Chapter Text
“The Earthlings still giving you a hard time, Earth?” Mars asked, while they were playing cards.
Earth sighed. “Yeah, but it’s fine, I’ll live.”
He pushed down the urge to vent, to unleash the fury that churned beneath his crust. He wouldn't burden Mars with it, not now.
A familiar voice chimed in, chasing away Earth's constant pain. “Hey, Earth.”
Luna’s presence was like a soothing tide, pulling back the harshness of his mood.
Earth’s suffering lifted, replaced by a fond warmth. “Hey Luna, where have you been? I was worried!”
“Yeah, sorry,” Luna chuckled. “I was talking to someone who wants to meet you.”
He drifted closer, and emerging from behind Luna was a new entity, a spherical body unlike any Earth had encountered before. He was large, bigger even than Mercury, and possessed a hazy atmosphere.
The newcomer approached hesitantly, his voice a nervous tremor in the cosmic symphony. “Hello, Mr. Earth, i-it’s an honor. I-I came here to-”
Earth interrupted him. “Woah! Are you a new planet? I’ve never seen you before.”
The newcomer seemed to deflate with annoyance. “Why does everyone think I’m a pla-? No, I’m a moon named Titan!”
Mars chuckled. “Hey, I think I’ve seen you from afar! You’re Saturn’s favorite moon, right? What did he call you, his Middle-Earth?”
Earth frowned in confusion. “Wait, what? Why is he called that?”
Mars explained with a smile, “Oh, it’s because Titan’s mountains are named after famous mountains from the Lord of the Rings books.”
“Oh, that's interesting,” Earth conceded, actually getting curious.
Mars wasn’t done. “But it’s also because you’re both made of rock, have atmospheres, volcanoes…” He paused, drawing out the similarities.
Earth listened with growing interest. Titan did sound… intriguing. “Wow, you've got a lot going on for yourself, Titan.”
Mars, ever enthusiastic about science, continued, “You both also have lakes and rivers. Nobody else does for what I know.”
A knot of unease began to tighten within Earth's core. Lakes and rivers… it sounded disturbingly familiar.
“I see…” he said, his voice losing some of its warmth. “Does he have an ocean?”
The question was almost a whisper, laced with a dread he couldn’t quite articulate.
“Under his surface!” Mars declared triumphantly. “And not just any ocean, liquid water! So it’s possible he could sustain li-”
Titan had been listening with shock and growing excitement. He seemed to understand the unspoken implication hanging in the void.
But before Mars could finish the word, something snapped within Earth.
The memories, the endless cycle of destruction and rebirth inflicted by his own life forms, surged to the forefront of his awareness. The pollution, the wars, the heedless consumption, it all coalesced into a burning, unbearable resentment.
He couldn't, wouldn't, let another celestial body suffer the same fate. He couldn’t watch Titan, so full of potential, be burdened by the same destructive curse of having lifeforms.
“STOP!” Earth roared, the sound echoing across the solar system, startling Luna and shocking Titan into silence. “DON’T SAY IT! HE CAN'T HAVE LIFE!”
Mars blinked, taken aback by Earth's vehemence. “Oh, come on, don’t be rude!”
“NO!” Earth’s outburst was raw, unfiltered. “Moons can't have life! And wanting life is a stupid dream anyway!”
The words tumbled out, laced with a bitterness that surprised even himself.
Silence descended, heavy and thick with discontent.
Titan stood frozen, filled with confusion and hurt.
Earth, oblivious to the damage he was inflicting, continued, driven by a desperate, twisted sense of protection. “Trust me, Titan… you're better off being lifeless.”
Titan finally found his voice, laced with a heartbreaking mix of sadness and anger. “Do you truly believe that?”
“Yes,” Earth affirmed. “Yes, I do.”
Titan simply nodded. “... Okay.”
Then, he turned and drifted away.
Earth slumped, feeling a strange mix of exhaustion and grim satisfaction.
“... He'll thank me for that someday,” he muttered, trying to convince himself as much as anyone else.
Luna, however, was far from convinced. His gentle light flared with indignation. “Earth! How could you say that to Titan?!”
Earth blinked, startled by his unusually sharp tone. “What?!”
“Titan admired you,” Luna accused, his voice trembling with anger, “and you basically crushed his dreams!”
“What are you talking about?” Earth asked, genuinely stunned. He thought he was being helpful.
Mars calmly stepped in, with disappointed eyes. “Earth, you just insulted Titan and ALL moons for that matter!”
“What did I say that was insulting?!” Earth was genuinely perplexed. He had been trying to warn Titan, to spare him pain.
Luna’s voice rose, echoing Mars’ disappointment. “That ‘Moons can't have life’ and ‘wanting life is a stupid dream’.”
“I… yes, that may have come out wrong, but what I meant is-” Earth began, trying to backtrack, to explain his twisted logic.
Luna cut him off, still angry on Titan's behalf. “That you think you're better than the moons! In fact, you think nobody else should have life, don't you?”
“Now Luna,” Mars interjected. “That might be going a bit too far. You know that Earth isn't like that. He's going through a rough time right now.”
Mars knew why Earth truly said those harsh words.
“He still shouldn't have been so mean to Titan!” Luna insisted.
“Well…” Earth sighed, deflating under their combined disapproval. “I wasn't trying to be mean. I was trying to warn him.”
“Warn him of what!?” Luna demanded, his voice sharp and demanding.
Earth fell silent. What could he say? How could he explain the burden he has, the agonizing weight of humanity's destructive nature? Should he tell Luna the truth?
Earth finally sighed. “Well, it's super rare for a planet to gain life… it's a miracle that I gained mine… so, for a moon it would be impossible, and I didn't want Titan to chase an impossible dream.”
He knew it sounded weak, a poor excuse, but it was the best he could offer without revealing the true depth of his despair.
Luna stared at him, his eyes narrowing. “So, life is only possible when a planet wants it?”
Mars facepalmed at Earth's words.
“Okay, that also came out wrong!” Earth groaned. “Let me try again…”
But Luna had heard enough. “I'm sorry Earth, but I really need some space from you right now. I'm gonna go find Titan.”
And with that, he left.
“... I screwed up,” Earth admitted to his friend.
Mars sighed. “Yeah, but maybe if you tell Luna the truth and apologize to Titan, it'll fix everything.”
Earth shook his head slowly. “No Mars, I’ll apologize to Titan later, but I CAN'T tell Luna the truth… He loves the earthlings so much… it would break his heart.”
The irony wasn't lost on him: he was enduring the very plague he despised, all to protect the heart of the celestial being he cherished.
Mars sighed again. “Wanna play cards some more?”
"... Okay." Earth answered, with a whisper.