Chapter Text
A sharp inhale is what Venus wakes up to. It’s his own—he takes another big gulp of air when his chest hurts.
Air. Why is he breathing air?
He cracks his eyes open, hissing at the light as he adjusts. The hiss sounds raspier than usual, and more guttural. However, Venus has no time to swallow that information, as he blinks and sees sand. Miles and miles of sand. It goes as far as he can see in every direction as he raises his head.
He whips around, then yelps as he realizes that he has legs, nearly tripping and falling back down. Four of them, long and gangly, yet sturdy-looking at the joints. Two more limbs flop uselessly against his ribcage. In fact, he has an entirely new body. An organic one. An Earthling one.
Venus is long—very, very long. A tail fizzles behind him in the sand sporadically, flicking grains everywhere. His body is lean and muscular. His chest is broad, a pointed breastbone jutting out, and from what he can see of his neck, it’s relatively the same—slender and thickly built at the base. He’s red, too, a very deep, ruby sort of red, flecked with golden spots, that glistens in the sunlight, in part due to the many black spikes along his back.
The spikes vary in length and thickness, but each one spouts steam in time with Venus’ panicked breaths. They gather in bristly bunches at his elbows, making them look almost fur-like.
Venus swallows, his head flinging back upwards towards the sky. Up. Towards the sky. Usually, Venus doesn’t have to look up at the Sun. Not like this. Never like this.
He feels a heart pounding ruthlessly in his chest, and just beneath it something gurgles and churns. Something dangerous. Burning and smoldering.
The light begins to make his eyes sting, so he quickly looks down, and flinches back upon noticing another body that he somehow missed before in his panicked haze. Not that he’s much calmer now—
How did I get here? What am I?
The body—another organic life form, like Venus—stirs and curls in on itself. It’s significantly smaller than Venus, and colored a dusty brown. Darker brown patches cover its—their body, spanning wide over huge spans of thin flesh. The figure has a collection of horns at the base of their small, arrow-shaped skull, and a whip-thin tail is fluttered out behind them.
Maybe—maybe they could help Venus.
How do legs work?
He lifts a forelimb, eyeing the very long fingers along his foot. Paw? Whatever. Three stretch out straight while the fourth juts out to the side, like a thumb. He wiggles them experimentally. They’re all tipped with a black claw.
He sets his paw back down, then takes a steadying breath. He needs to calm down; his head is spinning from the panic. He just—he can figure out what happened in a minute, but right now he needs to focus.
Focus, barks a voice in his head, near-mocking, on what? That you’ve been changed so drastically that you can’t recognize yourself? Into something prettier?
Venus pointedly ignores the urge to tell the voice to shut up. He takes a few more breaths, and then finally inches forward. With one paw. The other three remain stationary.
The other—thing moves again, and this time their face screws up. Venus watches, wide-eyed, as they take a sudden, loud inhale, before their eyes snap open and their head shoots up. Bright amber flicks around, eyelids fluttering in protest to the brightness of the sunlight on sand.
Venus feels his throat work as his mind can’t make up if he wants to speak or not. Can he even speak? He’s not human, nothing at all like Astrodude, and as far as Venus knows, Earth’s animal life doesn’t speak.
He manages to move another step forward, this time with both proper limbs shifting how he thinks they should. The figure with fire for eyes stares at him once they’ve whipped their head back and forth. This time, they lock eyes.
The smaller screams, flailing back and crushing their own.. wing?
Is that what that was?
Anyway, they quickly scramble off of it after a pained wince crosses their face. Venus almost screamed back. Almost. He did, however, flinch back so hard that he almost tripped over his own legs and tail.
“DON’T EAT ME!” The smaller screeches.
Venus squints.
“I’m not gonna eat you,” he replies, maybe a bit too harshly, but he plows on, because that voice.. He asks, a bit shyly, “..Mercury?”
The little guy’s head jerks forward in shock. “Venus?! Oh, thank God it’s just you.” And he slumps, shaking out the absolutely massive wings along his sides. Then he seems to register the movement, and flinches as he looks at them. “What are we? Where are we?”
“No idea,” Venus says, trying hard not to succumb to panic again. With Mercury rapidly getting more worked up, it’s very difficult.
“Oh no. What’s happening to us in space? Oh my God, what if we crash into one another? Into Jupiter? How do we get back to normal? How’d this happen?” Mercury word vomits, falling back on his haunches and worrying his paws together seemingly without much thought. He gasps, “what if we’re stuck like this?”
“Mercury.” Venus squints. It’s really bright, the longer he has his eyes wide open.
“What if we die–”
“–Mercury.” Venus growls, and it surprises both of them, because it’s very much a growl that comes from deep in his chest. Mercury shuts up, staring at him with big eyes. “Um. Sorry. Anyway stop panicking–and stop looking at me like that!”
Mercury shakes himself. “Right, sorry–it’s just you’re very scary-looking.”
Venus feels his spikes rattle. “What?” Scary? A pit of hurt forms in Venus’ chest.
“I-I mean, it’s–you have lots of teeth, and–these horns that–and, there’s, like, steam–not that you don’t look nice Venus–” Mercury stumbles, “you look great, even–ah, um–that sounds weird, sorry–but–”
He cuts himself off, slumping and sighing.
“You’re just kind of, um, intimidating. That’s all.”
Venus stares for a minute, blinking rapidly to process the words. He huffs a breath, trying to consciously keep his spikes from gushing steam at the compliment–I look great, hah–then he smirks. “Don’t hurt yourself.”
Mercury shoots him a glare.
“And, for the record, you have horns too.” Venus gestures vaguely with a talon. “Like four of them.”
“Oh,” Mercury blinks.
Venus snakes his neck around, looking away, “..so what do we do now?”
Mercury grunts, and then it sounds as though he falls. Venus turns to see him splattered out in the sand, looking irritated. He shoves himself up.
“I don’t know,” Mercury frowns. “But I don’t like these–these legs.” He shakily puts another forward, this time notably not falling over, “they make me feel so unsteady.”
Venus silently agrees.
“We’re stuck with them,” Venus sighs. He lifts his ungracefully to stand next to Mercury, who is significantly smaller closer to Venus. He comes up to the top of Venus’ shoulder in height, but he’s much skinnier and clearly made to slice through the air like some razor. “Are you good now?”
Mercury squints up at him. “Don’t patronize me.”
Venus grins. “I’m just asking, pipsqueak.”
Mercury headbutts him in the arm. “I thought we were past that, Venus.”
“We are,” Venus says, sweeping his eyes around, because for some reason, Mercury’s are like blackholes–drawing him in ruthlessly. That, and the sudden ability to touch one another without danger is a bit much on his head. “I’m just messing with you.”
Mercury sighs loudly.
“Well,” Mercury says, flailing his wings, “we need to figure out food and water, because we’re Earthlings now. And, I don’t know about you, but I see literally neither. And it’s getting ridiculously hot just standing here.”
Venus could agree with that last part. He frowns. “I see nothing.” he pauses, looking at his wings. “Do we try flying? We might cover more ground.”
Mercury sighs heavily. “I want to say no–but it’s gonna take longer on foot, I reckon. I don’t know how long we can go without fueling our bodies.”
Venus nods. He raises his, then stops. He’s nervous. Insanely so.
“You wanna go first?” He tries. Mercury glowers at him. “Hey! I could knock you over if I take off first.”
Mercury squints harder. “Fine. But if I go plummeting into the sand face-first, you better not laugh at me.”
Venus quirks a smile at that. “No promises.”
Mercury gives him one final glare before backing away, stumbling a bit along the sand dune. They’re perched rather high atop one–it’s really amazing neither of them have slipped off yet.
He raises his wings, and Venus examines how large they really are. And then he’s in the air, shooting up like a bullet. He circles Venus with ease, gliding in the air and flapping twice.
“Oh–oh wow!” Mercury laughs, and the noise tickles Venus’ ears pleasantly (he wonders why), “this is great–Oh! Venus, I see something!”
That’s all Venus needs to hear before he raises his own wings. He lunges up into the sky, struggling a bit. He falters in the air, and then he flaps and he’s going up.
The feeling of being in the air is nothing like being in space. The wings pumping at his sides, for one, were something he never even dreamed of. But then the swaths of sand below and the vast, blue sky overhead–wow.
Something in his head settles, too, as he circles with Mercury. Some part of this new body craved flight.
“Over there!” Mercury shouts, pulling Venus from his delight. “Something was shining.”
Venus turns, and his wings stutter. This body knew how to fly, but consciously, Venus knew that he didn’t. Mercury seemed to have the same issue, for he falters and lowers a few feet in the air.
One wrong move could send them both tumbling into the ground. Venus swallows dryly.
But he sees it–a gleam of something not too far off. He picks up the pace. The sun beating down on his back burns. The closer they get, the more the shimmering becomes a shape, and the shape is a large, elegant dome framed by two other, smaller ones. It’s surrounded by an emerald green bunch–a patch of trees, he realizes.
Wow. Venus breathes out in awe. Things like this, where the Sun shines down in streaking rays across sloping dunes, glancing off of shimmery rooftops and casting long, dramatic shadows–the jealousy that burns in his chest is bitter and vicious. He swallows, and his throat feels tight. He pulls his eyes away from the giants and back down to the domed buildings.
It’s a town, with sprawling buildings and busy streets. Venus lands when Mercury does, and they both stumble a bit in the sand. They’re just outside of the town’s limits, where paths and roads disappear into nothing.
Venus takes the lead when it appears Mercury isn’t moving. Maybe someone here could help them.
The humans, at first, give them both wide berths. There’s carts with horses drawing them in the middle of the road. Then, as if a switch is flipped, more and more people start outright staring at them with big eyes. Venus’ spikes rattle uneasily.
“Why are they staring at us?” Mercury asks quietly. “Are we not normal to see?”
His question is proven wrong when other Earthlings like them fly overhead in a sharp, arrow-shaped formation. Deep purple underbellies fly at the head, while smaller, brown and yellow beasts flutter just behind them.
There’s five total, and as they fly away, the three at the head are all glistening red. Like Venus. Venus, though, does not possess the purple underbelly. But clouds of steam coil out behind them in dramatic bursts. One roars, and it’s high and shrieky.
“Oh,” Mercury breathes, “nevermind.” His eyes are on Venus now. “Maybe we’re important.”
Venus shrugs, but he’s wondering the same.
The stares turn into quiet chatter. There are mostly men around, but there are also a few women with cloths around their heads and faces. Venus wonders why.
They break into a larger square, cut off by imposing walls at one end that lead up to the domed building. Outside of the gate is a long, golden creature that is exactly like Venus in build–black spikes, long coils, and the very imposing, sharp face with jagged teeth that Mercury seemed so fearful of before. Every bit coiling with steam.
“Vefa!” The golden beast calls, striding over. “Where have you been?”
What. Venus looks around minutely. Was this guy talking to him?
“Toska has been looking everywhere for you,” he continues. His words sound.. Different.
“What’s he saying?” Mercury frowns. “I can’t understand him.”
Okay. What?? What was going on?
The golden creature peers around Venus. “Oh! You’ve brought something back.”
“He’s not a thing,” Venus replies without thinking–his tongue twists his words in the same manner this guy is speaking in. A different language, Venus realizes belatedly.
“Well,” the stranger–or, maybe not at all? This guy sounds eerily familiar–grins, “I’ve never seen his kind here before. Is he an English breed?”
Venus is so confused. Beyond confused. “Um. I–don’t know.”
Mercury sends him a wide-eyed look. Right. He’s speaking another language. Wow.
“Are you okay, Vefa?” The stranger frowns. “You’ve been very quiet.”
“Just, uh–thirsty,” Venus blurts. “I don’t uh, remember much,” he fumbles a bit, “we. Er–we woke up in the desert.”
The stranger’s eyes widen. “Oh! Oh, wow. Were you caught in the–oh, you must’ve been caught in that dust storm.” He blinks. “I–do you remember who I am?”
He sounds very pitiful at the question. Venus shakes his head slowly. “I’m.. uh. No. I don’t. Sorry.”
The stranger makes a sad, low keening noise.
“What did you say?” Mercury hisses. Venus nudges him.
“I’m Ismali,” the stranger–Ismali–says, “I’m your younger brother.”
Venus blinks widely. What. What.
Venus may not be the most educated when it came to Earth’s, well–Earthlings, but he knew what a brother was. As a planet, you don’t have those. Venus knows the moons typically had those sorts of relationships with each other–and, well, Luna had that with Earth–
Wait. Moons.
This guy sounded familiar because he was one of those moons. And at the odd, stuttering way his steam stops moving before he breaks into a very steaming, clouding cough–
Ismali was Io, one of Jupiter’s moons.
“Mercury,” Venus says, and he’s grateful it comes out in English. “Mercury. This guy–he says his name is Ismali–but–” he’s tripping over his words more than he’s ever done– “this is Io.”
“What?!” Mercury yelps, drawing more attention to themselves. Venus nudges him sharply.
Ismali–or, Io, but Venus guessed this wasn’t really Io–is still coughing. Which–is a bit worrying. Venus continues, “he claims he’s my brother.”
Mercury’s eyes could fall out with how wide they are. “You’re joking.”
Ismali straightens up at last, heaving a breath. Venus looks back at him.
“Do you remember Toska at least?” Ismali pleads. “Surely you remember Toska.”
Venus slowly shakes his head.
Ismali shudders, his spikes rattling. “Toska is not going to like this..”