Chapter Text
Weeks after taking off from Planet Stevia, Xylitol Nova Cookie is finally approaching another one of his sibling's planet, Planet Allulose. Xylitol had lost contact with Allulose longer than he was with Stevia, so he is eager to hear back from his brother after years of silence from his side.
"His planet doesn't seem to have changed much. Xyl-Q, please contact Planet Allulose to request landing." he asked, Xyl-Q happily obliges. "Right away-Q!"
While time is uncertain in space, the mothership itself has a designated time cycle to keep the normalcy in everyone's lives. Xylitol Nova's chronometer shows that it is currently early morning for him, he had woken up from his recharge earlier than usual, as the prospects of reuniting with his brother excites him. The control room is quiet at this time of the day, only occupied by him, his assistant bot, and the mothership's pilot, Xylitol Blue Cookie.
"It's connecting-Q!" Xyl-Q exclaims, Xylitol Nova excitedly stands in front of his monitor, only to be disappointed that it wasn't his brother who picked it up, it was some alien lifeform that he had never seen. Allulose Nova Cookie does pride himself in his planet's diversity, but he would think that seeing his ship's signal should've warranted his brother to be summoned to the communication center, not making a random crew deal with it, he's family!
"(=--++ -+-- -=-++--)"
"Who the hell is that."
"Seems to be one of the many alien races inhabiting the planet, I have yet to collect data on this particular lifeform so I don't know much about them-Q."
The other guy on the other side seems to have understood Xylitol's difficulty to understand them, so they eventually turned on their universal translator, "State your purpose."
"I'm here to visit my brother. I need permission to land at my usual spot." he replied, which prompted the alien on the other side to check on his signal, finally realizing that his signal is uniquely marked, unlike others. The alien accepted his request and directed him to a certain coordinates, and warned him about an ongoing "planet-wide riot", which perplexed him, he doubts any of them feel unaccepted by Allulose.
"What do you think they're rioting about?" Xylitol Blue Cookie finally spoke, he's navigating to the specified coordinates and caught glimpses of the riot. Xyl-Q went to talk with him while Xylitol Nova is deep in thought, perhaps this is the reason why his brother didn't get summoned to answer his calls, how bad has he been managing his planet to have people from all around the planet protesting at him like this?
His mind went back to eons ago, when communications wasn't cut and he still spared some time to visit his siblings. He remembers how much he take pride in his growing population and his ability to unite them all under his rule, but also remembered how particular Allulose is with his image and will spend great amount of time and resources to have him look good, no matter what. Xylitol seems to have an inkling of what's happening.
After they safely landed, Xylitol Blue Cookie had asked to recharge after staying up all night piloting the ship, fortunately he has Xyl-Q, Xylitol Researcher Cookie, and Astronaut Cookie to accompany him to talk with his brother, no doubt this will be a long day.
Arriving in his castle, he is once again left ungreeted by his brother, instead, it's this alien cake lifeform who waited for him in front of the gates, universal translators at hand. The four of them received and equipped them and exchanged pleasantries with this Alien who revealed themselves to be Allulose's right hand guy, Psicose Cake. "I have informed our leader of your arrival, you can sit here while you wait. He might take a while to prepare himself, though." they said as they guided the three Cookies into a lavish reception room. Some servants came out and served them with desserts.
"Can you brief me on who are we meeting today?" Astronaut Cookie asks, Xylitol didn't mention much other than saying that they're meeting another one of his siblings, and seeing that they might be waiting for a while, it doesn't hurt to ask.
"Allulose Nova Cookie, my brother whose wardrobe is as diverse as his people. You might think that this planet works similarly as Planet Stevia, both of them do welcome various alien races who wished to settle in, but culturally, they work different." Xylitol Nova explained.
"How different?"
"The Allulosians mostly choose to embrace their original culture, while the Stevians assimilated, and feel at peace in their oneness."
"Hmm they're not as united as you guys though, the Nutsters seems different enough from the others, from what I saw."
"Well, you see, Astronaut Cookie, we all were created in Planet Xylitol, we don't really have other alien race living there with us, so that's to be expected. Me and Xyl-Q here, we're both cybernetics, made of the same materials." The researcher finally spoke, Xyl-Q beeped in agreement. "To explain it simply, residents of Planet Allulose partakes in acculturation while residents of Planet Stevia partakes in assimilation-Q."
"The culture back in our former home planet is pretty much one and the same for everyone, no acculturation or assimilation required." Xylitol Nova chimed in. Astronaut did see it, his people were barely different from each other, they all seems to parrot the same thing to her, and their individuality is almost nonexistent, thinking about the planet again in this new perspective somewhat creeps her out.
"Oh my glaze, I am so sorry for keeping you waiting, brother."
The voice prompted everyone to look up from their seats and there they see Allulose Nova Cookie, flying towards them with his majestic butterfly-like wings. Xylitol Nova Cookie notices that he has a different motifs on the wings, "Oh, Allulose Nova Cookie, you look as majestic as ever, did you go into the cocoon again?"
"I just got out of it after my right hand Cake informed me of your arrival, I was planning to stay for longer, but hey, your arrival is much more important than my wings right now, it's been so long! How's it going?" Allulose's question stings, but he knows he must be honest.
"I.. we.. we lost our home planet to a black hole. We all live in the mothership right now. I've been trying to visit family to inform you all of the black hole." Xylitol revealed. Allulose, now standing frozen on the floor, stares at him in disbelief. "No... that can't be real."
The silence and solemn look on his brother's face really convinced him that he did in fact, lose his planet. "Oh my glaze, I'm so sorry for taking so long to greet you." Allulose teared up and hugged him, his metallic body felt cold to the touch, but he's sure that his freshly-rejuvenated body can envelope him with warmth. "If you and your people do need a place to live, please, feel free to stay here! We still have plenty of space in Sector 8, I'm sure that's enough space to house all of your people."
Xylitol thought about the offer, but then got reminded of the riot taking place outside. "What about your own people? We don't want to take what is rightfully yours and theirs, we're quite fine living in the mothership."
"Are you thinking of the riots? They're fine, my right hand Cake been taking care of our people while I was in the cocoon, but maybe it's time for me to address them, huh."
Xylitol raised his eyecing brows, "How long have you been ignoring them..."
"Hey, I'm not ignoring them, my right hand Cake been taking care of them. I do tend to be hands-off in leading the planet, but trust me, that's what they want. I gave them all freedom!"
"You should atleast hear their concern first..."
Allulose Nova Cookie stepped outside after months of planet-wide riots outside the castle, Xylitol Nova Cookie and Xylitol Researcher Cookie choose to come along with him, while Astronaut Cookie and Xyl-Q peeks from afar. The protest erupted upon seeing their leader, Xylitol had to reduce the volume in his audials.
"You've been abandoning us to play dress up again!"
"Stop sending us that Cake to hear our concerns, we know it falls on deaf ears!!!"
"Your ignorance gave birth to unnecessary wars!!!"
After listening to the mob, Xylitol came up with a conclusion that some of the Allulosians must've started wars for authority, seeing that their actual leader has pretty much abandoned them, as no one is there to intervene, the war eventually affected every other residents' lives. They're having a civil war and his brother doesn't even know, Xylitol face palmed in disbelief.
"I hear you all! I shall conduct peace talks with the leaders of these three opposing sides in the civil unrest. I'm terribly sorry for my absence, but it's proven necessary, as it has given me strength to end this chaos." Allulose Nova Cookie finally uttered his speech after the long wait, and also introduced his brother to them. In one speech, Allulose managed to once again unite his people and also introduced a new group of residents that will be living among them. The protesters are slowly leaving the area, with a satisfied smile on their faces.
"His charisma is overflowing."
"Oh yes! That's one of his powers you see, that's how he's been able to unite his diverse population, he enchanted them with his speech-Q."
"That was so much work." Allulose sighed, "I have to inform my parliament of the damage that stupid civil war has made, my planet looks like trash right now! My guests shouldn't be seeing that wreck."
"That's what you're most worried about?!" Xylitol raised his voice in bewilderment.
"Brother I thought your whole thing is cleanliness, you SHOULD be worried about that!"
Allulose, once again, delegated that task to his right hand Cake, while he assess the situation in the region he promised for his brother, "Tell you what, while I sort my own mess, I'll send you and your people to Sector 8 to settle in and you get to sort your own mess in there, you don't need my help governing your own people, right?"
Xylitol wants to say no, but is having a hard time rejecting his kind offer, he's quite sure his people must've gotten sick living in a ship for some years. "Fine, since you insist. But, you sure you don't need my help? I can send my drones to help with the clean up, atleast." He asks, Allulose rejected the offer for now but promised to tell him if he needs an extra pair of hands later.
Xylitol Nova Cookie commed Xyl-Q to head back to the mothership with Astronaut Cookie, as they are now heading to Sector 8 to build a (hopefully temporary) settlement. His worry grows in the background of his processor, as he has only now discovered his brother's laziness. His researcher is currently building mock ups of their soon-to-be settlement and that stole his attention away, it's been a long time since he and his people get to step out of the mothership and getting to live in proper housing again, maybe he will even have time and place to stretch his wings again.