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"L-l-love you, Callisto!" Io happily chirped out of nowhere, heavy body slamming into hers from behind- but Callisto didn't stumble, or trip, or anything of the sort. She remained standing, easily taking in her technically older but younger sibling's excited stimming, a rock against his excited tides. "Love y-you!"
"Love you too, Io." She said easily, whispered softly so no one else would hear what was meant for only his ears, easily leaning back to rest against his strong and soft body. Callisto was bigger. Stronger too, by far. Just as she enjoyed to be. But she could induge sometimes, and let herself be held up... not that she would ever admit it. "Where did that come from?"
Of course, Callisto treated Io gently, in a way she would never treat anyone else. Io was the exception. And she was fine with that.
"M-m-m-missed you!" The yellow moon didn't sound mournful, probably having just remembered his sister was nowhere in sight, and having searched her out. "We were p-p-p-playing on Luna's lightning b-b-box! And you w-w-w-weren't there!"
"Hm." She leaned her cheek against his chest, feeling something ache when she felt that fluttery and uneven beating of his core beneath her ears. She didn't worry about Io, knowing how tough the yellow moon was- but it still made her a little sad. She wished he hadn't needed to be tough. "I'm okay, Io." She mumbled, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath of him. He stank. His atmosphere always did. But Callisto would never break his heart, and tell him that. "I didn't really feel like socializing today."
"...Do you need a squeeze?"
"This is good."
Truth to be told, Callisto was avoiding the other moons today.
Most moons, unsurprisingly, were very, very depressed after Tethys' oh so lovely story. Which made sense, of course it did- who wouldn't be after finding out one of their own had killed themself, and no one noticed? Callisto felt bad for them, and for Tethys too, she truly did- or would have.
If Tethys hadn't been lying through his teeth.
Although she didn't smile, she knew Io felt her appreciation when he tangled thick fingers into her hair, pressing firmly against his scalp and against the headband of headache that wouldn't leave her be. His warm hands often helped loosen the headaches, much to her relief, melting a little into him when he started massaging her scalp. "Isto?"
"Hmmmm... thank you." She mumbled. That unstable and uneven melody soothed her even further, familiar, distracting her from her thoughts for just a moment. But not long enough for them to return.
She'd listened to Jupiter's lectures. She knew most everyone thought she didn't because Callisto never asked questions or showed off her knowledge, but that was simply because she understood his way of thinking. Everything was clear the second Jupiter said it out loud. She knew what he meant when he explained Triton's situation, always overheard his lectures to the rocky planets when he explained Luna was drifting away from Earth-
She'd not forgotten one very important detail no one else seemed to remember.
Most of Saturn's moons were younger than his rings.
The only ones that could have been around when Chrysalis was alive were Titan and Iapetus. Something the smaller moon clearly had been aware of, based on his stoic, yet uncomfortable faces Callisto had constantly caught him making. She'd wanted to tell Jupiter as soon as they parted. But her planet, understandably, had rushed after his husband. The rocky planets had left to update the Sun. And the ice giants, who'd long started growing sick from having been out of their orbit for this long, had quietly retreated. Leaving the rest of the moons to comfort the Saturnian system, crushed to bits after Tethys' confesion.
She wondered how Triton was doing.
"...Luna could c-c-c-c-certainly use more moons to help h-h-him." Io quietly mumbled, fingernails scratching pleasantly, making her shiver despite his heat. Callisto groaned, burying her face more into his bright surface. "There's a lot of sad moons."
"You know that story wasn't true, Io." Callisto hadn't talked with any of the Galilean moons about it yet. But she knew they knew too. They knew each other, after all. "This is stupid."
"..." Io made un uncomfortable sound at the back of his throat, glancing behind him to check on moon club. Callisto lifted her face too, just a little, curious.
Poor Titan did not look well. At all. The color had drained from his face, his body trembling so bad, Ganymede was the only thing keeping him standing. The largest moon had come a long way, not ashamed to show how worried he was, murmuring softly into his ear to bring him back to the present. Not the truth, of course. It wasn't their secret to spill. And the part Titan had played was true, at least.
Callisto wondered why Tethys had lied.
She'd thought it had been to protect Titan until he revealed one of the two culprits. Real culprits.
Because the other one-
"How is Triton?" She found herself asking before being aware. She didn't flush, or get annoyed, as she usually would have done, because this was Io. The other sane half of the Galilean moons. "I'm assuming no one told?"
"Europa thought i-i-it would be best if you d-d-d-did." Io mumbled, strangely down, still glancing over at the other moons. But his hand still continued its comforting motions against her scalp, so Callisto was okay. "Being his g-g-g-girlfriend and all."
Nevermind. She hated Io.
She could feel her face heating up, just a tad, right on her cheeks and probably rendering her make up useless. "Not my- ugh." groaning, she smushed her face back against his warm chest.
Io giggled, but it sounded suspiciously wet. Which was... concerning, at least. A bit worried now, Callisto tilted her head up- beyond shocked to see the moon's eyes shining dangerously. "Io?"
His trembling hand stopped the nice massage, fingers curling to clutch her hair closer to that irregular heartbeat. Callisto hummed, confused, then raised a hand to pat above it. "Hey..."
"It... I k-know it wasn't real but..." the younger sniffled, raising his legs to curl up, just a little. Callisto allowed herself to be pulled more into the hug, humming so he knew she was listening. "C-Chrysalis was always a-a-alone in that story... a-a-and y-y-you are also always-"
The moon stopped, horrified by his own words. Callisto, sharing the sentiment, lifted herself off of his chest. Where did that come from? "Io..."
"And G-G-Ganymede and Europ-pa were alone during their banishment f-f-f-for a while..." Io's shaky hiccup broke her heart.
"Io..." She breathed, far gentler than anyone else would ever see her, as she raised two steady hands to cup his wet cheeks. Io leaned into her hands easily, raising two red-rimmed eyes to meet her stern gaze. "I'm not going to kill myself." She reassured him, sucking in a breath when those terrified eyes darted to her wrists, just for a moment. She didn't know what put that fear into his mind, never having done anything bad of the sort- but she supposed her dark humor must have gotten to him eventually. "Ganymede and Europa won't die either."
"N-N-N-Neptune and Planet X lost their m-m-minds in the dark!" The bigger moon winced at the reminder. Unconciously, she found herself searching Triton again- but of course. Her totally not crush remained out of her sight. "T-t-the new moons were born sick."
"And now everything is okay again." Was Io due another one of his sickness-induced episodes, perhaps? It had been a while... and their time outside the solar system surely mustn't have done him any favors. Callisto turned one of her hands so the back of it was pressing against his face instead, wincing at the temperature that radiated off of him. Yep. Would explain the rush of emotions. "No one's dying, Io."
Not yet.
Because while Callisto wasn't turning into rings anytime soon... she knew of someone else who would.
Callisto pushed the thought out of her head. It was as easy as breathing, guiding the emotions away from where it would bother so her gaze could remain calm and her grip steady. "They're okay." She mumbled, being the one to pull her sibling into her arms this time.
The moon pressed a kiss into those wild curls, grunting when strong arms squeezed the life out of her. Oh, the things she did for her fellow moons.
What would these idiots do without her?
"You wanna go to Ganymede?" Where Callisto's hugs were gentle and soft, Ganymede could squeeze others properly. Just like Jupiter, and just like Io. Something the smaller would probably appreciate more than her weak hugs and empty words. He was loud, and took up space, and was annoying enough to nag bad feelings away. Io shakily nodded into her chest, parting away when she started to stand.
Callisto did reach out to squeeze his hand.
Hm. Seems she couldn't avoid the trainwreck that was the rest of the solar system any longer.
But that was okay. She had a sudden urge to check on a certain moon who made her heart flutter everytime he was mentioned.
"I called you here because you're the only person I trust."
...Hm. Callisto was a little tired of waiting for a date.
"Can you still breathe?" She asked easily while navigating through the chaos of what used to be an organized moon club. The place must have gotten a little messy when they'd been chasing Ceres... was he still in the belt? "Or should we slow down?"
"I-I-I'm... o-o-okay..." for now, anyway. But he wasn't wheezing or coughing, so Callisto wasn't too concerned about it being physical. Perhaps the last few weeks had just been a lot. "Sorry..."
"Don't be." They passed Europa, who was braiding a shaken-looking Rhea's hair for lack of anything else to do- concerned the moment she spotted the two passing by. But Callisto shook her head at the pink moon's questioning gaze. She had it handled. Ganymede was right there anyway. "Ganymede?"
Their biggest didn't look super happy either. When he turned around Callisto got a good look at the bags under his eyes. Which made sense... he hadn't exactly rested ever since everything either. "You look like shit."
Ganymede did not get a gentle Callisto.
"Same to you, Callisto" Ganymede huffed- or sighed. A deep one. He jostled Titan, who was still leaning on his shoulder, but the second-biggest moon didn't respond to the treatment. Shock? Maybe. Tethys did just reveal he murdered someone.
How did Tethys know about that if he didn't exist yet?
Ganymede's gaze landed on the smallest among them soon enough, annoyed expression smoothing out to make way for something more tender. "What happened to you?" He asked, a little rougher than he should have. Breaking a little when Io looked pitifully at him.
Callisto settled on glaring instead. It fit her better, and Ganymede really should be nicer. "Please convince him you aren't dying." She groaned, dramatically, because she was supposed to be annoying. Ignoring the larger's "Wait what-?" in favor of pushing Io into his arms, Callisto took her leave.
"You look happy," Europa commented when her big sister passed. She didn't look up from her task, placing a little rocky flower into the braid she just finished. "There! All pretty."
Rhea did not acknowledge the comment.
"..." Europa, with a rol of her eyes, twisted so she could look at Callisto instead. She wasn't mad, the bigger knew her well. "Any luck?" Callisto asked, crossing her arms.
"She's being annoying." Europa huffed, glaring not so meanly to the subject of their talk. "I make her look fabulous and she doesn't even see it!"
She was looking for something to do. Callisto could tell, because Europa wasn't great at words. But she was good with her hands. She better be, with all the times Callisto let Europa practice on her. "She's pretty, Europa."
"Tell her that!"
"Be nicer."
"I am nice."
"Hm..." Rhea curled up further, numbly staring at nothing ahead. With lack of anything better to do, Europa placed another flower into her hair.
Even Callisto could tell when an atmosphere got awkward. She turned without a word, prepared to leave, until the pink moon called out to her. "Where are you going?"
"To Triton." At the reminder, the biggest moon quickly carded her fingers through her hair and shook, hoping to somewhat bring her curls to life. While Callisto wasn't usually one to care about appearances, already knowing she was fabulous, she always found herself double checking when the 'lone wolf' was involved.
Lone wolf my ass.
"You haven't happened to see him?"
"Oooohhhh~" Callisto bit back her annoyance. "Already running to your boyfriend?"
"Yes." Callisto was satisfied to see the smugness be wiped from Europa's face, obviously surprised by the unusual response. "Yes. I am."
Her core fluttered happily at the thought. Her boyfriend.
"Oh?" And now Europa looked offended. "And you didn't tell me!?" She cried out in betrayal, getting up from her hunched position. Probably to scream. Callisto hoped not. "When did that happen?!"
"In a moment." Not in the mood for Europa to spoil her business, Callisto turned around again. "He doesn't know it yet."
She felt Europa's gravity calm behind her. "...Oh." And then she snorted. Callisto bit back a happy smile at the sound. Europa didn't get gentle Callisto either. "Pfft- okay then. You go baddie."
"Never say that again."
"Slaayyyy queen!"
Callisto hated all the Galilean moons.
They were lucky she loved them.
Having satisfied the smaller's insatiable need for tea, Callisto took off. She was well aware that Rhea would most likely tell, but in the moment, couldn't care less.
She liked Triton. She also knew Triton liked her. And they'd been waiting for the right time to make it official, but... it was clear there just wouldn't be a right time.
And Callisto wasn't waiting around forever until it was too late.
The reminder of his fate soured her moon, just a little, but as always, it was brushed under the sand and covered in a tide of the seas.
No use dwelling on that now. That wasn't an issue Callisto could fix. This was-
"-and now Saturn won't even look at us anymore!" Enceladus angrily shouted, shielding a sniffling Mimas behind him. Callisto stopped, blinking confusedly. She... had been searching for Triton. How did she end up amidst- "And Tethys is gone and he took Telesto and Calypso with him, and-"
"-And you rather live in the dark?" Triton asked, genuinely confused- ah. Enceladus was barking up the wrong tree there, yeah. "The truth would have come out eventually!"
"Not like this!" The icy moon bit angrily- was he shaking? Wow. Callisto missed a lot. "And now our relationship with Saturn is broken again thanks to your stupid planets-"
"Uranus and Neptune did what they thought was right!" Titania matched his energy easily, wings spreading as far as they could go and feathers poofed out, appearing to look as threatning as possible. "You can't constantly blame them for-"
"I can and I will!"
"And you two helped them." Dione added, just as bitterly though a lot calmer, a little heartbroken due to the situation at hand. "Who's side are you on?!"
"There are sides now?" Triton's tail gave an aggitated wag. It wasn't a funny situation, not really. But Callisto couldn't help but stare at it regardless. She knew how strong a hit from that limb could be. "You really wish to live in the dark forever?"
"Yes!!"
Titania, blinking away frustrated tears, caught sight of the purple moon behind her. But not sure who's side Callisto would be on, she shattered completely, sobbing into her hands in a defeated tone. Oh stars... how long had they been shouting at them for? It must have gotten to be too much.
"Titania-" Triton reached out to touch her shoulder, but the Uranian moon forced her wing between them before he had the chance. But thankfully, the Uranian moons were a protective group- all four of them, who'd remained behind, forcing themselves between their big sister and the angry ones instantly, flapping their wings defensively and hissing out threads Callisto didn't have the language to understand.
Probably bad, based on how Triton tensed. He looked around helplessly for anything at all-
And then he spotted her instead.
Callisto did not smile and blush. Her heart did not skip a beat at the sight of that cool smile she loved. She didn't. No way, she did not.
"We know when we're not wanted." Ariel grumbled, glaring at the two, while the rest of the moons led Titania away. She was a bit kinder when she adressed Triton next. "You coming, Triton?"
"...Go on ahead." He hadn't looked away from her yet. Good. The larger was already backing away to avoid the angry crowd. "I'll join you guys later."
"Bye bye Triton!!"
"And hit Titan for us!!"
...Okay then. Did she have to catch up on tea?
She would interogate Triton later on that. She had more important matters to tend to.
And still... despite the confidence, Callisto felt her core speading up. "Happy to see you joined this dumbster fire." Triton appeared from behind her, stretching his arms as far as they could go until his shoulderblades popped. The low, rumbly purr that followed making her feel even more faint than before. She hated Triton. "How are you holding up after... everything?"
This was where she spoke. Another sarcast comment to bite playfully back, or even groan out of annoyance. But Callisto, who already wasn't a moon of many words, suddenly found herself absolutely speechless, flustered, doubtful... second-guessing. Okay... perhaps this wasn't the time?
But then when would it be?
"...You good?" Triton leaned in a little closer, lacking personal space, as he always did- but that was okay, because Triton was one of the two people Callisto let into her bubble.
Because she loved him.
Callisto made up her mind.
"...What, did something move the unshak- able..." Triton trailed off slowly, coming to a halt when she reached out shakily for his shoulders, and squeezed.
Callisto stared at him intensily, just... taking him in. While she could. Before she no longer had the chance. "Uhm... Callisto?" He asked, swallowing hard. Shrinking under her gaze.
She noticed. Of course she did.
"...Are you okay?" She still found herself asking, subconciously searching a sign that this wasn't the right time. For him to let her know this wasn't okay, that she was being impulsive-
But Triton didn't brush off her hands and continued to look her right in the eyes. Probably. She guessed so, anyway, she couldn't see those tired but wonderful eyes. Callisto longed to see them. "...Yeah." He spoke, a little softer- perhaps sensing the off air around her. "I am."
"Good."
She didn't give Triton a chance to respond and pulled.
Smushing his lips right against her own.
Triton made a startled sound.
But he did not pull himself out of her arms.
His lips were cold, just as she'd expected them to be. Cracked and damaged from the freezing temperatures... yet, far nicer than she'd imagined it feeling. Callisto welded his body closer to her own with an approving hum, hand snaking to the back of his head and tangling into his hair to pull more firmly.
The smaller moon untensed in her arms.
Only then did Callisto break the kiss, pulling just enough to still be breathing in the same air.
She's smushed his glasses onto his face with her actions. Wanting to see those pretty eyes, Callisto tenderly lifted the shades away- revealing those absolutely blown pupils that stared back in shock... and awe. His cheeks colored a pretty red that matched her own. His core, pounding so hard she could feel it beating against her chest, matched her own, frantic rhytmh.
But Callisto felt her nerves bleeding away, as they always did, whenever she was near him. "You're my boyfriend now."
How she managed to sound so casual about it was beyond her.
"I..." Triton coughed, coloring a shade darker. Callisto was hungrily staring at his lips again. "I am?"
"Yep." And she pulled him back into another harsh kiss again.
The smaller gasped for air next time they, much to her amusement. Callisto grinned, and kissed the the corner of his lips next, letting him have a break. She didn't wanna break him too soon after all. "We're going on a date after you rest in your orbit a bit."
"I-I-" Triton swallowed again, struggling to find the words. But based on the restless twitching of his tail, she guessed he wasn't objecting. She liked that. Good. "Y-yes ma'am."
Finally.
The bigger moon had almost thought he would be torn apart before they co-
No.
Callisto mourned the loss of his body in her arms, but alas, she had other things she needed to do. "Try to remember your lone wolf persona by the time I go back?" She shrugged, turning around. "I need to talk with Jupiter."
Perhaps remind her stupid planet that Tethys was younger than Saturn's rings.
"Wha- now?!" Triton sobered up at the mention of said planet, his voice raising in pitch. "He'll kill me!"
"He won't." Callisto would get angry at him otherwise.
She'd waited far too long for the Neptunian moon to let her planet kill him so soon, after all.