Chapter Text
Sick. Hurt. Dying.
None of the Rocky planets could quite grasp these terms. Yes, Earth had developed life capable of all three of these things - his Earthlings often succumbed and died due to sickness, harm, or.. well, death. But it wasn't possible for a planet to get sick, or hurt, or die, and it certainly wasn't possible for a star, either.
So, what was happening?
According to AstroDude, every Earthling scientist was wondering this exact thing. Yet, none had quite found the answer. It was far too early for the Sun to go supernova. It was far too early for the Sun to explode. It was far too early for anything at all, yet, something at all had managed to occur.
For most of the planets, this wasn't much of an issue. The Sun didn't bother them at all, and they were essentially free to move from their orbits as they'd like. Except for Mercury and Venus, of course. Not only had the Sun been keeping a watchful eye on Mercury, he'd been unusually vocal about Venus staying in his orbit, as well. And.. well, to say the two planets by themselves were normal was an overstatement; Mercury would often keep his distance from Venus, staying much, much closer to the Sun than usual, and Venus would sit in his orbit, clawing at his hair or sitting with his knees clasped to his chest, in a seemingly defensive position.
The Earth and Mars were the first to notice this, being the only other Rocky Planets. They were quick to bring it up to the Gas and Ice Giants, however the others didn't pay much attention - they had their own problems to deal with, regarding moons. So, Earth and Mars decided to question the only Earthling they had direct contact to; AstroDude.
"I'm sorry. I told you guys everything I knew. I have bigger problems to deal with at the moment, so if you'd-..."
The two planets stared down at the spacecraft, clearly not taking this. "You Earthlings can detect storms on Jupiter, but you can't tell us what's wrong with the Sun? Come on, man." Earth shook his head, arms folded across his chest. "You owe me, AstroDude. At least tell us what's up!" Mars nodded, quickly mimicking Earth's stance.
"That's just it! No one knows!" AstroDude cried, fisting his hair. "Look. I'm not.. I'm looking forward to retirement in just a few months. I'll do anything to prevent delaying it. So, if I knew anything about this, I can assure you, you would know!"
Earth and Mars both watched as AstroDude 'sped' away in his spacecraft (it was a pathetic show), before Mars sighed. "Look, man. I'm all for helping our buddies, but this isn't gonna work. We've already asked everyone. It might be best-"
"Not everyone."