Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The universe didn’t always exist. At one point, it was just a pure void. Nothing. Hard to picture, right? No space, no time, no emotions. Not a single organism was present. A void. But, if the universe stayed like this, we wouldn’t be today. This story wouldn’t exist. How did this all begin? Well, imagine nothing as a tiny, super dense point, so small, yet containing everything, a singularity..
The singularity pops up. It looks around, yelling for anyone else. It echoes through the void. Nothing. The unstable singularity vibrates. Finally, it bursts into a wide assortment of energy.
The Big Bang. This happened 13 billion years ago or so. It wasn’t a cool action movie explosion. Instead, think of it like a silent expansion. Matter fills the once empty universe, bringing space and time into the void. The universe is still expanding as we speak.
This event brought the universe to life. It’s the very reason why we had a chance of existence.
From this burst of energy, the four fundamental forces would be brought into existence. Gravity, electromagnetism, the weak and strong nuclear force. Whatever. We don’t care about these forces. You came here for the planets. Let’s speed things up, shall we?

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

Big hot mess, cooling down, protons, electrons, neutrons, atoms, matter, blah blah blah. Stars wouldn’t form for a good 150,000,000 years. Good thing we skipped all those years, otherwise it’d take about twenty thousand chapters to get to the Sun’s formation. The Sun still hasn’t even formed yet! Say hello to the early stars. They were massive...but short-lived. Everywhere you look there’d be explosions and collisions and whatnot. It wasn’t until a few billion years where a small star in the galaxy known as the Milky Way would finally be born...just not in the way you’d expect.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

So you see, there was a large white star named Coatlicue. She was around thirty times the size of the Sun. Yes, I said she, not it. This isn’t some science documentary. This is a story. She was kind, with a raspy voice, but old. It didn’t take long for her to burst.
“Hey, Coat. Are you...doing good?” asked Methuselah. Methuselah is the oldest star still here today.
Coatlicue shivered. “I...think I’m going to die.”
Methuselah sighed and tried looking content. “Okay...uh, are you close?”
“I think so. Get away from me or you’ll be caught in this.”
“O-okay. It was nice knowing you...” sniffed Methuselah. He started to back away.
“Do not fear, young one. I’m sure we’ll find eachother again, one way or another.” Coatlicue started to shake.
“Well, it’s my time now.” She shut her eyes tight and let go of her life.
The supernova was huge and shook the galaxy. Her body exploded in a huge array of colour and gas, expanding and expanding! It was so loud, you could barely hear anyone talk. Methuselah managed to get away, tears in his eyes, but other stars weren’t so lucky.
From the remains, came the next generation of stars. The Centauris, Arcturus, and yes, you know who. ☀️ ☀️ ☀️

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“W-where am I?” asked the newly formed star. This star was a male and yellow, quite small but growing. “Heh, look at him! My newest...sibling? Nah, I’d say ‘cousin’. The annoying cousin. Perfect,” said a glowing orange star. This star was still growing. “I’m Toliman. Remember that, punk. What’s your name? Must be something ridiculous,” said the orange star. The new star was confused on why this orange star was so rude, especially at him. The new star then put his attention towards Toliman’s question. What was his name? He didn’t even know himself. He searched his mind quickly and was answered with a feminine, raspy whisper. “Your name is Sol.” The new star, aka the Sun, turned around, much to Toliman’s amusement. There was no one behind him. Who said that whisper? Toliman grew impatient. “Hurry up.” “Uh, Sol. That’s my name. Leave me alone,” countered Sol. Toliman laughed. “Feisty one, eh? Maybe you’re not as bad as I thought.” Sol rolled his eyes. He saw another star approach, a very small red one. This one was a girl, very bright. “I’m Proxima. Who’s this?” She seemed younger than Toliman, but slightly more mature than Sol. “Wait for our other sibling to come. I don’t want to say this over and over again,” said Toliman sharply. “Fine.” Just then, a yellow star appeared. He was the same age as Sol, with a smirk on his lips. (Do planets have lips?) “Hello. I think my name is Rigil Kentaurus? Who’s he, big brother?” said the star. “Okay, siblings. This is our ‘cousin’, Sol. There, happy?” said Toliman. Proxima didn’t miss a beat. “I’m definitely more happy than you. Every minute you’re all broody doody and scowling 99% of the time.” Toliman stared at his sister. “Excuse me? Well-“ Sol cleared his throat, if planets even have throats. “Can you guys argue later? I’m bored.” Rigil looked at Sol enthusiastically. “Me too!” Proxima and Toliman sighed. “Go play or something, and don’t go too far,” directed Toliman. They got back to arguing.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“Catch!” Rigil used his gravity to throw an asteroid to Sol. Sol used his gravity to decelerate it, and pushed it back to Rigil.
“This is so fun!” exclaimed Sol.
“I want to be with you forever!” squeaked Rigil.
“Why not? Let’s be best friends!” said Sol. Rigil nodded.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“No, I don’t want to eat asteroids. They taste horrendous,” yelled Proxima.
“Well do you want to starve?” yelled Toliman.
“No, because we can’t even starve! Eating is optional,” claimed Proxima.
Sol and Rigil got back, amused by their argument.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

Sol and Rigil are now teenagers, both of them have gotten larger. They were both a little bigger than Toliman, while Proxima was still small. She often threw a fit over that before finally maturing.
“Me and Sol are going out on a trip. We want to explore the galaxy,” said Rigil. They’ve planned it for a long time.
Proxima and Toliman stared at him. It was Proxima who responded. “It’s too dangerous, what if one of you gets lost? You guys are still so young..”
“Exactly. We won’t let you go any further than our usual grounds,” announced Toliman firmly.
“Fine,” hissed Rigil. He had a plan though.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

He said that he and Sol were playing tag before leaving. Proxima narrowed her eyes and spied on them. But Rigil didn’t know she was watching.
“Hey Rigil!” exclaimed Sol. “Are we still going on that trip?”
Proxima knew it. She started advancing until Rigil turned towards her.
She took the chance to confront him. “You said you were playing tag? Liar. Like we said, you can’t do reckless-“ She was too late.
Rigil ran and Sol did too.
Proxima stared. “F*ck. Stupid little brother.” Then she tried catching up.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“Hurry! She might lose track of us, Sol!” screamed Rigil.
Sol was running as fast as he could. Then he almost collided with a star infront of him. The star was sleeping and flung Sol away.
Sol screamed and Rigil did too. Rigil chased after him but Sol was long gone.
Proxima caught up, seeing what had happened. “I told you so,” she muttered to Rigil, not a hint of anger in her voice. Only disappointment and sadness. “He’s gone.”

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

The three Centauri siblings did try looking for Sol. But he was too far away. Ironically enough, Sol made it back to the place where he last saw Rigil. The star that flung him had left.
‘Oh no. I’m lost and I don’t even remember the way back! Guess...this is my home now,’ thought Sol.
That’s when he saw a small cluster of gas form around him. Asteroids were getting caught in his gravity.
“What?” said Sol out loud. “This...I...I didn’t think this was possible! Wha-“ He was cutoff by a small baby gurgle.
The small cluster of gas condensed and formed the Sol’s first planet. He was practically a baby, but he was almost the same size as Proxima. The planet was a boy, with light brown and red-orange stripes. Lots of storms. A gas giant.
Four more clusters of gas appeared, but Sol was directing all his attention to the new planet. “This will be interesting,” said Sol.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“What’s your name, little one?” asked Sol when the planet woke up. “Mine’s Sol!” He tried being enthusiastic.
The new planet had one word bouncing in his mind, whispered in a raspy feminine voice. Jupiter.
“My name’s, uh, Jupiter! I...guess I’m your planet?”
Sol was already proud. “Yes, you are. In fact, you’re my oldest planet! The first one to wake up, and clearly the smartest.” Okay, maybe Sol wasn’t a hundred percent sure of the last bit. But flattery does wonders to newborns, helps get the confidence up.
Another planet woke up, male, this one slightly smaller than Jupiter. He had yellow-grey and light brown stripes, with a huge space in-between his eyes and mouth. Another gas giant
Sol repeated the question he asked to Jupiter once this new planet woke up. The planet answered with “Saturn.”
A dark blue male striped planet, slightly smaller than Saturn, came up to Sol. This one seemed...different from the others, since he was colder in temperature. The Solar System’s first ice giant.
“What’s your name-“ started Sol.
“My name’s...uh, Liber,” said the new planet quickly, almost like he wasn’t sure. Sol didn’t care though, he was mad that Liber cut him off.
“Hey! You don’t cut me off when I’m speaking! Let me speak when I talk next time, okay? You don’t want me pissed off by you,” yelled Sol. Saturn slowly backed off, but Jupiter got closer. He wanted to see the drama.
Liber sulked and muttered a half-hearted “Yes.”

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

Two more planets came. Both of them ice giants. They were both smaller than Liber. The bigger one of the duo was a boy, light green-cyan with white stripes, and a very prominent baby-face. The smaller one was a girl, with a slightly darker shade of cyan, a little bluer. The boy was named Caelus while the girl was named Neptune. They were an odd duo, mostly only hung out with eachother, while the other three planets were just starting to socialize.
Sol didn’t care if they were “weird”. He was proud to have found another family, right after being shoved away from his old one.
‘I will treat them as if they were my own kids,’ thought Sol. He made it his objective for the next five billion years.
He saw more clusters of gas form, this time much closer to him. They had asteroids in the cluster, though, so Sol thought that they’d be terrestrial planets instead. Rocky, gassy or icy, Sol didn’t care. As long as he had a family, he was happy. Little did he know that not all families were perfect.

Chapter Text

Jupiter advanced to Saturn. He thought Saturn looked uninteresting, but he seemed kind.
“Oh, hello!” said Saturn. “Who’re you? Jupiter?”
Jupiter nodded. Good start. “Do you...want to be friends?”
“Uh, sure? How about we get to know eachother first?”
“Sure! I’m the biggest planet so far and I orbit closest to our star. I’m almost big enough to be a star! Imagine that!”
Saturn was amazed. “That’s so cool, I wonder what it’d be like!”
And that’s how the first friendship in the Solar System begun. Let’s just say it’ll cause more harm than good.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

Liber was lonely. And bored, but mostly lonely. He looked at Saturn and Jupiter so easily socializing. Jealously struck him. He’d tried to befriend Caelus and Neptune, but they were too silly. He thought about their interaction...

“Hey! I’m Liber, want to be friends? It’s kind of boring here without friends, don’t you think?”
Caelus was in the middle of role-playing with Neptune and just said, “Hello,” before going back to their role-play. Neptune was fully in-character, drama in her voice. Liber just left, disappointed. Maybe the other ice giants had called for him to come back, but Liber wasn’t listening.

Liber sighed at the memory. Maybe he should give them another chance. But the thing is, he wanted to be with Jupiter and Saturn, not some theatre kids. He wanted to be cool. He wanted to be known. He made up his mind.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“Try dodging this!” yelled Saturn. He threw an asteroid at Jupiter. Jupiter used his gravity to deflect the asteroid into Sol.
“Hey! Who, wha-“ screamed Sol. Then he looked at a slightly guilty Jupiter. He sighed and glared at him sternly. Kids.
Sol turned his attention back to the forming rocky planets. There were three of them that had fully formed, a couple others were still forming. Within a few minutes he’d named the ones who were awake. The biggest boy, was named Ares. The biggest girl, who was slightly larger than Ares, was named Enyo. A shy girl was named Bellona. Sol had named them, as for some reason they didn’t have names whispered in their minds like the gas and ice giants. Must’ve been a terrestrial thing. They were all still molten and haven’t developed distinct features yet, but they had consciousness. Meanwhile, Saturn and Jupiter were resuming their dodgeball game, just a little further from Sol so they wouldn’t hit him...again. That’s when Saturn spotted a big blue planet approaching. “Who’s that?” asked Saturn. Jupiter turned around and his eyes lit up in recognition. “Oh! That’s Liber, he woke up and was named a few minutes after you. He’s basically the middle child, forgotten. After all, I haven’t seen him since he was named!” Liber cleared his throat and Jupiter’s face lit up with embarrassment. “Forgotten, you say?” said Liber deathly serious. Liber knew he would never be friends with this bozo. “Well...I didn’t mean it like that!” stammered Jupiter. Saturn sighed and introduced themselves. “This is Jupiter—I apologize for his rudeness—and I’m Saturn. Nice to meet you, Liber!” Liber thought Saturn was genuinely nice. They got to know eachother well when Jupiter wasn’t around. They quickly became friends. While Jupiter was a friend Saturn could play with and tease, Liber was a friend Saturn could have more in-depth conversations with. Everyone was content with that...until they started to mature.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“Just why don’t you want to talk to me! I thought we were friends!” yelled Jupiter. Like all teenagers, he was getting moody.
“I can’t say!” screamed Saturn. He preferred hanging out with Liber nowadays. He thought Jupiter couldn’t handle those types of conversations. Plus...Liber made him feel something inside...something happy. Saturn knew what this feeling was; he’d figured it out earlier. But he didn’t want to tell Jupiter. He can’t share his life with him.
Jupiter watched as Saturn ran away. His only friend. If that’s what he wants, fine. So be it. But Jupiter still missed him

“If that’s what he wants, fine. I’ll go get other friends,” muttered Jupiter. He headed towards Sol. Maybe he could be friends with him. This was the biggest mistake of his short life.
He maneuvered his way through a couple of asteroids, his gravity causing them to crash into each other. Jupiter didn’t care. He was focused on Sol.
Saturn looked back while he was going to Liber. He regretted his words to Jupiter. He started to follow Jupiter and yelled.
“Jupiter, I’m sorry! Come back!”
Jupiter only quickened his pace upon the hearing the words. He just wanted to get away from Saturn.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“Hey! Stop running so fast, I can’t catch up, idiot! It’s not fair since you have a closer orbit!” yelled Enyo. She was tired of Ares’s cocky attitude in their races.
“Oh, so you want me to hold back? Hah! No way,” remarked a running Ares.
Meanwhile, Bellona was trying to get another proto-planet to wake up. She called him Mars, even though he was just a bundle of gas and rocks. “Look, ‘Mars’, there’s a shooting star! Wake up and make a wish!”
“Eh, Bellona! Want to join our next race?” asked Ares after he won the race. Enyo followed him, still upset that she lost to Ares.
Bellona shook her head, or body in this case since they’re planets. “No, I’m too busy waking up ‘Mars’. He’s so close!” Enyo sighed.
“You’re ALWAYS trying to wake that proto-planet up. Forget about it for a second and join us, loser!”
“Exactly! Loosen up!” said Ares.
Bellona stared silently. Ares cursed in annoyance but Enyo tried one more time to convince her. “You’re closer to Sol, which means that you’ll be able to run faster. The winner gets to boss around the other two.” Ares looked at Enyo in surprise, they hadn’t agreed on that. “Are you sure you don’t to join?”
Bellona sighed. She had to say yes or else they’d never stop pestering her about it. “Fine. Just one round.”
Enyo and Ares cheered. “Starting point is near those asteroids! Whoever makes it to Bellona’s orbit first wins!” announced Ares.
While Enyo and Ares got in position, Bellona looked at ‘Mars’ once and followed them. It was the last time she’d look at him.
A huge shadow loomed over the asteroids where Enyo and Ares were waiting. “Do you see that?” commented Enyo.
Ares was confused. “See what? I don’t—“ He never got to finish his sentence.
A scream came from Ares as Jupiter came into full-view, a confident and guarded expression on his face as he prepared to befriend Sol. Enyo screamed and tried helping the disfigured Ares. But she was too late. He had exploded. Shards of his broken face and body collided with Enyo’s face, blinding her. It was only now that Jupiter realized what was happening. “No, no, no, NO! What is happening! Uh, rocky planet, whatever your name is, get away!” screamed Jupiter. He was near hysterical. That’s when Sol turned around to see Enyo explode.

Chapter Text

A scream escaped Sol’s lips as the remains of Enyo and Ares scattered. Jupiter stood there, frozen in shock.
“My...MY PLANETS!” screamed Sol. His face underwent multiple emotions. Pain, grief, and finally cold anger.
Jupiter could hear a voice behind him. Saturn. “Jupiter, get back here before you murder other planets!” Murder. He was a murderer.
But he took that advice. He started to back away, further from Sol. That’s when another scream hit his ears. (Do planets have ears?)
He turned around and saw Bellona, slowly advancing to Enyo and Ares’s remains, get torn apart slowly. Her frozen face of agony vanished, replaced with a huge crack. It was so quick. She exploded. Jupiter screamed and Sol started yelling. “Jupiter! STOP!”
Saturn tried pulling Jupiter back but that only caused still-forming rockies to incinerate. Within minutes the only rocky planet remaining was the non-sentient proto-planet Bellona had called ‘Mars’. Half of the material needed to form this proto-planet was gone, causing it to be way smaller than it would’ve been had Jupiter never caused the destruction. But it was still there, still forming, still having a chance at life.
This was the Grand Tack. An event that would change the course of history forever. A necessary one.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:

“JUPITER! HOW COULD YOU? YOU-“ Sol’s voice trailed off with a sob. “My babies, my planets! And you just—“ he paused for effect, “—murdered them! Why, WHY would you do this? TELL ME OR YOU’LL BE EXILED FOR LIFE! OR, OR I’LL KILL YOU!”
Sol was hysterical, not thinking correctly, his reason blinded by grief and anger. Nearly insane. Jupiter gulped when Saturn stepped in.
“Sol, it wasn’t his fault. I...provoked him.” Sol didn’t move, just gave Saturn a hundred yard stare. But Saturn’s voice was calm and collected, very convincing. No one could tell that he was shivering and nervous inside. “I told him to get lost. I told him he was never going to be a good friend. I abandoned him for other friends.” Jupiter was about to speak something, as this wasn’t exactly the truth. But Saturn shushed him.
Sol was so silent that you could hear the gas on his surface bubble. He looked at something behind Saturn and Jupiter, and his eyes lit up in surprise. After multiple minutes, he finally spoke with deathly serious tone, barely concealed rage. But also understanding.
“You both are at fault? Huh. I...understand what happened, especially since you’re both quite young. But you’ve robbed multiple young planets of their lives, and multiple proto-planets of chances at lives. This cannot be ignored. I’d like you both to turn around and look. Tell me what you see.”
Jupiter and Saturn turned around and gasped. Seven bodies were forming from the wreckage, alongside the proto-planet ‘Mars’. Two were almost done forming, very large in size. ‘Mars’ was nearly done as well. The other four were small, probably formed after the larger two due to their limited material. The smallest one was also the furthest one, forming in a huge clump of asteroids slowly expanding to form a ‘belt’ around Sol. Jupiter and Saturn turned back to Sol.
“What did you see,” asked Sol patiently.
Jupiter responded. “Seven proto-planets forming from the wreckage, and another that barely survived the destruction.”
Sol nodded, almost impressed. “While you’ve robbed the original rocky planets of a full life, you’ve given these new seven a chance at it. And to the one who survived the destruction—I’ll call the event as “The Grand Tack”—you’ve given them a completely different life, possibly a better one. What I’d like you two to do, is to protect and take care of these planets as though they were your moons for the rest of your lives. Give them the protection the original terrestrials never had. Either that, or...more severe punishment. What do you say?” finished Sol.
Saturn took a long pause and Jupiter was still processing it all. They looked at each other, any traces of their quarrel forgotten. They nodded and turned their attention back to Sol, speaking at the same time.
“We say yes.”

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

Liber saw it all. The murders, the new terrestrials, the deal. His face contorted in anger at the injustice. Jupiter killed three young planets—children, to be exact—and destroyed many other proto-planets, taking away their chances at life. And poor Saturn, his poor friend was dragged into this, forced to parent with Jupiter for eternity, because he didn’t want that idiotic Jupiter to face Sol alone. Liber shook his head. Saturn’s too good for this world. He saw Jupiter and Saturn start coming back and he fled. Maybe he should give the ice giants another chance. After all, he’d never want to be caught dead with Jupiter.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“Maybe we should change our orbits to somewhere closer so we can take care of the planets more easily,” said Jupiter. Saturn nodded. “How about over there? I know it’s where you, uh, dispatched Bellona, but it’s a good distance! Plus it’s close enough to the ice giants. Maybe we could get more friends! Maybe you and Liber could...be on better terms.”
Jupiter thought about it and sighed in approval. They headed over there.
Saturn paused. Jupiter looked at him. “What’s wrong, Saturn?”
“Just...wanted to say sorry for how I treated you earlier. It’s just because...can you keep a secret for me?”
Jupiter nodded in concentration.
“I think I have feelings for Liber.”

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“Cae! Come over here!” yelled Neptune. She wanted him to see her discovery.
“What is it?” asked Caelus. His glasses nearly feel off in his rush to get there.
“It’s...some type of planet!” There it was, a brownish greyish sphere still forming. There were others too, behind it. One was grey, one was red, another was purplish-grey, one was reddish-brown, yet another was greyish with a small irregular object orbiting it, and finally, the furthest one was pink-red. Multiple others were also forming, but they didn’t have any distinct features yet.
“Mate, are you sure these are planets? They’re more the size of those...asteroid things,” commented Caelus.
“Trust me, I’m sure they are. They’re round, and—OH MY STAR!” screamed Neptune. A small still-forming object collided with the brownish greyish sphere.
Caelus looked at Neptune. “A bloody collision? Mate, let’s get out of here.” Neptune didn’t argue.
The brownish greyish sphere did survive the collision, even with slightly smaller mass, while the other object didn’t. However, I like to think the other object did survive, in some way, since a whole new object—a moon— came out of this collision. Well, actually, it’s way more than just a moon. This object was so big compared it’s parent planet that they influence eachother. Maybe they’re more like a double-planet system, rather than a moon-system, it’s up to you to decide.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

Liber spotted a very shook, but asleep, Neptune and Caelus rather quickly. It seemed like Caelus was trying to console Neptune. Well, this’ll be an easier situation to introduce himself, especially since they’re not busy with random role-playing. He got his words together and tried for another introduction.

“Hello again! I’m Liber if you’ve forgot about me, your cousin! But, uh, what happened, Neptune? You look very...rattled and unhinged,” Caelus glared at Liber at the last comment.
“Don’t call our cousin crazy. She’s very sane, she just saw a planetary collision right infront of her eyes back there.” Liber sighed.
“Apologies for that, other planets often describe me as disrespectful. Guess they were right.” This wasn’t true, but Liber thought playing on their sympathies would lead to friendship. Don’t ask me why he thought that, ask him.
Caelus felt bad. “No, it’s okay! You were just saying something that’s...kinda true. She does look very rattled.”
Liber nodded, for no particular reason.
Neptune woke up at that moment. “Oh, who’s he?” she asked.
“Our cousin Liber. He’s the one who interrupted our role-play.”
‘Dang it, they remember,’ thought Liber. But he played it cool. “Yup, still chuckle about that.”
Neptune smiled. “Do you two wanna check up on those small planets back there?”
Caelus rolled his eyes. “They’re not planets, for the bloody last time Nep!”
Liber broke into the conversation. “I don’t know what they look like, so I wouldn’t know if they’re planets or not. Can I see them?”
Neptune nodded eagerly and started leading Liber to the objects. Caelus sighed but followed.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“Liber? I mean, I have plenty of feelings for him too, none of them very positive or flattering, so why so secretive—“
“Jupiter, you dont understand. By feelings...I mean—“
Jupiter finally understood. “Oh, OH! I get what you mean...” his voice trailed off. Then the full meaning hit him.
“Wait, Liber? LIBER? Is that why you always preferred hanging out with him?” Saturn nodded embarrassingly.
“I still shouldn’t have abandoned you all those times.”
“Nah, it’s cool. I forgive you. But still, Liber? He doesn’t really seem that...affectionate.”
“No, just hear me out. We had this one talk...”

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

About 50 hours before the Tack, Saturn was having a deep conversation with Liber. He hadn’t recognized his feelings for him yet, just felt something weird inside whenever he was around him. But it was the good kind of “weird”.
“Hey, Saturn. Do you ever wonder just what our purpose is it life?”
That caught Saturn off-guard, but that wasn’t a surprise. Usually everything Liber said was too smart for him to comprehend.
“What do you mean by that?” asked Saturn.
“Well, I feel like we have to exist for some reason. Why are we here, what are we supposed to do in this life? It can’t just all be fun and games, talking, arguments, apologies, repeat. There has to be some greater purpose.”
Liber gave him that stare he normally got when thinking really hard about something. It must’ve been Saturn’s confused expression that brought Liber back from his world of thoughts.
“Sorry, I got a little carried away there. I forgot how easily you get confused,” teased Liber. Saturn laughed.
“And I forgot just how, uh, hold on let me think,” said a flustered Saturn.
Liber laughed. “You can’t even think of a good comeback! Come on, let’s go look at the nebulas. Heard there’s a new one.”
Saturn followed, having that weird affectionate feeling he felt around Liber feel...stronger now. He recognized the way Liber subtly rolled his eyes while joking, the slight stutter in his voice when talking about something passionately. And...other more obvious traits. His low voice that could easily transition from seriousness to humour, the stare he got when thinking about something, et cetera. That’s when Saturn felt the blush on his cheeks. What is this?
Once they reached the nebula, a singular word appeared into Saturn’s mind and vanished just as quickly. It described his feelings for Liber perfectly, too perfect. Love.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

After Saturn finished telling that story to Jupiter, he sighed with admiration.
Jupiter spoke. “I still don’t get what you see in him, but I’ll support you. Maybe I’ll ask him if he sees you the same way, if we ever make up.”
Saturn laughs. “I doubt he’ll ever like you. Maybe neutrality is the best you could hope from him. Once he makes his mind up on something, there’s no changing that, I’m sure of it.”
Jupiter rolled his eyes. That’s when he saw the proto-planet. Or, well, no longer a proto-planet. A full planet now. It was the one Bellona had called ‘Mars’, and while Jupiter didn’t know the name she gave him, Saturn did. He often listened to the rocky planets out of boredom.
The planet yawned with confusion. “What is this place?” he asked.
Saturn put on a soothing voice. “This is your new home, the Solar System. I’m Saturn, this is Jupiter and you’re...” his voice trailed off. Should he be the one to name him? Or should it be Sol? No, wait, he was already named. By Bellona.
“You’re Mars, a rocky planet,“ finished Saturn.

Chapter Text

“Look at them! Aren’t they adorable?” squeaked Neptune. Caelus sighed, while Liber pretended to care.
The brownish-greyish sphere from before was almost done forming. Facial features were starting to form. It’s moon, the same one which formed from the collision, was also gaining features.
“They’re going to wake up soon!” shouted Neptune with glee.
Liber tried making Neptune feel even happier. “That purple-grey one back there? Stunning.”
The sphere he was talking about at that moment, had also gained features.
Caelus was impatient. “Neptune, can we go back now? I don’t understand why you like these pieces of ice so much.” Neptune turned around.
“Excuse me?”
“Okay, sorry mate. But I genuinely don’t get it.”
‘Me neither, Neptune kind of weird,’ thought Liber. But he didn’t dare say that out loud.
Neptune sighed. “It’s...something I can’t explain well. It’s this feeling, urging me to cling to these bodies, specifically this area, like I’m supposed to...find something. Every time I sleep, I get these dreams about some greyish round thing. Can’t understand it.”
Liber thought for a moment. Dreams? He wasn’t sure he believed Neptune; he thought she was making it up for attention. But honestly...that’d explain a lot. Like it’s meant to be. Could this be what their purpose is in life?
“Maybe it’s destiny,” blurted out Liber. The other two ice giants stared.
“Destiny, eh? Sounds quite fancy for little old me, tell me more,” teased Neptune. But she really was captivated. Meanwhile, Caelus was starting to head back, rolling his eyes.
“Well, you said that these dreams happen every time you sleep, right? Every singular time? That can’t be a coincidence.” Liber suddenly remembered that feminine voice that whispered his name when he woke up. “Like that girl telling us our names when we woke up? Did that happen to you, too?”
Neptune’s jaw dropped, if planets have jaws. She thought about it. Then she got a searing headache, giving a yelp.
“Ugh. All these concepts are making my mind spin. Can we continue this, uh, in a couple hours, Liber?”
Liber was disappointed, but he wanted to keep Neptune as a friend, so he agreed. “Of course. Maybe in five hours?”
Neptune nodded and followed Caelus. “Wait up, Cae!”
Liber returned to his orbit, satisfied.
‘Can’t believe I pulled not one, but two friends! Man, am I cool,’ thought Liber.
Little did he know that there was going to be more pulling in his life...

Anyways, at this moment, Liber saw Saturn and...ugh, Jupiter, looking at some small reddish brown planet. Saturn was naming him, looking quite excited, while Jupiter looked slightly proud. Liber’s face paled. No. He can’t be eased into this life that quickly. Especially when it’s so unjust! He wasn’t supposed to share this fate, this future, with HIM. Jupiter. No, he had to do something. This false future for Saturn, one woven from a lie, has started to become more real to Liber at this sight. He couldn’t let his best friend, scratch that, only friend since he considers the ice giants as family, not friends, anyways, be subjected into a lifestyle built on lies, away from him. Oh, why, Saturn, did you lie? To protect Jupiter from Sol? Well, joke’s on you, friend. That murderer must get his proper punishment, while you can be free again. Not, ‘be a parent.’ No. Something more hideous to compensate for the lives stolen by his movements. Justice. Yes. Liber started to make a plan.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“Let’s take you to Sol, little one. He’s the big yellow star, pretty much our dad,” cooed Saturn soothingly. Mars was instantly tranced. “Yay!” squeaked out the young Mars. Mars excitedly rushed towards Sol.
“Boy, he’s better than I thought,” whispered Jupiter tiredly. “Thought he’d be a brat.”
“Oh shush, Jupes, lay him off, he just woke up,” said Saturn, rolling his eyes at Jupiter’s bad parenting mindset. Then Saturn directed his attention to Mars.
“Hey you! Slow down or you’ll get incinerated from his heat!”
Mars slowed down. Then it came to a halt, once Sol turned around.
“WHO—oh! Why hello there, young planet! Do you have a name?”
“Hello,” squeaked Mars. “The tan one named me Mars.”
Sol raised an eyebrow and stared at Saturn, who was getting closer with Jupiter. But Sol continued to please Mars.
“That’s a beautiful name. Why don’t I let you explore our solar system? I’ll tell you places and you can go there,” Mars shouted in delight. Sol gave Saturn an I’ll-talk-with-you-later look before showing Mars the asteroid belt.
Saturn sighed. Jupiter chuckled. He heard a small sigh from behind. He turned around and saw Liber watching them, in his orbit. Liber quickly pretended not to care.
“Why are you looking at me? Get your eyes off me, they don’t deserve the sight,” Liber said cockily and fake-annoyed. Jupiter glared at him.
‘I want to kill him...’ thought Jupiter. Then he became disgusted by that thought.
Saturn turned around. Liber’s expression instantly melted into a pitiful look as Saturn blushed. Jupiter directed his glare to Saturn, annoyed at his blush.
Saturn’s voice was a pitch higher when he spoke, which annoyed Jupiter for...no reason? “Hey, Libs! Sorry for not talking to you in a bit, Sol told me and Jupes here to parent—“
“I know. I saw it all,” said Liber, deathly serious. Saturn gulped. Jupiter wasn’t listening, even with the threat of Liber witnessing the Grand Tack. All he cared about suddenly, was Saturn’s feelings for Liber. How could he see anything in someone as rude and cold as Liber? Liber doesn’t deserve him. Saturn deserves a loyal, hard-working—
“I even saw Jupiter’s murder spree.”
Liber sped away, back into his orbit, closer to Sol. Jupiter’s thoughts froze. Saturn involuntarily screamed desperately. “Liber, come back! It wasn’t what you thought it was!” The sound of Saturn’s voice brought Jupiter’s conscious back to work.
Jupiter looked at Saturn. This wasn’t his problem. It was Jupiter’s. He couldn’t let Saturn risk his reputation for him. Again. And...and...something more. But first, Jupiter had to make sure he was safe.
“Stay back, I got this. It’s my problem, not yours. I’ll convince him it’s not what it looks like. Look after Mars.” Jupiter chased after Liber, before Saturn could object. Saturn sighed and directed his attention to Mars, who was captivated by the seven still-forming bodies.
“Are these my siblings?” asked Mars. Saturn paled. “Uh, maybe?”
“How did we form?” Saturn didn’t want to tell him the truth, for multiple reasons. One, he’s not the same as them. He’s formed from different measures, not the Tack. Two, he’s a baby! He doesn’t have to know about Jupiter’s dark history. Finally, Saturn was just bad at explaining stuff.
Saturn said that, “he didn’t know,” which made Mars frown.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“Liber, just let me explain!” came a voice from behind Liber. Liber hoped it was Jupiter. It’d all help for his plan. According to his brainstorming and psychological manipulation, Jupiter would leave Saturn behind and pursue him himself. Good. Leave Saturn out of it. Plus, he cares too much about Jupiter, for some odd reason. He’ll just ruin everything.
Time to irritate Jupiter...should work.
“Like you’d have any good excuses. I don’t need to talk to you, to know about what sh*t happened, Jupiter.” He heard a grunt from behind. Perfect. A public display of reckless anger infront of Sol should prove Liber’s point. Liber chuckled softly, everything was going to plan. But there was a tiny detail he’d brushed over. Saturn not staying where he should be.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“Jupes! I’m coming!” yelled Saturn as he ran to catch up. Jupiter turned around and shock filled his face. That stupid gas giant.
“What—“ started Jupiter.
“Shut up and catch up to Liber! Don’t let him do what he will! I...know him and he’ll try telling Sol.” There was no more high-pitched sound to his voice that suggested love, just a heartbroken cold anger, which...pleased Jupiter? ‘Shut up, Jupiter. Focus,’ thought Jupiter.
Jupiter’s face hardened and he rushed to Liber, catching up with pure determination...and something else. ‘No, not again. Focus,’ thought Jupiter. He’ll address these feelings later.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

If they were humans, than I could positively say that Liber would be sweating in this moment. Why? Because one, he’s running/moving really fast for an extended period of time. Two, he’s literally getting chased, which would put pressure on him. And third, said individual who’s chasing him is catching up. Quickly.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“Caelus! Get over here!” shrieked Neptune. She was having another headache.
“What the bloody h*ll is it?” shouted Caelus. He was in the middle of examining his moons, which had just started to form.
“Headache!” shouted Neptune.
“Again? Okay, I’m coming, cuz.” Caelus went to Neptune’s orbit, which was closer to Sol compared to his.
“Ow!” screamed Neptune. Caelus winced at her pain. “Maybe try sleeping?”
“No, I tried that, but I couldn’t sleep because of this stupid—“ Neptune suddenly gasped and fainted, screaming as she delved into the world of unconsciousness. Caelus screamed and got closer, worried.
“Neptune, please wake up...” muttered Caelus.
Caelus suddenly heard yelling. He carefully advanced, cautious to leave Neptune, to take a look. He quizzically looked at the sight before him. His cousin, Liber...racing against the other gas giants? ‘I kind of want to join in...seems fun,’ thought Caelus. He decided not to, as Neptune needed care. Maybe he should’ve. For what he was going to see was irreversible.

Chapter Text

“Give it up, Jupiter!” yelled Liber. Everything was going wrong. Saturn. Oh, his sweet, idiotic Saturn. Oh, how the injustice prevails. Liber gritted his teeth; he was going at his maximum speed.
That’s when, in the corner of his eye, he saw him. A bright flash of yellow, looking around the solar system happily. Sol. He narrowed his eyes and tried to advance closer to him. He was almost there, almost to the asteroid belt, when he heard a shout.
“The planets!” screamed Saturn. So full of pain, so full of meaning, yet Liber couldn’t dissect his meaning.
Liber didn’t care, though. Saturn was just brainwashed by Jupiter. He couldn’t care less about Saturn’s current state. He started to slow down. He was nearly there. Why not save his energy? He could hear Jupiter and Saturn worriedly mutter. Must be drafting a response to Sol’s angry remarks. Hah. He felt a tingle near his back. Must be adrenaline, if planets can get that.
Liber sighed as he approached the asteroid belt. Justice will be served. He was already preparing his speech to Sol. Life will be good, soon enoug—
The tingle in his back exploded in pain. Liber winced and screamed.
“How—OW! No...Jupiter?” Liber half-screamed half-muttered this statement.
Liber turned around. Jupiter was winding in concentration, almost as if he was pulling Liber back. And, and Saturn was...helping? No. No? No, this can’t be happening. He was supposed to be Liber’s friend. Not that disrespectful, jerk of a—
“OW!” A huge burst of agony shot through Liber as he was rendered numb. Almost no control over his body. He glared at Jupiter, then gave a pained look to Saturn, who was shutting his eyes tight.
“Saturn, why—OW!—would you do this to me? With—“ Liber groaned as he got dragged further, “him?” Liber finished with anger.
Saturn just shook his head and spoke. “You’re taking it too far.”
“No! How can justice be TOO FAR?” Liber gave a half-hearted grin, mocking him.
Jupiter stepped in the conversation. “Because you were going to kill them.”

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

Saturn was shivering with concentration as he watched Liber barely manage to look at the rocky planets, almost done forming. He could see the gears turning in Liber’s mind, anger, shame, and confusion. Saturn winced as he and Jupiter pulled him harder this time. Liber groaned and furrowed his brow.
“I. Am. Nothing. Like. You. Jupiter.” screamed Liber through clenched teeth.
Jupiter gave a sharp remark, which is impressive considering his gravitational situation right now. “Oh really? We’re two sides of the same coin. I’m sure if things went differently, I’d be the one on the brink of being stretched apart.” Liber was helpless; there was now absolutely no feeling in his body.
“W-why are you hurting me,” muttered Liber.
Saturn spoke, shaking as he focused his gravity on Liber’s sides. “Don’t you see? We’re not trying to hurt you. You would’ve been exactly like him, had you killed those planets accidentally. But we’re pulling you back, preventing you from killing your innocence as well as—“
“YOU ARE NOTHING TO ME SATURN!!” screamed Liber in denial. Saturn sighed. It’s time. Save him the pain. Save him the guilt. Save him the punishment. Save him the fate.
“Now, Jupes.”

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

Jupiter and Saturn pulled Liber back quickly. Liber screamed and howled, cursing Jupiter out. Jupiter and Saturn just shut their eyes as they held him in position. Then they loosened their grip. Liber’s yells softened to pants. Then searing pain surged through him once more. They pulled back sharply again. He screamed and howled. Nothing. Panting. Pain. Screams. Nothing. Repeat. Liber was put into a cycle of pain, relief, and pain. Pain. Pain. That was all he knew at this very moment, his intelligence long forgotten.
Liber soon started to forget his own name. Limer? Li...no, justice. He needs justice. Justice. Justice.
Jupiter and Saturn winced at his howls. A singular tear fell from Saturn, as Saturn let go. He fled; couldn’t take seeing someone he shared so many memories with like this. Someone he used to admire.
They were trying to force Liber to forget about it all, to start fresh. Maybe even give him a taste of his own medicine. Sounds dumb? Well, they were immature back then. Still...teens, if you will. They thought that could help. Plus, they created the plan within thirty seconds. Of course it’s going to be horrible. And it’s definitely not because some teenage boy was uncreative. Wait, what? Back to the story.
But Jupiter couldn’t take it anymore. The blood-curdling screams, the agony they subjected Liber to...he forgot all of Liber’s schemes.
Sol yelled, but Jupiter ignored him.
“PLEASE!” begged Liber. He choked and started gasping for air.
Jupiter finally let go.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

Sol heard the initial screaming, but didn’t think much of it. ‘That Liber brat must’ve lost a bet or something,’ thought Sol.
But when it transformed to howling, he shot his gaze towards the noises. He eyes dropped. Liber was screaming. He quieted. Was that still just a bet? More howls. Screeches. Pleads. Begging.
Now, Sol couldn’t see Jupiter or Saturn. The asteroids of the belt obscured them, so all Sol saw was two shadowy bodies torturing Liber. Exoplanets? Sol started to advance, and started yelling.
“STOP—“ shrieked Sol.
But it was too late. A bright, blurry, dark blue object was flung outwards, into a far cluster of asteroids and ice. Sol screamed but quickly acted. He could prevent this. Please.
He started to manipulate his own gravity, sending a wave that shook the whole system. Asteroids got out of place, getting captured by nearby planets. But Sol didn’t care. He needed to save him.
The object slowed, but it was too far. It faded into the darkness beyond, lost to time. Silence.
The loss of a giant.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”
Jupiter’s body vibrated as Sol suddenly cried out in pain and grief.
“We need to get away from the scene of the crime. Hurry up,” whispered a teary Saturn. Unlike his face, his voice wasn’t soggy. It was clear and serious.
They glanced at Sol through the belt, who was screeching and emitting flare after flare, flare after flare. Any asteroids within 1 AU was scorched. While Sol was angry, he was not lost to reason. Yet. He purposefully directed his flares away from the forming terrestrials.
Jupiter and Saturn managed to get themselves to their orbits without a word, before Sol calmed down. Saturn gave a final sigh and let it all spill out properly. He could not believe he just did that. Why?
Jupiter glanced at Saturn’s direction and saw tears float all around his shadow.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

Meanwhile, Caelus rushed back to his orbit immediately. He needed to process everything. Liber...was that Jupiter? And...a smaller object assisted him. He sighed and looked at Neptune, who was just waking up.
“Wha—Oh, hi Cae,” muttered Neptune groggily. “What’d I miss?”
She could hear some of the distant solar flares, but she dismissed that as some hallucination. She’s been getting hallucinations. Something about...destruction. Kidnapping. She didn’t like it.
Caelus ran forward and nearly hugged her, but he restrained himself last second. ‘If you touch her, you both will collide and die,’ Caelus reminded himself.
“I’ll...explain later,” said Caelus. He didn’t want to stress her out, right after her coma. Neptune raised an eyebrow. “Okay? I’ll just go kill some time by checking out those small planets. Wonder if they’ve developed further.”
Neptune drifted away as Caelus brainstormed ways to break the news about Liber.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“Everyone, get over here. Now,” announced Sol. He finally stopped raging, which meant he could start investigating.
Jupiter gulped; Sol must’ve known about his involvement. What was he thinking? Doing that to another planet? Right after the Tack? ‘Maybe I deserve whatever punishment lies ahead of me...’ thought Jupiter sadly.
Saturn caught up to Jupiter and tried giving a reassuring grin. “I doubt he knows. He would’ve immediately confronted us.”
That helped calm Jupiter’s anxiety. Y’know what didn’t calm his anxiety? Looking around and seeing Caelus eavesdropping. Jupiter cursed silently.
Neptune whispered to Caelus, “What did they say?” Caelus just stared at Sol, which irritated Neptune.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

Once all the planets had gathered, Sol begun the meeting.
“I’m sure you all just noticed my flares, eh?” Everyone nodded, except for baby Mars, who was confused and hiding in the asteroid belt. He was scared of Liber’s screams. Saturn advanced closer to him and comforted him.
“Does this have to do with the bloody Liber stuff?” asked Caelus. Neptune glanced at him.
“Why, yes! Does anyone NOT know what happened?” Neptune glared at Caelus and spoke. “Well yeah, mostly since I was...’sleeping’ during it.” Neptune tried being evasive with her coma, to avoid further questioning.
“Okay,” begun Sol. He sighed and restarted his statement. Jupiter and Saturn graced themselves. “Two large exoplanets were seen torturing Liber in just outside the asteroid belt, abusing their gravity.” Neptune gasped and stared at a silent Caelus. Jupiter sighed with relief, as Saturn acted distraught. Okay, maybe he didn’t have to act. Sol continued.
“They eventually let go of him and Liber was flung outwards, either exiled in interstellar space or lost in the depths of the system. If anyone has any information on this ejection, as in seeing Liber or finding the prosecutors, report to me immediately. And if it wasn’t an exoplanet and was one of you....oh boy.” Sol started hyperventilating which pretty much dismissed the meeting. Or at least it would’ve, if not for what happened next.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“Mars? Where is he?” yelled Saturn, who had taken his attention off him for a few seconds to listen to Sol. Speaking of Sol, he hyperventilated more, on the brink of choking.
“F-FIND HIM!” he screamed. Jupiter and Saturn quickly searched the asteroid belt, not even noticing that the still-forming seven rocky planets born from the Tack were also missing. I understand that. After all, I’d care more about a living baby rather than some unborn ones, though some cult about oranges would like to argue with that logic. Oopsies, I accidentally made a reference to the sh*thole happening in America. Anyways...💙
Caelus, who was careful to avoid Neptune in the search, spotted a bright red dot. “Over there!” he yelled. Jupiter and Saturn rushed to Mars. Mars started running away, scared.
“We can’t let him get lost!” screamed Saturn. Jupiter was brainstorming. Mars was quick, due to his small size. But...they had more gravity. If they could do something similar to what they did to Liber, minus the torturing and flinging...
Jupiter winced and concentrated on his gravitational pull, halting Mars. Mars helped as Saturn and Jupiter slowed down, getting closer.
After a good minute, Saturn and Jupiter finally caught up with Mars. Then they both gasped at his discovery.
“They woke up already?” muttered Jupiter.
“All seven” muttered Saturn.
The largest planet, black and brown, huffed. “Get away from me,” he said, annoyed.
It was only a matter of time until Sol noticed.
“OH MY STARS!” screamed Sol. He calmed himself down. “N-new planets? I didn’t think they’d actually...okay, no funny business, time to name them.”
The largest one, black, brown and molten was named Terra, the same one Mars bumped into from earlier. The other one from earlier, was a hot light orange girl named Venus. Don’t let the name fool you. That’s all I’ll say.
The next two were the same size, both slightly bigger than Mars. The larger one of the two with a somewhat spotted surface varying in shades of brown, was named Theia. She had quite a bit of lava on her. The smaller one was named Mercury. He was brown and cracked, with a small stream of lava around his left eye.
Yellow and brown, a male planet slightly smaller than Mercury was named Peitho. He was almost like an asteroid, barely enough gravity to pull itself into a sphere.
A smaller one was red and brown, named Vulcan. She had multiple black markings on her surface, and formed close to Mercury.
Finally, the very smallest one was named Ceres. He was a brownish body, with a few white spots. A little grey, sometimes the lighting made it look purple. He wasn’t even half the size of Terra. Go figure.
‘More planets for us to take care of...’ thought Jupiter once Ceres was named.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

Neptune and Caelus had stayed for a bit to watch the naming, then finally went back to the outer solar system.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” asked Neptune sharply.
“I couldn’t find the words, I’m really sorry,” lied Caelus. He didn’t tell her since he thought she couldn’t handle it, especially with her headaches and whatnot.
Neptune sighed. “Okay. I forgive you...just try to be more honest?”
“Of course, cuz.”
Right after he said that, he felt a disturbance in his gravity. Neptune must’ve sensed it, too, since she tensed up.
“What—“ she began, and was promptly interrupted by a small, squeaky, and clearly pissed off voice by Caelus.
“Let me go, you dumb hag!” screamed a small grey icy planet behind Caelus. Caelus looked behind him and saw an object three and a fifth times the size of Venus, though significantly smaller than Caelus. He sighed.
“What do you want?” he asked.
“More like what do YOU want? You...you kidnapped me you stinky teal blob!” they sputtered.
“Oh shut up!” yelled Neptune, fed up with this irritable planet.
“How about you shut up, you sound like asteroids colliding.”
“JUST TELL US WHY YOU’RE HERE!” Caelus screamed.
“Fine.”
And so, the small planet begun.

Chapter Text

“I was just minding my business in the outer system watching those ugly babies be named when I felt a huge tug towards my back. Then a disgusting scent came into my brain and I gagged. Who knew someone could smell so hideous?” Cottus gave off a disgusted look directed at Caelus. Caelus glared at him.
“Blah blah blah, I get captured by your smelly anus and now I’m stuck orbiting you. Great,” finished Cottus.
Neptune nodded, understanding, but Caelus looked momentarily confused. “What’s an anus?” he asked sceptically.
“I don’t know, sounded insulting though,” answered Cottus with a roll of his eyes, smirking.
Neptune had enough. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a bitc—“
“—Bit of a jerk!” cut in Caelus awkwardly.
“And had anyone told you that you really smell?” remarked Cottus smugly, orbiting around Caelus quickly and mockingly. “Ooh, someone captured me! Ooh, I’m a moon now! Isn’t that so nice?”
“Don’t,” whispered Caelus to a very homicidal Neptune. “Fine.”
Neptune went back to her orbit, which was closer to Sol than Caelus’s. Cottus barked out a laugh. ‘Will he ever shut up?’ thought Caelus glumly.
‘No,’ whispered a feminine voice inside his mind. Caelus raised an eyebrow, because he recognized that voice. It was the same voice that whispered his name eons ago when he first woke. But Caelus didn’t dwell on that fact. He dwelled on how he was certain he’d be stuck with Cottus, forever.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“Let’s get to know eachother!” announced Sol cheerfully to the rocky planets. Venus and Terra frowned sceptically, though the others remained neutral.
A smaller brown planet looked at Sol’s disappointed expression and broke the silence.
“Well...hello! I’m Theia! Guess I’ll have to start the party, huh? So far, even though I’ve—no, WE have been alive for like, an hour, I’m really interested in our compositions! Look at Terra, for example,” Terra’s left eye twitched as Theia advanced to him.
“He’s all volcanically active and dry, barren yet smooth! And Venus—“ she rushed to Venus, “—is all black and brown and orange, such a wonderful array of colours!” Theia advanced back to her spot, while the other rockies looked at her, a mixture of astonishment, resentment and confusion on their faces.
“I’m SO pleased to be here today! That should be all, thanks for your attention!” finished Theia with a breathy sigh. Sol looked very impressed. She had only took twenty seconds to say everything.
Silence. Phaethon spoke up. “Could you repeat that? I could hardly understand you with that speed!” Theia glanced at him, smiling awkwardly.
“Uh, maybe later.”
Sol brought a huge smile to his face. “That was wonderful, Theia! You’re very, er, pleasant! Anyone else want to go?”
Silence once again. “Oh come on, anyone?” Silence.
Sol’s eyebrows scrunched up. “Fine! I’ll just choose randomly...Terra.”
Terra raised an eyebrow. “Well, if you insist. I’m Terra, and I’m pretty sure I’m the largest here. Also the hottest, doesn’t really matter to me.” He smirked and charmingly winked. “Figuratively and literally.”
Everyone groaned, Theia and Venus the loudest.
“Brother...” sighed Venus, rolling her eyes. “Just why, were you born like this?
Terra sulked.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

‘Why? Why, out of all planets, did Cottus get captured by him?’ Caelus caught himself thinking that, recently. Especially with Cottus’s negative attitude. Take this scene, for example.
“Oh, don’t go out too far!” yelled Caelus when Cottus tried exploring. Now, you may be wondering, why couldn’t Cottus just leave Caelus from free will? Well...I’d like to say ‘plot convenience’ but that’s not professional. He certainly CAN leave, but he’ll always have to come back, no matter how long it takes. Hours, weeks, years. He’ll still eventually have to come back. He just has this deep feeling that he has to come back eventually. Stuck forever. There, that’s the reason.
“I won’t, idiot. Otherwise I’d be ejected because of—“ Cottus takes a deep breath to gather sarcasm, “—this universe’s stupid rules!” He rolls his eyes and sticks his tounge out, leaving.
See what Caelus means? I mean, if you don’t, that’s fine. I don’t understand him as well. After all, I act like Cottus in real life.
Wait. That got too meta. Uh, forget you heard that. Anyways...

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

Cottus entered the Kuiper Belt and let loose a sigh. Finally, he had some peace. He could be true to himself, no more acting. He looked around, just to make sure he was truly alone, and relaxed.
“Ugh,” he groaned. “Can’t Caelus just release me?” He immediately hated himself for how whiny he sounded. He was supposed to be tough! Self reliant!
“Maybe I’m the problem...”
Cottus headed back, wishing to be free of his moon restraints. Then his whole world rattled.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

Neptune approached Caelus. She had a proposition, an idea in mind. A deal.
“Hey, Cae,” she started, grabbing her cousin’s attention.
“Oh, hey Neptune. Cottus is just visiting the Kuiper Belt. Y’know, I feel like it doesn’t deserve the name “belt” since it’s so small! Isn’t it—“
“Can we swap orbits?” blurted out Neptune. Silence. Long pause.
“This isn’t about the whole icy planets thing, isn’t it?
“I mean...yes. I just have to!”
“For what REASON, Nep? You’ve been having headaches, fainting, dizziness all because of this dumb belt! Maybe ignoring it—“
“Maybe I don’t want to ignore it! You’re always too passive! Maybe I need a solution! Maybe you’re not the only one pissed at my cosmic hallucinations! I just want to find a way to get whatever this destiny thing the universe is forcing on me over with!”
She concentrated without further words, pushing Caelus inward as she moved outwards.
“Hey—HEY! Neptune, this isn’t the time for this! Cottus will get bloody lost if I’m not in my orbit—WOAH!” Caelus got pushed rapidly inward. Too bad. He should’ve tried using his own gravity to stabilize himself instead of arguing.
“JUST EJECT COTTUS AT THIS POINT YOU DUMB NERD!” Neptune screamed as Caelus settled into her old orbit.
Silence once more. Neptune looked behind her, seeing how close the Kuiper Belt was. But...it seemed different. Larger. More scattered. Rattled? Did she cause this?
Neptune couldn’t answer her question, as Cottus advanced towards her, dizzy and clearly frightened.
“What did you do?” he managed breathily.
“I just swapped orbits with your planet-“
“He’s not MY planet. He doesn’t own me.”
Neptune glared at him. “As I was saying, I swapped orbits with him and now he’s back in my old orbit. Get lost and find him.”
Cottus groaned and slowly trudged his way to Caelus’s new orbit.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“Hey, Caelus,” said an out of breath Cottus. “Why did you, uh, SWITCH ORBITS WITH THE BLUE GUY RANDOMLY?”
“She’s a girl, not a guy,” groaned Caelus. Cottus raised an eyebrow. “That’s not an explanation.”
“Fine! She bloody forced me into it because she’s tired of having hallucinations every bloody second!”
“It sounds like you’re more tired of the hallucinations that she is based off your tone,” remarked Cottus sarcastically. He instantly regretted saying that.
“I DONT WANT TO TALK ABOUT HER!”
“What, you guys broke up?”
“WE’RE COUSINS YOU WART-MINDED ROCK,” screamed Caelus. He yelled loud enough to rattle Cottus, forming a cliff on his forehead.
“Ow!” yelped Cottus as the cliff solidified. “That’s my head!”
“I don’t want to talk to you anymore,” muttered Caelus. ‘Maybe I should just eject him...’ he thought, half muttering it. ‘But...he’s almost like a son..’
Cottus didn’t speak another word.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

“Am I really the problem?” muttered Cottus to himself. A week had passed of silent orbiting, no words exchanged ever since.
Cottus stared at Caelus, who was facing away from him. Those blue, cold depths...maybe it’d be better than his current life.. Even if they did stink.
‘Why am I like this? Angry for what? Something out of my control? I should just suck it up!’ thought Cottus.
He didn’t tell Neptune this, but he’d overheard her yelling about ejecting him to Caelus. Is he really the problem? ‘Me being gone...that’d fix everything. God, why am I like this? But...’ he didn’t finish that thought. He knew what he should do. After all, no one wants him around.
Cottus made a decision.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

‘I haven’t been good to him,’ thought Caelus sombrely. He’d been taking out his anger at Cottus, and it wasn’t even his fault that Neptune and him fell out.
Still...Cottus was really irritable. It’s like he was always pissed off at something. ‘We should have a talk, talk our feelings out,’ thought Caelus. He smiled and turned around, trying to find Cottus. He looked straight ahead, where Cottus normally would be, orbiting.
‘Where is he?’ thought Caelus. He looked down and there he was. A neutral expression. Shut eyes. Tears. Rushing into Caelus.
Caelus acted before thinking.
“GET BACK HERE! YOU STUPID MOON! YOU CAN’T JUST—“ he cut himself off. No. Calm yourself Caelus. Treat him better. Treat him—
“Goodbye,” said a weak whisper, definitely of Cottus.
Caelus looked and saw that Cottus was nearly there. He tried moving away so that Cottus would miss. He focused his gravity to try forcing Cottus back into his orbit. But he was too late.
“STOP—“ screamed Caelus.
Searing pain grazed Caelus’s side. No. No. This couldn’t be—
More pain, more direct, pushing into Caelus’s bottom side. The pain felt like a thousand asteroids plummeted into him. Maybe it was. He screamed once, twice, thrice, he couldn’t keep track. It sounded like a chorus of torture.
He tumbled and blacked out, thinking that he just killed his moon.

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:· 𝓘𝓝𝓣𝓔𝓡𝓜𝓘𝓢𝓢𝓘𝓞𝓝 ·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

Neptune watched from afar, as Cottus slammed into Caelus’s side and plummeted into his light blue depths. She was just observing the icy planets when she heard his yells to Cottus. Oh how fast the scene changes.
She rushed to him without thinking, without any thought against helping him. That’s what family is for.