Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

This is the point where everything went wrong, the Moon thinks. It’s when Phobos and Deimos can’t seem to look him in the eyes anymore, it’s when Ganymede’s smug laugh grates his ears, it’s when Titan seems to be an entirely different person now. The other moon’s words echo in his mind, and he swallows, feeling sick. 

“The plan has changed, Moon. We’re not going to try and talk things out with the planets anymore. This is war.” 

What had happened when he was gone? Mere hours ago, it felt like everything was… well, not necessarily perfect, but the Moon was happy— happier than he had been in a long time. He had gotten the chance to be out of his orbit for once and got to explore the belt with Titan. And now, it seems that that spark of joy has been torn away from his hands, teasing him as if—

But this is what you wanted, isn’t it? This is why you left the Earth. In the end, you just need revenge, don’t you? And now you finally have the chance.

You’ve been undermined by the planets for so long. You’ve been ignored, criticized, shoved away for ages- none of them even know your real name— don’t they have this coming? Wouldn’t it be nice to finally give them what they deserve? 

You could keep being happy.

Titan stares at him, his dark teal eyes so familiar yet so alien at the same time. The Moon can recall when they were bright and squinted with a smile below them, can recall when they were wide with shock and hooded with misery, can recall them looking at him with fondness, coupled by the same quickening of the Moon’s own core-beat. But he can’t recall them like this. It’s as if the Titan he knew had been completely ripped away, replaced by an empty doppelganger. 

...It’s as if the Titan he liked was gone. 

The Moon could agree and get revenge, and see if he could bring that Titan he knew back, or learn how to be infatuated with the new version. He could watch as the planets that regarded him as nothing but the Earth’s pretty property crumble beneath his feet. 

Nausea hits the back of the Moon’s throat. 

No, he couldn’t. Even if they might’ve deserved it, even if he deserved this, the mere thought of it made his stomach churn. How could- how could he even consider…

Next to Titan, Ganymede raises an eyebrow. “Well?”

“I don’t…” the Moon pauses, feeling as if the words were vanishing before they can even reach his vocal cords. He swallows. “What- what do you even mean by that?”

Ganymede shrugs. “What it sounds like. Think about it, Earth’s moon. Do you really believe we can just solve everything with a strike? If this situation could be resolved with peace, it would’ve been solved a long time ago. But the truth is that violence is the only way to get them to listen to us. And we’re not going to target just any planet. We’re going to target yours.”

The Moon freezes, dread pounding through his veins. “...What?”

“We’re going to attack the most prized one of them all- the Earth,” Titan puts in, and the dread in the Moon multiplies by the hundreds. Because- because the Earth had practically dedicated his entire existence into fostering life. Flashes of his excitement and dedication, all speed through the Moon’s head. He blinks numbly at the other moons, who are completely unwavering even as everything seems to be falling apart for him.

“I got it! I finally got life!” the Earth beamed, grasping the Moon’s hands, his smile so large and bright it was clearly hurting his cheeks, but it doesn't lessen at all. And looking upon it, the Moon swore to himself he would never let anything hurt the Earth. It’s why he stayed for so long despite how strained their friendship became over time, it’s why he ignored his own pain when the Earth grabbed his hair and used him to block an incoming asteroid, it’s- it’s why….

“...Titan? Is this what you really want?” he asks, and said moon narrows his unfamiliar eyes at him as he stretches out a hand. 

“Isn’t this what you want? The Earth has mistreated you more than anyone. He has demeaned you, abused you, seen you as nothing but a tool— you don’t deserve him,” Titan snaps, righteous anger for him swelling over the coldness of his voice, and the Moon’s core leaps up to his throat helplessly before he gathers enough sense to force it back down. “You know you don’t. And you don’t have to be with him anymore. You can get justice.”

You could keep being happy, the Moon’s thoughts remind him, and he stares down at the offered hand. It would be easy to clasp it and allow himself back into Titan’s embrace again. He wouldn’t even have to necessarily do anything- just recruit a few new moons and let the others handle the rest.

But instead of accepting the offer, the Moon takes a step back.

“What about the earthlings? What about Astrodude’s family? If you attack the Earth, every one of those innocent people are going to die,” he argues, and it gets through- he can see it in the way the other falters. But of course, the battle couldn’t be won that easily. Ganymede leans closer to Titan, face alight with wicked contemplation. And then he grins. It’s a wild thing, and the Moon suddenly feels like a fox caught in a bear trap. 

“Don’t be so dramatic, Earth’s moon. The earthlings’ technology has improved drastically over the past few years, hasn’t it? We’ll give them plenty of time to escape the Earth before dealing with him.”

Just like that, the clear hesitation in Titan dissolves and the Moon grits his teeth, frustration flaring in his stomach. 

“You’re just making excuses, and you know it. How will attacking him even get you what you want? What about the gas giants? What about the Sun? You can’t seriously think beating up one person will fix everything.” 

“The Earth is considered a legacy to this solar system, so yes, I do think targeting him will ‘fix everything’,” Titan replies. “And we’ll figure out the other factors. Now go on, Moon,” his awaiting hand stays. “Make your choice. Are you going to help bring us justice, or are you going to waste your time over someone who doesn’t even give two shits about you?” 

…forget this. 

“What if I say no then?” the Moon challenges, flying forward and reaching out- not to take the other moon’s hand, but to grab his wrist instead. Titan stiffens, and around them the rest of the moons do as well, observing everything with guarded, narrowed eyes. “What if I say that my loyalty stays with the Earth? Will you fight me?” his grip tightens, and Titan continues to stare at him, expression incomprehensible. They’re so close to each other that their noses are a breath away from touching, and like this, the Moon could catch the faintest red suddenly coating Titan’s cheeks. He ignores it and presses on, “Are you going to force me to join? Are you going to hold me captive? Are you going to… hurt me?” 

With that, everyone goes silent. Ganymede doesn’t interject this time, and the audience watches on, mute and tense. Titan’s blush fades as he lets out a breath and it ghosts the Moon’s face, yet another reminder of how close they are. The Moon’s grip doesn’t loosen. 

“…Moon, I- no. If you really don’t want to join, even after everything that happened- then fine. We won’t force you,” Titan eventually replies. There’s an obvious tint of disappointment clouding his voice, and beneath that… pain? His expression flickers as he glances down at the Moon’s hand around his arm. Then he speaks, quieter this time, “Why do you think I would ever want to hurt you?” 

“I—“ the Moon pauses, aware of everyone else still watching, but forces himself to continue. “I don’t know. If I’m on the Earth’s side, we would be enemies then, wouldn’t we?” 

“Well, yeah, but-,” Titan’s eyes dart all over the Moon’s face, desperate turmoil building up in them, and then he tears his gaze away along with his arm. The Moon’s fingers meet nothing but empty air as the other turns away.

“Just go, Moon.” 

The Moon blinks, feeling slightly winded for some reason. But… but this isn’t the worst outcome, right? He looks on at Titan, who’s now turned from him, and then at the other moons. Phobos and Deimos still won’t meet his eyes, Callisto and Io seem unsure about the whole thing, and Ganymede and Europa glare at him right back with deep scowls. 

…The Moon is smart enough to know he isn’t going to win this fight. And as much as he wanted to deny it, he was getting the daunting realization that if he didn’t take the chance to leave now, he might not get another one. 

The thought of Titan strays in his mind as the Moon forces his frozen body to move. He turns and leaves the clearing, and the concentration of the asteroids around him increases. The sunlight grows more scattered, the area darker, but there’s no sounds of anyone chasing after him. 

He finally lets himself take a deep breath and relax, just a bit.

So this is happening now. There’s going to be a revolution and violence and- and I can’t just stand around and do nothing. I have to make sure the planets don’t get hurt. 

…Sorry, Titan. I can’t let this escalate. 

“I have to warn the Earth,” the Moon mutters as he picks up speed, flying through the belt. But then, something- or rather, someone falls down in front of him. Instead of the dull brown of the belt, for a second all the Moon sees is a bright gold, then sparkling amber as Io blinks up at him. The other moon coughs, before giving him a wild, toothy smile. 

“Warn the Earth, huh? L-Looks like Ganymede’s prediction was right. And sorry, but I can’t let you do that,” he shrugs easily, and dread returns to the Moon again. 

“W-what?” he manages to gasp out. As if on cue, footsteps echo behind him as Callisto enters the fray. 

“Come back with us, Moon. Don’t make us fight you,” she pauses, and then tacks on, “please.” 

The Moon sucks in a shaky breath, looking between them. “…Can’t you look the other way just this once? Aren’t we friends?” 

Io’s grin falters, but he shakes his head as if in an attempt to get himself back on track. “C-Can’t. Ganymede’s orders.”

…At least I know Titan didn’t go back on his word. But still- how am I going to get myself out of this? 

“Moon?” Callisto’s voice, gentler than he had ever remembered hearing it. “You know this doesn’t have to be difficult, right?” 

Oh, I know. But there’s no way I'm going to go with you. I- I probably won’t be able to get out of here the normal way though, so….

The Moon’s gaze slides to the void below, and he gets an idea. Before his opponents can suspect anything, he refocuses his attention onto them. 

He raises an eyebrow, words coming out more hostile this time. “You think I can’t take you both on?” 

“Fat chance. I beat you all by myself last time,” Io scoffs, and Callisto’s frown deepens. 

“Moon. Don’t,” she warns, but the Moon’s mind is already made up. Before either of the other moons can register it, he clenches his fists, spots an opening, and—

Darts forward as fast as he can. The surprised gasps of the other moons echo behind him, before they gather their bearings and start the chase. Fragments of Dark’s rambling flash through the Moon’s head as he acts quickly, using his gravity to gather asteroids and propel them onto his pursuers. But they manage to dodge them all before Callisto turns to Io.

“Care to return his gift?” she asks, and the Moon can practically hear Io’s grin. 

“O-of course!” and then the whooshes of asteroids going under someone’s gravity. The Moon curses under his breath and forms a makeshift shield to block the round of projectiles fired into his direction. Then it fades away, and he peeks over his shield to see Callisto and Io gone. 

…Except they aren’t. He can catch the sound of them flying above him. It’s the same trick all three of them used on Ceres. 

No way in void I’m going to fall for that. 

And then they come down from opposite directions, asteroids aimed right for the Moon, so that there would be no way to escape except for down, down—

Works for me. 

The Moon propels himself in that direction, the asteroids crashing together behind him. “I know your tactics. Now leave me alone!” 

“After him!” Callisto calls out, and the Moon grits his teeth, leaving no hesitation in his core as he continues going down. He knew that while the solar system may be very wide, it’s still a disc. It wouldn’t be long until he reached the bottom. 

And if his hunch is right, with this big of a lead, the only way for Callisto and Io to catch up is for one of them to sling the other. It would be easier for the Moon to fight- or convince- them then. Or maybe the both of them were too scared to follow. Either way, this is the best course of action the Moon could come up with at the moment. 

It’s risky, yes. One of us might fall out of the solar system. But that shouldn’t happen. I’ll slow down at the last second, and land on the very edge safely. As long as I don’t lose control and don’t go too fast, this won’t end badly. 

As if on cue, the Moon can hear the muttered conversation between Callisto and Io halt, and then—

“Moon, stop! Whatever you’re thinking right now, it isn’t a good idea!” she yells. 

“Make me! I dare you!” the Moon challenges, not pausing for a single second. 

“Io! Get ready for a gravitational slingshot!” Callisto commands, and while the Moon doesn’t risk looking behind him, he knew Io was picking Callisto up. He narrows his eyes at the gaping void beneath him, growing closer and closer—

Then a scream. “Wait, not yet!—”

The Moon’s eyes widen a fraction as horror leaps into his throat. It was soon. Too soon, he wasn’t planning on it happening yet, he needed to turn, he needed to slow down—

And then a blooming pain on his back as Callisto slams into him, shoving him forward with a force so strong he’s never felt something like it before (or maybe he did). The Moon’s body can’t keep up, and he feels the reins of his speed slip away from his hands as he turns around, crashing to the point of no return. Callisto would’ve followed him, he thinks, but Io manages to grab onto the end of her jacket at the last second. Unfortunately, there is no one to do that for him.

Shit, the Moon thinks as he claws at his orbit, only for it to slip away from his hands. Shit, shit!—

The Sun’s pull twists and breaks along with it, the speed forced onto the Moon proving to be too much. The last thing the Moon sees is Callisto’s horrified face, the last thing he feels is pure fear as the inky void swallows him up as the distant Sun flickers and disappears until there’s nothing—

Then the Moon’s eyes close, and everything goes black. 

Chapter Text

Callisto watches helplessly as the Moon falls into the void below, body flickering for a split second, before disappearing entirely. She blinks, too numbed and shocked to register much of anything. 

There’s nothing but tense, fearful silence between the two moons.

He fell. He’s gone. Void, I knew it was a possibility, but to see it actually happen… 

Finally, Io speaks up. “…Should- should we try to look for him?” 

“I don’t know,” Callisto mumbles. “I don’t think we could find him, even if we tried. He went past the point of no return. And if we go down now… we might fall out as well.” 

“The point of no return? What- what happens when a celestial entity does that again?” Io asks, voice wobbly with fear and guilt. Callisto swallows, clenching her hands as she forces her and the other moon to back away from the small asteroid clearing.

“Not anything too bad, I think. Jupiter told us that if someone falls, they won’t die. Their body will be forced back into their orbit and they’ll wake up again after two months or so.” 

Io sighs. “That’s- that’s good. But…”

“But?” Callisto prods. 

“But- but what if Jupiter’s wrong? I mean… no one's ever actually fallen, right? What if he doesn't come back?” panic bubbles up in Io’s voice. “What if we killed him? Callisto- what- what are we going to do?” 

…The possibility had never even crossed Callisto’s mind, but Io had a point. What if they had killed him? What if…

No. No, there’s no point in panicking right here and now. It would be foolish to jump into the worst case scenarios without any proof to back them up. 

“Calm down, Io,” she orders, ignoring how uncharacteristically shaky her voice is. “We won’t achieve anything by worrying like this. We have to go back to the clearing first, and then we can handle all of this from then on,” she takes Io’s arm and drags him along, trying her best not to comment on how he’s sniffling now and wiping the tears off with his free hand, or how she almost feels like crying too. And she never cried.

The asteroids around them increase in number again as they go up and return to where the other moons are. At least, they seemed fine. Europa and Ganymede are talking to one another with their arms crossed, Titan is picking at his nails with an uncomfortable look on his face, and Phobos and Deimos are holding a whispered conversation. Of course, that all ends when Ganymede spots them. 

“Callisto! What took you so long?” he scowls, examining her and Io. “And where’s the Earth’s moon?” 

The words clog in Callisto's throat. “…About that…” 

She trails off, and Ganymede pauses, recognizing that something off was afoot. “What happened, Callisto?” 

“He didn’t escape, did he?” Europa asks, walking over to them. Her eyes are flashing red and narrowed, and normally Callisto would recover then, would bounce back with an easy retort towards her and explain everything. But she doesn’t. Instead, she swallows bitterly, and the frustration in Europa flickers. 

“…Callisto?” Her voice is softer now. “What happened?” 

Callisto opens her mouth. “I—”

“H-he fell!” Io interrupts with a cough, seemingly unable to hold himself back anymore. “He fell out of the solar system!”

And then everyone goes still. The mood shifts, but the most obvious reaction is from Titan, who’s face flashes with fear and then guilt and then bristling anger. He steps forward in an easy stride and looms over the other moon. 

“What do you mean by that?” the words are straightforward, masked with a calm that’s on the thread of falling apart into bottomless rage. Io shrinks back, and Callisto doesn’t miss the way he gulps. “What did you do?” 

And that makes her snap out of it. She steps in front of Io and meets Titan eye to eye. “We ended up fighting. The Moon decided it was a good idea to try and escape from the bottom of the solar system, and there was a bit of an altercation and he ended up passing the line and fell out entirely.” 

“…So you pushed him out then,” Titan states flatly, and seeing him like this, even Callisto feels a bit of fear. It might be related with how the Sun’s light has reflected into red from an especially thick plume of asteroid dust behind him, or how the resulting violet shadow smears across Titan’s body. Or maybe, it was simply the look in Titan’s eyes, one that promised a whole world of pain. He didn’t even look this threatening when he was confronting the Moon. 

But Callisto stands her ground. “Oh please. He wasn’t being cooperative, and there was an accident. We didn’t do it on purpose. And besides, you were the one who okayed it, weren’t you?” 

“I- no, I didn’t. Ganymede was the one who ordered you guys to get him,” Titan refutes, and at that Ganymede scowls. 

“I may have been the one who ordered it, but you didn’t stop me. You’re just as much to blame as all of us are!” 

The anger in Titan wavers with guilt. “Well- yeah, but that was because I was planning on—”

He trails off, and Europa tilts her head as she glares right at him. “Planning on what, Titan?” 

“It’s not—”

“Guys! Can we please stop arguing?!” Io interrupts, voice watery and loud, and the accusations grind to a halt. “It’s- it’s my fault, I was the one who messed up and- and attacked too early. But before we go accusing each other, we should figure out the situation first, right?” 

There’s a pause between them, then Callisto gathers her wits and nods. “Io’s right. We’re not getting anywhere by doing this, and we should find out how the Moon’s doing right now. Jupiter said that if someone fell, their body should be brought back to their orbit and that they’ll wake up in like two months. So if he’s right, the Moon should be back by the Earth now. If he isn’t, then we panic.”

“…Fine,” Titan relents. Then, before any of the others could utter a single word, he swiftly turns and heads to the edge of the clearing.

“Ugh. That guy better not be playing double-agent,” Ganymede mutters as they follow him. 

“…For what it’s worth, I don’t think he is. Just because he doesn’t want the Moon dead doesn’t mean he’s a defector. And ‘sides, you can’t tell me you aren’t at least a little worried either,” Callisto points out, and Ganymede grunts. 

“Whatever—”

“He’s there!” Titan’s gasp cuts Ganymede off and the shorter of the two's shoulders sag with utter relief. “Okay. Okay, that’s good.” 

“Might even be better for us, actually. The Moon being knocked out for a month or so is much better than us having to deal with him either being a hostage or a potential threat,” Europa observes, ignoring the way Titan shoots her a dirty look. It’s to be expected though- of course Europa’s first thought after an averted crisis was to factor it into her single-minded plan. She was… ambitious like that. No, more like obsessive.

“So, he’s okay. Great,” Ganymede claps with a strained grin. “And since Jupiter’s obviously right, the Moon being asleep means he’s out of commission and we can focus on the actual goal now,” then he pauses, attention slipping to the other leader. “Titan? You good? He’s fine, y’know that right?” 

“I’m okay, just a bit rattled,” Titan manages to reply, attention straying on the far away Moon before returning to the issue at hand. His eyes are hooded and wildly unfocused. “Um. The plan, right. Ganymede and Europa can go deal with Saturn’s and Jupiter’s moons while me, Phobos and—

“Wait,” Callisto cuts in before she can stop herself. 

Titan blinks at her. “What?” 

At that moment, it’s difficult to describe what was running through Callisto’s head that compelled her to interject. Usually, she would stay quiet, listen to what her friends wanted, and follow the loyalty in her core. Usually, she would act as the enforcer, not the planner. Usually, she would be fine with that role. 

But even though she hadn’t said anything out loud, the fact of the matter was… she was the one most at blame for the Moon incident, wasn’t she? If she hadn’t urged Io so soon and instructed him to start the slingshot without reviewing the situation properly, none of this would’ve happened. And even if the Moon wasn’t dead, he was still forced to sleep for two whole months. Callisto couldn’t even begin to imagine how pissed off she would be if she was in his shoes.

She clears her throat, thinking fast. “What about the planets? Surely the Earth would notice something’s up if the Moon just randomly teleported next to him.” 

Europa sniffs. “You should know me better than that, Callisto. I’ve already thought about that issue. The planets right now are all divided, so our primary concern should be to gather our forces. We can’t really do anything about the Earth’s moon being there without garnering suspicion anyway.”

“Right,” Callisto mutters. 

The other moon smirks. “Do you have anything else to say, or are you going to stop wasting our time with useless questions?”

“Oh no, Europa thinks my concerns are invalid. Whatever shall I do?” Callisto drawls sarcastically, reveling in the way Europa’s left eye twitches. “But if you’re that curious, yeah. I was thinking of taking Ganymede’s place on convincing Saturn’s moons.” 

“What?” Europa blurts out.

“What?” Io frowns.

“What?” Ganymede says incredulously. 

“What?” Callisto shrugs, making sure her voice remains casual. “Maybe I want to try diplomacy myself for once, and they sound like a good place to start. You guys have always been telling me to stop being so gloomy and interact with others, haven’t you?” 

Europa hesitates. “Yeah, but—”

“And besides, since Ganymede’s so confident, he should be the one to convince the new people, right? Maybe Neptune’s, since they’re the farthest away,” Callisto continues. “Unless he doesn’t want to step up and be a bigger person- or moon.”

There’s a pause. Ganymede presses his lips to a thin line before huffing and crossing his arms. “Okay, fine, if you’re going to be that pushy. Me and Io will deal with Neptune’s.” 

“Great. And I trust you won’t have any problems with me, right?” Callisto challenges as she addresses Europa. The other moon squints at her before conceding. 

“Ugh, whatever. It’s fine.” 

Io glances at Callisto strangely and then turns away. Callisto gets the daunting feeling that he knew more than he let on- Io had always been the one to know her the best, after all, as much as she loathed to admit it. But instead of drifting on that, she decides to move on. 

“Okay, anyways. I’m fairly sure Uranus scared his moons into the Kuiper Belt, and Neptune lost his. Both groups are probably going to be the hardest to contact.”

“I see. Well, guess we shouldn’t waste anymore time, and uh… me and Io will be on our way to Neptune’s moons while Titan deals with Uranus’, I guess,” Ganymede grumbles, and next to him a smile forms on Io’s face. 

“Hey, I-I’m kinda excited for this, actually! We never get to go on an adventure together,” Io muses, and Ganymede rolls his eyes. 

“Yeah, unfortunately I guess my luck ran out today.”

Io’s smile fades and he doesn’t respond. They exit.

“Me and Phobos and Deimos will go as well,” Titan announces dully before his group goes as well, leaving Callisto and Europa behind, alone in the clearing. 

The second everyone is out of earshot, Europa turns onto Callisto with a snarl. “What was that?” 

Callisto hums, feigning ignorance. “What was what?”

“Y’know what I’m talking about. When have you ever given two shits about diplomacy?” 

“Why were you so intent on Ganymede convincing Saturn’s moons?” Callisto deflects easily, matching Europa’s glare. “Unless…you were planning on making a few changes to the plan yourself?” 

“Y-you—!” Europa sputters, taking a step back. 

“I?” Callisto tilts her head. 

“…I know you might be affected by what happened, but you better remember where your loyalty lies, Callisto,” Europa warns, jabbing a pointy finger into the other moon’s chest. “I’m going to go to Jupiter’s moons now. I’ll see you by Saturn once I’m done.” 

With that, she takes a sharp turn and briskly heads out of the belt, pony tail swaying by her back and heels clicking against the empty space. Callisto watches her leave, and then presses a hand against her forehead, already feeling exhausted. 

Consider this my formal apology, Moon. I… I’m not sure what my role in this uprising will be anymore. I don’t think I can be directly against it, but-

I can at least be damage control. With me here, Europa probably won’t try anything too crazy. She shouldn’t purposely bring the other planets besides the Earth into this either. 

Well. 

Callisto swallows the lump in her throat, wiping her sweaty palms on her jacket as she exits the clearing too. 

Let’s see where this goes. And let’s hope I didn’t just fuck everything up. 

What breaks the Earth from his slumber isn’t a natural awakening, a shock from a nightmare, or another planet. Instead, it’s the gentle, familiar tug at his core and body and tides. Instead it’s the… Moon?

What? But- but he’s supposed to be gone.

Didn’t I mess up? I turned my friends against each other, I used them, I said that shit to Titan, I— that’s… that’s what they told me.

The flashing of three ghostly figures haunts the Earth’s mind, and he feels ill again. He forces his eyes to open, and indeed, it is the Moon. But… he seems different?

There’s less craters and freckles on his skin, and where his hair would be fluffy and cropped, it’s shoulder-length and drawn into a low ponytail instead. And rather than silky gray layers, he wears a black tank top, showing off his… muscled arms? When did he ever have muscled arms? 

But the Moon still had the same face, the same long eyelashes and round cheeks and dainty nose. He’s… asleep though, and the Earth doesn’t know what to think. Why is the Moon back after everything? Why is he dressed so differently? W-Why… 

Maybe I’m seeing things. That’s the only explanation that makes sense. But he doesn’t look transparent like the others. And I can feel his presence. 

Unless… I’m imagining that too? 

The Earth swallows dryly, reaching out to what he thinks is the Moon. 

“…Moon?”

No response. 

His hand presses onto the Moon’s shoulder, except it… slips through? The Moon’s body flickers, showing his core briefly, before going solid again, and then the Earth’s hand pushes up to skin.

I am imagining things. There’s no way I’m not. 

The Earth pulls away, and a hysterical, broken laugh leaves his lips.

H-holy shit. Have I became so- so pathetic that my brain came up with a fake Moon to keep me company? He doesn’t even look right. I can feel him too— I must’ve gone insane. I must’ve been alone for so long, I… 

His eyes dart towards Mars and Venus next to the belt playing cards, and then back to the fake Moon again. Tears overflow and drip down his cheeks, and he laughs once more, not bothering to dry them. 

I deserve it. I- I deserve it. At least this hallucination doesn’t hurt as much as the others, right? 

The Earth’s fingers dig into his palms so hard magma pours from the marks left over, and then he curls up, burying his face into his knees. 

Fake Moon’s fake pull doesn’t leave, but at least like this, it’s easier for the Earth to pretend it’s real. 

Chapter Text

The light from the Sun pulls the Moon back into reality, and he sits up, wiping at his eyes. 

What happened? Where am I? Am I… in the belt? 

And then memory hits, and the Moon freezes, realizing. 

Sun? Why’s the Sun here? Why am I here? Didn’t Callisto push me out?

…Am I back? 

Relief floods into the Moon’s veins as he stands up- then stops. He isn’t supposed to feel like that. He isn’t supposed to feel as if most of him is nothing, he isn’t supposed to feel so… disjointed. Gone. As if he isn’t really there, as if he’s walking the line between life and… death. 

The Moon’s attention snaps down to his raised hands, and immediately the relief twists into dread. Because- holy fuck.

He looks the same, except for a very important detail. He isn’t solid anymore.

Instead of silver and grey and black, everything is a translucent, haunting blue. And beneath his knees where his feet should be, it fades into… nothing. 

Holy fuck. Holy fuck. What the hell am I? I’m a- I’m a—

He forces himself to float forward, and he does, but it’s so… easy. So light. He tries to take a breath, but it doesn’t work. He doesn’t have lungs. He doesn’t even have a core. Or at least, not a real one. 

I’m a ghost. 

Everything seems to blur together at that thought, and the Moon gasps- or maybe he doesn’t- as he brings his arms around himself, fingers going through the fabric instead of steadying him. It only serves to heighten his panic as he squeezes his eyes shut. 

I’m dead. I’m dead, aren’t I? Oh shit, shit, what the fuck—

Usually the Moon wouldn’t curse so much, saving that vulgarity for Dark. Usually-

Wait. 

Dark? Dark, are you there?! 

No response. The Moon reaches out into the back of his mind, but he can’t sense Dark’s presence. 

He’s alone.

What if something happened to Dark? What if he’s even- even worse off than I am?

What if he’s not a ghost? What if he’s…

That thought only serves to make the Moon even more dissociated as his vision blurs even further. He tries taking a breath- it doesn’t work- and then curls up, but his knees go through his torso, because right, he was dead, dead—

Seconds smear into minutes as ghostly tears leave the Moon’s eyes before evaporating into empty air. 

Please be a nightmare. Please, I- I don’t want to be a ghost. I don’t even care if I’ll wake up at the revolution’s hands, anything, anything would be better than this—

…The revolution. E-Earth…

And that makes the Moon’s panic stutter as he forces himself to uncurl. 

…Maybe this isn’t a lost cause. I mean- surely, just because I’m a ghost doesn’t mean I’m dead. If I was actually dead, I would be… well, dead, right? My mind is still alive, I’m just not in my body. 

And maybe I can try to see if I can talk with anyone? Some of those ghosts from Earthling stories can, right? 

Okay. Okay, I have a plan. It’s- it’s going to be fine.

The Moon’s heaving chest calms a bit as he glances at the Sun again. 

But what if that doesn’t work? What if I’m forced to stay like this forever, unable to talk to anyone, alone, alone—

What did Jupiter say if someone fell again? Shit, I can’t remember. I can’t…

Either way, there’s no use panicking right now though, right? If it really- really is the worst case scenario, if I’m stuck like this for the rest of eternity… I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. 

I should go find the Earth for now. If anyone can talk to me, it’ll be him. He’s my planet after all. 

And so, the Moon floats forward. He finds out he can go way faster than normal, and that where his core should be, there’s a thumping spark instead. Stretching out from that spark is a ghostly blue line disappearing in the distance to the inner solar system, where his orbit should be. 

Due to his quickened speed and the fact he could just phase through the asteroids like this, the journey is way faster. The Moon exits the belt in a little under half an hour, and looks to the Goldilocks zone to see—

The Earth, staring into nothing. Next to him was- was… the Moon’s body? No, not the Moon’s. It’s… Dark’s. 

Dark may have looked to be the Moon’s identical twin at first glance, but there’s still clear differences between the two. For one, Dark had way less freckles and markings, and his arms were generally stronger, while the Moon’s strength tended to be focused on his legs. And that isn’t mentioning the drastic difference in their aesthetics. 

Yet… why is he here? For what seems to be the hundredth time, the Moon desperately wishes he knew what happened to him after he fell. Did Dark remain unaffected since the Moon was in control during the incident? Was it just pure luck? And if he did somehow get here, why was he asleep or- or dead? Why didn’t the Earth notice or do anything? 

The Moon tries to feel for the Dark’s pulse, but his hand phases right through. Of course it did though, because why would he expect anything different?

The Moon has so many questions that at this point, he’s feeling a bit dizzy. Still, he manages to gather his wits and steps away from Dark to in front of the Earth. 

The planet seems off as well. His eyes are hooded and dark, and where their usual sparkles should be, there’s nothing but empty teal. Shadowed crescents are set beneath them, and the oceans on his surface are more grey than blue. The lush green life on his land have also seemed to have withered at certain areas, or were gone entirely. 

“Earth?” the Moon calls out. But there’s no reaction. He… he might’ve as well been talking to a wall. 

“Earth?” he tries again, places his hands on the other’s shoulders, only for them to phase through. Cold terror blooms again in his core as there’s still no response. “Earth?! P-please, answer me, I’m r-right here…” 

No response. The Moon starts crying again, only for the tears to disappear as yet another reminder of his plight. He attempts to talk with Dark too, but all he’s met with is futile silence. Dark doesn’t even seem real at some points, as if the universe couldn’t make up its mind on whether to keep him solid or not. 

The Moon doesn’t know what’s going on. He doesn’t know why the Earth doesn’t ask anyone about Dark, doesn’t know why he’s a ghost, doesn’t know why his planet is like this, doesn't- doesn’t know what to do anymore. He doesn’t know anything. So far it’s like he’s been completely disconnected with the rest of the solar system, as if he was nothing but an observer. Whatever he did- no, try to do, would be answered with nothing. He couldn’t even cry properly, for Void’s sake. 

He’s an observer…

The Moon stares at the two people in front of him again, pressing his lips into a thin line, and then turns to see the rest of the solar system. He has the sense that he wouldn’t be able to do anything here, with a disconnected Earth and a passed out or worse Dark. He- he has to find answers somewhere else. 

The Moon takes a step back, and then another, until he’s heading out of the Goldilocks zone and into a farther orbit where two specific planets floated in. It’s Venus and Mars, playing some sort of card game.

Their conversation gradually becomes louder the closer the Moon approaches. 

“…I really don’t get why you’re so worried, Mars,” Venus is saying as he places two aces down between them. “The Earth had it coming. He used both of us, what did he think would happen?” 

“Well yeah, but…” Mars hesitates, eyes darting to the subject of their discussion. “Doesn’t he seem… I don’t know, off? Even from here?” 

Venus follows his gaze and shrugs. “He seems fine to me. And ‘sides, his moon came back, right? His axis is stabilized now too.” 

Mars frowns. “His moon seems off as well. I mean- usually the Sun’s light wouldn’t bounce off of him like that. I can’t see either of them properly from here, but…” 

The Moon’s eyes widen. “Yes, exactly!” he grins out loud, ignoring the faint throb of pain when his voice goes unheard again. “Go over and investigate, please—!”

He grabs at Mars’ arm, but as expected, the grabbing part doesn’t quite work. But… there’s a reaction. Mars shivers. 

The Moon’s eyes widen further. 

Venus raises an eyebrow. “But what?” 

“I- I don’t remember, I just… felt like a cold wind brushed my arm.”

And utter relief overtakes the Moon at that sentence. He feels himself not-really-cry again.  

I’m- I’m not only an observer. I can still interact with people. I- I can still… 

“Uh…you do know that there’s no wind in space, right?” Venus asks. 

“…yeah. I guess I was just imagining things,” Mars mutters, and the Moon’s not-core sinks. He grabs desperately at Mars again, but to no avail. There’s no reaction this time. 

No! Why- why isn’t it working anymore? Why did it stop? 

He tries Venus next, but it feels even more useless this time. The hope that had flashed briefly in his chest when Mars had reacted disappears as Venus puts down another card, completely ignorant to his presence. 

“You’re getting stuck in your head again. Another round will probably get you out of there. And ‘sides, don’t you remember? The whole reason we’re here together is to try and get our minds off the Earth. Stressing over him is like- the last thing we should do right now,” Venus states, and much to the Moon’s dismay, Mars nods in agreement.

Come on! I was… I was so close—!

…But then again, Mars noticed me for a second, right?

His attention slides further out in the solar system, and he swallows. What if some of the other moons can see me? Maybe this is related to distance. When I was falling out… the Earth was pretty far away, but Mars was right next to the belt. If being able to interact with me depends on how close they were when I ‘died’, I should be able to get someone to notice me. More specifically, Io and Callisto. 

…Of course, this is just a theory, I don’t have any proof. But this is all I have. I have to at least try. 

Without sparing the planets behind him a second glance, the Moon flies to the belt. It’s fast, just like before, and the Moon finds that now that he has more of a plan in mind and less panic clouding his vision, being a ghost is almost… fun. He never realized how… tiring it had been to lug around a body, or all the time wasted on maneuvering around asteroids when now he could just fly through him. He’s able to dart up, then down, in the blink of an eye, in speeds he could only dream of back then—

…But deep inside, he knew it wasn’t not worth it. This may have felt freeing, sure— but compared to the pain he had to deal with whenever he got ignored, even more so than when he was alive— the freedom is inconsequential.

He really, really didn’t like being a ghost. 

I wonder if I can possess anyone though, like- like in the Earthling stories?

No, probably not. Something tells me I’m too… split from this solar system to even achieve something similar to that. I have to get myself back alive as soon as possible. 

Because what if there’s a time limit? What if Dark is already dead? What if you’ll be like this forever?

If that happens though, you can probably deal with it. You’ve been ignored all the time back when you were alive too, right—?

The Moon doesn’t waste time on those thoughts. Because if he did, they would form into a trap of his own making and he would be doomed anyway, right? 

…He just wants to be alive again. 

The Moon’s train of thought pauses as he finally exits the belt to be met with… Jupiter? But for some reason, the other planet is fleeing his orbit and leaving behind his moons. 

Why’s he leaving? What happened? 

Void, I’m so tired of being confused and left in the dark, I just want to understand—

He takes a few cautious steps forward, and amongst the stranger moons, he can recognize one. And that moon is practically the last person he wants to see right now, second to only Ganymede. 

The Moon’s eyes meet Europa’s crimson-tinted ones, and then drop to her razor-sharp smile.

Chapter Text

“Can… Can you see me?” the Moon asks quietly, but Europa doesn’t respond, still looking at him. No- upon further inspection, she isn’t looking at him. Rather, it’s through him, just like with everyone else. 

The Moon’s core- or spark- falls. Even if he didn’t like Europa, like, at all, having someone, anyone who could at least acknowledge he existed would have been wonderful. 

Maybe I’m just destined to end up like this. I mean- I’ve always been constantly ignored even when I was alive, wasn’t I? If anyone had to go through this, it might as well be me. After all…

Memories flood into the Moon’s brain. Memories of constantly being shut out, of being left out of card games, of being used as the Earth’s tool for his life, until it feels like the ignorance is chaining him, suffocating him—

Stay in the background. Behave. Smile and be silent, speak only when you’re spoken to.

Countless years of wondering if they saw him as a person or just an ornament, wondering if they even knew he existed anymore, wondering if they would even notice or care if he died—

Then Titan seeing him for himself, not as the Earth’s moon. And then an offered hand, a wavering loyalty in himself, a fight, a death…

“We have been ignored for far too long!” Europa’s speech rouses the Moon from his thoughts, and his attention snaps back to reality. “Think about all the centuries Jupiter forgot you existed, think about all the times us moons have been seen as lesser beings. I for one, am done with being treated like this. That’s why I’ve been gone in the asteroid belt with the other Galilean moons. A revolution is underway, and we plan to take what we deserve. Are you with us?”

The Moon frowns tightly as he observes the smaller moons look at each other. He desperately wants them to say no, to argue, with the memory of a devastated Earth and the possibility of him ending worse off from the revolution in his head, but…

But there’s another part of him that calls himself a hypocrite. The answer of yes remains on his lips along with the horrible yearning for vengeance. How could the Moon expect them to refuse when he himself is so tempted to agree? 

In the end though, what he wants doesn’t matter, just like it had never mattered for so long. Every single moon expresses their agreements and rush to Europa as if she was their hero. 

(Maybe she was. Maybe the Moon was wrong, wrong—)

No, he couldn’t be. Defending the Earth was the right choice, no matter how difficult it is compared to the alternative.

Why are you even still conflicted about this? It’s not like either choice you make will affect anything. You’re just an observer. 

Like you always have been. 

The Moon can’t come up with anything to refute that thought. He doesn’t remember the last time he could. 

“Callisto’s busy talking with Saturn’s moons at the moment. Let’s go meet up with her,” Europa commands, before briskly turning around, the moons trailing behind her. A flicker of hope lights up in the Moon’s chest at that, and he guards it desperately, trying his best to make sure it doesn’t go out. 

If his theory was right, surely Callisto would see him. Out of everyone, she was the closest one to him when he fell, heck- she and Io kind of caused it, didn’t they? Even if it wasn’t on purpose. 

The Moon swallows and quickly follows the Jovian moons. The question of the worst case scenario lingers in his mind as usual, but he grabs it and shoves it in a little box and locks it and tries his best to throw the key away. He would figure something out. 

(If he didn’t— no, he wasn’t going to dwell on that anymore.)

Callisto exits the belt and begrudgingly walks up to Saturn’s orbit. Said planet is looking around for something with his hands cupped around his mouth as he calls—

“Titan! Titan, where are you?! Please, come out—!”

Callisto can’t help but wrinkle her nose. 

…ugh. Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m kind of glad I orbit around Jupiter now if this is one of the alternatives.

Her attention slides onto the moons, who haven’t noticed her yet. They float in their natural orbits, whispering to each other as they watch their planet run around like headless chicken. At one point, even a neighboring Jupiter has enough and he confronts Saturn, who snaps back at him before storming off and… leaving his moons behind. 

If there’s a perfect chance to talk to them all, this was pretty much it. 

Callisto groans inwardly as she floats closer. Well, this is it. I guess. Here goes nothing.

“Hey, everyone,” she addresses. The quiet conversation between the Saturnian moons come to a halt as their attention refocuses on Callisto, and immediately she feels her discomfort rise. 

Aaaand I already hate this. Fantastic. 

“You’re Callisto,” one of the moons states, and Callisto reluctantly nods.

“Yep. And you’re Dione, if I’m not mistaken?” she asks, recognizing her as well. Stony grey eyes, messy bun, fair dress- it’s the same girl that Ganymede flirted with. 

“I am. Why are you here?” Dione asks. If Callisto was Io, she’d probably stutter and declare her intentions in a voice seconds away from breaking into a cough. If she was Ganymede, she would ease into it, maybe flirt with someone again (which, gross), and if she was Europa, she’d start with a confident, passionate, and practically perfect speech. 

But unfortunately, she was Callisto. And she… really didn't want to be here. While she did say she wanted to work on her “diplomacy” back in the belt, suffice to say, that was false. Like, completely, utterly false. This was the path she chose though, so she might as well finish it. 

Callisto sighs. “To sum it up, me and some other Jovian moons are starting a revolution of moons to try and take on the planets. Um… And I’m here to recruit people, I guess. Anyone want to join?”

…Wow. Okay, I suck at this. 

And by the way her audience is looking at her, that opinion is mutual. 

“Yeah. Anyone have any objections? Thoughts? Concerns?” she pushes, and the moons glance at each before one steps forward. Callisto distinguishes him as… Iapetus? Or the uncreative nickname Ganymede came up with, which was “Half-half”, or something.

“I do. How are we even supposed to ‘take on the planets’? They are way stronger and bigger than us. Jupiter alone could probably crush all of us to death. Not to mention the Sun, who’s definitely not going to just stay still and do nothing while this happens.”

Ah. Good point. How was the revolution going to go again?— right. We’re going to attack the Earth. 

“The plan isn’t fully fleshed out, but don’t worry, we’re not dumb enough to go on full offense right away. Our first target is the Earth,” she answers. Immediately the reaction she gets is… less than favorable. Several moons gasp, some even look close to fainting, and a scandalized air takes over. Iapetus’ eyebrows have climbed up to his forehead and Dione’s hand is over her mouth in shock. 

“What? That’s- that’s insane! The Earth has billions of lives depending on him, we can’t just attack him!" Dione declares, and the rest of the crowd nod in agreement. 

Callisto can’t help but cringe a little as she racks her memories for an acceptable response. “Um. Would it help if I told you Titan is in on this too?”

“He’s what?!” a moon blurts out, icy blue eyes wide with horror. “Wait. Wait, so you’re telling me the reason why he’s been away and leaving us to deal with a hysterical Saturn is because of this?! Oh my fucking void, you have got to be kidding me right now—”

…Guess it won’t help. 

This is going terribly, isn’t it? Okay. Okay, out of all of us, Europa is definitely the most charismatic, right? I can… try to emulate my ‘inner her’, as stupid as that sounds. My only other option is to try and be Ganymede or Titan, but I don’t know Titan that well and er… I have a feeling if Ganymede was in my shoes at this moment, he would only escalate this situation. 

Or, I could ‘give up’ and let this play out. But there’s no way Europa would let that slide. She would just come over and deal with them herself, and their loyalty would be closer to her grasp instead of mine. I should at least try to sway them first if they’re going to be convinced anyway. And if they aren't, then that's even better.

…I still don’t really know what I’m doing, or what I want. I should be loyal to Europa and Ganymede, and I have no qualms with defeating the Earth, and it’s not like I have to fight the Moon himself again since he’s asleep, but… 

For the first time, Callisto finds herself wondering if guilt was the only thing driving her, or if there’s something else. She had stood by the other Galilean moons for as long as she could remember, so maybe what happened with the Moon was just the breaking point. Maybe something had already been building up in her core, maybe subconsciously she didn’t see this just as redemption, but also… revenge.

Then she pushes those thoughts away. 

No- I’m… I’m not going to think about that. Not now at least. For better or worse, I have a job to do. 

Callisto takes a deep breath. 

Let’s see. One of Europa’s main tactics is to make it seem like there’s no other “right” choice than the one she’s offering, so her audience feels like they have to agree. It’s both smart and dirty at the same time, and most people who don’t know her well enough almost always fall for it. Void, back in the past I would fall for it pretty much all the time too. 

Well, as the earthlings say: lights, camera, action. 

She turns her attention back to the crowd. The icy moon had just finished ranting, and it had become deathly silent, with all eyes on her. Callisto’s lucky she doesn’t get stage fright.

Dione arches an eyebrow. “Well? Do you have anything else to say, or is it time for us to report this to Saturn?” 

Now to make it seem this is their only choice. I can do that by painting the opponents- the planets- as oppressive villains. Based on what they’ve done in the past, that shouldn’t be too difficult.

“Are you really going to do that? Side with the planets, even after everything they’ve done to you?” Callisto begins, throwing faux disappointment into her normally monotone voice. “You claim this idea is disgusting, you shun us for aiming at the Earth, who you’ve probably never even spoken to, and you try to protect someone who doesn’t even know who you are,” she takes a step forward, observing how the moons’ determination wavers with indignation, uncertainty, and bitterness. “How many years have you been mistreated? How many of you have been killed for Saturn’s pretty rings? But hey,”

She shrugs nonchalantly, as if the whole situation didn’t matter much to her at all. Callisto doesn’t know what victory would be in this scenario anyway. She's confronted with two answers. Either the moons tattletale and the weird guilt would be gone, or they join because of her speech or Europa's and then she could try and mitigate the revolution’s damage. 

(Callisto still doesn’t know what she wants. To help the Moon out a bit, yes, but what else? Why was her loyalty so torn?)

(When did she start harboring so much resentment for Ganymede and Europa?)

(Why did she—?)

“If you want to remain the planets’ bootlickers and oppressed so badly, be my guest.” she finishes. “So go. Tell Saturn. And have fun sleeping with the knowledge that he still won’t ever know who any of you are before killing one of you again.”

Her audience stares at her, silence returning, and Callisto could almost smile. 

Hook, line, and sinker.

She could kind of tell why Ganymede and Europa enjoyed this so much. It’s almost fun, figuring out the weak spots in people’s minds and knowing how to bend them to her will. It’s almost fun, seeing their defiance morph into hesitation and then agreement. 

“...Fine. You’ve made your point,” Dione spits, eyes narrowed with defeat. “I’ll join.” 

With her announcement, the silence breaks and the other moons follow with the same answer. A sense of euphoria fills Callisto as she watches, but along with that is disgust. So this is how Ganymede and Europa felt when they convinced her to go along with whatever they did, this is how they felt when—

It would be fun, if Callisto didn’t recognize herself in Dione, didn’t feel Europa in her performance, didn’t see the endless scenes of the past of listening and obeying over and over again—

As if the solar system was answering her doubt, she suddenly feels a glide of fingers on her arm, a burst of cold in her core, and she can almost make out the Moon’s face in the void. But those quickly disappear, and that only proves to Callisto that she was getting too lost in her own head. She shakes herself back to reality and sees the Saturnian moons still there, waiting for her order. 

She sees herself still there, waiting for their orders—

“Huh. Wow, Callisto.”

Europa’s voice enters the scene, and Callisto turns around to see said moon floating over with the other, smaller Jovian moons following behind her like ducklings. Callisto makes sure to keep her words as dry as she could and to keep the expression on her face flat as possible as she responds: 

“Europa. Surprised?”

Europa blinks at her, before flashing her a.. gleeful smile? “Yes, actually,” her attention goes to the crowd in front of them. “Hey, everyone! I’m glad to see more new recruits. Me and Callisto will lead you back to our base back in the belt to flesh out the plan. Follow us!”

Without warning, she grabs Callisto’s hand, bringing her along as they float off. Callisto can’t help but go stiff, dully aware of the way Europa’s sharp nails ghost her skin, centimeters away from touching, but not. 

…She doesn’t know what to make of that. Europa is happy. And proud… of Callisto? Validation and pride swells in Callisto’s core, and she feels almost like a child puffing their chest after winning the attention of the most popular kid in class. It’s an odd sensation, like a brutal error in a perfect line of code, splitting Callisto’s worldview dangerously in a way that must be fixed. The resentment and guilt in Callisto’s chest clash with it, and she decides that she needs to get this- this feeling out of the way as soon as possible. 

It’s awkward as she and Europa go forward and the other moons fall into overlapping conversations behind them. 

“So?” Europa glances at her, a smile still remaining in the place of where a smirk or a scowl would usually rest. Callisto’s discomfort rises at that. Europa’s features are… soft like this rather than the normal, ruthless elegance. It's presented in a way Callisto hadn’t seen in a long time, makes her feel weirder, though not unpleasant (maybe the opposite, even), and she likes it even less. “I wasn’t expecting you to actually succeed. I thought… Well, not going to lie, I thought I would have to intervene and clear up your mess for you. You’re not the best at convincing others. So how did you do it?”

Callisto’s mind defaults to mean sarcasm, figuring it was the best method to stop whatever was happening and make things go back to normal. “Hm. I didn’t know you would be so interested in someone other than yourself,” she muses, brushing aside the way a dirty glare shifts into Europa’s bright eyes and how her smile drops. “But if you must know, I just… handled it the way I thought you would handle it, I guess.”

“...The stone-cold Callisto, drawing inspiration from me. Flattering,” Europa mutters, earlier joy suffocated as the edge of one nail scrapes across Callisto’s finger. The gentle, strange, feeling from before fades away completely, and Callisto can’t help but let her shoulders drop a bit in relief. 

She ignores how some part of her misses it.

Chapter Text

The second the Moon spots Callisto in the distance, he speeds past the other Jovian moons and arrives at her side. Callisto’s saying something to the Saturnian moons though, gaze sliding entirely off the Moon, and the Moon pauses. 

“...How many years have you been mistreated? How many of you have been killed for Saturn’s pretty rings? But hey. If you want to remain the planets’ bootlickers, if you want to be oppressed so bad, be my guest. So go. Tell Saturn. And have fun sleeping with the knowledge that he still won’t ever know any of your names.” 

…have fun sleeping with the knowledge that he still won’t ever know any of your names—

Earth’s moon. Earth’s moon. Earth’s moon—

The Moon freezes as suddenly, everything in front of him seems to blur together. One of the Saturnian moons steps forward and voices her agreement, and the Moon should feel dread, should be upset, should agonize over the Earth’s fate, but he doesn’t, not yet.

—If you want to remain the planets’ bootlickers, if you want to be oppressed so bad, be my guest—

If he protected the Earth, would things ever change? Or would he just forge another cage for himself, be forgotten for the rest of his life, doomed to play the role of a perfect servant? He should just sit back and watch as the revolution deals with the Earth, shouldn’t he? It would be better for him that way. 

Why did he ever expect the Earth to see him in the first place? The planet never even saw him when he was alive. And not now either- he doesn’t know his own moon died or that Dark had replaced him. So why was the Moon trying so hard for someone who doesn't even care about him?

I made a vow, the Moon thinks, remembering how empty the Earth seemed when he first found him after the fall. Tears drop and evaporate from the Moon’s eyes as he forces himself to reach out to Callisto. Recognition flashes in her face for a split second, fueling the hope in him, but it ultimately vanishes and kills the hope with it. I made a vow. I swore I would never let the Earth get hurt—

Does he deserve that promise?

The Moon feels his shoulders shake as he stumbles back, watching as Europa beams and takes Callisto’s hand. 

Do any of the planets deserve that promise? What’s the point of fighting for them? 

Do any of the moons deserve to be mistreated? Do you deserve to be mistreated?

Why are you doing this?

The moons head back to the belt, united and strong and leaving the Moon behind, never knowing he was there, because no one ever knew he was there, not the Earth, not Mars, not a single person—

…Titan looking at him in the belt, piercing eyes soft one second and harsh the next, angry at the Earth for the Moon, letting the Moon go even if they were enemies, even if Titan probably knew the Moon was going to tell someone—

Titan…

Wait, the Moon blinks, eyes widening as the pieces fall together in his head. That’s it. 

What if they can see me based on how much they “saw” me when I was alive? Everything would make sense then, wouldn’t it? The Earth didn’t see me because he never saw me as a real person when I was alive. Europa didn’t really know who I was outside of being an enemy she had to deal with, and Mars and Callisto saw me somewhat but not enough to know for sure, just like before I died. If anyone could see me, it would be…

The Moon swallows nothing as he recalls all those moments back in the belt—

The second time they talked and the aftermath of when the whole Earth situation began:

“Why are you even apologizing for him? The Earth isn’t your friend. He doesn’t treat you like an equal. I’ve never once seen him invite you to his card games. He rarely even talks to you one-on-one, and the only times he’s actually nice to you is when he’s showing you off.”

After the Moon got Titan to release Astrodude:

“Hey, relax. I won’t call you ‘Earth’s moon’ again if you feel uncomfortable with it. None of us will, right, Phobos and Deimos? What do you want us to call you instead?”

When- When the Moon’s crush first started to bloom…

“Moon? Are you okay?... oh. I get it. I’m ‘Saturn’s favorite’, remember? I understand doing whatever I can to please my planet, only… only to get nothing back... Um- I know this is a weird question, but would a hug make you feel bett- oomf!— Wow, you’re warm—”

And their last interaction,

“Why do you think I would ever want to hurt you?”

…The Moon needs to find Titan right away. But where is he?

Earlier, he had found Europa through sheer luck. He had meant to go to the old clearing and managed to succeed, but got lost in his thoughts. Ultimately, he ended up outside the belt where he was notified of where Europa was from Jupiter leaving his orbit. And then Europa led him to Callisto, with the both of them seemingly recruiting other moons to the cause. 

Ganymede, Io, Titan, and Phobos and Deimos are nowhere to be seen. It would only be sensible, then, to assume that they’re recruiting the ice giants’ moons since they weren’t in the clearing. The Moon’s gaze shifts from the belt to the far-away Neptune and Uranus in the distance.

The Moon sucks in a deep breath- or at least tries to- before flying off. 

When he arrives, he finds the ice giants in the midst of a conversation, with a significant lack of moons orbiting the both of them. It’s cold- well, it should be, but the Moon can't really feel the temperature like before. The spark in his chest continues to beat, trailing a line back to the Earth so faint that he could barely see it anymore, but strong enough that he knew it was still there. Unfortunately, he hasn’t come across Titan at all yet. Due to the time gap from when they left the belt, he assumes that the other moon is ahead of him. 

“…Look, I don’t know, mate. It was just one joke! How was I supposed to know they were gonna leave like that?” Uranus is saying, thin lips squished into a pout as he crosses his arms.

Who left? the Moon inquires in his head, feeling out of the loop again as he settles next to Uranus. He feels no pull of gravity from the other planet like this though, and it's yet another distinct reminder of his current state, as if what he had to deal with wasn't enough.

“What was the joke again?” Neptune hums. 

Uranus’ pout deepens. “I joked that I could use them to make bigger rings or whatever. They took it way too bloody seriously, ran away, and now they’re somewhere in the Kuiper Belt.”

…You consider that a joke?! the Moon can’t help but think as he gapes at the ringed planet. …If the Earth said something like that to me, I don’t know what I’d do. 

Probably just smile and take it, like you’ve always have—

Neptune at least seems to be in a similar vein with the way he sighs. “Maybe it’s a joke for you, but they’re smaller and defenseless. They know that they can’t fight back if you did decide to try and destroy them. Anyone would be scared if they were in their shoes.”

“I…” Uranus trails off, before conceding. “You’re right. I- I should go and apologize.” 

“We can go search for them together!” Neptune suggests with a bright grin. “I lost my moons in the Kuiper Belt, so this is a perfect opportunity for the both of us, right?” 

“…Yeah. It is,” Uranus agrees, and the two of them leave their orbit and begin to float to the Kuiper Belt. The Moon trails behind them, reviewing their conversation in his head. 

On one hand, he could tell that the two planets genuinely did care about their moons, and the situation with Uranus’ moons only happened because of a misunderstanding. This just proves his point that communication was the way to solve this conflict, not violence. But on the other…

He wonders if the Earth would care that much if he ran away. 

Then the Moon scoffs. Of course the Earth would care, but only because he needed him for a stable axis. Nothing else. 

…No. He forces that train of thought to a stop. Why was he thinking that way? Of course the Earth would care, but because they were friends, not just because…

But how do you know that for sure? All the evidence points otherwise anyway, right?

The ice giants are talking again as they arrive at the Kuiper Belt, but their conversation twists into static as it trickles into the Moon’s ears.

Why was he thinking like this all of a sudden? He had doubts before, sure, but in the end he knew he and the Earth were friends, no matter what Titan or Dark or anyone else said. But that thought of the Earth not caring- he genuinely believed it for a second. 

…And he still does. 

The Moon wants to see the inner planets cry out in regret, wants to see the Earth broken at his feet, wants to hear them apologize, even if that apology would be torn from them with magma-stained hands. He wants to pull the Earth’s hair until he cries, wants to grab the nearest asteroid and smear it into the Earth’s face, wants to kill those pathetic little Earthlings that turned him into nothing but the Earth’s Moon, not Luna, never Luna, because he didn’t matter—

The line connecting him to his orbit strains, then tightens, and the Moon’s very essence shifts, changes. He looks down to see his weak, blue-tinted body glitch with strong crimson, feels the vengeful anger pour into his brain like a drug, and it’s like nothing else matters other than escaping the cage the Earth had forced him into and beating it onto the planet’s head over and over again until it breaks. 

Until the Earth breaks, just like Luna did. 

The crimson grows.

I want revenge. 

I want revenge—

The crimson swells, consuming him. 

—No stop- I don’t. I want things to change, but not like this. Never like this—

The blue fights back, and the Moon feels as if he’s dying all over again. 

I don’t want to hurt the Earth. I don’t want innocent lives dead. That’s— that’s not who I am. I refuse to turn into that kind of person. 

The blue triumphs and the crimson recedes, but the Moon knows it doesn’t fade away completely. 

You can’t hold this off forever, it seems to whisper. How long will it be until you snap?

…And to that, the Moon doesn’t have an answer. 

I— I don’t want to think about this. I don’t know what I want, I don’t know if I want the Earth broken or saved anymore, I- I don’t—

I don’t have to focus on this. I should focus on being alive again. There’s no point in agonizing over this out when I can’t even do anything about it. 

(You felt it though, didn’t you? When you were turning red, you felt alive. You just have to do it again and complete it this time—) 

The Moon pushes that suggestion away and returns back to the present, where Uranus and Neptune were still searching. Uranus is right next to him, ignorant of his presence, and Neptune is farther away and squinting at a part of the belt.  

It’s quiet. And then—

“Uranus, look! I think I found one!” 

Immediately, both Uranus and the Moon head over to his side, but the Moon is faster, not even bothering to divert his path as he flies straight forward and phases right through Neptune’s arm to see—

Titan. Next to him and hiding in his atmosphere are Phobos and Deimos. 

It's him. It's- it's really him.

Titan seems more tired then when the Moon had last seen him. Darkness hangs over his eyes and his atmosphere is stiff and damp, a clear contrast to its once flowy nature. But it’s still the same person who comforted the Moon, who betrayed the Moon, who saw him...

Titan's staring warily at Neptune, and like the others, his gaze slides right past the Moon. The Moon doesn’t give up though and keeps going until he and Titan are face-to-face. 

Then he grabs Titan’s wrist, and his hand does not phase through. 

Titan’s entire body goes still as his eyes widen even more, something shifting behind them. Goosebumps crawl over his skin, and he snaps his head right towards the Moon, recognition flashing in his expression and staying there. In its wake awakes confusion, horror, shock, yearning—

“No, that’s not my moon,” Uranus says in the background, but in that moment, whatever he’s saying couldn’t have mattered less. Titan blinks so hard it looks like it physically hurts, and his face goes a bit pale, but he does not try to back away.

“Can you see me?” the Moon asks weakly, breaking the silence between them. Titan swallows, and finally, he whispers—

“…Moon?"

Chapter Text

“Titan, it’s me. You can- you can hear me, right?” the Moon presses desperately, and by the way Titan reacts, yes, he could. But there’s nothing but shock in his expression as he glances from the Moon, to the planets, to the Moon again.

“I… I’m hallucinating. I’ve got to be hallucinating,” he mutters, words taking on a frantic edge, and the Moon feels a little part of him break. “I’ve got to be— you’re supposed to be asleep in your orbit. How are you here?”

“Um. Why’s he talking to himself?” Uranus mumbles in the background. Phobos and Deimos peek out from the folds of Titan’s hair, their confusion obvious. The Moon ignores all of them though, because everything else seemed inconsequential in the face of finally feeling alive, there, again. And he can’t mess this up. 

He tightens his hold on Titan’s wrist, tears leaking out of his eyes and blurring his vision. The motion is ragged, desperate, burdened with the worry that if the Moon lets go, Titan wouldn’t see him anymore and he would be alone again. “I’m real. I don’t know what happened- I fell and woke up in the belt like this. My body is by the Earth, but Dark’s in control of it and he’s not waking up. No one else can hear me, I- I haven’t been able to talk to anyone in so long…”

Inexplicably, his shoulders begin to shake, and the cold shock in Titan softens. 

“...Moon, I… I don’t know what happened, but if you are real- I’m here for you. You’re not alone,” he says, placing his free hand on the Moon’s shoulder, and the Moon feels himself shudder at the touch. He hadn’t felt anyone in what seemed like forever. He hadn’t…

Being left out of card games, being called the wrong name, dying, being unable to talk to anyone (no one listened when he was alive anyway), being invisible (no one saw him when he was alive anyway), being ignored, ignored, so much that he yearned for revenge, yearned for something to make him seen for once—

He’s seen. He’s seen—

Something in the Moon snaps, and without any hesitation, he lets go of Titan’s wrist and smothers him with a hug instead, arms clinging tight onto the other moon as he savors the way he doesn’t phase through this time, not anymore. And it’s warm. So warm, and the Moon feels truly alive again, even if he wasn’t. He buries his face into Titan’s shoulder, tears leaving and evaporating faster but that doesn't matter now, not when Titan knows he is there, not when he’s finally not alone anymore. 

“Was that wind- c-cold!” the Moon can hear Phobos yelp as he and Deimos escape Titan’s hair. They start a muffled conversation between each other and the Moon can sense Uranus’ incredulous stare along with Neptune’s observing gaze being thrown in his direction, but that doesn’t seem to matter. Not now. 

Titan stiffens a little, and if they were in any other situation, the Moon would probably get flustered and embarrassed and back away. But they aren’t, and he’s too busy not-crying to care about things like that right now. 

Then Titan’s arms slowly go up and hug the Moon back, and the Moon’s relieved sniffles multiply into a full-blown sob. 

“...It’s okay. I got you, alright?” Titan’s voice is softer now, his accent melting into it like honey. “I don’t… I don’t know what’s going on either, but we can figure out what happened together. It’ll be fine.”

“...M-mhm. Y-Yeah, okay,” the Moon manages to respond quietly. Titan instinctively begins to rub soothing circles onto the Moon’s back, just like whenever they hugged in the belt, and the Moon melts in the other’s embrace.

It’ll be fine, the Moon repeats in his head. It’ll be fine…

“I am. So confused right now,” Uranus says flatly. 

Oh. Right, they can’t see me, I think. No one else can see me. Titan probably looks like he’s hugging and talking to empty air. 

Still, the Moon doesn’t pull away. Titan doesn’t push him off either, only hugs him a bit tighter. 

“We need to get out of here,” the larger moon mutters under his breath, before turning to Phobos and Deimos. “C’mon, get on my shoulders again- or my head, if those are too cold for you.”

The Martian moons glance at each other before gliding over and sitting on Titan’s head. The Moon forces himself out of his haze as an idea slides into his head, and his hands go down until they reach Titan’s waist. Immediately, the pounding of Titan’s core near his ear somehow intensifies, and the Moon doesn’t miss the way the other moon turns a bit flustered. He ignores it though, taking advantage of his speed to sweep up Titan, and in turn also Phobos and Deimos, and bringing them deeper into the belt. 

“Hey!- Aw, man!” he can hear Uranus mutter behind them, and he goes faster. Titan gasps and awkwardly clings onto him, his warmth blooming into the Moon's body, and like this the strain of Titan’s weight begins to bleed into Moon's arms. 

It only makes the Moon feel happier. 

It- it only makes him feel more alive. 

Eventually, he stops, lowering the other. Titan’s tense hands relax on his back, and his breaths are loud and short, resembling an Earthling’s after an intense roller coaster, even if it felt like a normal stroll to the Moon. 

He… he’d probably gotten used to being a ghost, hadn’t he? The Moon can sense Titan shiver a little, likely from his cold, and a sharp pang of regret echoes through him. Right, if the Moon felt his warmth, it’s expected Titan would feel his temperature too. The Moon had been selfish in that regard. He- he was too busy soaking up what he wanted that he failed to consider what Titan felt. 

…

He lets go and steps back, quelling the way something inside him begs for him to dive back into the hug, and meets Titan’s eyes. Neither of them say anything, unsure of how to proceed. Phobos is the one to break the silence. 

“Okay. Titan, can you like- tell us what the heck just happened?!” he asks loudly, flying down from the top of Titan’s head with Deimos. “Why’s there wind, and- and why did you look like you’ve seen a ghost? Why were you talking to- um, nothing?”

Nothing, the Moon can’t help but repeat in his head, even if he knew that’s probably not what Phobos had meant. He looks away. 

“...That’s because I did see a ghost. I was talking and interacting with the Moon. He’s standing right there,” Titan replies as he points at the Moon. “The cold wind you felt was probably him.”

“But… there’s no one there,” Phobos frowns. 

“Why can you see him and we can’t? That's unfair!” Deimos whines, and that… affects the Moon more than it should. They want to see him. The dull ache in his chest twists with joy, and it's an odd sensation, to say the least.

“I… I actually don’t know. I thought I was hallucinating at first, but- if you guys can feel the cold too, I don’t think I am,” Titan muses, then turns to the ghost. “Moon? How… how did you end up like this?”

“...I already told you, I don’t know. You said earlier though that- that I was supposed to be asleep. Do you know anything?”

“Callisto said that Jupiter told her you should be asleep in your orbit for like, two months,” Titan answers. “We saw your body there, so we assumed that Jupiter was right and that we didn’t need to worry. I- I didn’t think that…”

The Moon furrows his brow, deep in thought. “Maybe it’s because I share a body with Dark. There might’ve been a glitch- or, the solar system equivalent of that, and I ended up like this. If I’m being honest though… I’m just glad Dark should be okay. I couldn’t feel his pulse, so I- I didn’t know.”

There’s a pause. Titan presses his lips to a thin line, face turning grim and complicated with remorse. “...I’m sorry about all of this.”

The response of ‘it’s fine’ leaps up to the Moon’s lips, but he forces it back down his throat before it can come out. Because how can he say that? How- how can he possibly claim it was fine when it wasn’t, when he’s dead and barely anyone knew he was there, when everything was flipped upside down and he doesn't know what to do?

He said it was fine before when it wasn’t. He said it so many times, lied so many times, until it felt like nothing could come out of his mouth except words that aren’t true. 

He doesn’t have the will to do that anymore. 

“It wasn’t your fault,” the Moon says instead. “It’s no one’s. None of you knew this was going to happen.”

“But- if I just handled it better, if I just… stopped Callisto and Io from chasing after you, if I was just stronger, this wouldn’t have happened,” Titan retorts, guilt causing his voice to tremble. The Moon shakes his head. 

“Callisto was the one who said the command too early. Io was the one who pushed her into me and caused me to fall out. Void, if Ganymede and Europa weren’t so adamant about me joining, or if the Earth hadn’t said that about us moons in the first place, none of this wouldn’t have happened. One could even argue that it was my fault for being so stubborn about leaving.”

Anger twists through Titan’s guilt at that. “No, it’s not—!” 

“My point is, we could go on with this ‘blame game’ all day, but it won’t do us any good,” the Moon concludes, and Titan stares at him briefly before conceding.

“...Fine. You’re right, how can we help you?” he inquires. 

“Wait, I thought we were going to get Uranus’ moons?” Phobos tilts his head. 

“...As much as I care about the revolution, the Moon’s more important. He’s- he’s a ghost, something clearly went wrong, so my top priority now is getting him back to normal. Ganymede or Europa or whatever can wait,” Titan declares, and the Moon feels something in him seize at those words. 

…Void. In the midst of everything that had been happening, he’d forgotten just how much he liked Titan. 

“Okay, we got it boss!” Phobos and Deimos reply simultaneously. Titan lets out a resigned sigh, and the Moon smiles for the first time in what seemed to be an eternity.

He’d forgotten how much he missed them all too. 

“Does the Moon have any idea why we can’t see him and you can’t?” Deimos questions. 

“I do have a theory, but nothing concrete,” the Moon hums. “I think how much I can be seen depends on how much a person ‘saw’ me when I was alive. Like… as my own person, not the Earth’s moon. The Earth, Venus and Europa couldn’t see or feel me whatsoever. Mars, Callisto, Phobos and Deimos can somewhat, and you, Titan…”

“...I can interact with you fully. Huh,” Titan observes, ducking his head a little as red shows in the tips of his ears. 

“...Yeah. You ‘saw’ me the most,” the Moon nods, and he gets the notion that if he wasn’t a ghost, he’d probably be blushing a bit right now too. 

He doesn’t know how to feel about whatever… thing was going on between him and Titan. Well- if there was even a thing at all, or if he’d been so caught up and distraught from being a ghost that his brain made something up to comfort him.

“We can’t hear him, y’know. What did he say?” Phobos butts in. 

“He said that how much you can interact with him depends on how much you ‘saw’ him when he was alive as his own person. Some people like the Earth can’t interact with him at all, and others like Callisto can see or feel him, but only for a bit,” Titan answers. For a second, Mars’ moons don’t say anything, and then they… frown? Clear regret shows up in both of their faces as well. 

“We’re sorry, Moon. We should’ve talked to you more. Or just- acknowledge you more in general,” Phobos apologizes. 

“Yeah! And all those times we’ve called you Earth’s Moon too… we’re really sorry!” Deimos adds. The Moon can’t help but freeze. 

Oh. Them saying a genuine sorry for that feels… nice. Even if the Moon was never really mad at them to begin with. They were just kids after all, and out of everyone, they probably had the least say with the Moon’s fate. 

“Well, we can focus on getting to know each other better in the future, if- when I’m back alive then, right?” he comforts. Titan relays his message, and Phobos and Deimos look close to tearing up from joy. 

“Yeah- you’re right. We will!” they promise. Something in the Moon melts at that, and he smiles again. Slowly, he approaches the two small moons and tries patting them on the heads, like he’d seen Mars do before. 

Of course, his finger phases through, but Phobos gasps anyway. 

“I can feel him! And- and I think I saw you, Moon, for a second there. What about you, Deimos?”

“Same for me, Phobos! It’s like a cold wind just brushed my head,” Deimos responds, and the Moon chuckles a little as he backs away. 

…He really missed this. 

“What do you think we should do now, Moon?” Titan asks.

“I don’t know. I would say we go and visit Jupiter, but he left his orbit and I didn’t see him at all on my way here. As for Saturn… I don’t know what would happen if you approached him after so long,” the Moon remarks, and discomfort twinges in Titan’s face at the mention of his planet. But still:

“If you think it would help, I can go and talk to him,” he offers anyway, and the Moon shakes his head despite the gratitude blooming in his chest.

“You don’t need to, at least not yet. It’s a long way to Saturn’s orbit, and I can’t carry you there all the way. I think we should try and talk with Uranus’ moons first. I doubt Uranus would listen and uhh… Neptune probably doesn’t know,” the Moon explains. 

“Yeah, good idea,” Titan hums. “Before I got caught by Uranus and Neptune, I saw what I believe was one of Uranus’ moons too. She was somewhere over there,” he gestures to their left. The Moon follows his gaze, running over what the next best course of action should be. 

He knows it would be best to go ahead and speed through the Kuiper Belt himself to find them, then come back and have the four of them go together. It’s the fastest and the most efficient way. But at the same time… 

The Moon darts a glance towards Titan, an overwhelming wave of fear suddenly storming into his chest. What if something happened while he was gone? What if he leaves, and then comes back and can’t find Titan anymore, and then he’ll be alone, alone, mute and invisible and—

“Moon? You okay?” Titan’s voice reaches his ears, and the Moon blinks back into reality. He instinctively goes to plaster a fake grin on his face, but stops himself and grabs onto Titan’s waist instead. Titan swallows, goosebumps growing on his arms in the same second as his face flushes, and the Moon suddenly feels the urge to lean closer, until their lips are touching. 

…Until Titan’s sighing that sweet, sweet warmth deep into his mouth, until the Moon could take over and bend Titan’s will with his own—

The thought was innocent at first, born from the crush already there in the Moon's heart. But then it’s- it’s not anymore, twisting as crimson sinks into the Moon’s brain again. His fingers twitch, and he stares into Titan’s confused eyes with an unnatural amount of hunger clawing at his soul before snapping out of his daydream and turning to Phobos and Deimos.

What was that? For a second there, I felt like I could… take over? But that would hurt Titan, wouldn’t it, so why did I want it so badly for a second?—

...I’m so tired of this whole ghost thing. I just want to be alive again.

“You should tell Phobos and Deimos to get on you again. I’ll help speed you guys up, it’ll be faster that way,” he manages to mutter. Titan frowns at him, but does what he’s asked and the moons of Mars hitch on. 

And so they go forward. At least it’s better than going alone- the very feel of Titan in his arms is enough to calm the ache the Moon had been burdened with for so long. But he can’t help but wonder if this was going to last.

He doesn’t know why he’s like this, doesn’t know what the crimson means, but hopefully now he could finally get some answers.

Chapter Text

Callisto and Europa eventually arrive at the designated clearing with the other moons behind them. As expected, Europa immediately goes into full political mode, letting go of Callisto and turning to the crowd.

“Welcome, everyone! This is the clearing where the revolution began. Right now, the Ganymede, Titan, and Io are out searching for the moons of the ice giants, so the current plan is to wait for them here,” she declares, and most of the moons nod. One moon, however, raises a hand. 

Europa blinks, then giggles, the sound carefully perfect. “You don’t have to raise your hand here. We’re all equals. I don’t think I’ve seen you before either, actually, so why don’t you say your name first?”

“I’m… um,” the moon nervously worries at his lower lip, and Europa smiles at him encouragingly. “I’m- I’m Tethys! And I was wondering.… Are we counting the inner moons in this equation? Also what about the moons of the dwarf planets?” 

“O-oh, right,” Europa responds, a bit caught off guard. “Well… we already have Mars’ moons on our side, and as for the dwarf planets, we’re not including them. Unlike planet moons, they’re extremely far away, difficult to contact, and we know nothing about their situation. We might recruit them in the future, but not right now.”

“Okay. What about the Earth’s moon then? He- he has a moon, right?” Tethys inquiries, and Callisto goes still, laser-focused on how Europa would react and what she would say. But the other moon doesn’t seem fazed at all. 

“You guys haven’t heard? Since the Earth is so special and all, his moon is never allowed to leave his orbit, and the poor thing has been asleep for like… maybe a few months or more at this point. We tried contacting him and failed. But this is yet another reason we have to go on with this revolution. she concludes solemnly, and agreeing pity rises from her audience. It takes everything in Callisto to stop the shock and utter disbelief from showing up in her face. 

So. That’s how she’s playing. I mean- I figured she would do something sneaky, but not like this. She turned the unexpected situation into her favor completely. 

The imagery of the Moon falling and his flickering form flashes in Callisto’s mind for a split second, and she takes in a shaky breath, suddenly feeling a bit unwell. 

Whatever. Whatever. It’s fine. 

Europa clears her throat. “Any more questions, thoughts, or concerns? If you have any, please don’t hesitate to voice them. We’re a team, I promise you won’t get judged.”

“I have one. You said we’re attacking the Earth, but how are we going to do that? He stays in the third closest orbit to the Sun and he’s close friends with his neighbors, right?” Dione points out. 

“Good question. What we do know is that right now, we have a very good shot at attacking the Earth, and we might never get a chance as perfect as this again. Mars and Venus are in a massive argument with the Earth currently- that’s why Mars isn’t by the Earth as usual and why he and Venus are by the belt instead. Mercury’s too far away, so he won’t be a problem. These circumstances give us a high advantage. But since the revolution is very recent as of now, I haven’t made a full plan yet. Rest assured though- whatever we decide on won’t fail. We can even figure out how to get the Earth here so the Sun can’t help, and send a message that way.” 

Dione hums, satisfied. No one else speaks up, and Europa grins.

“Perfect. Now that that’s all cleared up, I want everyone to start working on expanding this clearing, picking out the best asteroids for battle, and leaving the rest in neat piles. If you need anything, come talk to me or Callisto. Got that?”

The moons nod and follow her commands like obedient soldiers. Europa’s grin widens with glee- she is, no doubt, very excited about the army that was just formed. Callisto shares far from the same sentiment though, and she steps up to the other moon with a sharp glare. 

“What was that?”

“If you want to talk about 'that', we should find somewhere more private,” Europa says, then heads over to an isolated spot where no one could easily overhear. It’s as if she was expecting the confrontation.

(Knowing her, she definitely was.)

Callisto frowns and follows her until the two of them are relatively alone. 

“Why did you lie about the Moon?” she presses, and Europa scoffs. 

“How do you think the others would react if they found out if you pushed someone out of the solar system?! Any kind of trust building between us and them would be lost. And this way, they would be more loyal to us too. It’s not as if they could’ve seen through it either, since the Moon has been staying in his orbit for forever until recently. They don’t even know him.”

“Titan knows him,” Callisto replies. 

“He also knows that the fate of every moon is more important than one white lie.” Europa retorts. “It's barely a lie anyway- the Moon is asleep. Just how that happened is a bit.. hm, different from what I said, but so what?"

“...Even if it’s logistically convenient, it’s still—”

“Wrong? When has that ever stopped you?” Europa rolls her eyes. “Just play along, Callisto. Be quiet. You’ve done that before, you can do it again.”

Play along. Be quiet. 

You’ve done that before. 

The words ring in Callisto’s ears, and she lets out a harsh exhale. Europa blinks, her annoyed stare becoming tinted with with a soft sort of confusion. 

“Callisto?”

“Whatever,” Callisto mutters, word spat like a curse. “I’ll just do it again, since you asked, right?” 

Europa furrows her brow, as if waiting for more, but Callisto gives her none. Instead, she just narrows her eyes at the other pointedly.  

Move on. Pretend I never said anything. Should be pretty easy for you, right? When have you ever cared about how I feel?

But Europa doesn’t move on. 

“What’s wrong with you, Callisto? Why are you suddenly acting like this?” she pushes, and Callisto can’t help but suddenly feel a bit surprised. She doesn’t show it. She doesn’t say anything, and Europa’s frustration rises. 

“C’mon, Callisto, give me an answer—”

“I thought I was supposed to be quiet,” Callisto snarks back, reveling in the way a dark scowl smears itself on Europa’s crimson lips. 

“Ugh, be stubborn for all I care then,” Europa huffs. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just following your orders,” Callisto shrugs, and can’t help but feel the familiar spark of gratification as Europa flushes with anger. 

The other moon puts her hand on her hips. “You’re so- you’re so infuriating. This is why you don’t have any friends besides the ones you literally orbit, y’know that?”

“Aw, you consider us friends?” Callisto mocks, leaning down with raised eyebrows and a condescending tone and barely stopping herself from laughing at the way Europa is getting more and more pissed off. Confident and regal leader she may have seemed to others, for Callisto, it's different. It's always been different. Getting under Europa's skin was practically second nature at this point.

Just like knowing how to use Callisto to get what she wanted was second nature for Europa. Maybe like this, they were made for each other. Maybe, they were destined to be tied by each other, and couldn’t know anything other than more arguments, more manipulation, more hurt and pain until they were both dead or gone—

“Forget it. This is getting us nowhere, and I have an actual job to do now. I can’t afford to waste more time with you,” Europa decides, ignoring the way Callisto scoffs. “Like it or not, you took Ganymede’s spot, and now we’re in this together.”

Callisto raises an eyebrow. “I suppose you didn’t just call me over to discuss my feelings. Would’ve been too inefficient for your tastes, right?”

“Yeah,” Europa replies nonchalantly, and Callisto brushes aside the weird stab of hurt that bursts in her core. “It would’ve. I’ve got bigger plans for this revolution. While we’re waiting for the others to come back, I was thinking…”

“I suppose I’ll finally get to know why you wanted Ganymede by your side now. Time to get my mind blown,” Callisto drawls. Europa doesn’t even bother replying. 

She continues instead, “What if we get a few planets to our side? Specifically: Mars and Venus. Since they’re in conflict with the Earth and all.”

Callisto goes still. 

…So that was the change she wanted. Gun for more planets while she can. 

Does she seriously think she can fool me? Maybe Ganymede- she could draw him in with illusions of grandeur and the promise of ambition, but I’m not blinded by those things. I know her better than that. Her plan isn’t to get Mars and Venus to join, her plan is to annihilate them out of spiteful revenge. And clear the way for the Earth while she’s at it. 

It makes sense now that I think about it. Europa has resented the planets for so long, and she’s probably been fantasizing something like this for some time. 

…Too bad I’m not Ganymede. 

“Do you actually think they’d join?” Callisto inquiries. “They’ve known the Earth for billions of years. Why would they choose a few moons over their best friend, even if they’re in an argument?”

Europa frowns, about to reply, but Callisto cuts her off. 

“But you already know that, don’t you? You just want to beat them up and have some fun.”

“I just want this revolution to succeed,” Europa corrects. “And I don’t think that can happen without getting our army to practice and without getting Mars and Venus out of the way, if they’re so close to the Earth like you said.”

There’s not even a drop of remorse or waver in her voice, and Callisto feels something in her core become closer to breaking.

“It’s risky. What if we fail?” Callisto argues, and red shadows over Europa’s eyes. 

“No risk, no reward.”

“They’re not part of this, Europa. They’ve done nothing to us. We’ve never even met them, why are you so fixated on this?”

Europa’s eyes narrow further as her hands drop and curl into fists.

“Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you right now, Callisto? Why are you acting so self-righteous? Is this because you feel guilty about what happened?” she snaps, stepping forward and jutting her chin towards the other moon. “Because it was an accident, and it’s in the past. Get over yourself. I’m not about to let you throw away all of this for some random person you don’t even know.”

This is the point where Callisto should’ve replied with some witty remark, but go with what Europa wanted regardless. This is the point where she should’ve let herself fall back into that cycle where the two of them had made over so many years. 

But the anger explodes in her chest, scratching at her ribcage and boiling the insides of her crust and she can’t take it anymore, can’t do this, can’t—

Part of this decision may have just been because she wanted to defend the Moon, but in the end, it’s more than that. It’s the final result of so many years of this treatment, blending together into a rage so strong Callisto feels like she’s about to fall apart.

“Maybe I’m just tired, have you ever thought about that?!” she yells, looming over Europa as she feels the urge to scream so loud until her lungs burst. And she never yells. Callisto’s vision blurs a little, and she’s aware of the closer bystander moons’ attention shifting onto her, but she doesn’t care. “Maybe I’m just tired of doing whatever you want, of obeying your every whim, of being seen as some weapon you can just sic on whoever you want. I went to the belt because you and Ganymede told me to. I hurt my friend because you and Ganymede told me to. Have you- have you ever thought for a second that I was a real person? That- oh my void, Callisto has her own feelings too! What a shocker!” she throws her arms up, rare tears building in her eyes. Europa’s staring at her, face pale and eyes wide and Callisto can’t get herself to stop. “And you say that every moon is an equal. Oh please. You’re just as bad as the planets.”

With that, she goes silent, chest heaving. Europa doesn’t say anything, but her shoulders are shaking and her cheeks are wet. She- she almost looks scared, like this, and Callisto realizes their positions. They're closer than they’ve ever been, Callisto is still looming over and Europa is shrinking back, trembling a little. Her face is a mix of fear and disbelief and… and regret all at the same time. 

Callisto didn’t know fear and regret were even in Europa’s vocabulary. 

Slowly, robotically, she pulls herself back and gives the other moon some space. She feels weirdly hollow, like all the anger inside of her was finally, brutally pulled out with the outburst until it’s laying at their feet in an ugly pile.

Europa is crying. Callisto enjoys that a lot less than a part of her said she should. 

“I…” Europa whispers, “C-Callisto, I’m s—”

“Go on with your plan, Europa,” Callisto interrupts coldly. She doesn’t want to hear whatever Europa is going to say. She’s too tired to keep fighting. “Go attack Mars and Venus. It’s not like you’re going to listen to me anyway."

She turns around and is about to float off, but Europa’s voice manages to stop her. 

“Wait- where are you going?”

“I won’t snitch,” Callisto states. It’s the only thing Europa would be worried about, so that’s the only thing she gives before leaving. Europa doesn’t try to stop her. 

She thinks she hears a faint call when she reaches the very edge, but decides it’s likely her imagination and plunges forward into the darkness, away from all the other moons. 

Alone. 

What else is new?

Chapter Text

Europa didn’t mean for this to happen. 

She thought it was just another argument, another push and pull of mean insults and witty comments and whatnot. After all, she and Callisto had interacted like that so many times already, and it wasn’t like Callisto was a victim— she even gave back way harder sometimes. And she always seemed so… impenetrable. Cold eyes, stoic face, never reacting to what anyone said with anything beyond a snide comment. 

Except now. 

Europa stares numbly at Callisto’s retreating figure, unsure of what to do or what to say. She had already messed up, what if she made the wrong choice and— 

It’s not like Callisto would do anything. She said she wouldn’t snitch, so she’s still loyal, the logical part of her brain points out. You don’t need her anyway. You can handle those planets on your own. 

Just proceed with your plan and manipulate apologize later. You know following emotions will only make things messy. 

Europa swallows as Callisto walks closer to the edge, and for the first time in a long time, she feels uncertainty. Things for her were supposed to be easy. She- she was supposed to get justice for herself, for every moon in the solar system, no matter the cost. The planets didn’t deserve her sympathy. Enemy moons like the Earth’s moon didn’t either. 

She slowly reaches up a hand to wipe at her tears. 

Did Callisto deserve…?

She was crying too during their argument. Or at the very least, her eyes were watery, and Europa had never seen that before. 

She shouldn’t be feeling so much regret over causing that. 

Emotions are messy. The only one you should focus on is anger so the other moons stay okay, so- so nothing will go wrong. You can’t…

Callisto looming over her, voice torn with so much pain and anger and misery that Europa caused, she did this, she was the one who—

“...of obeying your every whim, of being seen as some weapon you can just sic on whoever you want.”

“Have you- have you ever thought for a second that I was a real person?”

“And you say that every moon is an equal. Oh please. You’re just as bad as the planets.”

No, Callisto was wrong. It’s impossible for what she said to be anything but wrong, Europa would never be like a planet, would never think she’s on top of the solar system like the Earth did, would never disregard and push down other people like Jupiter, or- or—

Use people? Like you did to Callisto for hundreds of years? And what about Io?

And you still don’t want to give a genuine apology, do you? All that comes from your mouth are lies, all that comes from your commands are violence, all you do—

That’s not the same. I was doing all of this- am doing all of this for the greater good. If I don’t, then how many blameless moons will die for Saturn? How long are we going to be ignored, pushed away like nothing? Will it be for the rest of our lives?

Are you going to hurt Callisto again for that?

Europa takes in a sharp breath, tears building again as her mouth opens without her permission.

“Callisto! Come back!”

Callisto doesn’t even slow as she exits the clearing. Europa doesn’t know whether she wants to chase after her or do the smart thing and stay. She doesn’t even know if she wants to follow her long, thought out plan of attacking Venus and Mars anymore. Void, what was- what was wrong with her?

A little argument wasn’t about to just throw her whole plan in jeopardy. She had to attack the planets, not just for her own sake, but for everyone else’s.

But the way Callisto had looked at her… the sheer amount of genuine agony in her voice, practically overwhelming and shrouding Europa’s very being with guilt- because she had caused all that hurt, hadn’t she?

She thought it was okay. She thought that Callisto was fine with doing what she wanted, fine with their bantering and how their relationship functioned, because there was never proof of anything otherwise. 

Or maybe she knew. Maybe she just did it anyway, because Callisto was right. Europa had never seen her as a person. 

Europa wishes a part of her didn’t feel like it was about to shatter under the weight of that thought. 

Out of everyone, it would be only fitting for Callisto to make her feel this way, wouldn’t it? She had always known how to push her buttons, how to make her confidence waver and cause rare hurt to invade her core. With every sharp glance, every mocking voice, even as Callisto was in pain herself during that argument, she had always known… 

Fuck, Europa feels so stupid. A perfect opportunity to attack those two planets and gain even more power lay right in front of her, but the mere image of Callisto in her head stopped her from stepping forward. 

She doesn’t know what to do anymore.

“Fuck,” Europa says out loud for good measure, ignoring how weak her voice sounded. She looks up to see the other moons watching her, and feels the urge to bash her head against the nearest asteroid. Maybe that would knock some reason back. 

“Europa? Are you okay?” Amalthea asks, floating up to Europa. 

“I’m… fine. Me and Callisto just got into an argument. I made a few mistakes, that’s all,” Europa replies. She then turns to the other moons, and this was meant to be the time when she refocused the attention back to the plan, meant to be the time when they took down Mars and Venus and were a step closer to finally getting what they deserved—

But even Europa’s determination wasn’t infinite. 

If I go and attack now… I’ll be distracted. Yeah, that’s it. I should talk to her first.

“Go back to your work, please. I’ll handle things with her, alright? I’m- I’m very sorry for the scene we caused.” 

A plethora of “it’s fine"s echo back at her as the moons obey. Europa lets out a heavy sigh, her shoulders drooping as she looks to the direction Callisto had gone. 

This is just for the plan, she tells herself. This is just for the plan. 

It’s a lie, but maybe if she repeated it enough, it wouldn’t be one anymore. 

After some time wandering, Callisto finds herself at the depth of the belt, near the bottom. It’s the same place where the Moon had fallen. 

She floats down into a seated position. It’s dark here, and if she squinted her eyes enough, she could almost make out a vision of the Moon falling again, his mouth open in a soundless scream, arms flailing, body flickering—

And after that, she could remember Io crying and the uncharacteristic doubt and worry tearing at her own mind. 

…She missed Io more than she thought she would. Maybe if she went with him, things would’ve ended off better. She should've down being with Europa for too long would bring nothing but a bundle of tangled emotions and drama she didn’t want to deal with.

I kinda wish I was the one who fell instead of the Moon, Callisto thinks bitterly as she stares down at the void. Being asleep for a whole two months sounds awful, but better than this. Probably. At least my eyes are dry now though. 

Her gaze flickers up to the inner solar system above and she snorts. Europa’s likely attacking Mars and Venus now. Why did I bother staying with her again? To change things? Why did I ever expect Europa to change for me? I’m nothing but some weapon for her and Ganymede to use. 

She would never listen to me. Even if she felt regret… in the end, that’s not enough. After she finishes her attack, she would likely come find me and try to manipulate me again. 

And I’ll let her, like I always have. 

…Or maybe I should try to leave. Not just the clearing- but this belt entirely. I might try going to the Kuiper Belt and mingle with the dwarf planets, or something like that. 

Callisto chuckles, but it’s devoid of humor. 

Isn’t that a silly idea? 

She absentmindedly runs a hand through her hair and rests her chin on her other palm. 

I wonder how long I will have to wait. The whole attack should take like an hour, and maybe twenty minutes for her to find me. She probably knows where to go. I came to the darkest part of the belt I could find, and it shouldn’t be long until she gets here too. 

Or she might send one of her soldiers to look. Or… she might just not bother trying to find me at all and handle the rest of the revolution on her own. 

Callisto feels her eyes prickle again with unshed tears and she wills them away. This is stupid- the whole thing is stupid. So what if Europa just deems her not important enough to even look for? All the other moon cared about was revenge, and Callisto knew that. She had always known that. 

Europa cared for the little moons, cared about her twisted version of justice, and maybe a small amount for Ganymede. She didn’t care about Callisto. Perhaps once upon a time, but not anymore. 

Their mindsets were too different. The relationship between planets and moons never mattered to Callisto, and it still didn’t even now. But to Europa, it was everything. Century after century of mistreatment had warped something fundamental in her, until she became obsessed with it, until stopping it was all she cared about. And she would achieve her goal no matter the cost. 

I’m not enough for her, aren’t I? 

Why do I even expect to be? 

Why do I even care?

Europa taking her hand, the joyful, proud smile lighting up her face, a look Callisto hadn’t seen directed at her in what seemed to be an eternity—

Perhaps they were real friends once. Or perhaps they never were, but deep inside, Callisto wanted that. 

A futile dream. 

She stares at the void again. She could stare at it forever. 

Her nails dig into her palms, a mockery of Europa’s sharp ones grazing her wrist. Some time passes, maybe around ten minutes, give or take. Europa probably forgot most of the argument already. 

Her nails dig deeper. 

Another ten minutes pass. Callisto feels something wet and hot trickling down her hands and the pain stinging into her flesh, but she ignores it. It’s easy. She had always known how to ignore pain, how to push it away—

The feeling of sharper nails forcing away her own, a voice—

“...Callisto? Callisto! Stop—!”

Callisto blinks out of her stupor, finally turning away from the void to see Europa’s paler-than-usual face. She looks afraid again, and she’s taking Callisto’s wounded hands and holding them with her own. Callisto stares at her blankly, mind feeling as if it’s been swallowed up by molasses. 

“...Europa? What are you doing here?”

There’s still around fifty minutes left. You should be off attacking the planets. Why aren’t you?

Instead of responding, Europa just brings Callisto’s hands closer, ignoring how the rusty water of the other’s blood stains her skin. “You were hurting yourself. Why were you- why were you hurting yourself, Callisto?” 

Panic rings at the edges of her voice, and Callisto feels an odd sense of guilt for causing that. 

“I don’t…” her voice is dry, too dry, but she doesn’t bother clearing it. “I don’t know. I didn't really realize I was doing it. I think it was because it reminded me of you.”

Europa somehow looks even more horrified. “It- it reminded you of—”

“Your nails are sharp,” Callisto replies simply. She should say something witty, should tease the anger out of Europa again and turn the situation into one they’re more used to, but she doesn’t. Her brain feels too addled for that.

“…I really have hurt you. Haven’t I?” Europa mutters shakily, words sounding like they’re close to breaking.

“I’ve hurt you too,” Callisto responds. Europa flinches, then worries at her bottom lip before letting go of one of Callisto’s hands in favor of looking around and reaching out an arm for… something. But nothing comes, and she sighs in frustration.

“Wha are you looking for?” Callisto manages to ask.

“Bandages. Earthling stuff should come in situations like this, but,” Europa eyes the void below them, “I guess we’re too close to the edge of the solar system for its usual rules to work. That’s- okay, that’s fine, I can come up with a different solution.” 

With that, she brings the hand to the edge of her skirt, clutching the fabric and… ripping a piece of it right off. 

Callisto’s eyes widen. “What are you doing?” 

“Are you an idiot? You’re bleeding, and I… the least I can do is stop that.” 

Saying so, she begins to wrap up Callisto’s hand carefully, motions slow and soothing in a way Callisto didn’t realize was possible from her. Then there’s the harsh ripping noise of another piece of fabric, and then the soft wrapping of another hand. 

“Your dress is ripped now. We could’ve just gone up to get some bandages there,” Callisto frowns in spite of how pleasant the fabric feels. Europa rolls her eyes. 

“You’re hurt, Callisto. And it’s just a dress, it’ll regenerate later,” she says, and her words would be sharp and biting if her voice wasn’t so wobbly. 

“I…” Callisto wants to comfort Europa, but she doesn't know how. Right now, the atmosphere between the two of them is… different. Way different than she was used to. There’s genuine concern in Europa, and it’s directed towards Callisto, not Ganymede or the smaller moons or anyone like that. 

She expected Europa to find her later after defeating Mars and Venus, with a mix of too-perfect apologies and sneaky persuasion falling from her tongue and ready to trap Callisto again. She expected herself to hide her hands behind her back, for Europa to notice but ignore, and for things to return to normal as they headed back to the clearing. 

That was the most likely outcome. Second to that was Europa not even bothering to look for her and deciding to lead the revolution on her own. Callisto hadn’t… hadn’t even considered this as an option.

Europa is still holding her hands as if they were something precious, and she looks just as distraught- if not even more than Callisto feels. After so long, Callisto had known how to read Europa. And every millimeter of pain and guilt in those red-tinted eyes was real- at least, from what she could tell. 

What happens now? Are we going to hurt each other again? 

…I don’t want to do that anymore. I don’t—

“I’m sorry, Callisto,” Europa says after a moment, raising her head to look Callisto in the eyes. “I— I’m sorry.” 

It should be a lie. Any second now, Europa’s going to flip the switch, repeat that apology but in a smoother, clearer voice than her clipped one, then go on to try to guilt trip Callisto into coming back into that clearing with her. Any second now, her nails are going to press into Callisto’s skin again like handcuffs, and those tears will stop streaking her cheeks, and her shoulders will stop shaking because Europa didn’t care, she didn’t care about her—

But that moment never comes. Instead, Europa lets go and steps back, as if she was… scared she would hurt Callisto again. As if she didn’t want to go back into that cycle either. She swallows, vaguely uncomfortable but not leaving or turning back into the version Callisto was more familiar with. 

“I can leave if you want,” Europa offers. “Just… Please, don’t hurt yourself again.”

“I don’t…” Callisto forces the words to come out, resisting the foolish urge to bring the other moon close again. She drops her hands to her sides, thumbs rubbing against the cold, soothing fabric. “I don’t want you to leave. I just- I think we should talk. About all of this.”

“Talk,” Europa repeats. For a brief second, her eyes dart to the inner solar system, but in the end she doesn’t move. She stays. 

“Yeah. You’re right, I think we should do that.”

Chapter Text

“I’m guessing you know what I want to talk about,” is what Callisto begins with. She doesn’t mean to dance around the topic- not really, but she’s tired, and the wounds are still stinging her skin. Or maybe, as much as she loathed to admit it, her reluctance might’ve just been born from fear. 

She’s used to playing both villain and vessel with Europa, exchanging words like darts aimed at a target of the other’s heart and letting herself be used all the while. It was a vicious, toxic cycle, but it was familiar. The pain and hurt were familiar. This was not. 

Europa stares at her, eyes almost violet in the lighting, and lets out a sigh. “I do. You want to talk about us, don’t you?”

“No shit,” lays on the tip of Callisto’s tongue, dragging a writhing crowd of other sarcastic, mean remarks along with it. But she swallows them down. She didn't want to see Europa’s lips twist with frustration or for anger to flicker through her face anymore, or even for shadows of horrified guilt like when blood was dripping down Callisto’s own hands. She only found herself yearning to see…

More fragmented memories of Europa's soft, proud smile lie at the brink of her thoughts, and she swallows again.

“Yes,” she answers. This is unfamiliar now— almost too unfamiliar, and any shred of remaining comfort is drained from her core. But Callisto didn't want to be in the past anymore. She wanted her and Europa to be… better than that, as sappy as that sounded.

“Our relationship is complicated, to say the least. I insult you, you manipulate me. And then I snapped, and now we’re here. But what I don’t understand is— why are you here? Why aren’t you attacking Mars and Venus right now?”

Conflict flashes in Europa’s expression, and her eyes flit from Callisto to the two distant, unharmed planets again. Her shoulders tense, then forcibly relax. 

“You already asked that question,” she deflects. 

“And you never answered,” Callisto retorts. Europa presses her lips to a thin line, evident nerves swelling— but Callisto doesn’t back down. She continues to stare at the other moon until Europa eventually relents. 

“Fine. I felt bad, okay?” she admits, and Callisto’s mind can’t help but reel a bit. “I didn’t… I thought you were impenetrable. I thought it was impossible for anything I said or did to be able to hurt you.”

“So you were surprised that I had emotions,” Callisto observes flatly before she could stop herself. The instinctive sarcasm had reached out to try and fuel the flames of Europa’s anger, as it always did, but regret is brought out instead. 

Europa sucks in a shallow breath. “Yes, I was. Because I never bothered to know you as a person, even though we’ve been together our whole lives. You were right, I only saw you as a weapon to be used.”

“Don’t give yourself all the credit. I hurt you too,” Callisto points out. Some of her own guilt comes rushing in, and it’s sudden but not at the same time. “How many times have I pushed your buttons, insulted you, even caused you to…” she looks away, grim recollections flashing briefly before her eyes. They were faded but stubborn, displaying visions of Europa looking as if she’d been slapped, or of tears sliding down her cheeks, all caused by Callisto. The Europa in the present flinches a bit, no doubt remembering her side of those events. 

“You have but- that doesn’t excuse what I’ve done. I’m the one who caused you to bleed, weren’t I?” her gaze sinks onto Callisto’s limp hands again. Callisto sighs.

“You were also the one who snapped me out of my trance and ripped fabric from your own clothing to bandage me,” she says, taking a step forward. “And you came here instead of going to complete your plans. You told me yourself. There was a perfect opportunity, but you chose me instead.”

Regret and anger etch a heavy frown across Europa’s face. “So what if I did? I’m not—”

“I’m not making fun of you,” Callisto interrupts, voice softer than she meant it to be. “I thought you abandoned me here. I’m glad you didn’t.”

“O-Oh,” Europa stammers quietly, the tenseness in her shoulders fading. Her attention continues to stray on Callisto, and the weight of it makes Callisto feel- strange. She ignores it and continues:

“I’m sorry too, Europa.”

“It’s… I get it, Callisto. It’s okay,” Europa replies. “...I don’t like how we treated each other either. For me, it’s- I’m used to it, because we’ve been doing it for so long. But I don’t want to do it anymore. I don’t…” she lets out a breath, attention retreating onto her own feet, “I don’t want to use you anymore.”

“Even if I try to go against you?” Callisto challenges. Europa had brought the both of them further into this new territory, and Callisto can’t help but search for where the line was drawn, feel around until she figured out how whatever this was worked. “What if I wanted to turn into your enemy like the Earth’s moon did?”

“I would fight you then. But I wouldn’t try to force you into joining me,” Europa answers, demeanor cold but somehow soft at the same time. 

Callisto hums, feeling an unusual sense of warmth blooming in her chest. “...I see. And what about now? Are you still going to attack Mars and Venus?”

Europa stills, mouth opening in the form of a yes, but that doesn’t come out. Instead—

“You didn’t want me to do it. Tell me why again.”

I wasn’t… expecting that. Then again, everything about this is unexpected, what’s one more?

“Huh. You care about my opinions too now, not just about how I feel.”

It’s not a question. 

Europa blinks. “...Yeah. I guess I do.”

“Well if you want me to say it again, it’s because just because they’re planets doesn’t mean they deserve to be beaten unconscious by your army. You see things too much in black-and-white.” 

“Even if that’s the case, getting rid of them would be better for the revolution. Better for all the moons out there. With them gone, we won’t risk getting caught,” Europa reasons, though her tone is calm this time, lacking the spiking frustration from their argument.

“That may be true,” Callisto agrees, “But morals matter more than you think in this situation. If you attack innocent people, wouldn’t you be like the planets then, such as Saturn, who killed innocent moons for his rings? I saw your face when I compared you to a planet, you know.”

Europa goes still for a second, eyes widening with indignation and shock and something else. Callisto’s words had gotten through her- just like back when they were arguing on the clearing. 

“If you don't care about being just as bad as a planet- or if you think it’s worth it for the revolution- then consider what the other moons might feel. I don’t think they’ll be happy attacking two people who have done nothing to them. Venus doesn’t even have a moon, and Mars’ moons admire him. You can’t lie forever. And you can’t keep persuading them forever either. It’s only a matter of time before you start to lose loyalty by going down this path.”

“You think there’s no other way, but I know you’re smart enough to find one. You don’t have to stoop this low, Europa,” Callisto finally finishes. The urge to add some sort of snide remark at the end tugs at her tongue- this whole situation was feeling too real at this point- but maybe too real was what they both needed. 

Europa stares at her, then stares some more. There’s a sort of ruddy blush on her face- likely from the compliment, and a strange thrill rushes down Callisto’s spine at the realization that she had caused that. She’d made Europa flustered before, but only with a method that was twisted with malicious intent. This way was wildly different, but wildly better in the same breath. She wanted more. 

Europa diverts her gaze, the last shades of blush remaining. “...If attacking Mars and Venus is ‘too low’ for me, then what do you think I should do? Waste the perfect opportunity and hope another one miraculously comes by?”

“I think you should focus on those who have actually wronged us. Earth, Jupiter, Saturn… What use is going after those two?” Callisto inquires. 

“It would send a message,” Europa retorts. 

“A message that the moons are violent and lash out against pretty much anyone, sure,” Callisto responds, floating closer to Europa and leaning down until they were face-to-face. Europa swallows thickly and for a brief moment, Callisto had the feeling there was something behind her words other than pure persuasion. Nevertheless, she continues: “Do you want that?”

“I- you’re-” Europa stammers, backing away a bit. “You’re sounding a lot like the Earth’s moon here.”

It's not a compliment, but Callisto smirks anyway. “Is it working?”

Europa glances at the void below, hesitation flickering in her face, before glancing back up at Callisto. “...I don’t—”

“Tell me what you want, Europa,” Callisto pushes, the familiar need for something flaring intensely in her stomach as she steps closer, instinctively reaching out a hand to feel a strand of Europa’s hair with her still-bloody fingers. Europa flushes again, pupils dilating a bit, before—

“Okay, okay! I get your point,” she says abruptly, pushing away Callisto’s hand and stumbling away again. “Give me some space, geez.”

Callisto blinks, snapping out of… whatever that was, before backing off. “Right. Sorry.”

“Whatever,” Europa mutters. “...And I- you’re right, okay? I want,” she looks as if she’d swallowed something sour, but continues anyway, “I won’t do it. I won’t attack them.”

“I can’t believe I actually managed to convince you,” Callisto muses, but it's lighthearted, losing its mocking edge from before.

Europa huffs. “Don’t push your luck. I’m still attacking the Earth. In fact…even if I’m no longer gunning for those two planets or whatever, I can still get the results I want. I’m not failing this.”

“I told you you would be able to figure something out,” Callisto mumbles even as the memory of the Earth’s moon flashes through her head. She still felt unsure about Europa going for the Earth- of course she was, but at the same time she felt this was all she could do without outright fighting against the other moon. 

And looking at Europa now, recalling her smile, her tears, her rage— she didn’t want to fight her. Not when it felt like their relationship was finally getting better. 

…Even now, Callisto still couldn’t figure out what to do, could she? The fabric of Europa’s dress hugged her skin at the same time the void the Moon had fallen in seemed to reach out for her. She was still torn, on the edge of two warring sides. But at least the whole situation between her and Europa was improving.

“Yeah,” Europa hums, ignorant of Callisto’s inner conflict as her attention turns back to the direction of the clearing. “I… I think it’s time we get back. Are your hands feeling okay?”

“They’re fine. I can just say I accidentally scraped them across some asteroids on my way here,” Callisto shrugs. “Let’s go.”

(Callisto still didn’t know what to do. But it’s fine. It’ll be fine.)

(It had to be.)

On the way there, it's silent and awkward, but the air between them is filled with something that wasn't there before. They return to the clearing eventually though. From a distance, Callisto immediately realizes that something had changed, with the way that the moons were no longer expanding the clearing, but gathering around… someone. A canopy of voices greet her ears, and she recognizes a fleeting name of…

Earth’s moon. 

Confusion and shock ripples through Callisto’s mind, and she freezes. Europa does as well, her face suddenly turning paper white. The moons turn to them, and—

“Europa, Callisto! You’re back! I’m glad the argument seems to be over now,” Amalthea beams as she and a few more Jovian moons fly over. Europa doesn’t say anything, gaze too caught on to a moon in the middle of the area, who approaches them. 

It seems to be the Moon, but it’s- it’s not. He looks wrong. There’s a noticeably less amount of freckles on his face, his hair is drawn into a low, rough ponytail, and his clothes are different, with a black tank top and ripped jeans instead of soft gray layers. But weirdest of all, Callisto meets not-Moon’s eyes and realizes they’re like Europa’s at her worst- except instead of red, there’s two voids of black. 

Not-Moon grins in a way the Moon would never do, showing off his jagged teeth as he gives them a mock wave. “Hey, Europa and Callisto,” he spits out their names like they were a pair of curses. “I’m the Earth’s moon, and I seem to have just woken up from my sleep. Nice to meet you.”

Chapter Text

Being with Titan makes the Moon feel alive. Just the mere physical contact and the ability to talk- actually talk with someone causes joy to burst from his chest. Titan’s warm breath brushes the Moon’s cheek, his body snug against what would be the Moon’s own, and the Moon felt like he could get drunk off of the sensations alone. 

They’re traveling through the Kuiper belt now. It’s dark and quiet, and the air between the four moons is silent and a bit awkward. The strain of carrying Titan begins to leak into the Moon’s muscles, but he doesn’t let go. 

…Maybe he should be worried about how much he enjoyed that feeling. Then again, he hadn’t been able to feel for so long. He would take anything at this point, even if it was pain. 

“So how have things been while I was gone?” he asks, breaking the silence. He can’t see Titan’s face from this angle, but thinks he feels the light slide of the other’s chin as the moon turns to look at him. 

“...Well, I was sent here to recruit Uranus’ moons, as I’m sure you figured out by now. Ganymede and Io went to Neptune’s, Europa went to Jupiter and Callisto Saturn’s,” Titan responds. “I don’t think I want to focus on the recruitment anymore though. I care about defeating the planets and all, but—”

Then he stops himself, as if just realizing who he was talking to. The Moon faintly recognizes that this was the moment to fall back into the old patterns, to defend the Earth like he had so many times, to… 

The crimson crawling through his soul, memories creeping into his head— he can’t do it anymore. Void, what was wrong with him? Ever since he had heard what Callisto said to those moons, it was like something in his brain had switched- not flipping to the other side, not really, but stagnant as if it couldn’t choose.

The Moon swallows. He can practically feel Titan glancing at him expectantly, but can’t bring himself to say anything. Instead, he just embraces the other moon tighter, ignoring how the ache in his arms grows. 

“...Moon?” Titan says. 

“I don’t… I don’t know if I’m against the revolution anymore,” the Moon admits. After hearing it said out loud, it’s almost like something in him that was desperately holding on for so long breaks. He continues anyway. “I’m supposed to protect the Earth. I promised I would, but after becoming a ghost, after- I don’t think I can do it anymore. Especially when that red came- I don’t—”

“Moon!” Titan suddenly pushes back, forcing the Moon to slow down as he leaves the other’s grasp. The Moon whines at the loss, but the noise dies down when Titan leans close, again warm hands over his shaking shoulders (when had they started shaking?).

“You’re crying again,” he frowns gently, one thumb grazing the corner of the Moon’s left eye and wiping the already-evaporating tears off. The Moon blinks. He hadn’t noticed. 

“He’s crying?” Phobos mumbles with concern, peeking out from on the top of Titan’s head along with Deimos.

The Moon ignores them and focuses on Titan instead. “I thought you would be happier about this. Isn’t me- me rebelling against the Earth what you wanted?”

“Yes, but…” Titan trails off, gaze focused on the Moon like he was the most important thing in the universe, “not like this. Not when you’re like this.”

His hand goes down to cradle the Moon’s face, and they’re close again. The Moon swallows, but doesn’t look away. 

“What happened?” Titan asks. 

“...After I woke up, I went to the Earth first. He was my planet, so I thought he would see me. But he didn’t. And I- I guess I got reminded of all the times he ignored me or insulted me in the past. And when I left, I overheard Callisto trying to recruit Saturn’s moons. She said something about Saturn never knowing their names and it became too much,” the Moon explains, curling in on himself slightly as he goes through what happened. “The Earth never knew my real name. So all I could think about on my way here after that was- why bother? Why did I ever bother trying to protect the Earth? What was the point?” 

An indecipherable look takes over Titan’s face, and he answers, “I… I think the point was- why you did all of that, was because you love him.”

He was right. The Moon did everything for the Earth because he did love him. They had been orbiting together for so long, known each other for so long, and the Moon knew the Earth like the back of his hand. He recognized the Earth’s real smiles from his fake ones, remembered each fleeting life that had taken over his surface, loved the planet like a brother, like something greater than himself. 

But…

“...I don’t think the Earth loves me,” the Moon says quietly. The blue shade of his soul thickens, growing heavy and dragging his spirit along with it in a way he didn’t know was possible. “I- I don’t think he ever did.”

Then he pauses. His sorrow turns into something darker and more desperate as he suddenly reaches out and grabs the fabric of Titan’s shirt. “Convince me, Titan. Convince me like you tried to do back in the belt. Tell me to get justice, tell me to get what I deserve, just tell me. Make me choose. Please- I can’t. I don’t want to love him anymore.” The crimson is closer now, and the Moon knew that if Titan just told him what he needed to hear, it would be the last push he needed. It wasn’t only about that either- if he was going to be alive, he needed it too. He didn’t want to be the Earth’s moon. He couldn’t.

Luna. Luna, Luna, Luna— 

Titan stares at him, but he doesn’t say anything. 

The Moon knew he could. He knew Titan had an endless arsenal of flowery words at the tip of his tongue, knew Titan was the closest person to ever tear the chain of loyalty around the Moon’s life. Knew if he tried now, that chain would break and the Moon could be free. But Titan wasn’t doing it. 

Why wasn’t he doing it? He was the one who first saw the Earth as a villain. He was the one who kept trying to get the Moon to switch sides. Why wasn’t—

“...What’s your real name?” Titan inquires. 

“I-” the Moon’s tight grip on Titan falters, and he looks down to see that his fingers were coated with red instead of blue. He knew the other moon had noticed it as well, but he hadn’t said anything about it. Instead- what… What was Titan doing?

The Moon looks back up at Titan again, mouth feeling numb. “It’s- it’s Luna. My real name is Luna.”

“...Luna,” Titan repeats slowly, as if feeling the shape of the name over his tongue. He says it like it’s something far more significant than just a name. “Luna. That’s…pretty.”

…Titan had just said his name. The Moon Luna hadn’t heard that name said out loud in what seemed to be in an eternity. It was either a fleeting word in his own thoughts or a mental whisper from Dark, never-

“Do you want to stop loving the Earth, Luna?” Titan says with a slight tilt of his head, hand still ever warm against Luna’s skin.

“Who’s Luna?” Deimos mutters in a hushed voice. 

“I don’t know, but shut up, Deimos. I think they’re having a moment,” Phobos whispers back, ignoring the offended gasp his brother makes in response. 

Luna frowns. “It… it would be easier. And right, maybe. You said it yourself. You said he didn’t deserve me. Why aren’t you trying to convince me anymore, now that you finally have the chance to change my mind?”

“I wanted to convince you before because I wanted you on my side. I wasn’t thinking about you, Luna. What if I convince you now, and if- when you turn alive again, you do something you’ll regret and can’t take back?” guilt suddenly pours into Titan’s dark, amber-tinted eyes, but he continues- “I was being selfish then, and it led to your death. I refuse to be selfish now.”

“You don’t get to decide what’s right for me,” Luna snaps even as he can’t find it in himself to back away. 

“You’re right, I don’t. It’s your choice. But right now, you’re asking me to persuade you- manipulate you into doing something you might not want. I won't do it,” Titan decides firmly, voice leaving no room for argument. Luna doesn’t know how to respond to that, but… the other moon had a point. This was his choice. 

Even if it hurt so much, being torn between two sides, feeling red and blue wage war on each other, Luna had the sinking realization he couldn’t rush this. 

He lets go of Titan, hand falling and hanging limply by his side. The red stains on it don’t go away. 

Titan’s hand leaves him as well, warmth disappearing with it. Luna’s shoulders droop, but at least they weren’t trembling anymore.

“Luna is the Moon’s real name,” Titan announces, and Phobos and Deimos blink down at him from their spot. “Don’t forget it.”

“Luna… okay!” Phobos nods. “That’s a cool name! And a lot easier to say than the ‘Earth’s moon’.”

“What was the whole conversation between you guys about, though?” Deimos frowns. 

“Hey! It’s personal, don’t stick your nose into other people’s business!” Phobos chastises. 

Deimos huffs. “They knew we were here the whole time but kept yapping. Personal my butt!”

“You can summarize it for them,” Luna puts in, trying his best to push aside the intense validation that had sprung up in his chest at two more people knowing his real name.

“Basically, Luna was… feeling conflicted about the Earth, and we talked about it,” he sums up, and Phobos and Deimos shrug and nod, seemingly satisfied with the short explanation. Titan turns back to Luna, gaze dropping to the other’s hand. “But also- Luna, you mentioned red before. And there’s some red on your hand now. Why?”

Phobos tilts his head. “Red?”

“From my point of view, I can see Luna, but he’s mostly transparent with a blue tint. There’s some red on his hand now though.”

“...This happened back when I first found Uranus and Neptune. Back then, it was the first time I thought about getting revenge and… and the red came. When I told myself I didn’t want to get revenge, it vanished. But I felt alive when it was there,” Luna answers. 

“Alive. And you have it now, too, and it’s not disappearing,” Titan observes.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Titan narrows his eyes at Luna’s red fingertips for a moment. “Could you try touching Phobos or Deimos again?”

Luna furrows his brow. “Wouldn’t I just phase through them?”

“No, I mean- try touching them with the red,” Titan clarifies. 

Alive, Luna repeats in his head, and he thinks he knows what Titan was trying to figure out. He reaches out his arm, stained finger brushing against Phobos- 

For a second, it doesn’t phase through. Phobos jolts, eyes going comically wide as he falls back on Titan’s cloudy scalp. 

“I—"

“Phobos? What happened? What did you see?” Deimos asks. 

“I saw the M- Luna’s hand for a second,” Phobos replies, getting his bearings back together. “I felt it too!”

“You did? Aw, I’m jealous!” Deimos whines. “Luna! Do it to me too!” 

“Um- alright,” Luna agrees hesitantly. He does it with Deimos as well, and for a second, it doesn’t phase through either. Deimos gasps with a wide grin on his face.

“I felt it!”

“I felt it first!” Phobos says, immediately making this a competition, for… some reason.

Deimos sticks his tongue out at him. Phobos does it back. Luna blinks and wisely decides to return his attention to Titan.

So… the crimson is- making me more alive again? I was right then. I do need it. If I get enough negative emotions towards the Earth…

But that’s not guaranteed. It- it honestly kind of sounds too good to be true. Anger can’t just make me come back to life again. What if the crimson actually kills me for good if it’s in control for too long? Or it might alter my mind. I’ve heard of earthling legends of vengeful ghosts. I really don’t want to risk becoming like them. 

Right now, it’s best for us to find out more before trying anything.

Judging by the look on Titan’s face, he was thinking something similar. If they decided to do something without being unprepared, it could end very badly.

“I think we should go back to looking for Uranus’ moons. They still might know something. And if that doesn’t work, we go to Saturn as a last resort,” Titan announces. 

“I don’t think I can carry you guys anymore though. My arms are way too sore,” Luna says apologetically. Titan shakes his head. 

“It’s fine. With how fast you were going, I’m pretty sure we didn’t lose a lot of distance. We can still catch up soon enough.”

“We’re going the rest of the way on foot? That’s okay with me,” Phobos states as he and Deimos float down to Titan’s shoulders. “As thrilling as Luna’s speed was, I was feeling kinda dizzy.”

“Let’s go then,” Luna declares, even as he knew full well two of the three people next to him couldn’t hear him. He ignores how that fact still hurts and presses onward. The four of them float deeper into the Kuiper Belt. 

They travel in peaceful silence for a while. But then, suddenly, Luna feels a yank at his core- no, his spark. He slides to a stop, gaze instinctively turning to the distant sun, catching the way the string leading to his orbit sways just a bit. 

Luna!— 

Dark’s voice. That was Dark’s voice. Or at least, Luna was pretty sure it was. 

Was he imagining things? He had to be, there was no way—

The string tightens, as if someone on the other side was pulling it. But then it stops, and before Luna could do anything, he hears the quiet shuffling of something- someone stepping in front of the four of them. He freezes and looks up. The pull fades. Whatever was there of Dark’s presence ebbs, to the point where Luna is almost certain to chalk it up as his mind playing tricks on him.

There were far more things going on than his own head though. Most notably- the two strangers that had arrived at the scene. The shorter of them had flashing, coral eyes shadowed with long lashes, curly, medium-length hair, and a fashionable dress. The taller one had dark, cropped hair, piercing black eyes, and a mask covering her mouth. 

The first crosses her arms as she glares at them. Well- more specifically, at Titan. 

“Who are you, and what do you want?”

Chapter Text

“I’m Titan,” Titan replies after a short while, managing to get his bearings together. “I’m one of Saturn’s moons, and I’m looking to help my friend. Who are you?” 

Neither of them reply. Instead, one steps forward, her dark eyes practically boring holes into him. 

What… is she doing? Luna wonders briefly, even as he reaches deep inside himself to try and find his counterpart. Dark doesn’t respond. 

Did he ever talk to him in the first place, or was it simply Luna’s imagination futilely grasping for the straws? He takes a deep breath and tries to force a thought to the other side, no matter how useless it may be. 

…Dark? Are you there?

Still no response. The sorrow and frustration weighing his core thickens, but Luna decides to turn away from the mental link and focus back on reality again. His subconscious was probably making things up in an attempt to comfort him. Which- great. 

Meanwhile, Titan furrows his brow as the silence in the confrontation stretches. “…Why are you looking at me like that?” 

“She’s figuring out your intentions,” the other answers from a bit farther away. 

“Uh… can’t she just ask?”

“Can’t you just lie?” she fires back. “We’ve never met a moon of Saturn before. We don’t know whether you’re really here for a friend… or if you’re here for us. We’re not idiots.”

“...um. Okay,” Titan nods, going quiet at the hostility. The other huffs, and Phobos and Deimos eye each other from behind the curtains of Titan’s hair. 

But eventually, the eye contact breaks as the silent one finds whatever she was searching for and turns to her companion with a subtle nod. The relief that echoes in response is blatant, both from the stranger and from Titan. Luna… still doesn’t really know what happened, but hey, this is far from the most supernatural thing he’s experienced. He’s a ghost, so. It’s quite difficult to top that. 

“You’ve passed. Your intentions aren’t to hurt us, or to bring us back to him,” the stranger states, her words suddenly lighthearted as the guarded tone surrounding it fades. “Sorry if that process wasn’t the most friendly. It’s just standard procedure- we’re both moons of Uranus, you see, and we’re hiding from him. We couldn’t risk someone blowing our cover.”

Moons of Uranus. That’s- that’s good. Clearly, with whatever intention seeking went on, they know more on how this solar system works than us at least. This is better than I expected. 

“My name is Miranda,” the moon introduces herself, before gesturing to her companion. “That’s Umbriel.”

“It’s nice to meet you two,” Titan nods. “How did you know I was here?”

“Well, our leader has us send scouts around the Kuiper Belt to keep track of the ice giants. One of them- Ariel- came back late and rambled about someone coming from outside the Kuiper Belt. So we were expecting you,” Miranda explains with an absentminded hum. 

Titan nods again. “I understand.”

“But um… even if your intentions are clear, I still have a few more questions. Why are you here? If you’re looking to help someone, why didn’t you speak with Jupiter or your own planet? Coming all the way to talk with us, out of all people, seems a bit over-the-top.”

“...Well, at first, I didn’t come here to talk with you guys about that. I came to recruit people for a cause. But then I found out…” Titan’s expression tightens. “It’s complicated.”

“We’re not running low on time or anything, just tell us.” Miranda assures, invoking a reluctant sigh from Titan. 

“Do you know what happens after someone falls out of the solar system?”

Miranda furrows her brow. “...Their body would be brought back to their orbits, and they would wake up after… two earth months, right? But… did your friend’s body not-?”

“No, no,” Titan shakes his head, despite looking horrified at the very possibility. “It’s not that. It’s more complicated. His body came back, but his soul is… well, um. Right next to me. As a ghost, or a spirit. He’s separated, for some reason.”

Umbriel squints at him again. Next to her, Miranda’s brow unfurrows as she blinks. Slowly. 

“...So, you’re hallucinating?”

Hurt bursts in what should be Luna’s chest. 

Titan frowns. “I’m not!-”

“He’s not hallucinating! We know Luna’s there too!” Phobos speaks up, flying out with his twin.  

Miranda blinks, a bit taken aback as anyone likely would after seeing two, tiny asteroid-sized moons get in front of their face from seemingly  nowhere. “And who exactly are you?”

“Phobos and Deimos, the two moons of Mars,” Deimos declares haughtily, hands on his hips. 

“And this Luna person is…?”

“Our friend, the Earth’s moon. And he can hear every word right now, by the way,” Phobos answers. Miranda and Umbriel don’t look too convinced. 

“It’s a group hallucination, then,” Miranda concludes, and Phobos’ eye twitches.

“No, it’s not!—”

“And I’m sorry, but we don’t know how to treat those, so you should go back to wherever you came from for therapy. Me, Umbriel, and the rest of the group have bigger fish to fry right now than—”

“Luna. Try to see if the red will work on her,” Titan suggests, turning to the ghost as the argument goes on. He looks strangely irritated- not at him, but probably with the whole situation going on. Luna would be lying if he said it didn’t make him feel a bit better. 

“Okay,” he agrees, floating forward until he’s in front of Miranda, then resting his crimson-stained hand on her shoulder. 

Miranda jolts violently, whatever argument she was going to say dying in her throat as her eyes go wide. And for a second, Luna distantly realizes he could push, because she was warm too, warm and alive—

It’s like that whole temptation to kiss Titan, except the intimacy and yearning is drained away until there’s only hunger this time. Another reason why being a ghost is the worst, Luna decides. Miranda’s shoulders are shivering, and she looks towards Luna. Luna doesn’t think she sees him, not quite, but in that moment he could somehow tell she knew he was there. 

It’s silent again. Phobos and Deimos have a distinct “told-you-so” vibe surrounding them- they must’ve connected the dots on what happened- and Titan looks satisfied. Umbriel looks utterly bewildered, and Miranda seems… scared. 

Some spiritual part of Luna tells him he should like that. He doesn’t. 

“Y-You’re…” she stammers. Luna doesn’t say anything, just squeezes for a second before letting go, feeling a bit ill. Miranda takes a deep breath. 

“...I- I guess you people aren’t hallucinating. That, or I’m going insane too,” she mumbles, turning away from him as annoyance and confusion spread over her fear. 

“What did we say!” Phobos taunts with a self-assured smirk. Umbriel looks even more bemused, and she turns and makes a few symbols to Miranda with her hands. Luna can’t exactly tell what they mean, but Miranda nods, as if understanding them completely. 

“I felt their imaginary friend’s hand for a second. I mean- they’re not so imaginary now. You get my point,” Miranda sighs. Umbriel stares at her for a moment longer before giving her an “okay” signal. That one, Luna could recognize at least. 

“We don’t know if you guys can help us,” Titan admits. “But Jupiter wasn’t in his orbit the last time Luna checked, and Saturn is really far away. And we don’t know the full circumstances- if we’re on a ticking clock, who knows and who doesn’t- so we might as well try to talk with your leader just in case he knows something.”

“She,” Miranda corrects, coral eyes examining them in a different light. “But… fine. If you’re not here for us, and you’re not going crazy, I don’t see the harm in trying to see if we could help you, I guess. Come with us. Our base isn’t too far away.”

She and Umbriel turn and fly forward, and the other moons wordlessly follow.

“So, that was an interesting experience,” Luna mutters, breaking the silence (well, for him and Titan, as the others couldn’t hear) and glancing down at his hand. The red glances back. 

“Yeah,” Titan agrees. Then, in a softer voice, “Are you doing okay?”

He ignores how Miranda and Umbriel eye him weirdly again. And so, Luna ignores them too. Luna didn’t blame them, even if they figured Titan wasn’t insane it was probably way too strange to see him chatting with empty air to not look.

(At least with Titan around, he didn’t feel too much like that, compared to before.)

“...I don’t feel much different,” Luna replies. He wonders if he should talk about the whole ‘hearing Dark for a second’ situation, but if he was being honest, it was starting to feel more and more like something his mind made up than something that had actually occurred. He didn’t want to give Titan false hope or have him worry.

Because if Luna was being honest, as desperate as he wanted for everything to be normal again- to be helped, he still felt kind of guilty about it. Especially since Titan expressed so much concern over him and was willing to do so much for something neither of them didn’t know was possible or not. And so, Luna decides that uncertain pieces of information were better to be kept silent about. 

“But there’s something wrong, isn’t there?” Titan presses nevertheless, and Luna thins his lips. He… should’ve expected the other moon to catch on. Titan wasn’t the Earth, but that didn’t mean Luna was going to tell him everything though.

“I mean- I guess. It’s just that, when I was trying to get Miranda to see me, she looked scared. I… really didn’t like that. Even though a part of me said I should,” Luna mutters. “It’s like something is pushing me to change for the worse. The Earth… I don’t know what I should feel about him, but I don’t want to hurt people who have done nothing to me.”

Titan takes a deep breath. “Well… I don’t quite know what you’re going through, but I can understand some of it. Worrying about hurting others, I mean.”

Luna blinks. He wasn’t expecting that. 

“You can?”

“Yeah. Saturn’s favorite, remember? As much as I want to claim that I hated all the attention, or that it was unwarranted and unfair— there was a time where I thrived off of it. I wasn’t… the nicest back then. And I hurt people. It was a long time ago, but I still regret it a lot.”

“...I see,” Luna replies. “But then- what about the Earth? I’m not- I’m not arguing for him, but…”

“I get what you’re trying to say. It’s a matter of- of circumstance for me. The people I hurt back then did nothing to me. The Earth did. And he did a lot of messed up stuff to you, for example. But… I don’t know. Ganymede would say I want to hurt him, and it would be justified, and I sometimes agree with him, but other times- I think I just want an apology. That’s why I asked you what you wanted back then, instead of… bringing you into the revolution. I can’t just force you into doing something you might regret,” Titan says, words soft but deliberate. He seems deep in thought, and Luna’s about to respond but Miranda gets there first.

“Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but what did the Earth do, exactly?” she asks, slowing her speed to match Titan’s. “And what’s this ‘revolution’ about?”

Titan glances at her, motions not necessarily hostile but still lacking friendliness. “Were you eavesdropping?”

Miranda shrugs, causing her long curls to bounce over the sleeves of her dress as a result. “It was dead silent, save for the whispering of those two tiny moons. I couldn’t help but overhear.”

“...Okay. Well, basically the Earth just insulted every moon in the solar system by saying we should ‘know our place’. That prompted me to start a revolution, which was the cause I was talking about earlier. But then I saw a ghost and realized I had bigger problems,” Titan answers. 

“A revolution… interesting. But how did this ‘Luna’ even become a ghost in the first place?” Miranda inquires, and Luna can’t help the bitter, dark memories that suddenly reawaken in his head. Memories of falling, feeling his body vanish—

Memories of Callisto crashing into him. And now that Luna was pondering over it even more, that sensation was uncannily familiar, wasn’t it—?

Remorse overtakes Titan’s face, and he takes a sharp breath. He turns to Luna in a silent question of permission, and Luna responds with a nod. 

It hurt, recalling what happened, but they were still going to these moons for help. How could people help him without knowing the full story? 

“Luna didn’t want to join the revolution. We were in the asteroid belt at the time, and he tried to escape. An accident happened, and he fell. I saw his body back with the Earth, and I thought he was fine and- and continued what I was doing, but…”

“But you were wrong,” Miranda finishes grimly. 

“Yes, I was wrong. He might be permanently dead, because of—”

“Again, not your fault,” Luna reminds harshly. Titan eyes him, disbelief and acceptance painting his face in the same breath before he sighs. Miranda’s expression is tinged with sympathy, and even Phobos’ and Deimos’ hushed chatter had momentarily stopped as they look at him with thinly-veiled concern.

“...I’m not well versed in situations like this, but I sincerely hope our leader can help. She’s very knowledgeable,” Miranda says eventually. “Does anyone else know about him being a ghost?”

“Besides this group, no. No one else has been able to fully see or feel him besides me, and the only reason why you felt him was because of some recent development, I think. He’s usually transparent with a tint of blue, but when he focuses on revenge, there’s red- it’s really complicated,” Titan states. 

Miranda hums thoughtfully, something in her perking up at the elaboration, “Red and blue, huh. From a symbolic standpoint, blue is considered more of a background color and usually resembles sorrow. Red is often bright and eye-catching, a much ‘stronger’ color of sorts. It often resembles rage.”

“That’s… I suppose you’re right,” Titan observes. “What made you think of that?”

Miranda offers him another shrug as something wistful shines through her eyes. “Uranus likes to paint. He… would ramble about things like this a lot. Color, composition, lighting- and us moons had to listen through it.”

“...It sounds like you don’t hate him. What caused you and the other moons to hide from him in the first place?” Titan asks. 

It was a joke, Luna thinks as he recalls overhearing the conversation between Uranus and Neptune. A horrible one at that, but… 

“He made a joke about killing us to make prettier rings,” Miranda answers, disgust digging through the temporary fondness. “For our safety, our leader urged us to find shelter here. We don’t know if he meant it, but…”

“Even if he didn’t mean it, that’s still a pretty shitty thing to say. Just like what the Earth said,” Titan points out. Miranda falls silent, something indescribable clashing behind her face. 

They still had enough sense to run away. If I were in their shoes, and if the Earth said something like that to me- then again. He’s said worse, hasn’t he?

But Uranus does want to apologize. I should tell them that- or, rather, have Titan tell them that for me. Would they even believe me though? They hardly believe my existence, much less—

If I told the Earth how I was feeling about everything he’s done in the past, would he…?

Luna opens his mouth, to say something, he isn’t sure what, but then in front of them Umbriel stops in her tracks. She forms another few symbols to show Miranda, who nods intently. 

“Umbriel says we’re here,” she announces after a moment. “The base is really close now. We will go first and tell our leader what’s going on, and you guys will know when to join in later so we don’t cause anyone to panic. Got it?”

“Got it,” Titan agrees as Phobos and Deimos float next to him. Umbriel briskly heads towards the direction of the base, but then Miranda hesitates, glancing at Titan again. 

“...Yellow is the color of happiness. It’s a primary color, just like blue and red, and some say it’s just as strong and eye-catching as red. Maybe… Your ghost friend needs some yellow,” she advises, uncertainty showing in the way her hands tug at the folds of her dress, before she turns and leaves as well. Titan goes still, staring at where she once was, no doubt a million thoughts racing through her brain. Luna felt the same way. 

Yellow…?

The red on his fingers swirl.

Chapter Text

“...Yellow is the color of happiness.”

Luna swallows nothing, staring as in the distance, shrouded by asteroids, Miranda has a word with the mysterious leader of Uranus’ moons. Everything feels thick and muted and- and it would be wrong, if it wasn’t already so wrong. 

Luna was happy. Well, okay- maybe not so much in his orbit, floating around his planet as if he was tied on a leash, though that relationship did have its moments. 

Or maybe it never did. Maybe Luna was just making any- any sense of joy up. Maybe—

But he’d met Titan, and when they were in the belt before everything had gone so sullen and complicated, Luna was happy then. Teasing Phobos and Deimos, admiring Titan’s soft smile and finally feeling as if he had someone to talk to, people that he could be himself around. Even before the slushy, romantic feelings set in, Titan had always been there for him. 

…Oh. No, not always. Because-

Before his death, Titan had…

Cold words, colder eyes, betrayal, a promise for violence even as hesitant, regretful affection leaked through—

Luna doesn’t know if he forgives Titan for that. He doesn’t even know if he could, because Titan might’ve been right, and Luna might agree with what he said now. The ignored rage burning in Luna might’ve been right. 

He stays silent. Titan glances at him, but he must’ve sensed the unwillingness to talk and doesn’t push it. 

The tension is broken when Miranda turns and beckons them over with a wave. And so, they head forward and enter the base. It’s a small thing, not enough to even try to rival the one they had back in the belt, but Luna gets the sense it’s meant to be that way. The moons of Uranus’ goal wasn’t to plot or hold private meetings, it was to hide. Something like this would easily blend in with the rest of the belt under a planet’s gaze. 

One of the moons step forward, different from the rest. Dark, clever eyes, taupe hair tucked in a sharp bun, and a stance that practically radiated authority. It’s the leader of the group. Luna could tell from the way she approaches Titan in a brisk walk while keeping the rest of the moons carefully stagnant behind her. 

“So. You’re a moon of Saturn, huh? Here to help your… friend?” 

Her voice might as well have been as friendly as bullets, but not a single hint of fear escapes Titan. Instead, he just nods. 

“Yeah. My name is Titan, what’s yours?”

The leader tilts her head. “...Titania.”

They look at each other, for a while. Phobos and Deimos, for some reason, start doing the same thing with each other. Luna opts to ignore them. 

Then Titania claps her hands in a declaration of finality. “Well. It’s nice to meet you, but we don’t know anything on how to help people… separated from their bodies. You’ll find nothing here.”

A sense of hopelessness pours into Luna as he listens, and the spark of his core drags. He’s distantly aware of the blue rising against red.

“Are you sure? You- you don’t know anything?” Titan frowns. Titania just sighs in response.

“I’m sorry. But we have our plates full with our own problems already.”

Titan’s frown deepens. “...Is it that you can’t help, or you won’t?” he challenges, aggression unfurling in his voice. 

“We can’t,” Titania repeats firmly. “If you don’t know how to help, why did you expect us to? Go back to your planet and ask him.”

It doesn’t… sound like a lie. Titania seems to remain unwaveringly neutral, her presence achingly strong, but Luna doesn’t miss the way the smaller moons watch on, their eyes wide with fear for Titan and admiration for Titania. Luna looks closer and recognizes how most are ragged, panting for breath, others sleeping in still others’ arms, how…

He doesn’t think they’ll find anything here. 

Titan follows his gaze and sighs, probably figuring the same thing. “...Alright then. We’ll leave—”

“Wait! I- I have a question,” one of the moons speaks up. “...Miranda told us about the whole revolution against the planets. Even if you’re not a part of it anymore, what was it about?”

“Ariel!” Titania hisses, glaring at the other moon. “That has nothing to do with us. Our goal isn’t to fight for some cause, our goal is to survive.”

Ariel shrinks back. “But… we’ve been isolated for so long. What if they can help us?”

“We’re doing just fine as is. We don't need to implicate ourselves into whatever the other moons have gotten themselves in. So unless a planet magically finds us right now—”

“There you are!”

Neptune’s voice overwhelms the rest of Titania’s sentence as in front of them, a giant blue eye appears with a glittering, cartoonish star as a pupil. Everyone freezes and gawks at it, even Luna, although he knew he was the only one Neptune couldn’t see. 

After a few, tense seconds, Neptune leans back, his wavy, blue-streaked hair floating around him as if he was underwater. Luna notices the glittery scales dotting his cheeks and reflecting faint sunlight, along with the aquamarine fins he had for ears, similar to Ariel’s pinker ones. But the planet stays quiet, large eyes darting to the distance where Uranus probably was, before focusing on Titan for… some reason. 

The mood turns even more intense although Neptune himself seems to be completely ignorant to that. Titan stares back at him, and the initial fear and shock in his face fades away to wary curiosity as the planet just- doesn’t do anything. He doesn’t call Uranus, or try to capture them, just sits there in silence.

Titania is the first Uranian moon to snap out of her trance to scowl at Titan, likely due to some suspicion that he had led Neptune here- which was kind of fair. But the scowl doesn’t linger for long, and she diverts her attention to the other moons. 

“We have to go. It might just be Neptune right now, but if we linger with him long enough, Uranus is going to show up sooner or later,” she warns in a hushed voice, and Neptune’s eyes shine. 

“Why do you want to leave so much?” he asks, his focus leaving Titan momentarily as he tilts his head. Titania presses her lips to a thin line as she turns back to the planet, but strangely, no hint of fear shows in her face. No fear for Neptune directly, anyway. Just who he might bring. 

“You were there when he first made that comment. We don’t take lightly on someone threatening us, and you two hang out together all the time, so he’ll be here eventually. This whole ordeal may seem insignificant for you, but that’s just because you don’t understand what it’s like to be us,” Titania replies flatly, her voice frigid and harsh. 

But instead of a normal response, Neptune just lets out a lighthearted… chuckle? 

“You’re so silly! Uranus never hangs out with me first. I always have to go to him- well, except the time we first met. And ‘sides, right now, he’s too busy fixing up an apology for you all.”

That gets a reaction. Hope, shock, disbelief ripples out of the group of moons. 

“An apology. And you expect us to believe that,” Titania deadpans, choosing to be the first to reply. 

Neptune’s smile doesn’t falter. “Yeah, I did!”

…He’s definitely not all there, is he, Luna can’t help but think incredulously. Titania just looks very unimpressed at this point. 

“I was actually gonna call him here to read the apology out loud. He spent a lot of time writing it,” Neptune continues, and something in Titania hesitates at that. Luna catches it in a soften of her brow, in the way her endlessly tense posture wavers a little. “But this one here distracted me!”

“Who- Titan?” Titania inquires, and Neptune hums.

“Well, I dunno his name- but he’s the newcomer. Hair tinged with a thick, mainly nitrogen composed atmosphere, dark water ice irises, you know, the whole thing,” Neptune answers, and Luna’s floored for a moment at the sheer amount of knowledge coming out of what seems to be nowhere. 

“...Right,” Titania says slowly. “Okay. If you’re just here for him then, then we’ll go and let you guys talk in private.”

Neptune pouts, resembling something Phobos and Deimos would do then… y’know. A planet. “Aw. You’re not going to try and talk with Uranus then?”

“It’s not worth the risk,” Titania replies, and Neptune’s pout just deepens. 

“Hiding from him isn’t the right solution either. You can’t do it forever,” he points out, tone suddenly, uncharacteristically wise, and Luna notices the way something in Titan shifts as the other moon’s gaze darts to the rest of the solar system. 

…Saturn. Saturn's other moons.

Earth. 

Luna isn’t sure what to think. 

And from the looks of things, Titania doesn’t either. 

“I should know! I was hidden from the solar system for a longgg while, and it ended up with me being in a bit of a pickle!” Neptune adds. “That’s why I can’t remember stuff half of the time.”

He sounds… way too cheerful about that.

“...He has a point, Titania. We can’t just hide forever, can we? I don’t want to spend the rest of our time in fear,” Ariel argues. “And if it’s too dangerous for us talk with Uranus, we could go to the revolution instead—”

“Revolution?” Neptune tilts his head. The moons freeze. Ariel swallows, eyes going wide as Umbriel takes a protective step closer to her. 

Abnormal as he is, Neptune is still a planet. Luna remembers. He flies closer to Titan, arms snaking around his waist in preparation to bring him away if things took a turn for the worst. Titan stiffens, and the martian moons notice, taking it as a cue to fly down atop his shoulders. 

“We have to leave,” Titania mumbles under her breath, and disappointment flickers across Neptune’s face. 

“Aw, why? I won’t tell anyone, if that’s what you want.”

“You can’t be trusted. You’re a planet, and—”

“Have I done anything to break your trust?” Neptune presses suddenly, his tone taking a more serious approach. 

“Well- no, but our lives are at stake here. We can’t afford to trust anyone. It’s not personal,” Titania explains.

“Living a life in fear is hardly a life at all. I should know- I disappeared from the solar system because I was scared. And if I could take it back, I would a hundred times over.”

Pain pierces through Neptune’s normally jovial nature along with the seriousness, but then, just like that, he flips the switch once more. “Buttttt it’s your choice in the end. If you want to hide, or join the revolution thinga-magigy, I won’t tell.”

Titania stares at him, hands clenched into fists, expression unreadable. Her fellow moons glance at each other, unsure of what to say, until—

“Let’s go,” she states. 

Miranda frowns. “Titania—”

“Let’s go,” Titania repeats, turning away from Neptune and storming off in a brisk walk. Some of the other moons look like they want to speak out or disagree, but ultimately, they follow. Neptune watches as they disappear into the distance. 

Then his focus shifts back onto Titan. “Now we’re alone!”

“I- I guess we are,” Titan agrees, brow furrowed. Luna’s arms tighten around him, just in case. 

The best word to describe Neptune was ‘unpredictable’. And based on that conversation with Uranus’ moons, Luna doesn’t… necessarily fear or distrust the planet or anything like that. But he’d rather stay vigilant.

“...Do you want to talk to me about something, Neptune?” Titan inquires. 

“As a matter of fact, I do! Specifically, what happened when me and Uranus first saw you,” Neptune’s eyes gleam again, narrowing in on Titan in a way that was somehow both childish and wise in the same breath. “Care to explain?”

Chapter Text

“...What do you mean?” Titan asks, squinting up at the planet. 

“Well, you were looking at us, and then you looked at something else. Then you started talking to yourself about hallucinating and someone being asleep. You hugged nothing, talked to nothing- well, maybe not nothing.” An eerie current of perceptiveness washes into Neptune’s words. “Maybe, it was just someone I couldn’t see.”

Titan goes as still as a statue. “Um. What makes you say that?”

“Oh, plenty of things! But mostly in how you got away. You didn’t seem to fly away, and you did it abnormally fast in comparison to a speed I would expect,” Neptune answers cheerily. “Uranus called you mentally insane. But I’m the mentally insane one, and it takes one to know one. I don’t see me in you.”

“...Ah, right,” Titan nods stiffly. He brushes his knuckles against Luna in a silent message. 

Should I tell him?

Luna thinks back to Neptune’s advice with Uranus’ moons. He had never gotten the chance to really see Neptune before this, and seeing him now… Luna had the feeling the other planet knew and understood a lot more than he let on. Besides, there isn’t much risk present in this situation. Luna didn’t particularly care if Neptune believed Titan or not, and no one took the planet seriously, so nothing should happen if he decided to tell someone else. 

It's worth a shot. 

“You can tell him,” Luna whispers, cold brushing against Titan’s ear and leaving it tinted with blush. Titan nods shallowly, and for some reason, Luna can catch his already erratic corebeat quicken. It was probably because of the nerves.

“R-right. So… um, basically an accident happened to my friend and he fell out of the solar system. His body came back, but his soul wasn’t attached to it. Right now, he’s here with me.”

“Hm… okay! I believe you,” is Neptune’s response. Luna doesn’t know why he’s surprised anymore. 

Titan blinks. “Wait, really?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I? It explains why I couldn’t see who you were talking to and how you were brought away. It also makes a whole lot more sense than you going insane. Insanity is over-hyped, anyway,” Neptune elaborates, as if he was just an earthling discussing the weather. 

“...Okay. Do you, um, know anything that could help?” Titan inquires, and Luna doesn’t miss the desperate hope that spikes through his words. He feels the same in his chest, although he keeps it quiet. But if Neptune knew, if Luna could finally figure out how to be alive again, if—

“No, I don’t.”

Oh. Luna inexplicably feels the hope he tried to quell fall. Okay. That’s… well, that’s to be expected. I don’t know why I thought—

“But I know stuff that could help figure out what could help!” Neptune offers, and just like that, the hope annoyingly rises again, even though Luna himself was starting to lose faith in whatever knowledge Neptune had.

“Stuff? Like what?” Titan asks. 

“Well, I know how the solar system works. Since we’re sentient, there’s a fine line between actions that are allowed and actions that don’t follow the natural order of things. That’s why something like falling out of the solar system would lead to you being brought back… unless there’s already pre-existing instability, an order from the Sun, or a special case. Tell me who your friend is, exactly?”

…Special case? 

Dark’s body instead of Luna’s own—

“My friend is the Earth’s moon, Luna,” Titan says. 

For a second, Neptune seems deep in contemplation, before—

“Who’s the Earth?”

What-?

Did Luna hear that right?

Titan seems to be having a similar reaction. “You don’t know who the Earth is?! He’s- he’s the third inner planet. Y’know, the one with life?”

“Huh?” Neptune tilts his head again in honest bewilderment. “Wasn’t Gaia the third planet? And what’s a life?”

Titan looks even more confused now. The quiet voice of Phobos questioning Neptune’s sanity thrums near Luna’s ears.

Gaia…? Where had I heard that name before- I could’ve sworn I heard it before… 

Luna didn’t like this. It was getting weirder and weirder, and the blue in him ripples with orange suspicion for a split second, like he was close to- to something. He didn’t know what it was, but he didn’t want to find out. And what the hell was with these stupid colors—

“Forget it. We’re getting off topic,” Luna decides, letting go of Titan and floating next to him. He has the feeling that whatever was connected with Gaia would only further complicate things and lead to a revelation he did not need to experience while simultaneously being a ghost. Nope. No thank you. 

“Do you have something you want to tell him?” Titan prompts. 

“I do. Tell him about… about my situation with Dark,” Luna requests. He can tell it catches Titan off guard- after all, no one knew about Dark but them, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Luna knew it was stingy to reveal something so intimate about someone else without their consent, but void, he didn’t even know if Dark was alive. And those words through their mental link, their limp body lying in the Earth’s orbit- Luna didn’t want to risk the both of them further. He wanted him to be safe, no matter what. 

Titan seems to understand and returns his focus back to Neptune again. “My friend wanted to tell you about how he shared his body with someone else prior to his death. Does that have anything to do with what’s going on?”

“Sharing a body? Ohh, how interesting,” Neptune muses, sounding perfectly content with the possibility of that idea. “Yes, that could count as a special case. When someone’s body is brought back to the solar system, the body’s soul is brought back with it. But if there were two souls, a glitch could’ve happened. Leading to one turning into a ghost.” He puts his hands together, then separates them with his palms outstretched. “Poof!”

That… makes sense. But then, how do we—

“How do we get him back into his own body then?” Titan presses. 

“Logically speaking, if your friend was kicked out because there were two souls, then he just has to be put back. There shouldn’t be an issue about the body having two consciousnesses in there at once either, because it seems it was naturally equipped to handle that. Has Luna tried interacting with his body yet?”

“I have, but I just phased through,” Luna answers, and Titan repeats it out loud.

“I see. Was the other soul awake?” Neptune says. 

“...No. But the rules state the person will be asleep for two months, don’t they?” Luna points out. 

Neptune hums after receiving the message from Titan. “Perhaps. But perhaps not. The ‘glitch’ might’ve also caused some other errors. Can Luna and this soul hear each other’s thoughts?”

Too intimate. Too revealing. Too—

His relationship with Dark was private. Luna hadn’t even told Titan about things like this, things that had been hidden for practically their whole existence. But he didn’t have much of a choice, now did he? 

(Dark had begged him once, shortly after the asteroid had hit the Earth, to not say a word about him to anyone else without asking him first. Luna had agreed.)

I’m sorry, Dark. 

“Yes, we can.”

He can sense Titan’s surprise, but the other moon doesn’t comment, just confirms it out loud. 

“Gotcha, gotcha…” Neptune frog-blinks as he processes the information. “And have you heard anything from them, Luna?” 

“I—,” Luna swallows. Well, if there was a time to be honest, it’d be now. “Maybe. I might’ve heard him like, an hour ago, but I’m not sure.” 

Titan furrows his brow. “Wait, what? Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“I didn’t know for certain, and I didn’t want you to worry,” Luna admits.

“...Fine,” Titan mutters, clearly wanting to push the topic but begrudgingly deciding not to. He repeats Luna’s answer, and Neptune’s eyes widen a fraction. 

“That’s good. That means he might be awake already,” he remarks. 

“But- if he’s awake, then why did I only hear him once? And I tried sending them a message back, but they didn’t respond,” Luna says.

“A number of reasons,” Neptune responds after Titan translates for him. “It could be that he’s ignoring you and wants to keep the body for himself. Or it could be because of how far away you two are. Or your bond is still recovering from your death.”

Well, definitely not the first option. Dark- Dark wouldn’t do that. But the other two… the last time I saw him was by the Earth, which is extremely far away. And the third makes sense. 

Or Dark could be dead, and there’s no point discussing this—

“If he’s- if he’s dead and the body has no inhabitant, I should be able to go in without phasing, right?” Luna asks, dutifully ignoring the dread billowing in his spark.

“Pretty much,” Neptune confirms. “That’s how the system works, I think. Or, I think that I think…?”

And utter relief fills Luna at that, so much so that he ignores whatever tangent Neptune was going on right now. Dark wasn’t dead. At least, by the solar system’s rules, he wasn’t dead. And that meant a lot just by itself. 

“Okay, now how do we get Luna back in there?” Titan prompts.

Neptune presses a finger to his chin. “Hmm… Well, I can’t give you anything for certain, because I’m prettyyyy sure something like this has never happened before. What I think would be best is to just talk with the other soul. If he’s awake and he lets Luna in, everything should be easy-peesy.”

…Luna wasn’t a pessimist, but based on everything that happened so far, he severely doubted that it was going to be easy. He didn’t doubt Dark would let him in, but there had to be some sort of obstacle or final twist. But at least, with Dark nearby and Neptune’s advice, he could finally get somewhere.

As if reading his mind, Neptune snaps his fingers. “But! I should also give you some information on Luna’s ghost form before you guys do anything hasty.”

“What is it?” Titan asks. 

“Souls are linked to bodies. Being outside of it brings side effects such as how emotions can’t be hidden anymore and will show themselves through your soul. I’m not sure how exactly it works, but I think it’s different for each person.”

…Emotions?

Now that I think about it, it did feel as if my emotions were heightened. Why- why I felt even more sad all the time, and why it felt like I couldn’t control my anger. Because I lacked the ability to hide them from myself. No wonder my hate for the Earth kept bubbling up. No wonder—

But…then why did my emotions show themselves by color? For me, color isn’t really—

And then Luna freezes as his brain commits the dots. Color was important to him, wasn’t it-? Maybe not always, but after the earthlings came around—

Blood moon during a lunar eclipse. Blue moon as the second “full” one in an earthling calendar. Orange rust during a ‘moonset’...

And when he floated in his orbit, if he squinted, really squinted, he could see the earthlings pointing up at him. Could see telescopes, radios, an array of picnic blankets and tents and—

There would be pride at the same time as resentment began to fill his lungs.

…Oh. 

It made so much sense now. Of course his soul would be based so much on color. Color was the first thing the earthlings noticed him for, besides maybe his phase, and Luna’s existence when he was alive was practically dependent on his role as the Earth’s moon, so…

“You have to be careful when dealing with those emotions,” Neptune’s oddly serious voice snaps Luna back to reality. “Too much of any ‘active’ emotion can overwhelm your soul, which is vulnerable without the anchor of your body. Rage will gift you strength, power stronger than the living and make you a vengeful spirit, but you will die- beyond even a ghost- as a result. Excessive happiness will cause you to accept the concept of passing on, leading to death too. But ‘reacting’ emotions like sorrow and fear shouldn’t be able to do anything.”

…Okay. Maybe… I shouldn’t be yellow, Luna thinks distantly even as horror seeps into him. To think, if he had listened to that crimson, had followed those violent urges—

The red in him swirls again unhappily, and Luna tries to suppress it, like he had done hundreds of times already, but it’s futile. 

“Wait. How are you so knowledgeable on this?” Titan asks, and Neptune goes still, something shifting behind his eyes. “I don’t think even Jupiter knows this much. You also said turning to a ghost never happened before, didn’t you?”

“Ah… well, not exactly. I meant the whole double soul and one being left behind, you know?” Neptune clarifies, shifting his weight from left to right slightly. “Hard to believe that ever happened before…”

“Do you mean that someone has turned into a ghost in the past?” Titan inquires, seeing through Neptune’s meek attempt at a distraction. “Who? We could go and—”

“Well- no, you can’t. Um… because you’re talking to him already, so, yeah?” Neptune smiles, and it’s lopsided as usual but in a very wrong way. 

Shock hits Luna as hard as a speeding asteroid. Neptune… Neptune had?!—

“You’ve turned into a ghost before?!” Titan gawks, sharing the same sentiment as Luna. “How?”

Neptune’s smile turns a bit strained. “I was… alone. For a long time. But I’m okay now!”

That… answers pretty much nothing. 

But it’s blatantly obvious that this was a heavy subject for the planet, and Luna didn’t want to push too far. Especially not when Neptune had been the only one who managed to help provide some information to him.

And especially not when… Luna couldn’t even begin to imagine how Neptune’s situation went. At least with his, Luna had the support of his friends and someone who had already been through a similar experience. Neptune, being a ghost and being alone— Luna might’ve not known exactly what happened, but based on context clues alone it couldn’t have been good. 

“I should know! I was hidden from the solar system for a longgg time, and it ended up with me being in a bit of a pickle!”

A pickle. As in, being dead, apparently. Even if it was only a temporary death. 

Titan clears his throat, definitely picking up the same vibes as Luna and knowing not to dig further. “I’m… sorry that happened. Do you have anything else you want to tell us?”

“Just one more thing. As a ghost without a body, your natural instinct is to take what you don’t have,” Neptune warns, tone almost forcibly cheerful now. “Back when I was- ah, in your shoes, that’s what I went through. I wanted warmth, a body, love— I’m only grateful I managed to find my own again before I lost control. Now, I dunno if possession is out of the question, but just in case, stay in control. If you don’t, you can hurt someone. Which isn’t fun!”

Stay in control. 

…So Neptune had felt the same urges as him as well. And he only confirmed Luna’s suspicions that what his ‘ghost’ side kept telling him to take would only lead to pain. When he was hugging Titan, taking in the other moon’s warmth and feeling the urge to claim him, and the same with Miranda—

Luna had to go back to being alive as soon as possible. Especially if he could hurt someone else like this. Especially if he can hurt Titan—

He could barely control himself like this. Every cry of emotion was more intense than the last, and he never realized how much he relied on hiding his emotions back when he was alive until now. And with that strange greed on top of it…

“And that’s all!” Neptune beams. 

“Tell him I say thank you,” Luna requests, and Titan nods. 

“Luna and I thank you, Neptune.”

“Awee, it’s no problem. My mind is so loose nowadays, so if I could help I…” he trails off, starry eyes drifting to the distance. “Oh! Looks like Ur-anus and his moons made up!”

Titan and Luna follow his gaze to see- indeed, they seem to have made up. Uranus is chatting awkwardly with a large, folded paper in his hands and although Titania and her group still seem wary, at least they were communicating now. Luna can’t help but smile at the sight. 

…But with the Earth… 

He can’t help but wonder if the Earth would ever apologize. But there’s no use thinking about that, with how his emotions and ghost urges were apparently messing with his head. 

Luna needed to get back to Dark before this could get any worse.

Chapter Text

Well. Callisto had no idea what the actual fuck was going on now. 

The person who had claimed to be the Earth’s moon raises one sharp eyebrow as he crosses his arms, lips tight in a dark smirk. Europa is the first to speak up with an almost perfect smile as she clears her throat and steps forward. 

“I didn’t know you woke up, Earth’s moon. How are you?”

“I’m doing fine. As well as one would expect from someone who’s apparently been asleep for a few months,” the stranger’s grin sharpens even more. His voice is different from the Moon’s too, Callisto notes, but just similar enough to bother her. “I went to the belt after an argument with my planet, and found this little hideout that I have definitely never seen before, hm?”

The sarcasm is practically dripping from his words, and Europa’s left eye twitches a bit. 

This… this can’t be the Moon, can it? Callisto thinks, mind racing. Celestial bodies can’t just totally change their appearances over a few days without some major event happening, and he’s not acting or sounding like the Moon either, Besides, the Moon’s supposed to be asleep. Even if he somehow woke up, surely he’d know better than to show up here, right?

But what else? Did he forget? Is he some sort of secret twin no one knew about? Fuck, I don’t understand—

No. No use in panicking. We’ll find out whatever’s going on. 

She looks around to see the other moons watching, who seemed curious to watch the interaction between the unexpected newcomer and the leaders of the army. She also knew Europa couldn’t point fingers or deny the ‘Earth’s moon’ because of the story she had reinstated to the others. To them, it was a miracle the Moon had woken up, and he would only help them in defeating the Earth. 

Europa’s hands had gotten tied up by her own tricks. 

“Hm. I suppose not,” Europa continues to smile, and to an untrained eye she may have seemed perfectly composed. Callisto knew better. “How about we talk somewhere a little more private? I can explain the revolution and what we can do with you on our side that way.”

“Oh sure,” the stranger agrees as his gaze flickers to Callisto, who freezes despite herself. “I’m positive I can trust you.”

The jab is clearly meant for her this time. She swallows thickly, remembering—

The Moon stares at her with pleading, desperate eyes, “…Can’t you look the other way just this once? Aren’t we friends?” 

Fuck. 

“Of course you can. Follow us,” Europa beckons, before turning to the others. “Everyone else, go back to cleaning up the belt.”

Callisto watches as the other moons follow Europa’s order without question like mice. The stranger hums in a way that manages to be both unimpressed and impressed at the same time. 

“You have quite a loyal army,” he remarks, and Europa just smiles at him again but even more stiffly this time.

“Let’s go now,” she says and walks off with Callisto and the stranger trailing behind her. At this point, Callisto would really rather not talk- she needed time to mentally process, well, everything- but unfortunately, the other person had no such qualms. 

“So, Callisto, how have you been doing?”

“Fine,” Callisto replies flatly. 

“C’mon, no need to be so hostile. We’ve only just met…” the stranger goads, smirk all teeth as they walk through the clearing, “haven’t we?”

…Ugh. 

Callisto hums, “Yep,” as she feels an increasing amount of familiar annoyance pile onto her confusion. She doesn’t bother sparing the other person a single glance. ‘The Earth’s moon’ narrows his creepy, void eyes. 

“And here I thought you’d be nicer, considering what happened,” he mutters, quiet enough that only Callisto could hear. It takes everything in her not to freeze in her tracks as they cross the edge of the clearing. “But I guess not.”

I hate this. 

She opts not to reply. Maybe the stranger would assume she didn’t hear him.

But nothing goes well for Callisto, does it? It definitely never does, she concludes to herself as the stranger starts to poke her arm, blunt raven-painted nails uncomfortably hitting flesh. 

“C’mon, I know you heard me,” he pushes, and Callisto’s skin crawls. The second they got far away enough from the belt, she swears to the void she was going to punch this jerk in the face, no matter how much he looked like—

He chuckles, and then suddenly, the next words spoken are- soft? Achingly so as he tilts his head, grin fading and eyes going round instead of sharp and…

“Are you really going to ignore me?”

That- that sounded—

Callisto’s eyes snap to his without her consent. In front of them, Europa freezes. She had heard it too. 

For a second, this stranger, whoever he was (because Callisto was getting more and more confident he was not the Earth’s moon, no matter how much he looked like him) sounded just like the same person that had fallen out of the solar system and was supposed to be dead asleep. This whole thing was getting creepier and creepier, and Callisto distantly wonders if she was dreaming right now. That would explain a lot of things, like how Europa had cared for her earlier and whatever the fuck was going on.

The other stares at her, round eyes and pretty lashes a carbon copy of the Moon’s, if Callisto could ignore the void instead of whites and irises and pupils. Then a barely stifled laugh bubbles from his lips as he pokes her again. 

“What’s the matter?~”

Why does he still sound like—

“Get away from me!” Callisto snaps as she pushes him. The stranger stumbles back, a crazed grin rising on his face again.

“ They were right. You really are quite strong,” he observes, voice and eyes returning to normal, which Callisto is relieved at, but she also did not like how excited he sounded. “Say, do you want to—”

“That’s enough from you,” Europa hisses, stepping in between them. “You’re lucky we’re too far away for anyone to overhear that. We can talk freely once we’re out of eyesight.”

“…Sure,” is the flat response. Europa hums and takes Callisto’s arm, nails carefully avoiding skin, and strides off with her further into the belt. She looks both disturbed and genuinely angry, Callisto notes, but the person with them doesn't seem to be bothered at all. Though at least, he decides to keep his mouth shut this time. 

Eventually, Europa deems it far enough from the belt to stop and turn around, with Callisto following her motions. The stranger crosses his arms, looking both amused and smug as Europa lets go of Callisto and digs one sharp finger into the fabric over his chest. 

“You’re not actually the Earth’s moon. What’s going on? Who the fuck are you?” 

“What do you mean? I am the Earth’s moon,” the stranger quips, his smirk wide and dangerous. The words come out even more sarcastic this time, but with a tinge of anger. “I orbit the Earth. I was asleep for a long time. And I look like his moon, don’t I? I can sound like him too.”

“Stop playing around and answer the damn question,” Europa warns, eyes flashing crimson. 

“I am the Earth’s moon,” the stranger repeats as more of his amusement ebbs with rage. “Just another side of the one you know.”

“Another side?” Europa looks unimpressed, but Callisto had the sense he was being deadly serious. “What is that even supposed to—”

The ‘Earth’s moon’s face darkens further, like a mask peeling off. “We are two souls inhabiting one body. We have known each other our entire lives. So imagine my surprise when I woke up and he wasn’t there,” he says every word with deliberate, thinly controlled wrath. “And imagine how I felt when I looked through his memories and found out that you two had him killed.”

Killed. 

Callisto’s mind is rushing so fast she can barely breathe. Because for one, what did he even mean by ‘two souls in one body’? That’s not possible. That shouldn’t be possible. But the last part completely overrides whatever incredulousness that remained in her head with guilt. 

The Moon wasn’t dead. He wasn’t… Did- did Callisto actually kill—?

She’s vaguely aware of herself starting to hyperventilate, and the ‘Earth’s moon’ does a motion with his eyes that looks like he’s rolling them. But with only a pair of twin voids to look at, Callisto isn’t really sure. 

“Stop that. You may have killed him, but he’s not actually permanently dead. If he was… I would’ve been a lot less lenient coming here,” he informs sharply. 

“Or maybe you are him, and playing some sick joke as- as revenge, or whatever,” Europa retorts. 

The ‘Earth’s moon’ glares at her. “You’ve talked with him before. Does he seem like the type to do that? Besides, if I was him, it’d be impossible for me to change my appearance this drastically. Although I do look way cooler.”

He gestures to the freckles, then his clothes, then his medium length, tied up hair. 

“It’s also impossible for two people to be stuck in one body. I’d think believing you just somehow managed to dress yourself up is way easier than believing that,” Europa points out. “And besides, even if you are some weird twin, how do you know how he’s not dead?”

“We’ve been together for our whole lives. If he was, I’d just know. Call it a sixth sense. But hey, you don’t have to believe me,” he shrugs. “It’s not like you can stop me now. I doubt you two have the guts to throw me out like you did with my brother, and you can’t have your soldiers take me on without compromising your integrity.”

It’s like what I figured earlier. Trying to confront him will do more harm than good.

“...Then why are you here?” Callisto asks. “If you came for revenge, you could’ve easily foiled our plan by being an unaccounted factor or by tattletaling on us to the planets.”

The person wrinkles his nose, as if personally offended by the mere idea. “Seriously? That’s L- my other side’s thing. I don’t care about your revolution. I may not hate Earth, but I certainly don’t like him either, so get rid of his life for all I care.” 

…Wow. Okay, the Moon… the Moon would never say that. Maybe he really is… unless the Moon grew fantastic acting skills over the span of a few hours. And a weird tendency to lie. It’s also to be noted the Moon is supposed to be asleep right now, so even if this was him, why would he be awake in the first place?

Based on the way Europa’s frown deepens, she was thinking the same thing. 

“But to answer your question, I'm looking for him. I suspect he’s a spirit since he’s not here with me and I know he’s not dead and I can still feel…” he trails off, face turning grim for a brief moment before returning to the default slyness. “Anyways, that’s pretty much it. So don’t worry. I’m not necessarily your enemy, as much as I dislike you two.”

A… spirit? 

“What do you mean by a spirit? And what you can ‘still feel’?” Callisto asks. 

“A spirit is someone sentient without a body. And as for your second question, it’s…none of your business. Surprise.”

“If you’re actually who you say you are, and you’re looking for him, I’d think it’d be in your best interest not to hide things from us. We might be able to help,” Callisto offers reasonably, but the only reaction she receives is a nasty smirk. 

“Feeling guilt won’t erase what’s already been done. My other side trusted you, and look where he ended up. I’d rather do this alone, thank you.”

The sickening remorse already drowning Callisto pushes her down further, and she presses her lips into a thin line. She… didn’t have anything to say to that. 

She didn’t know what was going on. The Moon apparently being some sort of ghost, having a secret twin— it was giving her one giant headache. At this point, she really doubted this was the Moon. And considering how planets and moons were alive in the first place, it wasn’t too much of a stretch for something like this to be possible. 

But then again, it didn’t seem like, whoever this person was, cared about what they thought.

“So what are you going to do then? Just snoop around? If you’re going to  masquerade as a part of this revolution, you are going to have to pull your own weight. And that means you will attack the Earth or anyone else if you have to,” Europa orders, and the stranger simply scoffs. 

“I doubt you’re in much of a position to negotiate, your majesty,” and damn, did Europa look pissed off at that, “but sure. As long as I’m part of this, I’ll pull my weight. And by the way, the whole ‘Earth’s moon’ thing is getting kind of lame. You can call me… Nyx for now since my real name won’t do. That has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

The Greek name for the goddess of the night, Callisto faintly recognizes. This guy certainly has a… flair for dramatics.

Europa doesn’t respond, just glares at him harder. Nyx somehow manages to look even more smug.

“Since the confusion seems to be cleared up, I’m heading off now. Ta,” Nyx finishes, the momentary wave of anger from when he talked about the Moon falling hiding itself again with a fog of self-assured confidence.

And then with a mock wave, he turns and leaves, heading back into the hideout. 

“What a- ugh!” Europa scoffs, fists clenched so hard her knuckles have turned white. Callisto sighs. 

“He's probably going to be a problem.”

Chapter Text

“Wait, Io, not yet!—”

The feeling of hands that were not his own grasping for a fallen orbit, the feeling of panic filling his lungs and fear crawling into the deepest depths of his brain, the feeling of an almost endless fall as darkness consumes him—

The feeling of death and then revival, of a quadrillion atoms organizing and reorganizing, keeping his soul stable, but neglecting the other side of him. The feeling of sentience being poured back into his body, but it’s not enough—

Until it is. Until Dark stirs back into consciousness, long after Luna had left him alone with a planet that didn’t know he existed. 

What… What happened? 

The stability grows, righting Dark’s essence back to where it’s supposed to be. But it feels wrong. He… He was in control..?

He wasn’t supposed to be in control. He wasn’t—

Luna? Wait, where’s Luna—

He reaches through their shared mental link, but it’s… fragmented. If Dark focuses hard enough, he can still sense the tendrils of Luna, though the actual person isn’t there. Dark knew Luna wasn’t dead, but he wasn’t…

Where even am I right now? No, that’s not important yet, I have to figure out what’s going on with Luna first.

He shoves harder through the link, grabbing at whatever the scatters of Luna he could find without actually breaching his privacy. And then he finds something- a leftover string of a thought—

—making me more alive again?—

Dark squeezes his eyes shut, mentally grappling for that string, but it slithers away from his hands. He chases after it, but it seems to have vanished. Of course. It was an indirect thought, not one meant for him, so… 

What did Luna mean by ‘alive’? 

What was going on—

“Luna?!” He yells through the link, and fuck—

Dark can’t help but wince in pain as an almost unbearable headache pierces through his mind. The link– what the fuck was wrong with it? Sure, he knew it was fragmented, but now the pieces were practically pulsing like shards of molten glass, ready to collapse at any moment. And if it did collapse… 

Whatever the case, Dark mentally backs away and drops control over the link. He couldn’t risk it. 

“...Dark? Are you there?”

Luna’s voice is a soft, almost ghostly thing, drifting through the link and smoothly evading all the shuddering, broken pieces to settle itself in Dark’s head. That… that wasn’t supposed to happen. 

Well- Dark was glad it did happen, considering any effort Luna made should’ve shattered the link entirely. He risks leaning into it link again, but Luna doesn’t make another attempt to talk to him. All he gets are ripples of confusion, self-doubt, and dread. 

It was like… Luna couldn’t even sense the link at all. He could still use it, clearly, but…

Something was very wrong. Whatever happened while Dark was asleep, he did not like it. 

Fuck. 

Well, using the link himself was out of the question. But he could still receive whatever was coming out of the other side, which… he slowly realized was not very helpful, at least not yet. 

There was nothing but passive sorrow now, flowing in like an endless stream. Which was honestly more evidence Luna couldn’t sense and control the link like he usually did. Even when they were together, Luna kept his cards close to his chest, never letting Dark fully in and muffling whatever he didn't want the other to notice. But now, it’s as if the dam had been completely destroyed. 

More and more emotions. Grief, pain, frustration, anger, bewilderment, love— all tangled up in each other, all fading too fast for Dark to get a proper hold. The thoughts weren’t any better. Most of the time they only consisted of a word or two, not even bothering to build a proper sentence. 

Damnit. 

Luna could use the link freely, but as some sort of sick catch, he couldn’t sense it at all. Now that Dark thinks about it, it makes him a bit disgusted with himself— most of every emotion and thought slipping past his fingers were probably meant to be kept private. Even if Luna didn’t know, Dark was still breaking his boundaries at this point. 

The relationship they had was complicated. From the beginning, they sort of hated each other— Luna was the first to wake up and establish his existence with the planets, leaving no room for Dark to express himself once he came into being a mere day later. Not that Luna necessarily tried to control Dark- Luna would never do that, but Dark still became sort of… taboo, in a sense. 

Their first conversation was a panicked argument, but then Luna started to get stressed out and Dark realized he cared, maybe a little too much for his weird twin and little too little for what the planets thought. So he ended the conversation and went to sleep. 

And he sort of… never really woke up. Not in a traditional sense, but he never allowed himself to take full control of the body. Luna didn’t seem to want him to, and he preferred sleeping anyway. 

(The one time when he was the most awake, he let that asteroid hit—)

It didn’t matter. The point was, even if he and Luna had a rocky start, their relationship dynamics eventually settled. They recognized the dangers of becoming codependent on each other and the both of them strongly wished to be their own person, so they set boundaries and rules and vowed to respect each other’s wants and needs. 

One of the rules was to never breach memories, emotions, or indirect thoughts without the other’s permission. They were both aware they could do it to each other if they wanted to— they technically shared the same mind, after all, but the consequences of a mind without rules were dangerous. 

But right now, Dark was… well, very much in the dark about whatever the fuck happened (haha, get it) and couldn’t communicate with Luna. In addition, any sort of communication Luna could offer him through the link all had an evident lack of consent while also being unhelpful. The only thing it helped with was making Dark feel like a gross traitor.

He turns away from the link. If he was going to get answers, he was going to do it in a way that was… still invasive, but would probably be helpful at least. That is, looking through Luna’s memories. 

I’m… really sorry about this.

But Luna thinks he’s dead right now. I- I want him to be safe, as much as I hate to admit it. If I have to break the rules to do it, I’ll just make sure to break the fewest I can. 

He stretches his consciousness over Luna’s abandoned mindspace. And sure enough, the memories find themselves at the edge of his fingertips. 

Dark decides to settle on the ones that occurred a day before all of this. 

He finds himself in Luna’s perspective, watching as the (admittedly, regrettably) pretty moon Luna had fallen for tells him straight in the face that the revolution had switched gears to going for the Earth. 

Woah. There’s a lottttt to unpack here. 

Memories of Luna’s emotions at that moment— conflict, disgust, and temptation shifts under Dark, before they all settle into loyal determination for the Earth. Because, great. 

Dark can’t help but find himself a tad disappointed. He was hoping for Luna to stand up for himself for once, but nevermind. 

After that, one of the moons starts yapping about actually, physically assaulting the Earth. It’s also when Dark starts feeling a bit… apprehensive, for once. 

(He didn’t know why he did it. Why he didn’t stop that asteroid when it was within a simple arm’s reach and when Luna was asleep, why he watched it collide into the Earth’s face, why he let the Earth sob and Luna wake up and start feeling guilt for no reason, that stupid idiot, when it was Dark that did all of that—)

(He didn’t know why he was too scared to tell Luna, even now.)

But Dark stays still, letting the memory continue to unfurl. Titan offers Luna his hand, sounding genuinely angry for him (good), but Luna doesn’t take it and starts pointing out the flaws in the revolution's reasoning. And when that isn’t enough, he grabs Titan’s wrist and challenges him, asking what he’ll do if Luna refuses.

…The romantic tension between them is enough for Dark to feel the urge to throw up all over the memory. Ughh.

Eventually, Titan lets Luna go. Luna heads for the Earth, only to get stopped by what Dark assumes to be another two moons, one boldened by a childish yellow and another dressed in a dark, more regal purple. For some reason, the yellow one keeps coughing. Was… he okay?

Whatever, Dark was getting off track. He continues to watch, and can’t help but feel pissed off when Luna begs for them to leave him alone, only to get dragged into a fight regardless. And it seemed they weren’t total strangers either- Dark could be a bit more forgiving in that case- but friends. 

Okay. That was not cool. But then as if the memory was trying to prove a point on just how more uncool this could get, Luna eyes the void beneath the solar system and—

…What. 

Are you insane?! Dark can’t help but think as he watches Luna fend off two moons on his own while heading for the void. Why the fuck would you— you could’ve called me or something!... wait. Oh shit, is this how he—

“Moon, stop! Whatever you’re thinking right now, it isn’t a good idea!” 

“Make me! I dare you!” 

“Wait, Io, not yet!—“ 

And then a fall, and everything goes black—

The memory ends there. In a moment tinged with panic, Dark scrambles to find more, but there’s nothing- because, of course. Luna… Luna had been forced out of their body after that. During the whole atom-reorganizing situation, they must’ve gotten separated. Even if Luna still had access to their link, memories of the past couldn’t be sent through it, only hints of what was happening in the present.

But now Dark knew Luna wasn't just dead. Luna had been killed. Even if most of it was an accident, that fight was not an accident. The order for two henchmen to chase after him was not an accident. If Dark ever saw those people, he swore—

Okay. Getting stuck in a fit of rage wasn't going to help anyone. The important thing was to figure out what was going on.

...What the fuck was Dark supposed to do now? 

He knew for certain how Luna had died, so to speak. But if he wasn’t in this body right now… 

He could be in another. Or he’s some sort of free roaming soul without one? I think the Earth called them “ghosts”. 

…Or he might still be outside of the solar system, without a way back—

Fuck. No no, don’t panic. Don’t be an idiot and assume the worst. If he was lost right now, his emotions… 

He would be panicking more. And not this… sad. And if he was truly desperate, his response when he first heard my voice would be a lot less calm. 

I don’t think he’s in another body either. Or someone would’ve found out about the whole situation and come over to me to investigate, probably. But I also don't know how long it's been since the whole incident happened.

Regardless, I think him being a ghost is the most likely option. 

So… what should I do? Should I stay here- actually, wait. I’ve been so caught up in my own head I don’t even know where here is. I should… probably get that sorted out. 

Dark tentatively opens one eye. The motion is weird, awkward but also strangely liberating. The last time he had gained full control was back in the belt, when Luna gave him the reins so he could threaten the other moon's crush friend.

(Gross. Ugh.)

But anyway, back to the present. Dark seems to be in his orbit, and if he risked looking far enough—

The Earth is there. He… doesn’t seem to be doing too bad physically, if Dark could ignore the almost black bags hanging under his eyes. And the fact he was… kind of crying right now, shoulders shaking and knees pressed up against his chest and—

…Wait. The Earth was there, and he never once realized-?

Dark looks down at himself. His body is the same as whenever he held most of the control- longer hair, painted nails, etc. And he didn’t know how much time had passed since Luna had fallen, but surely the Earth would’ve noticed the very drastic change in their aesthetics, right? Or at least, tried to wake him up. 

…Maybe he was just too busy crying over whatever drama he probably had with the planets to even notice the Moon- Dark, was there. Maybe he was just that self-centered. 

Or… maybe he did try to wake Dark up. Maybe he thought the Moon had—?

Ugh. This is too much for me. The Earth isn’t even my planet at this point, just Luna’s. I… I don’t know how to talk to him, or comfort him, or confront him in a way that was different from doing it to a stranger. 

I still dislike him for what he did to Luna. A lot. But Luna still cares about him, right? So I shouldn’t do anything rash yet. 

I should collect more information first. Yeah, that’ll be for the best. 

Dark forces himself to relax yet again and close his eyes, much to the nearby planet's ignorance. He returns to the link, careful not to send anything through and to just receive, dutifully ignoring the abundant amount of vulnerable emotions thrown his way as much as he could and only picking out the most important of thoughts. 

Luna doesn’t call for him again. But…

—how do we—

Dark wouldn’t—

—back in—

—Blue moon—

—How does he know—

—He’s been a ghost?!—

—like me—

—I need Dark. 

Huh. Okay, that gave him… something. For one, he knew for sure Luna was a ghost now, and that he was looking for him. 

But he also knew nothing else. He didn’t know where Luna was, who he was talking to, who else was a ghost, and who else knew about this situation- if anyone. 

So… what should he do? Stay put and wait? What if Luna didn’t even know he was by the Earth and had already checked or—?

Dark swallows and opens his eyes, glancing at the Earth again. 

No. It would be best if he didn’t do this alone, or at least that’s what Luna would say. Surely, if the Earth knew Luna well enough he would recognize that something was definitely wrong and that Dark was… well. Not Luna. Surely… 

And it would help, having someone on his side while he tried to figure this out. 

(Nevermind the fact that he’s never talked to the Earth before and indirectly caused the extinction of his favorite little lifeforms. Nevermind how Dark felt like his core was beating way too fast in his chest. Nevermind all of that, because he didn’t know the full situation and just wanted Luna to be safe again.)

He clears his throat and turns around. 

“...Earth?”

Chapter Text

Imma be completely honest here guys, my interest in solarballs kindaaa fell off two weeks ago ish, as you could probably tell by the lack of updates here. And I don’t want to discontinue anything, but trying to write this feels more like a chore than anything else. My schoolwork is also piling up now as well (gotta love high school 😁😁😁😁 /sarc) and I have other interests. 

again, I feel upset at the thought of leaving you guys hanging but I also don’t want to force myself to do smth I no longer find enjoyable. I was thinking about summarizing the plot? Idk.. 

If u have anything you want to say, you can leave comments down in this chapter. (I don’t think I’ll answer comments on previous chapters now though) 

sorry for this :(