - which is something you calculating being possible- due to Pollux being gone then we have around two hours from the point she was taken-”)

The bot felt the air turn into a void between spaces, and the press of plastic against them faded out into a rushing feeling between places.

Lunar was a calculation based individual. Lunara had mentioned, on a slip of the tongue in their earlier fight, that it had been almost two years since they had seen them last. That gave them a number based on the number of days it had been that the ratio was off. That gave them 2 hours to get Pollux back after she’d been gone. 

That left them with almost fifty minutes in their time, or twenty days in Lunara’s time. ...Assuming they didn’t have to make more jumps.

They let themselves begin falling through the air as the world around them shifted, and the story continued the way it was supposed to. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You were getting sick of being stuck waiting for others to acknowledge your existence. 

The cell surrounding you was fairly bleak, and filled with the kind of mindless decor you’d expect out of a simple prison. A window that opened to nothing, a bed without real sheets, and a door that you realistically couldn’t go through. 

...You could go through the door, but that would require passing by Phanes. 

Phanes had been... kind to you, in several senses. They made a point to smile warmly at you when you interacted, and the one time you got close to them you saw a look of true regret and sadness in their eyes about the situation. They clearly didn’t want you here either, but that didn’t make them stop Lunara. 

Around... two days ago? God, it was terrible keeping time in a void, you had been brought here. You’d looked the devil in the eyes before watching their most loyal minion move forward to introduce you to your new prison.

If nothing else you could say that you fought, but between Phanes and Lunara it was a losing battle. You’d watched in the little space you’d had over Phanes’s shoulder as Pollux was carried off by the insane Lunara. You’d kicked, and you’d screamed, but when the dust cleared enough for Phanes to pick you up you’d settled more into a sort of... numb calm. 

Phanes had been sweet, carrying you to your temporary home. They had gently laid you to sit on the bed when you had been too unresponsive to sit yourself, and when you had woken up later it seemed they had laid the blankets over you.

...You didn’t know how you fell asleep. You assumed the shock from the entire thing, or the overarching heat from trying to protect the flaring and cooling Pollux, or... Your side. Your side hurt . It wasn’t like anything you had ever experienced, like a deep burning somewhere in your liver. 

Your original game was dramatic. You had yelled for Lunara, and tried to storm the door to get out. And when your side started hurting worse you sat and yelled for Phanes, and when they entered you tried to storm out the door while it was open. (It had been open the entire time, you learned. It just opened using a mechanic Phanes hadn’t realized you weren’t able to operate. They apologized for locking you in, and offered to give you a tour of the area. You cursed at them and moved back to your seat from before, trying to settle the burning as Phanes sighed and left the room.)

Now it has been approximately two days. You were hungry . 

Phanes had been willing to come by, but you weren’t willing to play into their hands and ask for food. You were fairly certain that you had seen Lunara in the doorway, though you had been quick to begin screaming at the shadows there away instead of asking them in for tea sandwiches. 

...Your side had begun calming down a few hours ago, and you were hungry. It was time to suck it up and get by Phanes. 

You were quiet as you stood to attention, trying to shuffle more than actually walk. Phanes had been... quiet, lately. His kindness was slowly settling in, and while it was easy to say that they were catching the hint, you didn’t think anyone Lunara kept around was going to really be the nice kind of guy Phanes was pretending to be. 

Once, you managed to upset them enough to catch it; when you’d accidentally called them Lunar. It was a slip of the tongue, and it had upset you as rapidly as it had upset Phanes. They had smiled, pinched their hand, and then excused themselves quietly. 

...You had spent the day after wondering if you’d soon hear the world around you rumble like the moments you heard of Lunara fighting before, but there was silence in the aftermath. 

Your footsteps were featherlight as you exited the room, looking around the empty hallway with a sense of fear and dread as you looked around the area. You prayed not to find any version of the bot you knew- No , you prayed to only see your version of the bot lingering in the halls, rushing to grab you and promise to take you out of this hell, Pollux walking restored and still cold to you, maybe with Castor lingering behind with a bored expression.

The hallway had no one at all, and somehow that was the worst option of all. 

You worked your way through the hallway, trying to think of where there would be food in the building. You’d seen Lunara eating before, at the tea party. Surely there would be something in here already made by the chaotic monstrosity instead of needing their active presence. You crept around corners and bends, looking for anything familiar. 

...A hallway began to look vaguely similar to what you had seen before, and you paused. There was a slight breeze from the left pathway, suggesting that it was where the surface was. You turned to featherfoot your way through the passage on the right instead, looking at the various pieces of art along the walls. It was long since cracked, some pieces that were built into the walls instead of hanging on it were fully split apart, seemingly only still there because they were baked into the structure. 

You passed many images depicting battles, some showing Lunara and some not, but also a few showing beauty. You see images of this universe’s earth, the green grass seemingly flowing around Lunara like a vine to a tree, and a few of what seemed to be Lunar on planet earth. ..It takes you a moment to realize it must have been what Lunara looked like when they were young, but you do your best to shrug the thoughts away.

You follow the less drafty pathway, confirming yourself when it slowly slopes downwards. 

You are a good distance into the hall when you hear footsteps behind you. You look around the ruins, panicked, before throwing yourself into one of the many deep cracks in the walls. It was more than just a crack, but far less than a hallway. No more than enough room to hide you, perhaps with your hair or your shirt showing if it was caught the wrong way. 

It must have been, because with your face pinned to one of the walls you feel something begin to gently pull on your shirt. You tried to bury yourself further into the wall, but a voice that sounded distinctly Lunar pulled on your shirt, “Hey! Who are you?”

...Phanes knew who you were. 

You slowly pull yourself out of the wall, turning to the new appearance. It was definitely a version of Lunar, though they weren’t the one you had met through Lunara before. Where Phanes seemed to be permanently covered in some kind of crawling moss this clone seemed more... Decora. They were quick to lean into you, staring into your soul upon pulling you from the wall. They moved away when you retreated, still seemed curious. 

Your gaze drifted to the odd clothes they were wearing, before flicking to their face as they lit up from the attention. They began spinning around and making sound effects, motioning in ways that flickered their skirts before fluttering the slight sleeves. You giggled slightly from the sight, taking in the clothes they were showing off. 

This seemed to be a ballerina version of the bot. They spun in less than complete circles, but their skirts were clearly fashioned after some kind of tutu, with stiff boning holding the thick layers of petticoat up in the air. It was a simplistic thing that wound up ribbons around their torso, like the ribbons of a pointe shoe. Their spinning lifted the skirts only slightly, but the stops allowed you to see the lack of falling the skirts did, along with the bouncy spinning the movement showed.

The movement stopped and you looked up to see the new bot grinning at you. They walked forward a hair, as far as their oversized skirts allowed them to, before holding their hand out. 

You gently hold your own hand out, and watch them gently take it before settling into a mock bow, leaning their faceplate down to press what you realized was a kiss against the back of your hand. They let go and moved back again, giggling at what must have been your flustered face. 

The other Lunar tilted their head, and posed a short question, “Who are you?”

You tilt your head back at them, “Who are you ? “

They frown a bit, but smile again before giving a dramatic pose, “I am Scorpion! I’m one of the many which works for... uh... the bright and shiny Lunara. ...I’m still learning their titles, they have too many.” They look sheepish about it, turning away slightly, “I’m supposed to be training to be useful to Phanes and... whatever their name is. But if i’m being honest, “they hum, “I don’t like Lunara.”

Scorpion spins about again, “They told me to go and find where the human is since Phanes lost them, which is bad because we’re supposed to keep them away from Gemini. I don’t know why, honestly, I don’t know what they’re going to do about it but...” They look back at you slowly, before lighting up all at once, “...Hey! I know who you are!”

You smile and nod a bit. They turn around and begin posing again, and begin talking in their playful style. 

You don’t hear what they say, since you bolt down the hallways before they can finish spinning around. 

Footsteps pound down the hallway behind you as you race through the area, skidding as you turn corners to fight your way further into the maze. This guy was new, and that meant you still had a chance to lose them in the winding hallways. You tried to duck into places that had small entryways, to fight them with their weird outfit, but otherwise just focused on running. 

Gemini was still here. You had forgotten about them, but there was still a chance. Scorpion said that Lunara wanted you away from them, so that meant that either they were raging and able to be unleashed into the surrounding area, or they were peaceful and Lunara was keeping them away for a reason involving your ability to get out. 

A hand grips your shirt, and a skirt is very clearly licking at your inner knee, “Hey!”

You were quick to whip around, trying to kick them in the torso. Scorpion was quick to ignore you, pulling you backwards, but you did your best to kick them away, “Get the hell off of me! Get away!”

They continued pulling you up the ramps of the hallways, ignoring your yelling and instead turning to yell down the hallway themselves, “I foundddddd them!”

The world around you warped, and you felt Scorpion be pulled with you as the world around you turned to something closer to putty. You felt sick by the time you were pulled through, more slumped against the floor while Scorpion pulled you by the shoulders, “I found it! You said if I found it I’d get a treat, right? Where is it! Where's my treat?”

You’re dropped to the floor as Scorpion scampers over to begin knocking like crazy on a nearby door- one you noticed far back in the hallway as being the dead end to a barely decorated passage. They’re noisy as they call out, all jitters and movement, “I got ittttttttttttt-”

Lunara opens the door, and for a terrible moment you feel like a microbe being heatfixed to a slide by their gaze. The complete and utter overwhelm of being pressed like a little bug to a microscope lasts all of a few moments when Lunar turns to Scorpion instead, picking them up the two feet they had in height above the decora bot to shake them like a mojito, “Why. The fuck. Is it here? ”

They stopped shaking them, and Scorpion hung in the air unfazed, “You said to find it, and I'd get a treat!”

Lunara barely looked fazed by the childish attitude, “I said . That if no one found it by day's end and returned it to it’s room, those treats would be the last of your worries .”

Scorpion smiled, “Because I would have so many of them!”

Lunara considered them for a moment before throwing them down the hallway, letting them thunk off the wall with a meaty crash and... A sound effect? Before turning to where you were again. They look annoyed, and you distantly realize they are in something resembling a morning robe before feeling them lift you up and begin carrying you. 

You thrash around in their grip before feeling them settle their hands on you firmer, trying to keep you in place, “Alright. Shows over. We skipped the introductions today, so let's settle in instead.”

You’re carried over the threshold, and there isn’t an epilogue to save you.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And yet, in tradition’s name, perhaps one can be found somewhere in the meat of the story. 

As if for no reason other than to keep tradition, the story unfolds itself to where someone came out of a portal to crash into the dirt of the world around them, looking for their missing world and the stars it took with them. 

The place they find themselves is filled with many, who turn to look at them with the kind of confusion that screams horror more than it says anything else. 

A version of Sun who only has known a world where siblings are taken by force turns to the ballpit invader, and despite everything screaming at him to shoo off the look alike of the one who took his brother, he tries to be soft. 

Lunar’s HUD supplements an odd title for the bot through Moon’s network, though they don’t know the source of the name.

“...Lunar?” Solar model S3N3, dimension 28467. “Phane’s Sun.”

Chapter Text

You want to give some kind of drawn out explanation about how you got here, but it felt slightly redundant given the situation. You could, perhaps, go on in lyrical tune about how it felt to be carried by a monstrosity. Or perhaps about the construction of the hallway and door you were carried through-

The build of the door was quite odd though. 

One would expect, given the seemingly infinite amount of clones of themselves Lunara had found between your first visit and now, that they would have some kind of security from the others. A privacy of some nature, or perhaps a locking mechanism to their door. 

Or perhaps from the show of grand luxuries they would have some level of opulence staining the frame. An incorrect reconstruction of a walnut finished door, or perhaps a real walnut wood door. Framed with a nice decorative wrought iron hinge, to remind their prisoners of their place.

It was simplistic, though. 

You had missed it while walking through for a reason. It was very plain compared to the surroundings of the room. You watched in the short glimpse of it you got how it seemed to be a reconstruction of some cheap wood, coated in paint so heavily it mimicked the practice of painting the hinges as well. You were whisked through the doorway to get more information from it than that, but the rest of the room followed a similar theme. 

There was no saying it wasn’t Lunara’s though. 

The room was an.. Odd mix of simple and over decorated. It was a plain, borderline hideously overpainted room soaked in eggshell white while being stuffed to filling with the oddest decor you’d ever seen. A shockingly plain bed smothered in what you could only claim to be the oldest-of-fashioned comforters and overstuffed pillows was the center of the room, and a dresser that seemed more decor than actual storage was suspiciously empty across from it. Storage littered the room but was shockingly empty, all decorated wood instead. 

You managed a glance inside the large rooms walk in closet- a sizeable thing that was also quite empty, except for some more odd storage items inside and a familiar set of three outfits you realized were copies of the ones Lunara was wearing in the photo from before- before your world went ass over gasket. 

Literally, if that was believable. One moment the monstrosity was holding you in something akin to a bridal carry as you were pulled into the room, and the next it was throwing you onto the priorly explained bed with a satisfied hmmpth! As if they had finally sat down a heavy box. 

You sprawled after the impact, feeling the surprisingly soft yet seemingly mildewed comforter as you raced to get a hand or foothold. Once you did though, you were pulling into yourself with the kind of racing motion that had you bunched like a scared cat. 

Lunara considered you like a 30 piece puzzle for a moment, before turning to pull something from a nearby drawer. They fiddled with the handle of the thing, cursing it slightly, before rummaging through it as they talked. 

What they said wasn’t pleasant, “I know you’re unlikely to be surprised by this, given that Phanes was the one to give you your... grand tour of the new living facilities. But you aren’t ever going to be leaving this place.”

You don’t honor the statement with a response, instead sitting up taller to see if you can glare over their shoulder to spy what they were fiddling with. From what you could see it was nothing. Literally, nothing. You watched in real time as they pretended to fool around with an empty drawer, sometimes running their fingers against the wood of the things inside, before they continued talking, “I know you’re going to resist it for a while- trust me, I expect it. Hope for it , even- but that's alright.”

Their fingers make a gripping motion, and where before there wasn’t anything in the wooden drawer there suddenly was a mess of some kind of chain within it, all thin metal. 

You back away as Lunara pulls it out of the drawer, seeming surprised at the angle you were watching from. They don’t comment on you having been able to see their trick, instead continuing the motion as if you had no idea they were pulling it out of thin air, “In the meantime! I do hope to be a good host to you!” Their eyes go wild for a moment, clearly more the persona they had taken when ‘teaching you’ before than their kind and doting tea party facade, “I do hope that, one day, you’ll be thinking of me as ‘your Lunar’.”

They continue closer as they unwind the mess of golden thread in their hands- A dainty, thin necklace made of soft looking gold and fine little chains that interlocked in intricate ways, possibly not ones possible to be made by human hands. It laced into two chains to go around the neck, but the two each split into two themselves, making the front of the necklace appear like a lace made of four intertwining threads. All leading to the charm in the middle of the lace work. 

A crescent moon, marked with a little star in the area left by the crescent design. The exact same emblem you realized was the hook on their cape. 

You looked back up at them smiling sweetly, realizing they looked more happy than anything that you were staring at the necklace, “I do hope you’ll one day view me just as much as yours as I view you as mine.” They smile wide enough their teeth show slightly on the undamaged part of their face, leaving you shocked when the slight afterimage of their face on the other side mimics it to show a series of razor sharp teeth, “This whole.. Me keeping you thing only works if you play the part, yes? I do hope to one day collect your L- Your dimension’s Lunar as well, but in the meantime... It would mean everything to me to truly be your Lunar.”

They move to the other side of the elevated mattress, closer to where you are. You move to back away again, but they snatch your wrist before you could. 

You’re dragged closer to the robot as they pull your hand past where their shoulder was, holding you in place before releasing it to quickly grab the clasp of the golden thing, wrapping it around you with speed. Despite the ache in your hand they’re soft with the necklace, draping it more than they are actually strangling you with it. 

The cold of it still feels like a brand. You don’t move until they’re away from you, cueing them to coo slightly at your stillness and the sight of the necklace. 

Your hand is halfway to touching it when Lunara grips your hand again, staring into your soul with a look you realized that until now they had only given Castor as they reached for the necklace with their own hand.

They get halfway through gripping it and talking to you, holding it tight as they look you in the eye, “This is a gift . I do expect you to-” before cutting themselves off, staring at the golden thing themselves. You freeze at their freezing, before feeling confused as the almost liquid necklace drips down your neck. The rapidly warmed metal slips from its perch gained from the clasp, falling away from Lunara’s hand as it slips down. You stare at the bot as they look at their own hand. 

Lunara releases the side of the now broken necklace to place their hand on their face, and you realize they yet again have a new expression on their face. 

Tiredness, and perhaps a touch of embarrassment. 

It leaves you even more befuddled before the situation finally strikes you. Had... had they broken it somehow ? Your hand feels for the chain as Lunara is distracted, finding some of it sitting in the excess fabric of the comfortable clothing you were still stuck in. You pulled it forward to see, watching little parts of the chain fall down as a clumped portion on each end spilled little coins of broken chain. 

...Lunara had broken it by grabbing it too hard. 

You pull the necklace off of your neck fully, gently tossing it away from yourself. Lunara seems to tune back into the situation at the exaggerated motion, watching the necklace sail into the pillows before turning to you properly. 

They put their hands together before pulling their hands apart, an exact copy of the same necklace appearing between their hands. They approach again, trying to settle the necklace onto your neck with more precision this time. They fumble with the latch more, before cursing to themselves. They pull the thing off of you (easy, given that it seemed to have broken again) before repeating the process once more, this time securing it without shattering the chain. 

You feel the necklace settle in yet again as Lunara stares at the chains, this time with less sureness in their posture. You resist the urge to laugh at their expense- of course you were kidnapped by someone who can’t even put on a necklace properly. Of course that was your life right now. 

...Laughing about their faults felt easier than thinking too hard about other things, like how they had seemingly broke the admittedly sturdy necklace with nothing but a finger press. 

You tune back into Lunara’s movements (Feeling stupid for allowing yourself to tune out around them) and feel a dread in your stomach from how proud of themselves Lunara looked to be.

They preened almost, letting their shoulders settle down as they approached ever so slightly, leaning down so they were close enough that their face was most of your field of view, “So, would we like to review that kiss again? ..Practice before your old Lunar gets here?”

You manually soften your shoulders, and move your hands closer to your sides as the bot approaches. You gently pretend to grip the blankets as you tighten your hand. 

Lunara relaxes too, their eyes softening before they speak gently, “-And if you punch me again, I will remove every bone in your hand without killing the muscle tissue, so it necroses instead of scabbing over.”

You untighten your hand and begin panickedly moving yourself away from the bot. 

Lunara’s eyes light up at the fear in yours, and they pull themselves onto the elevated surface just as you escaped off the other side of the mattress. They stared at you from the slight highpoint as you moved yourself closer to the door, watching them spin their faceplate around as they jumped off as well. 

Your hand was scrambling for the door handle- Shit, you were grabbing a dresser - when they started talking again, “It’s alright if you don’t want to yet, you know. This universe runs at a much slower rate than yours.” They perk their shoulders up as if imitating someone laughing, ‘I mean! By the time your old Lunar gets here, you’ll probably already be in love with me for real! Humans are quick about it, right? It takes a few dozen dates to love someone, and we can have one every day of the months it’ll take them to find you!”

They approach right as you duck right to begin rushing the door, grabbing for your wrist the moment you turn your back on them, “We don’t need to rush! Even if you still don’t like me by the time they get here, it’ll still be the same!”

They pull your wrist above their shoulder to pull you into facing them, “By the time they get here, you’ll have known me for twice as long as-”

You yell and grab your strained shoulder, and they drop you where you are. The motion instantly drops you to the floor, leaving you more disoriented than you were before. You rub at your shoulder, wondering if it was torn in some way before feeling relief pile in when the sharp pain vanishes after you are released. You test your wrist and fingers, feeling the stabbing pain from before going away the more you move them. 

You finished checking your various tendons before turning back to the bot, realizing they had been just staring at you for a moment. 

...After another several minutes of nothing happening they leaned down to grab for your hand, making you rapidly pull it away. They hissed under their breath before moving closer to the ground to make a better grab for it, making you borderline snarl under your breath at the motion. 

They replicated several of the motions you had before, although they seemed to be pressing on the tendons more cautiously, before releasing you. They marched across the room, looking for something in the dresser again. You take the chance to stand up and begin slowly moving towards the door as quietly as you could, trying to run the situation over in your mind. 

They wanted you captive, that much was clear, but what exactly they wanted was becoming closer to understandable. They wanted you obsessed with them, but outside of direct confrontations they seemed to act mild about you. They released you when they thought you were injured, meaning they at least needed your motor functions intact, and they planned on kidnapping your Lunar as well. 

Assuming the ‘romancing you’ thing wasn’t actually their goal here, it left you with a better understanding of what you could get away with. They needed you alive and unhurt, which meant your cards could be used a bit more leniently around them. 

Your back was almost at the door when they lifted a hand towards you, and your feet slipped out from under you. 

You floundered as your grip on the floor failed you, realizing only after you’d flailed your arms that you were being levitated and not dragged into some nonphysical basement level. The bot moved their arm back towards the bed, and you watched the world around you move you closer to there as well. Of course . Magic bullshit, why not. 

You were thrown back onto the bed- Well, half onto the bed, you’d been too low in the air so everything south of your ankles just smacked mildly painfully into the mattress itself- as Lunara continued to sort through the dresser. 

They turned to you holding some kind of bandage roll before gripping it a bit tighter and ripping it apart in their hands, cueing them to turn back equally annoyed to ‘sort through’ the empty dresser some more. 

The set of you were quiet as they worked, with you watching quietly and they seemed to make and then destroy several more copies of the object on accident. 

After what you estimated to be destroyed bandage roll number seventeen you began talking for the first time properly since being dragged in, “...Why do you keep breaking them?”

They whip around towards you, the glowing half of their face flaring, “Do you think I’m doing it on purpose ?”

You look at the destroyed wreck of what must have been bandage roll number 18 before looking them in the eyes, “...I would imagine it’s pretty hard to do on accident”

They throw the mess of shattered fabric onto the floor before turning to you, “Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep the power flowing inside me in check? Do you-” they turn back to the dresser, quiet. They laugh slightly as they continue pretending to move items around inside, “Can you even imagine what kind of being I am ?”

You stare at their hands, “One that isn’t very good at using bandages.”

They whip around and throw the newest bandage roll at you, leaving you narrowly dodging a wadded and compressed pile of cloth, “ Shut. Up. ”

They move closer to you again, summoning another attempt at the rolled fabric as they talk, “I have conquered universes . I have destroyed entire pantheons . I keep the only thing that has ever really challenged me live as a trophy to show that even when I was my weakest I was still strong enough to win while keeping the specimen alive .”

You look at the already torn apart wad of fabric in their hands, “Did they bandage themselves after?”

They snarl and make a grab for your arm, making you pull it away at speed. They follow you though, damn near body slamming your sternum with theirs before pulling away with the same speed they approached with. 

You move to push them away when they begin laughing with the same intensity from before as they start... Bandaging your arm?

They look unreasonably proud as they begin wrapping your arm in a pseudo cast, looking victorious over the matter. When they finish wrapping it and tucking the cloth under the layers they stand back to look over the creation, looking at you as if prompting your comment on it. 

You look between them and the cast before talking, “...Thank you.”

They smile big, and you feel a minor sense of dread about the situation. Great, they’re an idiot, too strong for their own good, and they have no idea how human injuries work. Note to self, don’t do anything that will need an ER anytime soon. It does leave you confused slightly though as you stare at the bandages, “...You couldn’t pick them up before, but the moment you started wrapping them you could?”

It wasn’t something you meant to say, though you felt the lack of direct talking about the bandages showed that. Lunara picked up on it though, staring tiredly at you before running their now free hands across their face. 

The explanation is... as odd as the bot seems to be, “It.. God. It only happens to objects. It doesn't happen to people yet.” The hand they’re running across their faceplate moves to cover their corrupted eye, and their uncorrupted one looks into space, “Specifically things with names. I have learned to avoid destroying named things- Like stuffed animals and shit- but if I don’t care enough to name something it gets...” they gesture mildly at the ripped bandages on your arm. “You have a name, so I won’t break you. The stupid pile of bullshit didn’t deserve a name, so it’s fiber now.”

They turn to the dresser again and curse, proving themselves right as they grabbed a drawer and ripped off the handle. They wave their hands and the handle reforms into the same mildly designed metal thing as before. 

...You look around the room, and realize something about all of the carefully designed parts versus the wrecked pieces. The walls were blank, oftentimes sporting raised or lowered patches that screamed of repaired drywall. The bed itself was new, and yet the soft and hard to tear blankets felt eons old. The pillow though were bright white and full of superbly fresh stitch work, although they were already coming apart on one where something seemed to have ripped it apart. 

The room around you wasn’t plain. It was easily replaceable. The room- the entire building now that you thought about it- was made to be rebuilt . ...It left you wondering how often they destroyed it all to need everything like that. 

They cursed and you turned, watching with less wonder as they attempted to close the drawer and ripped the knob off again. The bot turned and walked to sit on a portion of the bed beside you, cringing as they sat and seemed to rip something from within the mattress. You turned to inspect what they had destroyed when they swung their legs with force to cover it, making you wonder what was hiding beneath. They turned to you fully before you could ask though and you could tell from the expression they pushed onto their face that they were about to start up again about replacing your Lunar. 

You cut them off before they could start, trying to pull the conversation away, “Why don’t you name things if that's all you need.”

They pause for a half moment, before letting the expression on their face slip away as they grumble under their breath, “What would I even name at that point?” 

You stare back at them, and wonder. Your mind slips around if it would be better to run, or if you even could run, before coming back to a dangerous idea. ...Perhaps you could buy them over. 

You stand up and motion for their hands, watching them look at yours curiously. They tilt their faceplate in a way that makes you cringe from how sincerely similar it was to how Lunar did before standing and accepting the handhold, turning to face you with a kind of arrogance that spoke before their mouth did. 

You turned away from them and dragged them towards the dresser, much to their rapid under-the-breath complaint. One of your hands left theirs as you quietly ran your fingers against the knob they had freshly recreated, letting your hands wander over the entire drawer before slipping up to the surface of the dresser, “...I think she’d be a lovely Anise, don’t you think?”

Lunara is staring at you like you’re insane. You laugh slightly upon seeing their expression, turning back to the dresser before gently running your hands across the various textures, “She’s a very plain sort of lady- though I think if you stripped the paint she has over her hardwoods she’d be much nicer. Still, there's something to be loved about the modernness of her. She’s plain, sure, but she makes a point to be today’s plain. Nothing worse than someone who refuses to even be modern.” 

You let your hands wander before lifting up the one holding Lunara’s, feeling them twitch slightly as you lifted your joined hands to brush around Anise, “Here, gentle see? Don’t want to hurt her. She probably really enjoys being held- most objects do, I hear. Did you know some people can talk to objects? I never could, but I hear it’s lovely.” You move your hand across the material, dragging Lunara’s along with you, “My favorite object... fascinations have always been too far in the sky for me to hear. Or too conceptual. It’s nice to hear how people say objects speak though. I have a friend who can hear her stuffed animals- they’re all so lovely.”

You pull your hand back and leave Lunara’s on the wood of it, “I think if she could talk, she’d ask you to pull something from inside again, yeah?”

Lunara is staring at the dresser, though every now and again they look at you like you’d jumped into a swimming pool and thrown away your own ladder. They eventually looked at the dresser properly before carefully grabbing the handle, notably with more care than they had before, and pulled the drawer open with more precision than they had before. 

The drawer opens and they glare at it while you chuckle to yourself, making them turn and glare at you in return. You motion for their hand again, and they glare at your outstretched hand before taking it. 

You lead them around their room to many wonderful features (Their pillows Ruby and Jasper, who are so soft and excited to greet them, their walls Lily, Opal, Zack, and Marcus who have been fans of theirs for a while, their other dresser Penelope and her delicate jewelry box Sofia who have been fans of their fashion for ages ) as Lunara continues to treat the situation like it was the most inane thing they had ever been a part of. 

But it seemed to work, as slowly but surely they were able to not only touch but fully use each of the usable objects without ripping them apart. 

You had been full on laughing at them and their expression after Sofia when the bot threw their hands in the air and began walking to the door, seemingly unlocking the thing after the entire situation. You heard them yell out to Scorpion something about giving up on the situation as they stomped off, seemingly followed by Scorpion themselves as they continued their prior preening for affection. 

Your feet were halfway to making the motions to walk out of the room when you stopped, and turned back to the room behind you. ...You never did see what was hiding beneath the mattress from before. 

The walk back to the bed was short- you never made it far from there, worried the entire time Lunara would assume you were attempting to escape again- and the trip to the slightly torn portion of the sheets was shorter. You assumed, for a half moment, they had simply torn the fabric when a slight tuft of fur poked from where the mattress met the box. 

You lifted up the spring mattress to see the prize beneath, sucking in a breath through your teeth at the sight. It was a stuffed animal- seemingly some kind of deer- that seemed to have been pulled through hell itself. You lifted the fragile thing to inspect it, grimacing at the tragic tag on its neck. 

“Spigot #27.” ...you had a good idea of where spigot one through twenty six were. 

You looked around the room before turning back to the ripped apart doll, grimacing a touch harder as you realized the stuffing was falling out as you handled it. The little weighted beads within were spilling onto the floor when you turned it the wrong way, making the poor thing sag more and more with each misplaced turn. 

You quietly scooped up the beads on the floor and below the mattress, trying to quickly pull the plushy back together. You walk back over to Anise and Sofia, looking for some kind of thread or needle. Sofia had a spare safety pin inside, so you did your best to weave together a sort of metal stitch with it. 

You placed the solitary comfort item back under the mattress and slipped out before Lunara came looking for you again, hoping if nothing else that perhaps the comfort item would be enough of a distraction for you to slip back into the depths of the destroyed world unnoticed. 

You were close to slipping down the hallways from before when you heard a familiar voice, choosing to slip into another crack in the wall as the nearby voices seemed to slowly approach. 

The voices- who you were realizing were Phanes and Scorpion, walked down the hallways from a different section than you were in, talking into the one straight ahead of the sub-hallway Lunara’s door was in. They seem to be sweeping the area, though Scorpion had visibly latched onto Phanes in some manner not unsimilar to that of a Koala cub. 

Phanes seemed to be sick of the treatment, though Scorpion didn’t seem to care. The two were walking the hallways with Phanes taking the lead, though Scorpion never fell far enough behind to not be rubbed up against Phane’s shoulder. ...in the light of the hallway, you realized something odd about the two. Where Scorpion wasn’t obviously wearing anything of the sort, Phanes seemed to be wearing... some kind of choker? With the same inscription as the necklace you were still wearing from your temporary visit to Lunara.

They turned back towards your area and you ducked back into your hiding space. Their voices became clearer again though, “Scor- Stop that shit. Scorpion, where was it when you found it the first time?”

A second, seemingly slightly lighter voice, chimed in, “Hiding in a crack in the wall near the old dungeons area.”

The first voice- definitely Phanes- hummed, “Good. As Long as it stays in this half of the building, we don’t need to worry. The real concern is it getting too close to Gemini this early in the transformation process. I’m not sure its body would handle the rapid influx of energy without a few concrete barriers to slow things.” 

You hear something similar to a Psst noise before the second voice spoke again, “Weren’t you fine after a few hours?”

Phanes audibly stopped walking, and Scorpion seemed to have run into them from the slight pained noise they made, “I came close to death during those two hours, and that was from a robot who was already halfway to astral ascension. Rapid ascension will just kill them. No questions about it. Now, help me find them before they go looking for their Pollux.”

You hear something more similar to a childish whine than anything else as Phanes seemed to begin dragging something around behind them, likely Scorpion dragging their feet. 

The hallway is clear for several moments before you move quietly from the crack in the wall, letting yourself look around the corridor before sprinting down the way the other two came. Alright. You were looking in the wrong half the first time, let’s try again.

The hallways are sickeningly similar as you did your best to quietly rush through them, trading silence for speed as you listened to the world around you. The mini-planet you were stranded on was small, and you doubted that Lunara had too many versions of themselves guarding the little world given how long it had taken Scorpion to find you the first time. The hallways were likely empty, and your real enemy was letting Lunara become bored enough to summon you. 

If you wanted to escape an idiots playplace, your first goal was to be smart. Your second goal, notably, was to be interesting . It was the only reason they were keeping you here after all. If you could keep your movements short and concise you might be able to make the act of escape something Lunara would be happy to entertain, perhaps even enough that they would slip up and let you through their fingers. 

The hallways become mildly familiar, and you realize you’re in a mirrored version of the familiar one from before. This copy slants the opposite way towards the surface, but it feels more well known as you race down the slightly slanted hallways. 

You listen for the sounds of something trying to escape, but you fail to hear any. However you see a corridor that was much fresher than the others this low into the building, and hope and pray that Gemini ripped apart the walls on their way out last time. 

Your side starts to ache from the running as you approach the dungeon layer, going down freshly remade stairs into a quiet section of the building. At the bottom a few doors sit open, but a single one is closed with a lever system you recognize from your own lodging- the one where you couldn’t see the handle from the inside. 

You have to weigh your entire body down onto it to open the thing, leaving your entire lower ribs aching from the strain. The door pulls open though, and you watch it slide into its housing as a familiar dungeon cell opens itself to you. 

A hissing fills your world as the angry face of Gemini turns to face you, pausing completely before releasing the heat in their expression. They look you up and down before waving you in, staring at the hallway behind you. 

You pour into the room, looking around for Pollux. You weren’t sure if Phanes had meant to imply that the two were being stored together, but you hoped they were. Finding both at once would be a miracle in the short scheme of things, though the room itself seemed empty. You turned to gemini as they seemed to be amused by your looking around, waiting until you finished to begin talking, “ Looking for someone? ”

You were halfway to nodding dumbly at them when they opened their arms slightly, showing off the figure smothered by the excess fabric on their capelet. She was faint, and slightly colorless, but it was definitely Pollux who tiredly turning to you confused. 

The two of you stared at each other for a half breath before you rushed the astral, having to lean up to reach where Gemini was holding Pollux despite the larger being sitting already. Pollux was immediately grumpy at the touch, already leaning away, though that just made you hug her tighter as you damn near cried into her already messed up hair. 

She was pulled away from you before you could do much more, but you savor the feeling of her moving in a way that proved her alive. The large cosmic being was close to talking when you cut them off, too stressed to pay them proper respect, “-She’s alive! Oh thank god- She’s gonna be alright, right? She’s- She’s not dying, right?”

They waited for you to finish, though it felt more like a dramatic pause from how you were rushing, but they seemed mild as they talked, “ No . Not really. ”

You ran that answer through your mind before turning to them confused. 

Pollux was pulled closer to them- though she was quick to attempt to push them away- As Gemini began explaining, “ She’s outside of her home universe. Astrals can’t survive outside of their own dimensions for very long, if at all. That's not even accounting for the fact that she’s been separated from her Castor. ” They readjust her slightly, finally getting Pollux to stop squirming, before continuing again, “ She’s only still alive due to a mixture of having an alternative energy source resembling her own Castor nearby, and the time difference between dimensions. The process of an Astral dying is usually extended based on dimensional time, meaning that once however long that timer is up she’ll still novae regardless.”

Pollux seems to disagree with this logic, using what seemed to be limited strength to lift her head up and look at the larger being. They turn to her with a slight sense of ire as she begins to talk, “...Shut up. You aren’t anything like him.”

The larger being rolls their eyes, “ I’m similar enough to keep you from being instantly destroyed by this universe's magic. Even if i’m not the same -” 

Pollux cuts them off, “You are nothing like him. Don’t even think for a moment you’re anything like us,” and then with a spite that you hadn’t heard from her even when you had insulted her, “You don’t even know who is who anymore.”

Gemini’s eyes light up with what can only be described as rage before grabbing her head to smash it into their capelet more, ignoring Pollux’s pained noise at the action, “ Shut. Up. ” Their voices echo across each other, overlapping into one singular tone. Pollux seems to find it funny, though they don't comment on it.

They turn back to you shaking with some kind of anger as they continue, “She isn’t going to be able to stay stable much-” Their voices waver between which one they’re using, making Pollux snark quietly in their grasp. They hold her tighter before turning to you upset, “She needs to go home. We don’t want her here and Lunara won’t let us just kill her. She needs to go home. We don’t want her dying here but we don’t want her here.” Their body language doesn’t change at all, but something within them seems to shift because they talk with a softer, almost more mournful voice as their face and posture continues being angry, “She’s too... like how we used to be.”

Their face seem surprised by the softness of the comment, and you watch as they seem to switch between concern over it into spilling into a mournful expression that more fitted the voice talking, “... She needs to go home. She doesn’t need to stay and end up like us. ”

The hands cradling her seem to soften, and Gemini leans down slightly to press against Pollux’s bangs like how you had before. Pollux doesn’t seem pleased by the action, pressing a wobbly hand up to press them away, “Don’t- Stop that! I’m not your Pollux! Just because you don’t know who you are anymore doesn't mean I want to replace anyone!” 

Gemini scrunches up their face as she continues pushing them away, “You aren’t my Castor, and I am not your Pollux! Let me go! ”

They sigh before turning to you, seemingly giving up on some old argument. They continue to hold Pollux in place as they continue cradling her, looking at you as they talk instead of her, “ If we let go of you, you’ll novae. ”

She struggles regardless, “Then let me nova you freaks!”

They do not, in fact, release her as she continues struggling. They instead turned to continue talking to you, “ She needs to go home .”

You nod, moving slightly closer despite knowing you wouldn’t be able to reach her due to the distance, “...I want to make sure she gets home. I want- I want both of us to get home. ...I want to make sure she’s alright.” 

Gemini seems to find something funny about this, but you cut them off, “Don’t- ..Phanes said before that he could sense you somehow. Is it... possible for you to keep them from finding out I’m down here? I came across them before and they said they were hoping to keep me from finding you down here- I don’t want to be separated from Pollux again.”

They watch you for a moment before turning to talk to the door instead, “ ...Would there, perchance, be a way of convincing anyone I've talked to about the new human being here into letting them stay? ”

You look confusedly at the larger being, convinced they were talking to themselves. You were about to begin bargaining with the indirect being when the sound of the door opening just a hair more made you whip around and see the actual other side of the conversation, making your heart sink. Scorpion was draping themselves along the door, showing Phanes in the limited empty hallway behind them. 

Phanes pushed Scorpion out of the way to enter, grimacing themselves at the state Pollux was in, “...I suppose.”

You turn to Gemini betrayed, but they look tired rather than interacting with your expression, “I told them the moment the door opened- We thought it was Lunara finally coming for her. I doubt they’re going to drag you back though. You’ve proved yourself to be capable of withstanding being around us enough.”

Phanes moved into the room proper, looking annoyed at the constellation, “I was trying to keep it from being something we tested.” They soften and turn to you, looking guilty from the upset look already on your face, “... I didn’t want to test it and be wrong. I want you to be... something unharmed adjacent,”

You scowl at them, “What an unharmful situation you’ve put me in, huh?”

Before Phanes could talk Gemini waves a hand to draw both of your attentions back to them, “ Enough . Fighting over who dragged who into what isn’t fixing things. Phanes, fuck you for doing whatever Lunara tells you, ” The bot looks ashamed, “ And- you. Whatever your name is. Fuck you for rushing off towards your certain death the moment someone tried to warn you about it. ”

You get halfway to offended before moving to stare at your shoes, still feeling more angry than actually regretful for anything. 

Pollux tries to lift herself up again, saying something about how they have ‘No right to punish a human from her universe’ when Gemini shoves her back. You feel halfway happy that she tried, though you know it was more her trying to get a word in than actually defend you. 

It’s silent for a few seconds before a shadow overtakes you. You turn to see Scorpion ever so slightly towering over you, making you look up at them from the slight height difference and the proximity. They hadn’t said anything so far, just following behind Phanes the entire time. 

Phanes looked at them confusedly before a look of realization went over their face as they began trying to shoo Scorpion away, “No. Absolutely not. Get out. Not the time.”

Scorpion sidestepped them, continuing to look at you. You watched them approach before they got close enough to grab your shoulders, slightly smiling as they pushed down on them. You gave them the insane look they deserved as Phanes continued smacking them lightly on the shoulders, shaking their head at them and everything. 

Phanes turned to you tiredly, in a way noticeably more exasperated than they had priorly let you see them, to begin explaining, “They want you to sit so they can sit in your lap.”

Scorpion moves to stand between you and Phanes to continue pressing on your shoulders, more clearly pouting the longer you take to sit. You tried to move away, but their pouting gained a puppydog-like appearance as they followed you. 

You tried to escape their advances, but they seemed to take it more as a challenge than anything, following you in an idiots waltz as they slowly but surely turned more and more pouty. When your back hit the wall of the cell you were forced to look at them again- They got in close enough most of your vision was their sad eyelights and Phanes moving to begin hitting them again from over their shoulder- before you sighed and waved both off. 

Phanes was quick to attempt to scruff them, but you sat down resigned instead. Scorpion pulled away from Phanes rapidfire, and before you could comprehend any of this- The torn stuffed animals, the possibly deadly fate of Pollux, the sudden appearance of Phanes- You had a remodeled lunar bot in your lap. 

Scorpion was quick to tuck themselves into your shoulder despite your clear lack of expression about their affection. You turned back to Phanes unimpressed and exhausted as Scorpion continued cuddling into your lap, quick to begin snuggling and playing with your hands. 

A snorting noise aired from across the room, and you turned to see Gemini laughing at your deeply pouty expression as Scorpion seemed to be attempting to dig into your skin like a puppy ‘digging’ at their dog bed. You turned to them with an equally upset look as they continued to laugh, seeming to find it funnier when you did so. 

Scorpion settled in to rest on your shoulder as you put your arm across them- for your own comfort only, as it was hurting your arms otherwise- as you turned to face Phanes, “How long does this last?”

Phanes looks on at Scorpion, “Until they’ve been cuddled to their desired level- usually a few hours.”

You slowly turn to the bot in your lap, who was making themselves even more comfortable as they snuggled in. They turned to look at you with a big grin, and before you could stop them they made a grab for your face. 

You heard Phanes begin yelling at them as the bot reached up to begin pressing exaggerated kisses along your hairline, cackling by the time they got from the right side to the left. You smacked at their shoulders right as Phanes reached them to pull them away properly, hauling Scorpion away from your face but not out of your lap. 

They looked proud from their new position on your lap when Phanes smacked them over the shoulder. You didn’t see it well though, looking away to stare anywhere but there. Of all the things- Why clones of Lunar?

The snickering from across the room amped up again, and you knew from the sound of Pollux trying to fight for her pride who exactly was laughing. Scorpion settled back in as the room seemed to calm. Phanes moved over to Gemini to begin discussing things as Scorpion settled back into your lap, ignoring your attempts of getting them off of you. 

They began playing with your hands again as they started talking to you for the first time since they had first found you, “I asked Atë about who you were! They said they’re excited to meet you! They’re gonna try to keep you eventually!”

You turned to look at them confused, waiting for them to explain. They do, beginning to intertwine your hands as they talk, “They said you’re new, so you’re likely gonna be in the ‘new group’ around when I am, so we might get to hang out there! They also said they researched you, and that you’re really nice to Lunars like me!”

Your expression turns more sour as they continue to nuzzle up to your shoulder, “They said you were kind, and soft- and that you taught Lunara about Nutella!” They look excited about the Nutella, “-They let me try that! It is amazing! I really like it on toast- With peanut butter!”

They’re close to rambling about Nutella on toast when you hold your hand up (as best you can, while holding their hand) to stop them, “Who is Atë?”

They fidget for a moment, confused, “...Atë said they knew you.”

You shake your head, so Scorpion continues, “Atë is the other Lunar here. They’re... a mixture of people. A hive mind sorta.” They perk up while talking, “They said they’re going to keep me one day!”

Scorpion puts their hands over their heart while looking up at you, almost swooning as they talk, “One day, when I’m already gone, they’re gonna absorb my mind so I can be with them forever! And I’ll be a piece of themselves forever and ever!” They smile up at you, “-And they said that when Lunara is done with you, they’ll keep you as well!”

Your reaction is minimal, mostly due to your internal screaming over the subject. 

Phanes- likely only appearing out of nowhere due to you zoning out- shakes your shoulder gently. You look up at them to see them looking worried, and tune into the fact that Scorpion was now looking at you with something resembling concern as well. Phanes continued shaking your shoulder until you looked at them again, sighing slightly. 

They sat down near you and Scorpion, giving the same gentle smile they had when discussing things back in your cell, “We won’t let Atë get you. You’re going to be out of here before they even get an interest in you, I promise.”

A noise came from the doorway, making Phanes give the same exhausted expression they had when Scorpion had tried to grab you earlier. They turned to the anomalous noise in the other room and said ‘no’ in a very firm tone before turning back to you.

The shadowy being in the corridor didn’t turn away though, cueing Phanes to turn to them properly and begin yelling again, “I said , No. Get out. Get the hell out. We need to take-” They gesture vaguely at you, “Back to its room. It doesn’t need to interact with your weird ass. Get out.”

You try to look over Phanes' shoulder,  seeing only Scorpion's delighted reaction and Gemini.... Moving their shoulders closer to their ears and tucking Pollux further into their arms. Phanes shifts and-

Scorpion was wrong. That wasn’t a Lunar. 

A thing with a long, layered torso moved itself into the room. It stood to its full height after entering, towering a bit taller than Gemini did. Its height was half in its legs-- folding things that held a third its height in a folding part that ended in sharp tips that pronged behind the secondary kneecap- and half in the torso with far, far too many arms. 

It walked into the room with a slight sway, it’s torso moving in a way that revealed that it was more two pieces than one. The being curled downwards to smile at Phanes, tilting its pseudo-faceplate to around sideways when talking to them. It spoke, but it’s voice was more like an audio clip of Lunar’s than how any of the others in the room sounded like they used the same voice box, “Hello! ...Missing me?”

Phanes tried to shove them off, but the newcomer seemed to take it as a challenge. They smiled big before picking Phanes up, grabbing them into a hug that Phanes struggled very hard against. They turned to shove Atë away, struggling harder all at once when Atë seemed to hold them closer. 

A hand gripped Atë from behind before they were pulled from Phanes, giving you mere moments to see Gemini grab the newcomer before bracing themselves and throwing Atë back towards the door. Atë smiled at the group after crashing into the doorway before turning to leave, seemingly unfazed at being thrown. 

The group turned to watch them leave, and you put your hands over your face.

Why did things only get more complicated?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lunar watched the Sun across the room from them. 

Their display tag was still the same, meaningless words, “ Phanes’s Sun ”. 

For a moment it was silent before the Sun began to slowly approach, hands shaking, “...Lunar? Is that... You?”

Lunar turns their faceplate before it clicks, and they shake their head, “...I’m from another dimension. I... Is this Lunara’s dimension?”

The Sun’s expression shatters, and they turn before shaking their head, “...Oh. No, this isn’t- Who is Lunara?”

The two of them were staring at each other confused. Lunar was the first to talk, “...I’m here looking for- Have you seen a clone of me with half their face gone? They kidnapped someone from my dimension- Our dimensional tech said this was the dimension they escaped through.”

They watch a clone of their brother shatter a little bit internally before turning away, “...Oh. Them. They... No. This isn’t their dimension. This is...” a child’s shout is heard in the other room, and the Sun turns to them, “You need to leave. Our- ...Our Lunar was lost to whoever you’re looking for, and.. And I don’t know how to explain who you are to our Dazzle. ...Please leave. I can’t..” They look away, halfway to tears, “I don’t know how to explain to my daughter that a clone of her uncle is here. ...Please. Leave.”

Lunar does their best to look sympathetic, but they move towards the other Sun, “I’m... I’m so sorry. Please- My dimension will be ripped apart if I can’t find them. Is there- is there anyone who would know where to find them?”

Sun whips around rapidfire, “Do you think if I knew that, I would be here without my little brother right now?” They walk around the daycare desk, properly offended, “Do you think I would- would be begging some random clone of my little brother to leave so my daughter doesn’t have to be taught who her uncle is because she doesn’t remember ? Do you think-” The Sun sobs a bit, and Lunar backs away as they finally start to cry further. 

Lunar backs away towards the portal, mind spinning as to where Lunara could have gone. They turn towards it, trying to calculate. Lunara must have used this as a jumping off point, which meant- They could be anywhere. God , they’d have to go back to their home dimension and get the information- but the clock was ticking and every moment spent in their home universe would be faster than time spent in others-

They heard the Sun behind them clear their throat. 

They turned to see Sun fiddling with something before they felt a link press against their HUD, realizing the Sun had sent a link using their Lunar’s old messaging system to them. It was coordinates- Dimensional coordinates. The Sun looked exhausted as they talked, eyes still full of tears, “...they offered to help once, but said our Lunar wasn’t worth-” they hiccup a little, “...Wasn’t worth looking for. ...They might help you.”

Lunar stares as the clone of their brother before nodding, loading their travel device as Sun attempts to clear their eyes as Dazzle seemed to grow more impatient at the door. 

The bot did their best to vanish into thin air as the Sun turned to finally answer their daughter, and the family did their best to pretend the disturbance never happened. 

.... A million miles away, in a council where one member never truly got to mourn someone they knew being taken from them, a rage broke out about the traveler leaving before the duality got the signal. They reset the several computers set to track it to be faster next time, refilled with a hope for an outcome they had given up on when their Lunar disappeared four years ago. 

They would catch it next time, no matter how far away that might be.

Chapter Text

You’d always had a sort of... vision for what being kidnapped would be like. You had assumed it would be like something from a “realistic heroic movie”, where maybe you’re held for days but once freed someone is already there to save you. Maybe it would be a bland force, like some random police officer or firefighter, but there would be someone there to show that things were going to get better. This didn’t feel anything like that though, this felt like a panic attack induced nightmare. The world around you felt more like something out of a horror movie than a scene from a heroic epic, and the arms around you felt so much more like a weight than a refuge.

The room around you was still as your brain caught up with it all, watching as Gemini and Phanes kept a close eye on the door to see if the beast would return or not. Your breathing was the soundtrack to your brain catching up, the heavy motions only blocked by the firm metal headplate still tucked into your arms-

...When did you start grabbing Scorpion. At some point in your panic you had turned them into your stress toy, gripping onto their shoulders with a tightness and tucking them into your shoulder like you were protecting a small child from some horrifying sight. Scorpion was grinning up at you happily, curling into the grasp. You were close to sighing and permitting them the right to continue sitting there when Gemini and Phanes began talking, ticking the scale over and cueing you to return to the process of trying to push Scorpion off. They didn’t go easily, but it was a fight worth fighting. 

You were halfway finished getting their lower body off of your lap when you tuned into the conversation between Phanes and Gemini properly, listening to them talk. 

Phanes was trying to wring some kind of liquid off of their hoodie as they motioned vaguely at the doorway, “ Gross weirdo . I thought you said it didn’t come down here.”

The giant constellation’s hands skimmed the air around Phanes as they worked, looking over the areas they were feeling for liquid, “Normally, no. We do have something out of the usual currently down here though. You don’t get to pretend this is exactly everyday events when you’ve been sitting in the east wing for the past week. ...You’ve been missing for that long anyways. Unless you’ve been elsewhere.”

Phanes was already looking away from Gemini during the conversation, but the slight motion in the bot to distance themselves to remove the hoodie entirely seems almost like a cautious distraction in of itself, “Just the east wing. You know I’ve given up on trying to help Lunara- They wrap me up in their endeavors sometimes, but that's out of my control. They targeted me for my powers, they’re not just going to leave me alone after all of that. But I haven’t been going to visit pointlessly.”

The duality seems to regard them mildly as they remove the jacket, struggling to get it over their oversized faceplate. You’re distracted with visually tracing the vines on Phane’s shoulders as they enter their chassis enough that Scorpion reclaims their place in your lap, unmoving while you find the places the vines took root and how they seemed to dive into the limited crevices. You rationalize this must have been why Phanes struggled with Atë earlier- It must have been limiting their ability to move. 

“... Is that so ?” The duality’s voice snaps you back into the conversation, letting you watch as they calmly discuss Phane’s alliances like it was the weather, “ Is that why you’re still wearing the collar they gave you ?” 

...Why do all of the space people have sarcastic cruelty as their main communication form. 

Phanes freezes in their motion to fold their jacket. Ironically, the sudden switch from moving to being still causes the simple choker you had noticed what felt like ages ago with Lunara’s insignia to jingle. Now that you were closer, the choker very much did not look like a normal necklace, it was all thick material with the exception of the metallic clasp at the front holding what you were realizing was a lock engraved with the insignia to the two sides of the material. It was... very much a collar. 

The bot makes some grand motion with their arms as they begin to argue something to the tune of how they just couldn’t take it off, and how it was part of some plot, but you begin to tune out their personal dramas as you remembered your fight with Scorpion. You shifted them in your lap so their center of mass was centered on one leg, something they blinked up at you about pleasantly, before shoving them off and leaping upwards before they could react. 

The sound of Scorpion's head bouncing off the concrete of the cell drew everyone in the room’s attention, but they bounced back up too quickly for anyone to actually become worried. They were sitting up with their arms to pout at you before you could wince from the force of the motion, and before you could begin making headway in putting distance between the two of you they were rising to their feet to follow you around the room again. 

You scanned the room for someone to hide behind to keep Scorpion away, only to hear a slight gasp from Scorpion as they pushed... past you? They looked almost anxious as they moved to where Gemini had been sitting before throwing Atë out of the room, moving the loose fabrics they had been cloaking themselves in to begin holding a form from within the pile of gaussian cloaks. 

Logic says to let Scorpion investigate things alone to get them away from you. ...Curiosity moves you to investigate the motion instead. 

You walk quietly to where Scorpion was now cooing at something from inside of Gemini’s abandoned cloak, watching whatever it was struggling against the motion weakly. You get close enough to see the colors without being drowned out by the navy of the thin material, finally realizing it was a soft yellow you recognized. Peering down from over Scorpion's head (which draws their attention, spoiling your plot to break away) revealed Pollux from within the cloak, looking unbelievably uncomfortable with Scorpion’s manhandling. They had their arms around her sides, pinning her own arms down, as they cooed into her hair and cuddled her like a teddy despite her attempts to throw them off. 

Confident in Scorpion’s ability to bounce back you shoved them with more force than you’d normally feel comfortable using to save the star, shoving yourself between the two. Scorpion smiles widely at you doing so, wrapping their arms under yours to steal you as their new teddy bear. You can feel them rubbing their faceplate into the top of your head as Pollux adjusted to being freed, though she had to lean against you almost immediately due to the weakness she seemed to still have in her arms. 

You turned to Phanes and Gemini upset, interrupting Gemini beginning their breakdown of how what Phanes said was false with little regard for their bickering, “Hey. I thought you were the thing keeping her alive.”

Both of them turned back, and a noticeable ‘oh shit’ expression graced the dualities face as their argument was abandoned to return to their post. They were quick to move close and return their cloak to their shoulders- Overlapping the thin layers to give it an almost opaque look while keeping the thin and transparent layering- but they weren’t able to finish the motion of restoring Pollux to their arms in that smooth way due to her batting at their hands when they tried. 

You gave her a slightly annoyed expression as you turned to look at her, watching her brows scrunch when the hands moved to lift her before batting at them with borderline clenched palms- open just enough to scratch at the back of the hands she was pushing away. 

There was an attempt to lift her into their arms, but the moment your hands began to lift her (scarily light, nothing alive should be that light) form into their palms she was quick to begin scratching at you as well. You hissed at the motion, lowering her back down into your lap before she could continue giving you little sites of potential infection. Pollux seemed completely resistant to being picked up, almost turning herself liquid to slip out of their palms and shy away from being lifted into her safety. 

Gemini stopped grabbing for her when she buried herself in your shoulder, shocking you as much as it seemed to shock Pollux. She was close to shaking from the rapidly onsetting weakness, but she was continuing to bury herself into the nearest form that the other couldn’t pry her from. You were torn on pushing her away into the safe palms of the constellation or pulling her into your arms. You settled on wrapping your arms around her while moving yourself as little as you could towards Gemini. 

The piece of the sky seemed to realize your motion, moving their arms around you instead of directly around Pollux. The star stills before continuing her struggle, trying to push your arms off of her despite the awkward angle formed by your hold. 

You feel hands that weren’t Gemini’s wrap around your waist, and before you could give an opinion on it Scorpion was lifting you and Pollux upwards as Pollux regained part of her voice to make very upset noises at the motion. The hands were overlapped by Gemini’s, and your own method of moving Pollux closer to the duality was improved slightly- Instead of being close to you and near to Gemini, it seemed you were simply going to be brought along. Pollux continued her struggling as you felt the soft fabrics of the cloak wrap around your opposite shoulder, wrapping the both of you up as a soft feeling of... glowing? Brightness? Some kind of material feeling of textured light felt like it was surrounding the two of you. 

Pollux regained her strength at a humorously fast rate, going from weakly trying to wiggle out of your arms to glowing a soft yellow glow as she was finally able to both sit up on her own and talk, “Let! Go of me! I said to-” She begins speaking in some other language than what you know, saying something that leaves the duality frowning from the topic. You turned to where Scorpion was instead, seeing Gemini move their focus as well to begin pushing Scorpion away from where they were attempting to join you and Pollux. 

Phanes slowly approached the rapidly accumulating pile of people to wrap an arm around Scorpion. The clingy bot was rapid in switching their target, wrapping about Phanes and immediately beginning to ramble about how Phanes was soooooo sweeeeet! And how they were going to just eat you up at this rate! That Phanes only seemed mildly interested in. They lifted Scorpion into their arms (despite the awkwardness from the very minor height difference- Christ, Scorpion was tall when they weren’t hunching) before beginning to bat at Gemini’s opposing hands to settle down in Gemini’s lap aswell. 

For a short period of time you and Pollux are suspended above Phane’s shoulders as Scorpion sprawls themselves into Phanes lap. Your leg settles on Phanes shoulder to lay across their chest as they focus on on moving Scorpion around. The constellation’s hands reveal their location as the stars adjust their hold on you to grip more the sides of your torso, failing due to Pollux’s wiggling. Your balance fails you when they readjust to catch Pollux so far more weight is placed onto Phane’s shoulders.

The vine covered bot finally look up to see your wiggling suspended in the air, chuckling mildly before offering more of their shoulder for you to settle on. Pollux spoils it quickly though, kicking out in her escape attempts to clack against Phane’s shoulder. You both cringe at her catching one of the vines on their torso, leaving Phane’s squinting painfully when she rips off one of the smaller plants. They continue holding their shoulder out to hold your leg in place, slowly moving their hand away from where it grabbed at where the vine was to pull your free leg into a more modest position next the one on their shoulder.

Phane’s is holding most of your weight when Gemini gives up on keeping Pollux in place, moving Scorpion out of their lap despite their rapid disagreement. You and Pollux are piled into their lap in a flat motion that leaves much to be desired with how Pollux seems to clatter against their knees and how you. Well. You fall forward due to the awkward position and ended up sprawled halfway over Phanes and halfway over Scorpion. 

Your attempts to push yourself up had you pulled in two directions, with Scorpion trying to haul you into their lap and Phanes rapidly trying to pull you away from them. You kick out enough to stop Phanes as you move upwards, trying to reclaim your voice in the matter, “Both- Everyone let go. Hey, let go.”

Scorpion’s grasp lightens as you pull yourself up from the mess, feeling your hair already wildly out of place with a section of Gemini’s cloak wrapped around your leg and tangling Phanes into it. You look back and... Yeah. Phanes’s entire face is wrapped up in the cloak. Their upper half is  entirely covered by the thin fabric and their lower half showed through a single layer of it to be in a mildly pouty pose. 

The scene itself was closer to that ideal you had from the beginning of a heroic movie. The Villains all wrapped up in a thin layer of humorous fabric as the tallest leader of them looking on humored at the hero still sprawled on the floor. 

...You quietly begin helping Pollux off the floor, watching her turn weak again as she allows you to move her towards the middle of Gemini’s lap. She’s still upset at the situation, but in a move that surprises you she pushes Scorpion away from where they were gripping your shoulders to take hold of it herself. 

She pulls herself, once she gains the strength, into your lap to begin blocking Gemini from directly touching her. She seems proud of the actions as she watches Scorpion pout, finally moving back to Phanes to begin cuddling up to them and moving the cloak away. 

Everything settles in again as Gemini accepts the positions and begins wrapping everyone up in the cloak, leaving you all settled into a living tent of sorts. The constellation, who in your first meeting felt so much closer to a feral monster that could switch to ripping you apart in moments, was soft behind you as their arms pushed the people in front of you close enough that you were pushed into them fully. The fabric of their shirt is inhumanely soft and clean, tempting you to lean in and examine what kind of laundry detergent they used. You were fairly normal though, just ever so slightly overly tuning into the way Pollux was resting her weight on you and how one of your legs was lingering over Phane’s lap. 

...So this was how people got Stockholm’s. 

In an attempt to move your thoughtline away from. That . You turned towards Pollux and begun looking her over. She seemed unharmed by the time separated from the larger constellation, but the star was growing dimmer as time passed. She turned up to you, either sensing you staring, becoming annoyed and just glaring for the sake of glaring, but she did little other than resettle herself more properly into your lap. 

Phanes watched the two of you carefully, trying to avoid moving Scorpion and triggering their ‘Must-Stay-In-Lap’ mode. They seemed... surprised? At either you or Pollux. You assumed the latter, given that she was acting differently than when you first met. The group as a whole stayed settled while you tried to reconfigure the entire time here in your head, still reeling from being stuck in this hellhole to begin with.

You pour through your memories of being stuck here, trying to find anything to leverage the time in peace to learn about the situation you were in, “...so. You mentioned something before about... Pollux having a certain amount of time here versus in our home dimension?”

Phanes gives something that's an awkward halfway point between a grin and a grimace. They turn to Scorpion again before making a gumbled noise like they were trying to get a rock out from their speakers, “...Yeah! It- yeah.”

You don’t turn away from Phanes (you were. Admittedly. Clinging to this topic like a liferaft.) and instead double down, staring at them until they turn back. When they did eventually turn back it was with a jolt of surprise, but nothing that moved Scorpion from their lap. They turn to Scorpion again to abuse the bot’s complete willingness for affection even as a distraction, but they aren't able to stay focused.

They turn back to you, still heavily reluctant, “...The exact rate is terrible to calculate, and I only did it the first time because we needed to know exactly how long she had before keeping her alive was more misery than it was worth. ...She’s elected to stick through it even though it would be more efficient to pop her and send her home, but it’s not exactly going to be nice for her.”

The bot doesn’t turn away, so you continue, “What kind of rate is it, then?”

“...Well” Phanes sighs, “It’s an exact formula based on the rate of the universe’s expansion at the time when she left relative to the time this universe was expanding, with a few additional terms thrown in for the time when you were pulled out with understanding for the new lack of expansion in this one due to Lunara becoming one of the biggest centers of mass that the universe is expanding from-”

“In. In numbers please.” You. Didn’t have a calculator in your head.

Phanes waves their hands around, “...I had it before, but now that I’m on the spot it’s like- Like two weeks? Maybe less?”

You blink at ‘maybe less’ before wrapping your arms tighter around the grumpy star in your lap. She doesn’t seem phased by you discussing how long she has to live, more annoyed at you grabbing her. You don’t release her though, focusing on the feeling of her still be physical matter, “...What happens after two weeks?”

The vine covered bot fidgets some more with Scorpion’s jewelry before continuing, “It- It depends on how it presents. Theoretically her and her other half should be able to separate cleanly, however in practice that rarely happens. Her and her Castor are bonded in a kind of way where their powers are partially melded. If one leaves, it’s like losing balance at chernobyl. Pollux leaves and all the energy Castor used to balance hers leaks into his, leaving one hell of a crater where he was ten minutes ago. ...They’ll both be fine, the question is more if the cell we’re standing in will have anything left when she does.”

You turn to look at Pollux, even more stumped, “...How exactly is she going to be fine after that?”

Phanes gives a small flourish, “Well, you see, Astrals have certain abilities that allow them to survive-”

“ That’s enough. ”

The bot goes slightly rigid before looking up sheepishly, cueing you to turn to where Gemini was looking annoyed again, “ It doesn’t need to know all of that. Just say what is needed. It really doesn’t need to know anything at all about this. ”

For a moment you do math in your head, “...Astrals?”

The group turns to you, and the force behind you seems more aggravated at you learning the word. Phanes responds still, “The beings that Pollux, Gemini, and I are. They’re a kind of being that can use the power I wield without it blending into a weird mix of positive and negative. Technically your Lunar isn’t one yet, but only on technicality due to court rules. There’s no court here though, so it’s all free game for me to be one.”

You turn back towards Gemini, finally getting a grasp on the situation, “Oh! So you and Pollux were coworkers in this dimension! Is that... why you both get along like... this? I mean. Wouldn’t that be something to bond over?”

The group moves to stare at you, with the only one you dodge the eyesight of being the smaller star in your lap. You know you’ve said something wrong, but no one corrects you as Pollux begins laughing. She doesn’t turn towards you, but based on her shoulders you assume she’s covering her mouth as she chuckles. The force behind you lets out the exact same laugh as they chuckle almost in time with Pollux, leaning on you slightly with the hold around you. You’re whipping around looking for someone explaining when Scorpion finally talks for the first time in a while, “They’re the same people.”

...What. “What.”

Scorpion looks between the laughing stars and continues, “They’re the same people. Gemini- they have two voices, right? That’s this universe’s Castor and Pollux. The one laughing right now is also Pollux.”

You turn from the laughing being in your arms and turn upwards to the laughing being above you, catching sight of soft yellow and blue skin delicately veiled in hand sewn silk. ...With the exact same, given much smaller, stitches making up Pollux’s dress. 

The group continues laughing as you process, Phanes giving a slight snort as Scorpion joined in the giggling. You turned towards Pollux, horrified by the implications of that and something else she had said, “...Is that... what you meant when you said they ‘didn’t know who was who anymore’?”

The laughter dies in everyone but Pollux, who responds in the same motion she loosens the tight way she had been holding her legs, “Oh, yeah. Me and Castor can do that too, but it’s not like that. They don’t remember how to do it correctly anymore.”

Everyone seems to hold the silence like a sacred item, the laughing and light mood gone like dust on a breezy night. Pollux seems content to have the last statement, and everyone else is too angry at how Gemini clearly wasn’t contented in the slightest. It’s hard not to compare the two with the new information, especially when the greater constellation tightens their hold on you and Pollux’s shoulders, “Oh, other me! You are making bold, interesting decisions on what to tell this... human. Perhaps you should make better choices!”

You turn towards the greater being a bit as Phanes cuts in from the background, “I mean- It does pertain to their Pollux. I know it’s not exactly being trained for any of this, but I assume that since Lunara has already begun it’s... process it’s not the worst person to know-”

Gemini and Phanes seem to regain the tension from the prior argument in the blink of an eye, pulling Phane’s sudden defense into the prior game of keep away with information for you. Another scoff rings out, and this time you get to watch their veils whish around Gemini as they turn their head to do so, “Since when do we prescribe our knowledge based on when your ‘master’ acts out? If we were going to bark every time they moved, we’d be the one wearing the ugly collar.”

A scramble breaks out behind you as Phanes stands to straighten their shoulders towards the greater being, sending-

Oh. This was going to get bad. Sending Scorpion out of their lap, making the ever so slightly larger robot look rapidly between Gemini’s lap where you were and the door before choosing to bolt instead of stay. 

You watch Phanes approach the left side of the being as they talk, “Look. I understand that this isn’t easy on you. I’ve- I’ve tried freeing you hundreds of times, and while I am wholly devoted to you on every level- At some point you start making new plans! We’ve gotten out! There's nothing out there to run to! Unless you want me to start using the magic they can track to build us a brand new world for you to protect, there’s nothing for you to protect out there. I’m not going to let my mind slowly rot away, only doing the bare minimum of what Lunara wants from me- and this was their original reason for taking me! It was this! What a great idea Gems, just have me risk my life to avoid a meaningless collar with no-”

A hand takes Phane’s neck, and you see the vines there struggle to move as Gemini lifts Phanes up to their eye level, “...This is why your home world didn’t mourn you. Coward.”

Their shoulder is reeled back before Phanes is thrown across the room, making you wince at the shocking similar noise to the metallic thunk Scorpion had made before. The Deity- the one who threw Phanes, not the one upstairs, goes back to wrapping their arms around you and Pollux. She mutters something under her breath about them ‘just breaking up already’ as Phanes twitched awkwardly. 

They made an effort to stand before falling back into a heap, twitching every few seconds. You start shaking before the smaller Astral in your arms finally looks up to address you with her line of sight, “They’re fine. Lunara always comes to fix their dog.” A snicker is heard from behind you, making Pollux grit her teeth as she continues, “They always remind their cat that they can kiss them as much as they like too, while they’re down here. Something about how ‘powerless’ they are in chains?”

The snickering stops, and the air in the room makes you wonder if Gemini is actively removing the oxygen. 

Pollux settles herself full in your lap as she signs what you can only imagine is her own death warrant, “Thought I mean... I guess it makes sense. It’s easier to boss around someone who doesn’t know who they even are.”

The door to the room you’re in opens, and Scorpion sheepishly turns the corner. The group watches them point towards you, Gemini, and Pollux as the other person they’re with turns the corner. The crackling fills you with dread as the necklace that was still lingering on your neck turned ice cold, and the unfortunate ‘owner’ of this world entered with so little flourish for a presence that was lifting a few objects and most of the hair on the back of your neck. 

Lunara had the gall to smile at you before talking, “I was assuming you were going to go back to your room! Now, now, Phanes. I could have sworn I said to keep them separate .”

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Lunar feels more of a fall than a gentle step through as they hit the deck in the new universe. After their rush through the portal towards their only lead for Lunara, they had gone through attempting to follow the coordinates with only the accuracy absolutely needed to get through. It left them slightly too high when they got through, making them fall and smack the ground as they stood. 

Murmurs start as Lunar reorients themselves, hoping to have landed in a non-hostile universe. They look around at the crowd as their eyes load, seeing a field of blue figures roughly their height. Lunar can assume they’re humans- meaning they’re going to have to explain their sudden falling into a random grouping of them- but it’s better than anything else. If it was blue zombies then they would be immune, and assuming it’s not some kind of odd universe full of robot blue zombies where they could likely just run-

Their optics came back online as they were watching the crowd, realizing in real time who the people around them were. It was... All Lunars. 

Lunar looked around in awe as the entire crowd continued swarming through, used to the flow of people appearing in the sky instead of the floor. The bot watches as so many variants of themselves walk by- Some still in their original form they shared with their Moon, some in their shorter tailed forms, some in forms that Lunar had never even seen before. One that looked more like Killcode waded through the thick crowds with gentle hands, carrying a smaller Lunar on their shoulders proudly brandishing a pirate style of cutlass. 

Lunar- The one who had just fallen from the sky- began to cut through the crowds themselves. A handful of information desks with cords were scattered around the open area, giving them an easy target to walk towards. The bot makes their way to the desk as another Lunar- this one seemingly originally femme with a wild level of masculine touches. Lunar watches them look up from their phone to give a customer service smile, “Hello! Are you here for the software patch, to apply for residency, or for another matter? The residency forms are down the pathway towards the bright yellow building-”

Lunar cuts Lunar off, “I’m. I’m here because a Sun sent me here. They said you guys could help me hunt down- it’s another lunar-”

The teller watches them before reaching over the desk, startling the bot back. Both freeze before the- women? Male? Someone wearing a very orange looking pride flag hoodie. Dubiously femme Lunar gently clasps a hand over Lunar’s shoulder, “Hey. It’s gonna be alright. We just need to figure out where the people you need to talk to are, and then we’ll get you the info you need. Now, one more time from the top. Are you here because you need the software update, to get places, to apply for residency, to live here to stay safe from someone, or is the person your hunting more of a ‘I don’t know where to go’ situation?”

Lunar does their best to not shake around the strangers hand, “Where to go situation. It’s- They’ve been covering their trail. Their last known universe off of mine was another one they ransacked. They’ve been using their kidnapees universes to hide where their universe is.”

The other Lunar nods, and she turns to note down some information, “So at least part of the issue is not having the software then.”

“...What exactly is the software?”

The Girl Lunar rolls her eyes a bit before turning soft towards Lunar, “Sorry, I forget this isn’t just a hub for the software. We’ve been getting slowly used to it, but this used to just be a hub for sharing the dimensional software we made.” She turns to click on a screen behind her, connecting to it instantly, “This is the LUN3 software, a way of modifying Moon’s modifications to Sven’s interdimensional travel software. In short: Where the current method bases the connection between worlds on a shared time system that allows both parties to be part of the flow of time without being ascribed to one specific universe’s. The modification patch distributed here changes it into a system where the software ascribes everyone a time flow based on a universal scale that is based on your home universe, routed through this dimension. AKA, instead of having to base your time and home dimension through your path, it’s routed only to here. It means your minimum of dimensional interference for simple travel is always 2, which it’s more than equipped to handle, but never above 2. Mildly useful for regular travelers, invaluable to those who live in another universe than their home.”

Lunar watches the information- cleverly laid out on a powerpoint behind her- while soaking it in, “...How does this help me?”

The femme version of them gave a slight chuckle, reaching into their hoodie pocket for a lollipop. They unwrap it and place it in their mouth as they talk, “If A goes into B and then C, and you go to C looking for them, C could lead you to any letter of the alphabet. If all letters route to Z, you just need to go to Z and see who using the software has interacted with A and then go there. Unlikely for some universes, highly likely for someone stealing clones.”

They blink absentmindedly, “...Then I need the software.”

The Masculine-Feminine clone gives half a barking laugh, “Shit, man. You’re the first today i’ve given the spiel to that hasn’t immediately gone asking someone else. What kind of shit are you in that you’re diving head in? We’re not normally the brave type.”

Lunar stares at her dead on as they talk, half trying to convince her and half out of exhaustion, “They took half of my Gemini. And my only reason to go to training most days. They- I need that lunar hurt. ”

Their clone replicates their confused blinking before moving into a more interested lean forward, “I see.... In that case, I can hook you up with the software. It takes around an hour to be uploaded, but this dimension has no flow of time. So.... however long one hour is relative to your home dimension based on this dimension. ...Give me your hand, and I could tell you how long?”

Lunar gives their hand as their clone turns their palm over. She seems to pause before intertwining their fingers, gently rubbing circles with her thumb over the meat of their hand. Lunar looks up to see her smiling gently at them, realizing with a slight start that she had piercings all over her artificial eyebrows where their single swirl was supposed to be. 

Lunar coughed awkwardly a bit before talking, “...Can you... tell with that?”

Femme them leaned on her other hand, “Oh, I could tell as soon as you approached the booth due to how the updates affects our HUD. I just wanted to hold your hand.”

Lunar flusters as she laughs and releases their hand, turning to retrieve a box with some wiring, “Link this through the red clipped set of wiring in your forearm, through the port meant for the registering of the dimensional travel chip and not the chip itself. Come back when it’s done- There’s a coffee shop a bit down the way if you need somewhere to stop.”

Lunar shuffles down the pathway with the new device in their arms, trying to rub the feeling of gentle hands out of their palms. They make their way through the crowds with their newly acquired prize (realizing many other scared Lunars were also holding them as well, hoping through portals instead of staying in the world Lunar was currently in.) towards the street the other lunar had pointed towards. The street they turn onto is slightly emptier and alot easier to navigate. It’s filled with discarded devices with a single red light on and several boxes where you were supposed to put them, several noticeably surrounded by the boxes despite being empty. 

They move away from a Lunar being dragged behind a Moon who was throwing their device on the ground (oh. That's how those all got there) towards the clearly marked coffeeshop. A few nearby people sneer at Lunar for entering the shop, but the bot is too out of their comfort zone to consider the opinions of the weirdly anime Monty down the street and the handful of Moons lurking nearby. The shop has several booths open and a bar, but Lunar moves to one near the edge of the room. All the ones in the back are taken (It was a world full of their clones) but a single seat at the bar is far enough from the door for Lunar to feel safe. 

The bot begins opening their arm panelling as they search through their records for information about the other Lunar. No other source on their native end, but they get the sense once the upload works they will be able to research her better. 

They hear the rattle of hotel pans before the door to the kitchen opens, giving Lunar (and several others) time to look away as the owner enters carrying some kind of cart loaded with baked goods. The sound of orders and display cases is heard as Lunar connects the wiring, all background noise to the HUD displays that pop up with warnings. 

They finish it as a hand taps the counter in front of them, making them sigh and begin collecting their things, “Sorry, sorry, I’ll leave- I didn’t mean to loiter-”

A nervous ‘no!’ echoes out of a clone of their voice box, “Wait! I wasn’t- I wasn’t trying to run you off! Sorry I- I came to take your order!”

Lunar looks back at the shopkeep. Unsurprisingly, it’s a clone of themselves. This clone wears a constellation themed apron over a long shirt that drapes to their knees. They have a kind smile that doesn't look right on a Lunar’s face, but it’s something that is unusually familiar to Lunar. “....I don’t have money.”

The other figure gets more nervous, “Then! Then on the house! Just... Please stay. My firefly has been looking forward to meeting you. It saw you come in.”

Lunar watches their clone fidget as a head pops out from behind the curtain.

It’s a perfect copy of you. Your clone is wearing a hoodie that ended at the waist, with pillowy pants more like what Lunar would wear instead of your normal comfortable but casual clothes. The other Lunar turns a touch of a familiar fond as the other approaches, though their eye certainly has a.... Sparkle to it when they look back at Lunar. 

The clone of Lunar’s significant other reaches out their hand, “I’m Ristretto, this is Latte. To my understanding we come from sister universes. ...In my world I have your personality, and Latte has your me’s personality.”

Lunar whips around to Latte, watching them light up and lean in to get closer to Lunar, “Ristretto has been talking about you! It predicted that a you would show up eventually, but it’s so interesting to finally meet you! Oh, I’ve been dying to finally see another me that’s so! So Familiar!”

Latte turns to walk around the counter as Ristretto leans in a bit, “Just tell them to leave you alone if they get too handsy. They’ve been dying for a Lunar they can work on for their objectum nonsense but they’ll leave you be if you tell them. They’re really nice I promise , just a bit intense-” Ristretto leans back up and waves Latte over, pretending they weren’t talking about them to begin with. 

...This was making Lunar wonder if they needed to be more open about their business. Latte didn’t even look like they noticed. They lean down to inspect Lunar’s hands as Ristretto continues talking at a more normal volume, “It’s good to see you. It’s not common that we get other starpower users through here. I’m a bit of a curveball still, being human and all, but it’s still a treat to get a mortal who gets it. Plus, you know Latte, so they get their own treat out of it.” 

Lunar nods, feeling a bittersweet fondness watching Latte react to their hands with the same level of complete admiration you had when they had opened their chassis around you, “I guess that makes sense. ...Why the coffee shop?”

Ristretto shrugged, “...Not much to do around here. Our old world is a no-go since... well... I broke a few rules and killed one guy. One freaking broken rule and everyone decides you’re not worth one orange-”

Latte reaches over the counter and holds Ristretto’s shoulder. It breathes deep before sighing out, turing to look at Lunar, “...My home universe died because our version of my older brother blew it to kingdom come. It’s... all gone. Latte is all I have left. ...So, coffee shop.”

Lunar nods, moving to lean a bit differently so Latte would be tempted back with the slightly exposed wiring from where the box was updating them, “Fair enough. Any... sage advice you have for a version of you from a mirror universe? Know where Lunara would be?”

The clone of you looks at them funny, “...Lunara?”

The non-coffee-themed-bot snaps their fingers, “Found the divergence point then.”

Latte jolts at the snap before gasping a little, “Shit- I’m gonna get you from coffee. Wait here.” They turn and rush to begin pouring out something from a grinder into a stick for the cappuccino maker. Ristretto rolls it’s eyes before turning to yell, “They take my coffee order, not yours .” 

The robot flusters before turning to pour something from a tap that gently floats up some steam- hot coffee on tap most likely. Ristretto pulls on Lunar’s jacket slightly and points at Latte, leaning in to whisper another piece of secret advice, “They’re a catch. No- They’re the catch. Your version of them? Don’t lose them. Don’t lose their entire universe, either. They’re worth not electrocuting some asshole to death for. ...They’re magic in a way we’re not. They’re just... watch as they turn the corner, yeah?”

Lunar sighs and nods, knowing the feeling of watching the person you love doing mundane tasks. ...It really was a clone of you though. The same walk pattern, the same motions... Lunar takes Ristretto’s advice and watches them turn the corner with the coffee, smiling gently as the light...

...Shines through them and makes them go slightly translucent in the mild light. They shimmer like an illusion in the desert as they reflect the light mildly, and Lunar watches in horror as the Latte that returns is just as Opaque but ever so slightly more purple, “Here’s that coffee! With two creams, and some chocolate syrup!”

Lunar accepts the cup and stares into it, wrapping their mind around far more now. 

They think of a beautiful night for stargazing, and how they have been lured outside by the cameras logging something as gently flickering in the moonlight. ...They were suspecting suddenly that normal humans didn’t flicker. 

Chapter Text

Your life had too many instances of days feeling like months, and months feeling like years. You were in the mood to turn things that took a while into memories that played in the span of a few songs, and you were hoping for a world where things happened simply and quickly. 

You suppose that’s why your memory of what happened felt like seconds as you ran your fingers through Pollux’s hair. 

Lunara had entered following Phane’s... outburst, cuing Scorpion to duck behind Lunara as they had... for lack of a better explanation lifted their hands into the air and sent Gemini sprawling into the wall of the prison cell, you and Pollux included. Your head had hurt, with your already sore ribs turning more and more pained as you struggled away from the rapidly enraged deity, pulling yourself and Pollux just barely out of the range of their screaming and whipping chaos. 

Nothing in your memory felt like a single moment as you picked Pollux up from the floor of that room and ran, throwing all logic to the wind as you rushed past a distracted Scorpion to find some random space to hold Pollux in, feeling her grow weak again in your arms as Gemini was assumedly shattered to space dust based on the wailing and screaming leaving the room. 

 You covered Pollux’s ears when you heard her clone yelling for their own death. ...You covered your own when you heard Phanes finally wake up and begin screaming for Lunara to stop. 

Eventually the two of you were left silent in the room near the dungeon, listening for signs that Lunara was bored again as you played with the soft mass that was Pollux’s hair. ...She wasn’t resisting being held, just quiet in your hands as you held her chest to chest with you. A loft of her fluffy hair cut through your view as she was settled on your shoulder, comfortable as the resistant being could be. ...She wasn’t normally this quiet. 

She was light in your hands as you moved her to look at her face, seeing the resistance again when she pushed to stay in your shoulder. You consider moving her away before deciding it wasn’t a fight you were considering worth it, accepting her new location on your shoulder as you moved to pet her more.

Phanes gave something like a pained howl through the building as Lunara yelled for them to shut up again.  You shove your face into Pollux’s hair, hiding in the fluffy material to try and escape the reality of this all. ...Trapped in hell. This was still hell, even if there were moments where people only killed each other a little. 

Your hands ruffle through the material, feeling the soft starlight move in a single mass rather than as many little strands. ...Fake hair, then? It was soft like the real thing, yet the starlight was surely made of something far less earth-like than what you had. It very much was part of her, matching the slight ombre of her entire form with perfect match unlike the carefully made clothes she was dressed in.

The places where her roots attached to her skull even matched the hair it sprouted. ...You had looked closely at Castor before, since he was the twin you had found first, but you hadn’t taken much time to stare at Pollux despite being trapped with her. She was... so pretty it was too simple to describe. Yeah, she was what you pictured when you imagined the heavens made form, what a person would need to see to be driven mad with the knowledge that if you stared into the night sky enough eventually it would stare back with sharp, knowing eyes.

It might be because you were remembering your many nights staring upwards with a telescope, but when Pollux’s eyes open you’re reminded of the nights where you got so close to understanding your purpose in the world right before forgetting what you were thinking about. ...Perhaps there was something to reflect on about why she was so familiar and why it felt completely normal for the embodiment of something so important to look like how she did, but that was a good revelation to save for when not in hell. 

You move the perfect divinity to be closer to you than she already was, pushing her to lay back down, “...Try to rest, it’s better if you use less of your energy while we wait on Gemini to be able to... help again.”

The yellow being laughs, “Oh, please....” she gives something more like a magnetic pulse through the colors on her skin, “...I’m..” Her shoulders droop, the joking air she’d tried to lift falling like a rodless curtain.

You run your fingers over her hair, parting and unparting the sections as she whispers the kind of confessional you only get from the priest mummuring back mid-condemnation, “...I’m not making it out of here.”

Your hands brush through her hair, “We have another three days-”

She begins shaking her head into your collarbones, “No we don’t. We had another two weeks. ...But I'm stubborn. And Castor is stubborn. He’s not going to sit still in some star giving us the most time possible and I’m not the type to sit pretty and absorb the free energy being given to me. ...We’ve got today, maybe.”

You pause, lifting her head to force her to look you in the eyes. There are tear stains on the half of her face that is visible, “...No giving up now. Please, I- I can’t do this alone. I need you to think we can.”

She doesn’t change expression, “I don’t lie to mortals for no reason. We’re going to die here. ...Ask Lunara to move me off planet before I explode, I don’t want my stupid ass clone dead. This universe needs someone in it or it’ll begin collapsing in on itself, and I’m not going to be the one holding it upright. Besides, I’ll reform back in our original universe so long as nothing blocks my path back. ...there shouldn’t be anything blocking my path back, anyways. I...” she looks away, her eyes moving in a way that reveals the humanity in it to be some kind of effect she was using to keep you sane, “I always get skittish at the end! I’ve done this dozens of times, but I always wonder ‘Is this the one where they blocked the path’? ‘Is this going to be the time where someone notices in time that I’m vulnerable and I end up like all the others who die in this war’? ...You don’t need to know that.”

Pollux resettles into your arms, “You don’t need to know any of that.”

It’s quiet in the room for all of three seconds, with Scorpion or someone walking through the hallway outside the room you’re in. The footsteps are deafening in the quiet of it all, making you hold the figure in your arms tighter. When they’re gone you’ve gone too long without talking after the chaos, so you have to cough to get the words out correctly, “War?”

The astral settles into your shoulder, “That’s not- ... That's not anything you need to worry about anymore. You’re not going to be getting out of here, I think, so!” she shrugs her shoulders shakily, “Not a universe you need to be worrying about now! ...I hope I still have to worry about it. Do you think you- you still worry about things when you’re dead?”

“...No.” You run your hands through her hair some more, praying the motion was soothing and not annoying, “I think you just... rest. Like a really, really long term vacation. Up in the sky, with just all the most interesting things to see so you never get bored.”

You feel her eyelashes flutter against you, “That sounds... nice. I like that.”

Your hand moves to pet her back as she settles, letting you roll what little she said over in your mind. What the hell was going on back in your home universe. ...What parts of it made this universe the way it is?

The being in your lap muses to herself, dazedly, “You know, I don’t know why I tried for this long.” She’s sprawled in your arms, looking more and more like someone dying of fever by the moment, “I just- There’s so much wrong in the universe! And I’ve always known that! But... I wanted to fix it. But I'm so tired, and that sounds so nice. I think... I should just sleep here. I want to just sleep here, and just rot. Who cares, I wasn’t supposed to be on earth this long. I want to just... go home,” she’s shaking slightly as she speaks, “I want to go home.”

You pet her back as she tries to move herself to sit closer to you, “I want to go home. Can I just... explode or something already. I miss...” she goes quiet, making you pause your petting. She regains the composure she’d been holding before as she begins fighting to move away from you with half movements again, making you grumble as you try to put her safely back into your lap. She screws up her face and pushes, mumbling under her breath about needing to stay alive for someone. ...At least she was back to herself. Jesus, you wish she’d at least let you comfort her. 

A door opened and footsteps thundered down the hall again, making you freeze up even as Pollux continued her fight with gravity to bonelessly pull herself out of your lap. The thuds of the world outside don’t cover Pollux’s annoyed noises trying to scramble away from you, though the sound of the door to the room you’re in opening does compare to them greatly. 

Lunara isn’t the person you want to see right now. Their grin is wicked in the soft light of the room, and you wonder if Pollux had been moved to action through knowing it was somewhere within range of her. The monstrosity moves to stand naught but a foot away from you as you grab Pollux and move backwards with her, gaining as scarce of ground as you could. 

Their hands extend in a grabbing motion to the astral, and Pollux honors you ever so slightly in fighting their grip harder than she fought yours. ...She looks so weak in their arms, her usual yellow coloration almost a soft translucent purple as the universe itself seemed to be forgetting her. The damnation holding her didn’t seem to pay it much regard as she was shifted to one of their arms, lifting the empty one forward to help you up.

She looks so small in their arms as you’re both led back into the hellfire. The room is silent, with Gemini pinned to the wall via their scarves and skirts with something that looked like thick needles made of light. Phanes was curled in on themselves in the corner, not noticing you as Lunara released your hand to carry Pollux over to the pinned star. She was placed in their lap (to everyone’s struggle, with Gemini kicking at Lunara with the little mobility they had) with a soft cackle from Lunara, leaving you standing alone in the middle of the room. 

The sound of the door opening tells you Scorpion is somewhere behind you, but you don’t feel like addressing them right now. 

Lunara turns from their mess making to walk up to you, smiling, “Apologies for all of that! I wasn’t made aware that Phanes wanted to see you! They were actually under fairly strict orders to keep you away from those two- they’re not the type to reign themselves in around new people!” A hand loops their arm around yours, and you shake as you’re pulled along. You stare at the floor as you’re taken over to Phanes, arm unlooped to push you to sit alongside them, “They’re alright, see? I promise I wouldn’t let them get hurt.”

You finally look up and- Jesus, Phanes looks pissed. They stare at Lunara with what you can only describe as a silent loathing, their body all tensed up at their closeness. They look more like a wound spring than a robot, but they’re also visibly healed. The connective points that had snapped with the cracking noise earlier now looked more stable than they had even before the fighting incident with Gemini, though new cracks had appeared sometime during the scrap with Lunara immediately following. 

Phanes’s face screws up like they’re saying a word they’re not permitted to say, “Lunara,” they narrow their eyes, their tone more that of speaking to any common animal, “Let go of it. Get the fuck out of here, no one wants you right now.”

A purple and teal hand that told you it was the evil clone behind you moved to cup Phanes’s face, “...I wouldn’t ever let them get hurt. Even if they said something completely bullshit to my face.” they lean in and your view of Phanes is blocked by the back of Lunara’s faceplate as the evil variant pushes past to sit forehead to forehead with Phanes, “Could you imagine, though? If they said something completely bullshit like ‘I don’t want you, the person I live for, here right now’? Completely nutsos! Good thing they’re mine, I keep them from saying dumb shit.”

Phanes’s arm shoots left to smack Lunara towards the empty space on your right hard, though Lunara doesn’t sway even as it loosens part of their shattering faceplate to fall in the space between you and the bots, “...Fuck off.”

Lunara stands back up to sit behind you, some magic picking up the fractured pieces to float towards where they vanish to, “Well! It looks like you need some ‘you time’! ...Or maybe some time with our newest partner?”

Hands settle on your shoulder and you whip confusedly to stare up at Lunara at being referred to as ‘our newest partner’. Phanes makes a disgruntled noise as Lunara steps back to pull threads of energy from somewhere hovering near them, some ball of light that seemed less to produce it and more only seen when the light levels fluctuate enough to reveal it was playing with them, “Well, if you wanted some alone time with the new person I would have given you it! Have fun you two!”

You rush to your feet as Phanes yells something behind you, but you stumble backwards as the entirety of the area you’re in switches around like a roller coaster moving too fast for your eyes to track. You feel like you’ve hit your head somewhere along the way as nausea and pain erupts in your brain, only understanding in some background process that you were no longer where you were before. Your ears pop and your spine adjusts to a different environment, your eyes screaming in overwhelm as you were moved too quick to adjust from somewhere bright to somewhere mildly dark. 

Your lungs stand a steady wall to lean on as you breathe in and out hard, until the panting is more normalized and your other senses are adjusted enough to settle your stomach. It was slightly dimmer in the place you were now- was that moss you were standing on?- and the air was more humid. It was a cool, but somewhat damp kind of humid. Like the shade filled places in a rainforest as night fell, too soon after the heat had pulled the water up to allow it all to settle yet. You’d guess it was 60, maybe 50 degrees fahrenheit based on the feel in the air, but the amount of water wicking to your arms already meant it could easily be hotter or colder and you just wouldn’t know. 

A hand appeared to offer you a way away from the moss, and you took it. 

Phanes looked... well. If they weren’t angry before they were angry now. They were between cursing in every mutter breath and looking over your shoulder to see if someone was watching you both, their shoulders shaking with the force of their upset. You steadied yourself with their help but moved away once you could, breaking their trance to look at you with some amount of worry. 

The sky was settling into the end of an orange-pink sunset, contrasting in ugly swirls against the dark green backdrop. The plantlife here settled as a dark, almost pine green as swirls of deep purple ran through in various species of vines. Something resembling ferns curled with the thinness of a stalk of grass but the height of a small tree as their older counterparts spread fat leaves outwards like a bird shaking its wings of water. The ones leaning on woody looking bushes bore fruit that looked like figs, though none were touched. ...Either this place had no insects or animals, or it wasn’t edible. 

It was like something alien had attempted to recreate a planet- or perhaps it was a perfectly normal alien planet. Where were you?

Phanes was appraising your injuries when you spotted it, feeling dread settle into your stomach. Behind a row of ferns, sitting like the most innocent thing in the world, seemed to be a man-made object of some nature. You felt your eyebrows squint at it as you tried to find what it was in your mind's eye, making Phanes turn to look for it as well. The night sky was settling into more fitting blues and greens as Phanes turned annoyed away from it, pretending it wasn’t there. 

You were silent as you found your moss-legs, struggling to stand in the soft terrain. Once you are stable enough to move around you force yourself to speak, “...Where the hell are we?”

Phanes looked just as exhausted as you did, “We’re on a planet I made.” what. “I... make them for Lunara. They’re supposed to wreck them but- this one is one they refused to wreck. It didn’t have enough life to be interesting for them, so now it’s just one of the places I play around with ecosystems and how I can implement things like rare kinds of weather without killing off plant life. ...It’s a very simple one.”

You stare amazed at the man-made planet, taking it all in under the understanding one mortal person made it- and others, “...Oh. It’s- it’s really nice.”

You see them fluster and look away, acting like they hadn’t expected that response. What were you supposed to say, it was ugly? “...Thank you! I don’t get much feedback on it unless it’s being told there's too little life so... It means a lot that you think that!” Ah. Right. The whole ‘isolation except for clones of themself’. Did they... not know what they were supposed to be doing here? Or was it a creative decision?

The moss at your feet pulls your attention again, “What is the... this supposed to be? It looks like a kind of moss..”

Phanes lights up, stooping down to grab a pinch of it, “It’s actually a kind of adapted extremely low light lichen that was repurposed for lighter light environments! Lunara wanted something to simulate grass after they got sick of destroying sand worlds and dust worlds, so I found something that could be used to give the feeling of grass without needing actual grass! ...Theoretically I could make grass too, but I just don’t understand it enough. Plant ecology is way understudied, but this stuff grows in a handful of really well researched dimensions so its entire genome has been picked apart by multidimensional scientists to the level E. coli is! That’s incredible levels of depth! They’re found the purpose of every single codon set in it, which is incredible considering it has closer to 3 billion base pairs compared to E. coli’s modest 4.6 million-” they pause and stare harder at the moss, “...It’s a cool plant I make sometimes. I’m sorry.”

A pang of guilt hits you despite your usual dislike of Phanes, making you look anywhere but at them as you examine the area around you, “...You’re fine. I’m just... Sorry. Everything is still kind of a lot, and I’m just...” you look up, and for the first time in a while you gasp, “Phanes. Wait. Stop.”

You struggle forward on the uneven ground to grab their shoulder and shake them, looking up at the sky with amazement, “Are those stars?”

Phanes looks up and grins, turning to you and smiling, “My work as well! Low level hydrogen heavy stars! Too distant to fully heat this planet, but giving it enough light to let me simulate a slow onsetting ice age! I’m testing creating tundra conditions in areas that used to be rainforest- it helps create more energy-rich planets so in the future I can let the ecosystems self-balance! They’re still really young, but very stable!”

You stare upwards and look at the twinkling of the atmosphere, seeing the light dance in ways you had thought you wouldn’t get to see again until you got home, “...It looks like the night sky of my home universe.”

The bot stiffens, rubbing at their neck, “...I based the positions of them on a starmap of the earth night sky from when we thought earth was the center of the universe. To, uh, avoid using too much space on just developing this little planet.”

You nod, looking to see if you could find the major constellations. Hercules, Virgo, Gemini.... They really remade the world before. The moss under your feet was just as strange as at the start as you look around the pseudo forest under false stars, making Phanes turn to you worriedly again. You faced the man made object you saw before to walk towards it, making slow progress with how the moss seemed to ripple like it was filled with water bubbles underneath. The sloshing through gave you time to hear Phanes rush after you, without the sloshing suspiciously, as you pushed aside the ferns to stare at the sight before you. 

Someone had laid out a picnic. Phanes’s hand brushed the ferns above you to look as well, freezing before cursing under their breath again. Lunara.

A picnic blanket, a basket, and a bottle of some fancy looking beverage were placed onto a stone platform around 8 feet taller than the area around it, visible from the hill you were standing on near the ferns. It looked pristine and freshly laid out, with ice still settling around the bottle. 

Phanes tapped your shoulder and pointed at it, as if asking you a question. You nodded, turning to it with enough confusion that you hoped they would start explaining. They did not, instead placing a hand on your shoulder before startling you by pushing against the inside of your knee, making you wiggle and yelp as you were swept from standing to a bridal hold. They carried you (again, given that you were only in this hell because they carried you here) over the small valley as they floated towards the stone platform. Your feet met the ground quickly as they settled you back into a stand, a little slower than you would have wanted. 

It's you and the monster's assistant now, with no Pollux or Gemini to keep the conversation away. ...damnit, you were even missing Scorpion now. 

Phanes settles awkwardly, trying to keep from aggravating their injury as they settle. They turn to the basket and pull out the items within, finding little packets of animal crackers and sandwich goods, “...I'm sorry, I... don't control them. They choose for me, usually. I didn't want to drag you here, but it should be over soon. They tend to get eager and end their games early so they can reap the rewards quickly. ...Do you want to know more about the stars here, or the planet?” 

You turn away and shake your head, “It’s interesting but... I think I'd prefer to just not be here.”

The bot nods, and you both sit with little to say to each other as Phanes distributes your share of the picnic basket that had been decided for you. A sandwich (made from a large and misshapen fresh hoagie roll), some chips and desserts you were fairly certain were made for children, but could just be from Lunara’s unusual eating habits. A shiver runs through you as you remember them trying Nutella for the first time, tearing through the jar on your minimal descriptions of the spread. ...You remember Lunar doing the same after having had it for years, but it just wasn’t the same somehow.

Phanes seems to be avoiding you, tearing into their sandwich like they were starved. They begin rambling about the makeup of the stars around you, something about how they were made to be watched at night for their own comfort, but it’s quiet and under their breath. At one point you get caught staring when you laugh at them missing their sandwich being gone, biting into an empty hand after going through what food they had chosen for themselves. 

You laugh, making them whip around to avoid your gaze. It’s something that would be fond and endearing if not for the circumstances, but you’re deep enough into the nonsense of being here that you don’t really notice it with the... other things you’ve forgiven thus far to keep your sanity going. 

The bot lets out a pained noise and holds their stomach, and you remember they were hauled here minutes after a fight with Lunara, “...Are you alright?”

Phanes looks panicked as they wave their hands, trying to dismiss the accusation. It falls flat, no comedic air to work out of. They slowly stop waving and looking for an explanation as they sigh, considering their situation, “...I’m still pretty... hurt yeah. It’s an old wound, one that Lunara doesn’t like healing on me. Basically they... will heal me as need be, but there's one section of me they keep from healing so they can track how long I’ve been here. I don’t get a say in it, and if I try to repair it myself there are punishments associated.”

Your hands fiddle with a packet of chips, “ Why don’t you ask for help? ...Why don’t you try to get out of here, since you apparently are being held against your will?”

They sigh, “It’s not that simple. I... Could ask for help with it, but then I’d still be punished along with the other person likely dying- unless it was Scorpion or something. And I can’t leave. I have nowhere to leave to.”

You raise an eyebrow, “Nowhere?”

“Nowhere.” They say resolutely. 

Eyes wander the night sky as you consider it, doubting that there truly was nowhere for them to go, “...Lunara takes you to other dimensions yeah? Why not go to one of those?”

Phanes laughs, “Look, I know this dimensional stuff is new to you, so I won’t bore you to death explaining everything about it just to prove you wrong. Just know that I- ...I can no longer survive without being in a universe without my starpower. It would kill me- same way it's killing Pollux. I could only survive in this universe and my home universe now, and there's no way for me to go to my home universe. It’s...” they hum, quietly to themselves, “Gone. I was away from it for too long. I tried to go back, and Lunara... they tried to give me the choice.”

They turn to the stars mimicking their home night sky, considering it closely, “They brought me to my home universe after I’d been here almost a hundred years, having told me the entire time that I’ve been experiencing a heightened rate of time passing in their universe. Told me it would be my choice if I wanted to stay, but that for every year in this universe it was roughly a few thousand in my home one. ...By the time I asked to go back, once I got sick of Lunara and regretted my choices, they welcomed me back to my home world and it was completely gone. All empty space. Showed me where my planet once was. ...Showed me the stars that made up Gemini once upon a time, slowly burning white dwarfs. They called it a kind of infinite coma. I met the last three astrals who spent the time before the universe died of old age honoring those before them.”

You stare horrified as Phanes smiles gently, recalling the memory, “...Finally got to say goodbye to Cas and Po, god knows I was too selfish to do it the first time. I’ll always miss them...”

The silence is tremendous as Phanes turns away from the sky, considering the grass around they as they chuckle, “I wish they could have seen all of this. Seen what I grew my powers into... I like to imagine they’d be-” they stumble in their words, looking pointedly at the blanket, “...Not proud whatsoever of my choices. ...But maybe just... a little proud of the skill I’m using to be an asshole with. I still like to... Imagine Castor talking to me when I’m using my rain powers. Telling me to cool the mist, not pull it down...”

You trace the grass around you with your pointer finger, feeling the blades brush against you despite their man made nature, “Do you... enjoy Pollux being here then? Since you miss them?”

They go quiet, pondering, “...Kind of? It’s similar to having Gemini around- I’ve known Gemini much longer, obviously, but it’s the sort of idea of... Yes, it’s Pollux. But it’s not my Pollux. She doesn’t... she doesn’t skip around like she’s avoiding me while talking to me, she doesn’t tell me all about how terrible life working for the council will be while playing with the hat, knowing damn well her idea of talking me out of it is just convincing me more. She’s... Your Lunar’s Pollux. She does that with your Lunar, not me. She’ll never replace my Pollux, and I don’t want her to.”

The grass is smooth in some places, making you look at its rough sections that come together into a soft texture, an illusion to look like cutting stands while still feeling like the soft moss of before, “You said... that you were made of star power like her?”

It’s quiet, and the moss tells you little. Phanes speaks just a bit, “...Not like her, no. I’ll-” they cut themself off, seeming upset as they talk, “I’ll never be like her. I can’t earn that. She- She’ll always be better than me. ...But I'm slowly becoming star powered, yes. The mass of Stellar energy is growing in my chest, and most of my internal organs have been replaced by the matter she’s made of.”

The thought of Phanes having some kind of internal organs shocks you, making you looked confusedly at the bot. You picture in your mind the moments during Lunara appearing in your home dimension, hurting Castor and showing you what the Astrals had in their torsos, “...Don’t they only have like... a solid mass of matter though? How would that work?”

Phanes moves to continue quietly talking before pausing, looking at you confused, “How do you know that?”

There's a moment of fluster, “...Lunara.”

An air of exhaustion surrounds you both. A mutual understanding, little need to explain. 

Phanes begins struggling with their hoodie, pulling it over their head, “Mine is specifically targeting my organ systems since it started in my chest. I would assume your Lunar is similar to me in that they’re slowly turning, but my turning has been... pruned by Lunara for specific reasons.”

Once their hoodie is off they swing open their plating, making you jump up and look away flustered. Phanes laughs behind you, with no hinge noise indicating them closing it. You turn to see the various wire structures, telling yourself that Lunar would understand if you had to explain this to them. 

Inside of Phanes is something similar to Lunar, but notably very, very devolved from their own. Where Lunar had a cooling system, and wiring, and so, so much mechanics that seemed to devolve, Phanes had... nothing. 

Their chest was a mass of light, all glowing brightly around a core where Lunar’s sole light source had come from. The space freed of the glowing fluid was their sternum, a metallic thing that seemed to be wrought silver, a fine and delicate material surrounded by the glow. The fluid ran over it gently, never warping it but dripping into the picnic blanket as you stared. Phanes blushed at you staring, making the glowing mass turn still before shimmering like an ocean of stars, a million pinpoint freckles within it flickering in response to your gaze. 

Sitting delicately on top of the artificial rib that was consumed by the glow, a pendant was pinned in place to hang between the spared sternum and a single spared collar bone. Old, painful looking bite marks littered the collar but didn’t touch the delicate chain suspending the pendant in place. It was heart shaped, funnily enough. A very delicate but heavy looking thing, suspended by the kind of chains one would expect to be holding something like a ring at most. The distance between you and Phanes wasn’t tremendously wide, so you bridged the gap out of curiosity. 

The locket, you learned, was warm from the material it was resting on. Phanes made a soft gasp when your fingers brushed the surface, looking away nervously as they seemed to grow pale at you pressing the backs of your fingers to it grabbing the locket. Their hand came to rest on your shoulder, nervously shaking their head as you opened it. 

“...I was trying to tell you not to look.” You understand why now. Inside were two high quality photographs, rendered impeccably to match the delicate, intricate filigree of the locket. Two photos, side by side, displayed the two denizens of this universe that Phanes now called home. 

It made you feel sick. A photo of Lunara was placed inside, holding a mass of yellow and blue in their lap as they seemed to almost be petting it. They looked regal, dressed nicer than they normally did, as they posed in what seemed to be a mirror from the siding along the frame of view. They were... strangely calm and passive looking, smiling at the camera like they were genuinely happy to be there. 

It was explained by the photo to its left, of Lunara’s Gemini pinned to the ground with some kind of light based weapon. A rapier, made of thin strung stellar energy, was broken in two and pinning the dissociating Astral to the ground in the photo. Their hands were held by the point of it while the leg Lunara hadn’t ripped off sat below pinned by the handle, all highlighting the angle of the shot showing their exhausted expression as blue hands gently pet their face and stuck a thumb in their mouth. ...They weren’t even biting it, too tired to even retaliate or reform the missing limb. Their blood flowed thick like honey as Lunara held them perfectly in place, their eyes somehow between completely absent and sobbing, the rest of their face completely lax. 

Phane’s hand closes the locket, their voice tender in the way a wound would be after being salted, “...A gift from Lunara, when I first met them. They... told me they were going to find a way to keep me as entertainment, and gave me this to prove they were stronger than Gemini. I wouldn’t... I wouldn’t have agreed if I had seen what was inside. I didn’t...” they petter off, “...I didn’t know. My Solar explained it to me but... I didn’t know it was... that bad.”

You stare quietly at Phanes, watching the vines in their chest coil around like snakes at the edges, “...You don’t get a lot of choices, do you Phanes?”

They smile, “I chose to be here.”

It’s quiet in the absent picnic, “...Did you really? Did you... really get that put in you and have it fully be your choice?”

Phanes hums something soft as they close their chassis, running a hand over a sore place that Lunara didn’t heal fully, “It doesn’t matter. When you choose a side, you choose. Lunars always get a choice to go against their family and stuff, the ones who choose to do so know what they’re choosing. I asked for Lunara to help, and they did. I asked to stay, and I did-”

“But you wanted to go home, once.” you mutter, “You asked to go back home. Before you knew it was gone.”

The wind blows quietly around you, rustling you like some long dead ghost of who Phanes once was gently pushing past. They don’t turn to look at you, staring at the sweater they were still putting on, “...That version of me was a fool.” 

The created world- the created extension of their self made prison- almost is soft in the wake of something so hate filled. You leave the moss alone, abandoning your sandwich to shuffle amongst the blankets. ...It smells uncomfortably of bad air freshener, and you feel like you’ve been shuffled into a car with a million of the little tree things as the awkwardness chokes you dead as you roll down the window hopelessly. A sound not unlike the ‘swish!’ something fast makes through the air sounds nearby, and Phanes stands and turns to it with the reluctant acceptance of an old dog seeing it’s owner walk out the door. 

Lunara is standing three feet away, staring at your picnic with a soft grin as they sip at a juice pouch, “Congrats on the date!”

You and Phanes refuse to encourage their bullshit as you work on standing, watching Phanes walk almost numbly into the portal. Lunara ignores them to walk towards you, lifting you the rest of the way up and keeping an arm around your shoulder once you’re on your feet, “Are you alright? I promise I wouldn’t leave you with them if I thought they would hurt you! ...Unless they’ve snapped again, but then I promise I would deal with them very quickly and make them apologize.“

Your eyes don’t look at Lunara as you try to brush the clingy bot off, moving towards the portal as the grip on your shoulder turns bruising, “...Maybe it wasn’t very wise to send you off with Phanes when they were so upset with me... Maybe we should have a date night too! Come on, we can eat nutella at a tea party again! And you can forget all this stressful bullshit about Phanes and Gemini- They’ll all deal with it! We can have a night to ourselves!”

The portal seems to close as you whip towards Lunara, their eyes never looking away from yours. They’re holding your arm as they continue their speaking, not paying attention to the growing shadow overcoming both of your shoulders, “Wouldn’t you love that, huh? We could have one, glorious day without Scorpion, or your old Lunar, or the dog bothering us-”

A voice behind you, deeper than rolling thunder, places a hand onto your shoulder, “Our turn.”

It is a slow, gradual turn of Lunara’s faceplate from teasing and uncaring to shock and disgust, “...What. What do you want with it.”

Your arm is released, letting you slowly turn to see the monstrosity that grabbed Phanes before towering over you. Their faceplate- one of their faceplates swivels to grin at you, “Everyone else got to introduce themselves! We want a turn! Making us look bad, Lunara.” They speak in three, layered voices. Each voice is almost... an amalgam of other ones, a few distortions spilling out with each word. 

Ate stumbled forward on distorted, unshapen- no. No, those were perfectly shapen legs, just not shaped like humans. Digitigrade legs, like those of a deer, were scraped together from robot parts to place the beast over Lunara’s height, more similar to that of Gemini’s height with the middle section of the legs as low as they could go. It leaned down to observe you closer, splitting the two robot torsos it used from the mechanical push on their spine. Their ribs were visible in the cracks as they spoke a foot from your face, uncomfortably close with how far they had their voicebox calibrated to be heard at, “Want you to meet us.”

A hand grabs your shirt and you’re pulled back, Lunara standing defensively in front of you, “Absolutely not. They’re needed for my project- You agreed to not take anyone involved in my project. We have a deal, Ate.”

Seeing Lunara bargaining puts a level of... panicked calm over you. Everything seems like a movie plot again as Phanes is heard yelling from within the portal, Scorpion even calling for Ate in what seemed to be panicked tones. 

Lunara has their back pressed to your front as Ate stumbles forward, smiling softly with their front most faceplate and laughing toyingly with the two behind, “Not going to keep...” a hand reaches past Lunara, and gently touches your shoulder, “Just a visit.”

You feel something pierce your neck, and the world around you is replaced with a falling, numb void.

Your legs feel like you’re wading through a lake as you process everything, feeling like some pressure was set deep in your mind. It reminded you of the time Castor was in your lap, somehow, some sense of something reaching out and not being able to quite connect. You feel the connection, watching as the place around you connected to your brain. It loaded like an old computer, with the senses all coming in one after the other. Pressure loaded first, your legs in the lake water. Then touch, the feeling of hands on your shoulders that made you thrash. You whipped around in the empty space, looking for the source. 

Sight loaded in darkness first, seeing the shadows without the light. Then the light in flat colors, a smiling face and arms holding you in place. Noise came next, snickering behind your ears and a soft, cooing voice in front of you, “-Hey! Hey, calm down! You’re safe! I know our outer-world form is scary, but it’s all alright! You’re safe!”

The world renders itself in, and the bustle of the area near you remembers that it’s there. Smell, something you didn’t think would trigger, pulls in the gentle mossy tones of the world Phanes took you to with notes of iron and meat, a second set of hands settling onto your waist as the person in front of you finally begins their introduction. 

“Welcome!-” The form in front of you is a Lunar. They have a soft blue poncho draped over their shoulders with charcoal coloring on an almost lace-like pattern that lined the edge, “-You’re in the Ate headspace now!”

...What. 

A feeling of something nuzzling you makes you turn, seeing a bright red animatronic using your head as a chinrest. They’re pressing you into a hug, making the Lunar in front of you snicker. They wave a hand in a downward motion, making the large stranger release you with a laugh. ...A familiar laugh. 

You step to the left of the line the three of you formed, trying to gain distance from the two, “You’re- you’re the one who was laughing earlier. The- one of the voices within the other faceplates.”

The red bot tilts its head and snickers, muttering something under their breath before licking the part of their faceplate around their mouth. ...They show off a set of darkened, brown stained teeth in the process, some chipped and revealing an endo mouth that was altered to be far sharper than the small thing you’d seen on Lunar. 

A hand whacks the red robot, making them grumble and move to stand behind the Lunar. The Poncho wearing bot does a nervous mock bow, “Sorry about Sickle, he’s always a bit nervous without his twin! Uh- My name! I didn’t introduce myself! You can call me Grain!” Grain adjusts himself, standing upright more and moving Sickle’s hands to wrap around their neck, “Welcome to Ate headspace! You’re just here to visit- the General Secretary wants to talk to you, so we’ll be taking you that way first! I’m just gonna ask some small questions- we like to lump people with those similar to them so they’re around friends and family but- We’ve kinda never met anyone like you before!”

The area you’re in is slightly crowded, a glass waiting room with a bustling crowd outside. Several are walking onwards, but you realize you’re being watched by the enormous crowd as you respond to Grain, “...Alright. What- kind of questions?”

Grain eagerly appears on a clipboard before looking it over, giddy, “What is your name?”

You frown at the clipboard, “Why do you need that?”

They frown before scribbling something down, “Well- I guess we don’t really need it! You’re- uh- we’ve just been calling you the human! Ahem- What is your role in the universe?”

Your face goes from offended to bewildered, “What?”

Grain smiles sheepishly, “Uh- How do you know your Lunar?”

Your hands shake in the air, “What- What was that last one? How are these connected?”

“Well,” they start, “Your name is needed so we know what to call you, and uh- The last two are the same! For us, anyways! We’re all Lunar based here, so it’s pretty standard fare! We are- uh, collectively a Lunar, so when you put how we interact with everything it just kind of makes sense for our record keeping to log things like that. ...It’s not the exact same question, but usually we can figure things out from that point onwards! Like- If you were a magic instructor, we could just ask what school of magic and assign you a job, a home area, a set of people from similar backgrounds, and find the Lunars most interested in your development so you could be assigned a support group! So, uh, relation to your universe’s Lunar please!”

You consider the situation, still baffled, “...I’m Lunar’s partner. We’ve been dating for two weeks.”

Grain smiled and clapped their hands, “Fabulous!” they scribble down your response with a big grin, “We assumed as such, so that greatly simplifies things!” they scrawl something at the bottom, leading you to some door nearby. You don’t move, staring at them from the same spot you were standing in. 

They turn and tilt their head, Sickle having stayed where they were standing before, “...Something wrong?”

The force of having experienced... Today feels like it’s pressing you into gravel as you fight to keep a waver out of your voice, “Where am I?”Grain begins again, saying something about Ate Mindscape, role in the universe... but a hand rose up from Sickle. Grain stopped, watching as Sickle quietly approached and got close to you. 

Sickle’s voice is deep, almost rhythmic in their tone and manner of speech, “The place you are in is somewhere within! We are within the fabric of Ate, within it’s Acre! ...A mindscape is a place within a robot where they visualize their internal processes, since we can control everything a human would have ran by their subconscious instead, and the high level of control requires a better UI.” The break from their rhyming seems to grate on Sickle, making them scratch at their face and scowl, “Ate is a hivemind. Many live within.” 

You soak in the information, moving your feet with slight wiggles experimentally to test the physics of this new land, “...So is my body...?”

Grain perks up, “Your body is fine! Lunara is.... Currently putting you beside your Pollux! They seem a bit worried, but overall you are completely fine! The others haven’t seen us use this ability before, and the person fronting Ate is attempting to explain but- well. It’s a Castor. They’re kind of known for not really... communicating things. I’ll put in a request for a Pollux or a Lunar to explain instead, but it’s kind of a moot point.” 

Your eyes move to the floor, “...Does Pollux seem alright? And- And Gemini? I know them and Phanes had a big huge fight and-”

Sickle places a hand on your shoulder, startling you with how quickly they close the distance, “She is surviving. Both are surviving. Pollux is upset with how prone your form is and Gemini is merely incapacitated. Both will be fine, though it seems Pollux is still slowly ticking away.”

The thought of that- Pollux slowly ticking away- makes you turn towards Grain despite your shaking, “...You said that some... Head Secretary wants to talk to me? About what.”

Grain smiles big, “You’re unique! We always have him greet the new ones-”

“If I talk to him, could I discuss getting a favor?” It’s... a bold choice of turning this, but it’s all you have. You need something. You need something to go your way.

The bot opposite of you blanks, checking their clipboard before looking at you, “...We’d have to all vote on it, but usually they’re the one who runs those so... Maybe! You’d have a much better chance!”

You pause, but nod along, “...Alright. Lead the way.”

The way involves a lot of bullshit hallways you learn. What was it with evil versions of Lunar and a fuckton of stupid hallways? It wasn’t something you cared about, but you were tired, and grumpy, and- You wanted out. 

But Pollux wouldn’t live unless getting out of Ate also involved getting out of Lunara’s hell hole. She was being so strong, but- it was obvious. It had been obvious earlier, when she had been so weak in your arms in the cuddle pile. It had been clear when you first got here and she turned as pale as a sheet of paper. She was dying, and-

And you were going to bargain. 

Grain is giving you a grand tour of the facilities, walking through each hallway as if all the decor was important to you, “-This painting is of the first Gemini we procured! They’re still here, obviously, but they’re alot more modest about their status than most. They’re wearing very regal clothing because it was typical in their universe for Astrals to wear attire like this. We didn’t find out until later that it’s actually pretty rare among universes for Astrals to do that, but it makes them very special in our hearts. Oh! And this!” they point at a photo of a Lunar and another Lunar, “This is the founders of Ate!”

They spin around, showing you the photo more clearly, “We were originally the result of two Lunars attempting to use their mind cords on each other, and getting lost and all mixed up! Several Lunars have done the same since, but to prevent competition among the collectors we have a system where if another Ate forms we just meld the Ate’s. Prevents any one collection from hoarding. -Which is all to say, we’re quite proud of our heritage! We no longer have a flat 50/50 rate of Lunars to their guests, but we feel like it was a big step for us to begin inviting in Gemini’s and Bloodmoon’s even if their dualities messed with the votes a bit!”

You march past, uninterested in the photography, “What is the name of the Head Secretary?”

Grain bounces up to your speed cheerily, “Their name is Eye, as in Eye of the Storm! They’re an Astral powered Lunar who is known for their uniqueness and their willingness to listen to people! I’ve spoken to them a few times, they’re really busy but really nice! Generally just a kind of boring, but great guy. Wish they’d take a break but, what can you do!?”

The bot bounds up to another statue, pointing and about to explain more history. You walk past, not paying much attention. They pout, but continue. 

This happens again, with a painting. And then once more, with a marble carving of some other notable figure. 

When you’re about to walk past a wall of photos (Much to Grain’s disappointment, though they’d grown accepting after the painting) Sickle’s hand grabs you and hauls you back to look at it. You scowl up at the bot, making them growl a bit and snap at you. Grain seems charmed at the whole interaction, watching you two silently bicker. 

Theres a moment where Grain’s eyes spill worry, when Sickle leans down to your level and growls. It’s resolved when you make a biting motion back at them, unwilling to be given a wolfish threat and back down. The red bot goes wide eyed before laughing hard, clapping you on the back of the shoulder and giving you an almost depreciating grin, “You don’t know who I am.”

Still frowning, you carry a bit of your rebuttalish growling into your words, “An asshole who keeps licking his teeth around me, like I wouldn’t bite back.”

Pentagram themed eyes- seriously what kind of edgy asshole is this guy?- widen before turning to Grain giddy. Grain seems endlessly amused by this all, laughing just a touch as they turn to their history lesson, “Regardless of you- shit!- Of you proving you don’t know who the Bloodmoons are- this one is important to understanding Lunara and the others.”

You’re pulled a foot or so away from the set of photographs, seeing the set of Lunar’s who made the place as well as some Lunara’s, and Ate’s shared form itself all sparkling with the power you’d seen Pollux and Phanes and Castor use, “An... odd tidbit we learned during our time is about something that Lunara refers to as ‘Stellar Immunization.’ ....We always just called it being us, but reportedly it was unique.”

“Here-” Grain points to a photo of Ate’s founders, pressed together and forming the strange bent legs with two torso posture with their two separate bodies, “-Is the first known instance of it. Our creators! They were both Lunars using Star Power, and we found out that some amount of Starpower is required to actually do this trick. Basically- Everything has a home universe, yes?”

The group turns to you, so you nod despite having learned multiple universes existed a week ago, “So!” Grain continues, “What could happen if you had multiple home universes?”

It was quiet, and you jumble some words to just get the explanation moving faster, “...More... power?”

Grain smiles big, “Yes! More power! Since Starpower stops working- especially when powered by the Neuton Star- when you leave your home universe, being able to use the magic of your new universe lets you carry the powers you have from point A to Point B! More importantly, if there are two of you and both you and your buddy can do this, you sudden have roughly double the power minus the power needed to run the operation!”

Your eyes scan the wall of photos, “So... how much power does Ate have?”

Grain turned to you, tilted their head, and hummed as if thinking, “...We like to save some information about us until the people we’re having join are formally joined, to prevent them leaving and being skittish about returning. We’re strong enough to protect you from any threat, and we won’t use that force against you! You have our word on it.”

Sickle’s hands are placed on your shoulders as you stare at the photographs. ...The photo of Ate looks old- like a kind of historical artifact in a museum. The sparkling- Phanes and Lunar hadn’t used their powers around you, but you remember seeing Phanes activate their abilities when Lunara had been reigning in Pollux back in your home world. The photo of Ate in that photo- Where Lunara had been swarmed with the sparkling and almost engulfed by it, Ate had summoned it almost as a physical wall around them, it rising from the ground and curling outwards like a sphere with a gate through to them as it flickered like a flame above their shoulders.

Math floods your mind as you’re worriedly pulled by Grain and Sickle down the hallway, Grain happily telling you the short version of all the historical fun facts. Phanes was stronger than Lunar but weaker than Gemini... Lunara was stronger than Gemini... If Ate was made of Lunar’s melding themselves together, and was stronger than Lunara... How many were in Ate?

Shuttled down the hallway, there is a period of time with no decor. It seems purposeful, with all the frames in the room left blank or with tasteful geometric shapes. Grain shuffles nervously to your side, “I... I want to note, while we’re moving away from the more... historical notes and information about your role here as a Guest, that we know this can be... hard to process! Know we- uh- won’t be cruel in any regard to you! You have a say! Yeah!’

Grain is shuffling their feet now, trying to slow you all from entering a hallway more ornately decorated, “And I just- Know we’re a democracy! And- I care too much about the people here to read off the script, and-”

A tap on your shoulder from Sickle makes you look up. He looks annoyed as he speaks, “We cannot keep you if you say no. Only your Lunar can keep you if you say no. We can’t take them unless they’re dying, dead, or willing. Voting. You now know your rights, we need to shut up or the secretary will take flights.”

Grain stops stammering, looking at Sickle with a softness in their eyes, “Thank you, sweetpea. Even if that was a terrible rhyme at the end.”

Sickle whips around pissed, “It is hard to rhyme and tell what needs to be told! Do not act as if you are being Bold!”

You protectively put a hand on Sickle’s, “Yeah, Grain! He’s literally learning his words today! PBS is important for children’s entertainment, you leave mister Learn Your Words Vampire alone!”

Laughter spills from the being above you, and Grain goes back to being calm and endlessly entertained by this response. They pull their clipboard and write something down on your intake form, smiling the whole while, “We- We cannot let you near the other Bloodmoons. Your Lunar won’t get any time with you, you’d be pulled along as a little mascot to their hunting nonsense.”

The group snickers about your... interaction with the native Bloodmoon as you’re brought into the more ornate hall. Grain flips to stand in front of you again, but Sickle moves to stand beside them instead of holding you in place. Grain points to the ornate door on your right, “The Head Secretary’s office! ...We keep it very nearby for new people! Many- uh- want to lawyer the rules of our world, so he’s kind of... head lawyer about it!”

You turn to the door, suddenly doubting your plan to argue with this person. You glace back at Sickle and Grain, who both seem confident enough in you. Grain is smiling a bit and excitedly shooing you through the door, and while Sickle seemed more bored than interested. When you turned to him he smiles with just a bit too much teeth and gives a single hand wave as well.

The doorknob is cold as you enter, the new hallway slowly filled with the sound of Grain’s gentle cheering. It’s very simple, an older part of the building. A mark on the walls runs right next to where a newer handrail was installed, an attempt after years to get people to stop anxiously wearing the paint thin holding the wall. You trace the path, wondering what version of what person had been so worried for so many years that the wall would be carved so precisely.

A door sits at the end, a slight incline in the building into a doorframe that didn’t match the area around it. ...The hallway had been built around the door, and everything else had been built around the hallway. Was this section the original building in Ate’s mind, or perhaps Ate was just old enough to have generations of builders construct the place. 

The handle is wooden, so it’s warm in your palm as you open it. 

A Lunar, looking surprisingly casual, sits at a desk in front of you. It’s a very large desk- a very large room. 

The room, which you could only imagine was three times larger than your own bedroom back home, was piled and piled with little crates of things. Stacked up four tall each crate, each one held folders upon binders upon bindings, not counting the backwalls lined with file organizers. The Lunar within sits in a grand desk, a thing the size of a large wrap around sofa, as they begin to wave you in.

You enter, feeling a bit like you’re walking into Ate’s very thought process as you’re waved to sit in the chair in front of the Lunar, seeing them smile, “Hello! My name is Eye, how can I help you today?”

Your hands feel like the only movably object in the room, the area around you a kind of prison you hadn’t been expecting- a beige one. “I’m- I was told you wanted to talk to me? I wanted to talk to you as well."

Eye seems confused, looking at several things around them before rolling their chair a few feet down the desk to look over a desktop calendar, “...hm... What is your name? I believe I’m meant to be meeting with someone else soon, but if it’s urgent I’m happy to help before! If not, then I have a little waiting area for while I’m with our new introduction. It might be a bit- this is a visit and not an addition- but I will make a point to get back to you as quickly as I can, scouts honor.”

Thinking back to what Grain said, you stumble through the tense environment, “...I think I’m the visitor? Grain said I was a visitor.”

Eye pauses before looking you up and down, considering something. They stand, walking around the desk to witness some invisible oddity, making you tense up and fear that perhaps you should have asked Grain and Sickle to come with you. 

The Eye stares, and then stares, and then lights up, “Oh! Holy shit, you’re the visitor?!”

The corporate feeling in the air dies, and The Eye lights up like a kid in a candy store, “Oh my god, no one told me you were human! Are you human? We rarely ever get humans- Oh, holy shit, you’re a variant who is dating your Lunar, I-” The bot looks ecstatic as they hop around moving to give you a shaking outstretched hand, “I’m The Eye, I’m the head secretary- We’ve all be so excited to meet you! Here- Walk with me?” 

You’re pulled to standing by the excited Lunar, the light in their eyes endless and you’re pulled to a doorway off the office area. Eye is giddy as they walk, almost skipping as they move you through another hallway towards an elevator, “See- We get some humans from the various universes where Lunar is a human, and a small handful of Mikus, but we rarely ever get like- An Outer-Plex human who is just dating their Lunar! That’s so rare!” 

“Why is that... important?”, Your legs hurt from walking.

The Eye spins to walk backwards, smiling still, “Ate needs unique people to keep strong! We-” they calm, moving to walk forward as they speak, “We need new people or we’ll just kind of.... Crumble into dust. Ate isn’t an infinite source of storage, you know, so we need storage chips to keep us running. But if all those chips are running the same person over and over again, that means that slowly the overall programming will stall. If a robot- of a group of robots- go too long without mental stimulus their brains will prune the ability to do the tasks they aren’t doing. It’s fine in the short term, but when you live as long as we do... alot of our Lunars are forgetting how to talk to people, and having only the youngest of our population do all the speaking is kind of driving them insane.”

“Which is to say-” They start up happy again, “That you’re very special! Where there is one rare variant, there is always a way of learning how to find more of them! You’d be the first of your kind, so we’d have to ask you several questions about what town you’re from, and who you view yourself as, as well as gather a bunch of information about your home universe, but you’re a very desirable addition!”

It’s similar to the thing Grain was saying earlier, so you just nod, “You need me to agree for that, yeah?”

The Eye looks excited for the approval, “Yes! We won’t take anything without asking you first, you’re the one in control here! We’re a democracy-!”

“I want to make a deal.” The Eye goes quiet, staring as you speak, “...My Pollux is going to die if we don’t get her home soon. She’ll survive overall, according to Lunara, but they’re my only source on that. If not, I’ll have her blood on my hands for- for however long I’m stuck here. Lunar got me out before, but just barely. They were exhausted, and this is now not just Gemini and Lunar versus Lunara but...” you trail off, thinking of Lunara telling Ate they couldn’t touch you as part of some deal, “...But now it’s Lunar and Gemini against you, Scorpion, Phanes, and Lunara.”

This portion of the hallway is glass, letting you see into a garden when you face away from the crowd trying to catch glimpses of you inside, “...I don’t trust you. I don’t trust Ate. I trust Phanes, because I know they’re scared, and I trust Gemini, because they’ve helped me before. I don’t trust you, but I know that you make deals. ...So here is a deal.”

You place your hand into The Eye’s, trying to not look as exhausted and mentally numb as you are, “Lunar will come and save me. I know they will. ...But when they do, they’re not going to have backup. Because Pollux is resigned to Castor not saving her, and because Lunar’s family consists of like four asshole costars who are all fighting for least shits given.” The Eye snorts, looking away to laugh, “When Lunar comes to save me, I want you to help us escape.”

The Eye is still laughing from your comment as they turn, “I- I don’t Lunara would appreciate that!”

Dread is a cold, ugly thing in your stomach when you know you’re making a losing deal, “I’ll agree to join.”

The Eye stops laughing, “...Huh?”

“Scorpion-” God it feels weird to be using them as a frame of reference, “Scorpion said they made a deal with you, and that you’d take them after death, yeah? If- If you let me and my Pollux go home, I’ll agree to join Ate after my death. Just- I want to die in my home universe. I want her to rest. That’s my bargain.”

Your hands are shaking in the cold of the area, the crowd outside mildly interested in you as you sell your very soul just for freedom. The Eye is likely staring at you, but you’re too busy pretending to stare at their shoes to check for yourself. 

A hand gently clasps your shoulder, and you look up to see The Eye grinning big, “I’ll tell the introduction people to mark you as an ‘Addition’ then. Welcome home, new friend.”

Eye takes your hand and begins leading you to a door near the crowded windows, surprising the people outside. Some of the people scatter, others crowd around more. You hear the word “Eye” over and over, so you assume the gossip is about your new introduction assignee rather than you yourself. They watch The Eye bring you from the building you’d been with the garden towards a brick based one instead, words fluttering about as you’re taken to visit whoever is inside. 

A call across the yard forces the Eye to stop, making you turn to watch. 

Sickle- Of course they were the one causing havoc, had climbed on top of the fountain and were pointing at you. Several other bloodmoons were clamoured around, one in a dark cloak had climbed with Sickle to stand beside them, almost interwoven with how close they’d smashed together. Scythe, perhaps? 

The Eye turns curiously to where they are pointing, making you nervously explain, “Uh- Grain said I had been- interested by Bloodmoon- is that what you called them? They said it like how you guys refer to yourself collectively as Lunars, but I know that's just a name- uh. I was odd by their standards. I uh- Sickle kept snapping at me like they were going to bite, so I called them a vampire nerd and threatened to bite back. Grain said it was funny to their- uh- species? Clone type?”

The bot in front of you looks just as amused as Grain had been, “...You were threatened by Grain’s Bloodmoon and you... threatened to bite them back?”

You puff up defensively, “They were being rude! And if you’re going to threaten to bite someone, you should be prepared for them to fight fire with fire! That was just- Standard practice!”

The Eye turns to continue to the building, clearly holding in laughter as cries ring across the street. Right before you enter into the new building, you hear Sickle yell something to the tune of ‘The Visitor bites back!’ to the cheering of the people below, with calls for fights and matches. The Eye turns to call back to them, talking for the first time since entering the street to respond to it, “The Addition bites back, and says you were a rude little vampire nerd!”

The plaza is silent in the moments where The Eye opens the door, but the sound of hundreds of cheers fills your ears as Eye pulls you into the room with a laugh. The noise in the square is muffled by the door, but the cries among the streets seem overjoyed by your arrival. ...Already a celebrity, it seemed. 

You’re brought into another elevator, this time sending you down into some layers below. The Eye stands nervously near the buttons, and it’s the first time since you’ve encountered them that they’re trying to casually stand still. It’s a failed attempt, with them fidgeting with their watch as they look between you and their timepiece. 

...It gives you a chance to finally give the bot a once over. They’re a very formally dressed Lunar- which isn’t saying very much, since most Lunars dressed very informally. They wear slacks and a button up, with a jacket thrown over top for the weather. They have a crown on the top of their head in the shape of a crescent the same way Lunara did, but instead of a wire shaped into the moon symbol it was a piece of solid metal with a crescent carved into it. They had the sense of someone incredibly important, but the emotional capacity to only act about half as important as their posture made them seem. 

You’re watching the number tick up on the elevator, and when it occurs to you that you’re on floor 7 and need to get to floor 60, you begin talking, “...So. Ate’s whole set up is one Lunar plus a guest?”

The Eye smiles back, “Yes! So, for your universe you’d be the guest then. We have a really high Lunar population, but due to technicalities involving the low rate of Lunars bonding with other Lunars and the high chance of a Lunar picking a Bloodmoon, or a Gemini, or a fused Sun and Moon, technically it’s below 50/50 from them bringing what is technically two guests.”

The elevator hovers at floor 11 for a moment, ignoring the conversation. You smile in a way you hope is conversational, “So... Who is your guest?”

The Eye freezes up, and looks away, “...That’s kind of why I’m so famous, actually! I’m the only Ate addition to ever not have a guest!” They curl in slightly on themselves, breaking that solid posturing from before to turn nervously to the buttons, “It’s not something that’s meant to happen, but accidents happen! ...I was meant to have a guest, but uh, I had complete memory loss right before joining! So now I’m just kinda a floater.”

You wonder how to respond to that. It’s quiet, and The Eye doesn’t say anything independently. A few floors pass without any words, but The Eye turns before you get to the halfway point, “...I mean- I enjoy being a floater! It’s how I got this prestigious position, because I’m the only one in Ate who doesn’t have just one set person! Everyone is my other half! That’s- That’s an incredible thing!” 

They’re shaking slightly, shivering over the buttons as they watch you skittishly out of the corner of their eye. ...They sounded so nervous talking about it, but there was a slight pride in their voice as they talked, less like someone scared to admit it and a lot more like someone who is desperately trying to sell something they know won’t get off the shelves. 

You consider the tiling of the elevator carefully, “That sounds... I mean. I’m sure that can’t be amazing. Being alone with just one other person forever is-” you grit your teeth, trying not to think of what you’ve just agreed to, “-interesting. I can’t imagine being surrounded by people with someone is much better though.”

They’re still hovering over the buttons, so you flick your eyes about and try to find anything else to talk about, “...Is rent cheaper if you’re renting a single apartment here at least?” 

The Eye blinks, chuckling and letting their hand fall from the buttons without lowering their shoulders at all, “No, not really. I just- use the extra bedroom as a third office. The houses here already come with an office but- I filled that one with paperwork years ago, so it’s more my storage room.”

“I imagine it’s nice to have a space that’s completely your own, though,” you’re trying to keep everyone in this elevator happy. To keep them from getting upset and deciding to go against your deal. The car is still on the 52nd floor, and you can’t lose this before you even leave the elevator. It’s the panic setting in, you know it is. …This is getting too awkward too quickly. 

The bot shuffles slightly, coughing and brushing themselves off, “I- I apologize. I didn’t mean to bring the conversation around to me,” they face away from you as they pull themselves together, “This is your day! You’ve made a wonderful choice, staying with us- once the terms of your agreement are fulfilled, I mean. Point being-“

A ding alerts you to the door opening, sliding open to reveal a section that also seems to be outside. The Eye lights up and moves to gesture outwards from the elevator, showing off the smaller cityscape the building elevator has somehow taken you into, “Welcome to floor 7 of layer C of the Ate headspace! In other words: You’re new home! Once your contract terms are fulfilled, anyways.”

You look around the area, a suffocating feeling settling in your chest, “…It looks beautiful.” It really, really did. The area you were standing was in front of a large fountain, a large flowing thing that spun the water through clear tubes into fourteen equal spouts. Each one, dying the water, erupted into a color of the rainbow twice over. The courtyard you were in was large, but full of things to do. A court for every sport you could think of could be seen in the distance, missing the larger varieties though you doubted they were missing so much as elsewhere. On the other side, flower beds painted the area, ornamental trees flowing around a set of paths that you could barely tell lead to a gorgeous main street. 

You’re not walked towards the main road, but instead pulled to a set of branching paths that pulled into the grove. Walking down a cobblestone road, The Eye spoke while leading you gently by a weak hold on your wrist, “This is technically a temporary place- A level C location. Most people choose to stay in their level B or C locations, since the Z type locations are for those who are a risk to the rest of Ate and the A location is a work level, made for running Ate with a few scattered apartments. B locations are considered nicer, but many get attached to their C level areas! This will always be here for you, even if you move to a Z or B level, so I’d recommend truly personalizing it! Sky is the limit here, paint is free.”

The neighborhood you’re brought down is a grid kind, layered and layered with houses upon houses. You see a sign labeling the road “Kinsley Grove” while another sign marked the street it crossed “237th road”. People walk around the front yards, rushing around in living rooms you can just barely see into. It’s full of Lunars, of course, but bursting from every corner is life. Plants, gardens, pets- You see more dogs in that walk than in the rest of your life- buses filled with people at every bus stop, marking your place in the city scape as a small dot on a large, large map. Everyone seems… passive. Like this was just their life, or even where they wanted to be. 

Your eyes are staring at a set of Lunars talking outside a house- something about cotton candy pink fences being in style, and if they would paint theirs- when The Eye stops you in front of a house. 

…Your house. You know this house. 

It’s a dark brown, almost reddish house, with a barely visible foundation hovering below a small porch. Bushes dot the outside as a thin gravel driveway brushed against the road, trying to reach the road through the dots of grass. It was a house you lived in once, but you couldn’t quite make out when you’d lived there. It was… distant, like a time that no longer was known so much as remembered. It was your old, brown house. And it was wrong, somehow. 

You nervously followed the Eye into the living room, them gesturing at old and vaguely familiar furniture. A cozy set of chairs settled in the living room, bookshelves lined with things you think you’d read before. A table in the middle of the shelves had a full basket of books “to be returned” to the library, but they looked just as fresh printed as the books on the shelves. The only aged thing in the room was the soft, worn down looking chairs and a handful of books you didn’t need to open to know were your old diaries and photo albums, marked with the same stains as the real ones. The Eye settled into a blue chair near the television (the same model you had. Once.) and turned to you, happy.

“I think…” they hummed, “We can get you away from Lunara. It will have to come down to a vote- Could theoretically put it to a stress vote if need be, but otherwise… I see you being able to leave in a few days. If you’d like, you could explore the house in the meantime? We’d set things up you’d like modified in the meantime.”

You turn, seeing a staircase where there definitely hadn’t been one before. This was a single story house. …And yet. The stairs are the twisting kind, carrying you up and around smoothly as The Eye stands to follow just a bit behind. …Your bedroom had always been the one towards the end, but somehow you know the one on the left at the start of the stairs is yours. 

It’s purple. The walls are a homely purple, stained in places with what you knew was the result of you trying to clean off old stains you had put there yourself. Your old pillows- from a time you don’t remember- sit on the bed ever the home you had left it. Your mug and a few water glasses sat on the dresser, and your clothes were thrown all over the floor from where you’d left in a hurry. 

You don’t remember having ever been in this room before. 

Hands clasp your shoulders, “Did we… get it right? You’re one of the harder ones to pin down! We based this on a version of you who didn’t quite meet us- I think you were right about to, or something. It should be identical to the house you live in now, if not for a few small changes.”

You turn, moving to walk out, “Perhaps I should get back. I think Phanes is going to get worried about me.”

The Eye looks surprised, moving to sit on not-your-bed, “Why? They’re going to be there regardless, and I have someone keeping an eye on your Pollux. You can sit and rest for a bit. Tell me about yourself, I haven’t even heard your name yet! What is your Lunar like?”

Backing away, your back hits a door you know hadn’t been locked before, “Eye. I want to leave now please.” They frown, but move to stand. Your shoulders settle as they smile at you, gesturing for you to move so they could open the door. 

It opens to an office, with a large semi circular desk. With many, many filing cabinets, and many piles of papers littered about with a familar name tag on the desk. They look completely at ease as they begin organizing paperwork, smiling up at you, “Lets get your finalizing paperwork done, and then we can vote and get you home as soon as possible. We’re all very excited to find out what kind of Lunar you have.”

You stand in some alternate version of you’s bedroom, shaking with the realization that the painted walls now were wallpapered with the glow in the dark stars you considered buying long before, “Eye. I don’t have time for paperwork. I need to- Where am I right now Eye!”

They turn and settle the stacks of papers, “…Everything leads back to the center eventually. I just happen to have a very nice office there. You’re still in your home, I’m just somewhere between that house and the center. Now- Your name, and what kind of Lunar you have?”

You shake your head, moving back into the room. The Eye doesn’t chase you, even as you walk further and further back, going past where the bed had been before. Your feet hit comforters as you walk backwards onto a soft layered floor, seeing them get a bit wide eyed and very mildly worried, “Maybe calm down a bit. If you panic, the headspace tends to sense it. No need to upset the rest of Ate, yes? It’d be rude to your new neighbors.”

New. Neighbors. 

Outside the windows that hadn’t been there before, hundreds of people were outside the house. Staring- All staring- come to see the new odd being that would offer to stay. That would stand up to a bloodmoon. 

You try to scream, but something rocks the area around you before you can. A look of horror on the various Lunars in the area is visible as a loud, painful explosion rips through something, and you see The Eye well and truly panic.

—————————————————————————————————————

Flickering. …Had it been flickering this entire time?

A hand waves in front of Lunar, and they tune back into Latte looking at them worriedly while Ristretto waves it’s hand in front of their face. They nervously look into the cup of coffee Latte handed them, right before Ristretto proved its point about the flickering. 

Magic in a way we’re not, huh? They stare into the cup, watching the cream swirl before lifting it to drink. …Hazelnut creamer with chocolate syrup, light on the sugar so the cream cuts through, more chocolate milk than anything. It was exactly how they took their coffee. 

A buzzing in their arm knocks them out of the silent wondering, moving them to look at it. The device had loaded. A list of all the universes that had accessed their universe was loading in, at first with nonsense file names that filled their core with dread before it began updating it to the names in their database, showing off to Lunar the various filler names Moon had put in. Blue weirdo home universe. Purple Evil Fucker Land. Diamonds but they hate you. Elmo, but evil. Before finally getting to Weird fucker who stabbed the blue deity guy.

Clicking on what they were fairly certain was Moon’s attempt to log Lunara, they stumble to their feet clicking through the settings, finding the location data for the place Moon logged as their home world. …They almost crash to their knees when it’s the same place they just came from. 

Ristretto is grabbing their wrist while Latte moves to comfort them, “…Hey, don’t give up yet! It might just be loading! …Right Ristretto?”

The fellow cafe owner is looking between Lunar and the information, “Is this where you just were?”

They nod, and Ristretto sighs, “Yeah, it logs as being the last place you were. Whoever jumped to your dimension is from that dimension then. …But you don’t seem the type to just skip over it and then be all sad like this…”

Lunar stares quietly at their arm, unsure of where to go from here. Was there somewhere to go from here? They felt clueless on where to go next, “I asked around- their dimension’s Sun said their Lunar was gone. Kidnapped by Lunara too.”

Ristretto ponders it, and it’s the sound of Latte smacking their hand into their palm that moves you both to look at them, “Wait. Kidnapped. Whoever opened the portal was from that dimension, yeah? And on our software, since they are being tracked so precisely by it. If Lunara is such a ghost, they wouldn’t have the software, but maybe the person they took would! What if they’re using that dimension’s Lunar to taxi-cab, to cover their trail! Where did the person with that log go from there?”

Ristretto makes a grab for the cashier’s computer to turn off solitaire while Lunar grabs at their arm, moving things around. They can’t find a tracking in time before Ristretto has it pulled up on the computer, cursing as they attempt to find which version of the universe had the very classically Moon style of naming, since there were multiple. 

Lunar changes the name, and points to the renamed ‘Phanes’, “There. That one. That’s the one we’re looking for.”

A log of the universes they’d been in appeared on the screen, showing a long list of them popping into many hundreds of universes. At the top, holding the most frequent universe and the current one, was an unnamed universe simply labeled in the filing system Phanes was using on the transport device as ‘New home.’

It wasn’t a solid set of coordinates- A rough approximation, similar to that of giving someone latitude and longitude and expecting them to drive only on the roads there. Lunar would take it though- Lunar would take anything. 

They input the codes and finally feel something like relief fill their chest as they see only one universe fits the criteria of the jump point. They race up and grab Ristretto, hugging it with all their might while smiling like crazy. Latte looks happy while Ristretto is dazed, watching the bot twirl around before shuffling to a more proper jumping position. They nervously look back at the couple, unsure how to say goodbye or thank you. 

Ristretto stumbles out something about being safe, but Latte puts a hand over it’s shoulder to speak instead, “Bring back your starlight, yeah? …I’d like to talk to someone like me again. You’re always welcome here, Lunar dear.”

Lunar, unsure what to say, just nods. It’s quiet, and then they make the jump, feeling a long, long falling sensation take over their as a long, long distance carries them from a hell of inactivity, to a hell of activity. 

…And for not for the first time, the cost of diligence is being punished with what you were excited to receive. 

There are many,  many good places to land when sneaking up on Lunars. They weren’t the brightest bunch, so as long as you were just a bit quiet you could get by. Landing on a gas tank of some nature and setting off a massive fucking explosion would just about get you first place in worst sneaking though. 

The blast sends them back into the air, flailing as they land into a wall a few good yards away, shaking them to their core in ways they had prayed before to never feel again. It is fear, and worry, and horror that raises them to their feet while their mind is still trapped in memories of porches just outside a safe house, with someone they trusted on the phone. It is the memory that if you hear the blow you’ve survived and if you don’t you’re already gone that carries them forward, and it’s seeing that stupid, pale blue fucker looking so damn smug that forces them to shake what’s still working on them to a brawling stand. 

They had managed to almost knock Lunara’s teeth out once, while they were too busy to use their powers. Lunar didn’t have their powers here, and their hand couldn’t make a fist from the damage. …They’d like to give it a second try though. 

Lunara, standing just over the ridge, watches confidently as Lunar stumbles out of the crater they had formed. Another Lunar- they distantly realize this one must be Phanes, watches Lunar crawl out of the blast with terror on their face, still shaking from the explosion sound themselves. They look between Lunara and Lunar, trying to decide what to do. 

Lunar points a hand at their copy, shaking as they speak. …Nothing comes out. They knock their chest, coughing, attempting to get their voicebox to work. It crackles to life, forcing them to look down and see just how much of their torso was ripped apart by the blast. 

Casual footsteps approach them, “I programmed the jump point to always land you here, just high enough that it would send you straight into the canisters. I was honestly hoping it would be you and Castor, since it would knock him down enough to take him out, but this works too. I mean- The goal was to get you, regardless, he would have just been there for the optional ransom. This is a good starting point for you. If you’re already needing repairs it’ll make it easier to change the plating to look different- Lunars just dress too… samey, you know?”

They watch as Lunara prances down the stairs, seeing Lunar struggling to step up them as well with too much weakness to run up them, much less fight up them. They’re close to raising a hand to their mouth, energy pulsing behind them to give some snarky remark, when a hand pushes hard on their shoulders. 

Lunara stumbles forward as Phanes pushes them, trying to topple them down the stairs. The bot whips around, just before they can get out words the other bot punches Lunara in the nose. The pseduo-diety falls to the floor of the stairs, energy points to Phanes. A spitting “Now? Really?”  Is coughed from Lunara’s position. 

Phanes ignores them to look at Lunar, terrified as they speak, “…It choose to go home. Run. I’ll do what I can.”

Lunar watched Lunara turn fiery angry, the air around them steaming as the oxygen itself boiled. They didn’t stay to watch, they turned and ran. 

The universe they were in itself began throwing things at them as they began bolting for the holding cell you’d been in before, barely scrambling out of the way as the building competed to creak with their rapidly shattering endoskeleton as they met their old lover the ground. They had forgotten half the turns to the holding cell, but with the circular layout and the loud, bloody and wet sounding fight a few stories above them they could locate roughly where they were within the massive complex. 

They shoved and scrambled their way through doors, listening horrified as the battle turned loud, and then quiet, and then loud, and then quiet. 

Hands grabbed them, and a very angry version of themselves had caught them. It wasn’t… quite Lunara. 

A bright blue thing- all decked out in bright clothes and many many wrist bands was gripping lunar with a big, maniac smile as they were shoved to the wall, “Oh! You’re the new one!!! We’re so excited to meet you! I’m gonna be one of your new roommates- stop struggling, Lunara hates struggling. Come on, it’ll be alright!”

The copy’s faceplate broke under them wailing what part of a fist they could form, still smiling like they didn’t feel a thing. Lunar’s own plating began to groan though, cracking under the other’s tightening upset grip as they grabbed and grabbed while attempting to force them back up the stairs, making Lunar go dead weight just so they could free their legs up to kick them repeatedly anywhere they could. Either unable to feel pain or a eunuch, their creepy twin smiled no matter what they did as they were slowly pushed towards where they came as the battle above became quieter and quieter, the odd blue plants around them slowly wilting like what made them was being harmed. 

Lunar scrambles one last time, smacking a section of new looking plate and making the other curl up in pain finally. They kick the part of their leg over and over until the hands on them give, turning from fake excited greetings and affections to low, pained cursing in a tone more like Moon’s as they move to their feet, seeing the door just yards from where they’d been caught and rushing it. 

They scan for the bright yellow and the family hoodie they were looking for, seeing it in the corner. …pollux didn’t look like she was moving. 

You were curled around her as she seemed to physically be fading in and out, staring at the version of Gemini from before. They were cursing- screaming- For Lunara, yelling in a horrible mix of their two voices about how she was going to explode and take all of them with her. How they’d promised to keep them alive, for better or for worse.

Your eyes didn’t move from her and you cradled her in your arms, not looking up as Lunar got close. When they shoved their hands under your arms to grab you, you just curled into a ball to hide her, trying to keep what little wasn’t turning to mist and trying to return to the universe as close as you could. Lunar lifted the two as far off the ground as they could manage while weak like this, turning exhausted to see their copy had followed and no longer looked interested in happily greeting them. 

Another figure entered the room, and placed a hand on the strange clone’s shoulder. It was large, terrifying, and almost looked like a Lunar. …Parts of it looked like Lunar. Like they had once been a Lunar, before being stitched together. Three, swiveling heads turned to Lunar, and every ounce of belief they could save anything drained as you were slowly dropped back to your curled position as they started to quietly shed tears. 

A soft, gentle cooing was heard, and all the strange thing said to them was, “Oh… It’s Lunar is a soft one.”

The clone looks between Lunar and the monstrosity before one of the large being’s hands (Too many hands. Too many torsos. Its legs were made of too many legs) gently moved them back, shaking their heads. 

The fighting above stopped as the large entity approached Lunar, making them crouch down to shield Pollux and her scared protector as best they could. They screw their eyes shut, and hope whatever happened would just hurt them. 

…Hands picked them up, and hauled the entire set upwards with the gentleness of a scared pet owner. Lunar smacked at the hands as they were lifted, and Pollux and their partner were placed into their shaking arms. They couldn’t hold them up on their own, but the entity held them in place as they ran one of the many extra hands on their right side to mess with a matching device, clicking something and activating a portal. …To a familiar daycare, with a familiar ballpit below them. 

Lunar looked confused as it began pushing them towards the pit, freezing at the sound of the door to the holding cell being ripped open. Lunara watched beyond angry- covered in oil that Lunar must imagine was Phanes’s, twitching as they moved with ragged, uneven steps, “We. Have. A. Deal.” 

The hulking entity watched Lunara shuffle forward, staring at you and Pollux like charred meat on a grill, something so close to burning up that you grab and grab and cool before considering if it was still bleeding. The monstrosity before Lunar turned very casually to Lunara, and a hand pushed on Lunar’s back, “Deals change sometimes.”

It is three, unassisted steps forward on Lunar’s end as they step with the small momentum from the push. It’s too quick for Lunara to lunge, but so slow it feels like honey is dripping from their ears as they push forward. 

The plunge into the ballpit is cold, lumpy, and shocking. 

It’s silent for all of two seconds before they’re screaming their lungs out, “SPANIARD TURN OFF THE PORTAL. TURN IT OFF.” They’re screaming and close to crying,  “PLEASE.”

The sound of the coils at the bottom of the pit slowly powered down, and above them they heard a sharp, cracking cry as Lunara made a final attempt to follow them downwards and into the ballpit. …Their hand, separated from the rest of them, lands perhaps three feet from Lunar. It sinks into the pit away from where Lunar can track a copy of their own severed body part, and they turn and sob into their hands as the rest of their own body shuts down from what little reserves they were running on. …All they can hear is the ringing of the explosions in their ears, and all they see is the blood dripping off that severed hand. It had been leaking gold- Lunara had long since stopped leaking oil. That wasn’t their own. 

…Nothing was their own. 

—————————————————————————————————————

Your hands hurt. Your hands hurt, your heart hurts, and everything hurt. 

You were scared, and you were doomed, and you were leaving Lunar in the ballpit like an asshole despite the fact that they just carried you out of hell. They were sinking to the bottom of a ballpit and you were leaving them there. 

Pollux was still pulsing in your arms like she was dying, and some part of you knew this was the end of her. 

She was light- too light- in your arms as you wondered how long you had. Was Castor still at the park? Did you need to take her upwards? Did you know how to get up there to where she needed to be? Would they take her back if she smelled like a human?

You were cold. Your hands hurt. You wish you brought your sweater- you could have put it on Pollux. Then she wouldn’t look so thin- so cold. Everything was so, so cold. Your hands hurt so much. …She was slowly freezing you both to death, trying to slow the decomposition of her star. She told you that, once. 

When you lived in that house. The one Ate showed you. It wasn’t yours anymore, but maybe it was hers. Maybe it could have been. 

You don’t know who you are and memories that aren’t yours are blending in your brain, your hands are flickering with the light of the dying star in your arms and you wish you had your sweater. It was warm, and someone hand crocheted it for you once. 

…To your left, laying flat on the daycare floors, a lump is wearing your sweater. They’re half buried by abandoned paperwork, someone leaving in a hurry. But it’s your sweater. …It’s her other half. 

She slots into the arms of her other half well. He doesn’t realize it’s her at first, sobbing abscently into a void he isn’t seeing and trying to bat your arms away. You put his hands to her hair, and hum that tune you were taught a long, long time ago when you had been in that warm, red house with one story, thinking about buying glow in the dark stars. 

He realizes it’s her, and any force shy of a supernova could not break the two. A soft glow pauses within her, and your freezing heart warms as she calms, letting you flicker back into who you are meant to be. …You wanted Lunar. 

Legs that were slowly becoming your own again carry you back to the ballpit. You don’t move beyond wading in to where they had sunk to the bottom, and when they wake you don’t move beyond quietly following them as they move you and themselves to where the twins were, curling you next to Castor so they can wrap themselves around everyone in the pile and count when they forget- every few seconds- how many people where there. 

You don’t move when their family slowly comes back, three hours after you were taken in this world’s time. You don’t hear them mumbling about what to even do this time, if they were allowed to punish Lunar for causing it if they fixed it. You don’t make a sound as quiet, horrified tears are finally pulled from someone who was convinced their other half was gone and would never return. You’re silent as the other half slowly regains herself, using all her strength to wrap around him and wipe his face clear. 

You’re silent, and still, and you do everything to forget that hell. …You had made a deal, but you weren’t there for now. 

And it was going to be okay now, until Ate found you. …But it was going to be okay.