Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

ALTERNATE *SOLARBALLS (2022)* UNIVERSE 992FAMILYANGST299

TUESDAY, 10 APRIL 2007AZ:

To their surprise—Jupiter, Metis, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris found themselves at the inner edge of the Kuiper Belt, spotting an injured Luna being tended to his wounds by the rocky planets while Saturn and the ice giants began tidally heating Earth, gradually pulling him inward.

There were cuts and bruises littered all over Luna’s face, plus a deep gash near his chin. “H-Hey guys. About time you showed up,” he teased weakly.

Jupiter’s mouth hung open. “What the…?? What happened?”

Metis was also bewildered. “H-How did you…?”

“Long story…” Luna chuckled sheepishly.

And so he explained the chaotic upheaval that occurred over the past two weeks. The planets and dwarf planets also narrated the situation from their POVs. An hour passed before they finished their tale.

“Yowza…” Makemake exhaled.

“Really?” Eris deadpanned.

“Well we said quite a bit,” he grinned.

“Says the guy who talks nonstop,” she retorted.

“Okay guys, let’s focus. The giants and I will bring Earth back to his orbit. The rest of you will inform the Sun,” Jupiter instructed.

Mercury looked hesitant. “Uh…d’you really think that’s a good idea?”

“Either way, he’s gonna find out,” Zeus breathed deeply.

“Besides, the Sun doesn’t react well to missing information,” Caelus pointed out.

“True,” Neptune bobbed his head.

“Since when does he react well to anything?” Venus huffed indignantly.

“He used to…at one point,” Saturn smiled sadly.

The warmest planet rolled his eyes. “Yeah right.”

Jupiter sighed impatiently. “Guys, we’re runnin’ out of time!”

“He’s right. The Kuiper Belt is still too cold for Earth and his life to survive,” Metis reminded them.

“We’ve provided all the heat we could…but it’s not enough,” Cronus admitted.

“It doesn’t matter. We can’t stop now. Earth needs us,” Uranus declared.

“Besides, it’s our fault this happened,” Mars added. “If we’d just told him the truth — ”

“And how would that change anything? The first time, Earth literally had a PTSD attack the moment we mentioned her name!” Mercury exclaimed.

“When I said it…” Venus verified guiltily.

“Wait a second…Planet X said her name too! During the SolarCards round,” Mars suddenly remembered as Caelus’ expression turned sour.

“So that’s why Earth started hallucinating them again! It all makes sense!” Mercury realized.

Ares turned to the grey satellite, expression full of genuine remorse. “Luna…I-I know I’ve said this before, but…I’m so sorry for everything that happened — ”

The Moon extended his palm. “Stop. You guys already apologized a million times for lying to us—and I forgive you, okay? You’re already making up for it by helping Earth now.” He sighed again. “Look—you’re not the only one who messed up. I ignored him too. We all did, and look where that got us. All we can do is make sure this never happens again.”

“And that’s why you’re my favorite moon…who isn’t mine,” Mars laughed softly.

“You’ve always been the voice of reason, even when we weren’t.” Jupiter’s smile faltered. “We—we never really thanked you for that, did we?”

“Eh…no worries. It’s what I do,” Luna smirked, wincing due to the pain.

Ares playfully rolled his eyes. “You spend way too much time with Earth.”

Caelus drummed his fingers nervously. “Hey uh…Jups? Saturn? Can—can we talk?”

Zeus turned to him. “Huh? Oh—yeah. O-Of course.”

Cronus hummed politely. “Sure.”

And so they engaged in a proper conversation for once—where both sides were heard. There were lots of apologies, tears, guilt, shame, and forgiveness between them, which made Neptune proud.

WEDNESDAY, 11 APRIL 2007AZ:

In the Asteroid Belt, Pluto and Charon kept tabs on Ceres, who was sleeping soundlessly.

“You sure you’re okay, Charon?” her dwarf planet asked worriedly.

“I’m fine, Pluto. Quit babying me,” she answered curtly.

“Well excuse me for bein’ concerned!” Hades argued. “It’s not like Ceres threw an asteroid at you or anything…”

“I’m tired, Pluto. Can we talk about this later?” Charon said dismissively.

“No! We’re not ignorin’ this anymore. Don’t change the subject,” Pluto asserted, his demeanor upright like a parent scolding their child—except they were brother and sister. “Are you mad at him?”

Now Charon was fed up. “What kind of a stupid question is that? Of course I’m upset! I’m upset at this whole fucking mess!”

Hades recoiled at the harshness of her tone, but it needed to be said, so he sealed his mouth shut and listened.

“But not just Ceres. I’m…I’m mad at everyone!” she nearly shouted. “Ever since I was born, the Solar System’s slowly turned into a dysfunctional family and it’s driving me nuts! Nobody communicates with each other anymore! Friends are falling apart, violence is becoming normalized (especially from the Sun), mental health issues are skyrocketing…”

“Charon…” Pluto murmured sympathetically.

“I…I just don’t know what to do anymore. How did it come to this? When did it go wrong?” she relented, pointing at the sleeping dwarf planet. “How could he do this?”

Pluto winced. “Well Ceres isn’t exactly known for bein’ sane…”

Charon crossed her arms. “It doesn’t excuse what he did to Earth and Luna. And worse—he did it on purpose. It wasn’t an accident. You and I both know insanity doesn’t excuse violence!”

“At least it wasn’t like the Moon Revolution. That was worse,” Pluto exhaled. “They were all declared sane. They knew exactly what they were doing.”

Charon squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. “I don’t understand. You and I never had that issue. None of the dwarf planets and their moons were ever this cruel to each other.”

“Maybe ‘cause we’re used to being ignored by everyone else, especially the Sun? I dunno…” Pluto attempted to cheer her up, but it didn’t work.

Charon rubbed her forehead. “So much has happened…”

Hades solemnly bobbed his head. “I know.”

His satellite sniffled, tears pricking her eyes. “Why us? Why now?”

“I wish I had an answer, Charon…but I don’t,” he replied benignly.

She sighed, trembling a little. “I know. I don’t expect you to. I just wish it was different…”

Pluto nodded again. “Me too, sis…me too.”

Then they heard yelling. No—screaming from an unexpected source, in close proximity with the Sun.

“What the hell was that?” Pluto lifted his head.

His moon stroked her chin. “It almost sounded like…”

They both gasped. “Uranus.”

Pluto and Charon overheard Sol including himself in the shouting match. It wasn’t unusual for the star due to his turbulent mood swings, but Caelus was a whole different story. In other words, he was downright pissed.

Chapter Text

SAME DAY:

To be more specific…both participants glared daggers at each other while the other planets and their moons were on the sidelines, rendered speechless. Poor Earth was still pretty much frozen and unconscious, but gradually thawing. Luna continued to hover in front of him, hoping to shield his Earthlings from further harm.

“For fuck’s sake! Look at him! Really look at him! Tell me what you see here!” Uranus gestured to the habitable planet.

“No!” the yellow dwarf rebelled.

“No?! His oceans are frozen solid! His core is about to stop rotating! His Earthlings are living in bunkers! And who knows how many died in the process?!”

“So what? He’s not my problem anymore! You guys made that very clear when you left your orbits!”

“You don’t know the full story!”

“I don’t need to! Besides, you started this when you left your orbit! Then Jupiter followed you, then Earth followed Jupiter, then everyone else followed Earth! That’s all I need to know! Everyone was out of their orbits when I specifically told them not to!!”

“Oh! Like you actually give a shit about our orbits! That’s rich! When the fuck was that?! Does changing our orbits and jeopardizing Earth’s life ring a bell?!”

“HOW DARE YOU — ”

“NO!! HOW DARE YOU!! HOW DARE YOU CLAIM YOU CARE ABOUT US WHEN YOU DON’T!! THIS WAS NEVER ABOUT ORDER AND STABILITY!! IT WAS ABOUT YOU BEING IN CONTROL!! BECAUSE YOU’RE SO FUCKING AFRAID TO BE ALONE AGAIN!! AND INSTEAD OF ADDRESSING YOUR TRAUMA LIKE A FUCKING ADULT, YOU USED US AS YOUR FUCKING SCAPEGOATS!!”

“THAT’S NOT TRUE!! I’M PERFECTLY SANE!!”

“NO YOU’RE NOT!! AND YOU HAVEN’T BEEN IN A LONG TIME!! BUT THAT DOESN’T EXCUSE YOUR ACTIONS TOWARDS US!! IT DOESN’T EXCUSE YOU TREATING US LIKE SHIT FOR BILLIONS OF YEARS!! AND IT ALL STARTED WITH YOU AND JUPITER!!”

“You know…of all planets, I never expected this tone from you, Uranus. And secondly—what the fuck are you talking about?!”

“Jupiter told us when he was born, you promised he didn’t have to be afraid as long as he looked up to you. Because you were his source of light, warmth, and love. You—our star—promised to protect him no matter what! But you broke it! The second time you saw protoplanets crashing with each other, you pushed him away when he tried to help you! To offer his support!”

“I—I did no such thing!”

“You screamed in his face!! You scared him so much that he couldn’t come to you for anything anymore! No wonder he lied about the Grand Tack and Planet X’s ejection! Because you would’ve murdered him otherwise! And not just him—none of us dared to tell you anything for the exact same reason!”

Caelus paused for a moment and laughed bitterly. “But that’s what you wanted all along, right? Control? Power? Well congratulations Sun—you’ve got both. You made us planets your subordinates—your fucking slaves. I hope you’re proud of yourself.”

Sol’s eyes filled with rage. “I’M NOT — ”

“What? A ruthless dictator? A violent egomaniac? An abusive psychopath? That’s exactly what you are!” the seventh planet snorted. “You claim you value peace and harmony, but we all know that’s not what you really want. In fact, I bet you’re secretly glad the Moon Revolution happened. You wanted us to be divided, didn’t you? So that we wouldn’t figure out the real root of our problems.”

“BULLSHIT!!” the Sun roared.

“Oh yeah? You sure you didn’t want planets and moons pitted against each other by creating an unnecessary hierarchy between us with you in charge? Or how you treated the dwarf planets and their moons like outcasts?! Or the fact that Jupiter and Saturn didn’t know about Planet X as soon as he was born?!” Uranus argued.

Both gas giants exchanged glances, eyeing their star suspiciously.

“That was your grand plan, wasn’t it? To maintain your power-hungry status?! And you claim it’s all bullshit. Face it, Sun! I told you several times before—you wanted this to happen!!” Caelus accused. “So yeah, congrats! You played us like a fiddle and you won! Might as well celebrate your oh-so wonderful achievements!”

Sol balled his fists. “THAT’S ENOUGH!!”

“Then again—your incessant fear-mongering has always been the primary cause,” the cyan ice giant growled. “We lied and kept secrets because of you. Our previous siblings died or drifted away because of you. Planet X was ejected because of you. Those feelings of anger and vengeance existed in the first place because of you. All our problems, all this chaos STARTED WITH YOU.”

The others gasped dramatically.

“And now here you are, offering the moons our positions without a care in the world. The one thing they’ve always wanted—the idea you planted in their heads. Not Ganymede and Europa, and certainly not Earth,” Uranus displayed a lopsided smirk. “But hey! Nobody’s born a tyrant. They’re made…so how did you come about, Sun? What’s your story?”

Sol crossed his arms and remained silent.

“How did it affect us? After all, our lying and secrecy came from somewhere. We didn’t learn it on our own. So who started it first? Us…or you?” Caelus spat the last word in disgust.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” the yellow dwarf huffed.

“Oh I think I do…” Uranus grinned deviously. “Sedna, start the footage!”

“Sedna??” his siblings gawked.

“Hey guys,” she waved shyly, revealing herself and a holographic device.

“How did you…??” Jupiter asked, completely baffled. “I thought you’d reach perihelion by 2076!”

“Long story,” Sedna replied sheepishly, turning to the second-outermost planet. “You said you wanted me to…?”

“Go ahead mate,” Uranus confirmed.

The dwarf planet instantly pressed PLAY as a hologram displayed a young Sol, barely 500,000 years old. He called out to a distant yellow-white star (HD 162826) who responded accordingly. The Sun tried to move closer, but accidentally destroyed five protoplanets in the process. They all died screaming. Sol immediately freaked out and apologized profoundly for his mistake.

Once Sedna pressed PAUSE, Jupiter struggled to find the right words. “I…I don’t understand.”

Saturn’s lips formed a scowl, gazing directly at his orbital center. “You…you said Jupiter was your first planet.”

“Correction—first full-fledged planet. Those five were protoplanets,” Neptune announced, frowning slightly.

“I…I thought I was the oldest. Yet there were five older siblings I never got to know…” Zeus exhaled shakily. “W-What were their names?”

The Sun paled. “I-I don’t remember.”

“Yes you do,” Caelus asserted.

“I said I don’t remember!” Sol snapped.

“What—were—their—names?” the bigger ice giant enunciated.

The Sun was finally backed into a corner he couldn’t escape from. “It doesn’t matter!”

“Yes it does! So tell us! Tell us the truth.” If looks could kill, Uranus would’ve committed his first intentional murder.

Meanwhile a tense silence filled the room, anxiously waiting to hear their star’s response.