Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

      Slowly floating towards his rocky neighbor, Mars attempted to not conceal himself from scaring the planet, hoping he was making enough noise to at least alert Dark since he was the one who usually was on watch. Luna had “disappeared” years ago after the Revolution of the Moons that happened, Dark had taken over the moon’s celestial body, making sure that the sustaining planet didn’t hurt himself or anyone else. 

     Noticing Mars, Dark stepped aside to let him talk to Earth, but with a concerned expression that had Mars worrying, though he thought nothing more of it. He just wanted to know if the Earth was alright and doing fine ever since what happened so long ago, thinking that it was time to finally start talking to each other again. 

     “Earth? Hey… I’m just checking in on you… See how you’re doing ever since… you know…” Mars said hesitantly, nervous expressions bouncing back and forth that showed his anxiety about the topic. He didn’t have to say too much, but the nerves acted out without any warning or thought beforehand. 

     But Earth said not a word, remaining quiet and facing away from the smaller planet, not even moving or making a small sound of acknowledgment towards Mars. Mars looked for Dark Side, but suddenly the moon was nowhere to be seen near the two planets. 

     “Earth…? Luna? You’re scaring me… Hello?”

     The other terrestrial life planet began to laugh in a way that churned Mars’ atmosphere upside down. He backed away a few kilometers, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. Other than the fact that Earth was now shaking. 

     “Oh, Mars… My dear, Mars…” Said the planet, shaking more violently than before, “What’s wrong, Mars?”

     “…Earth…?”

     “Can’t handle the fact that I’m gone?” 

     “‘Gone?’ What’re you—“

      “MARS!!” 

     “GAH! WHAT?- Huh?” Mars frantically looked around himself, noticing he was back in his orbit near the Asteroid belt, he wasn’t in Earth's orbit. Wasn’t he just there? How did—

     “Mars…? You alright?” Said a little moon next to him, Mars recognized him and softened, calming down at the sight of his beloved moon. 

     “Oh, Deimos, you scared me. I’m fine.” 

     “You were screaming… You are sure you’re alright, Mars? I can go get someone for you to talk to if you don’t wanna talk to me…”

     Mars shook his head, “It’s fine, Deimos. Just another bad dream, no big deal about it.” 

     The planet looked away from his moon, and his eyes wandered off, blurring the void of space as he stared at the remains of his other moon that orbits him. A small ring, the same color as Phobos, spun around him ninety degrees. He’d panic whenever he’d see the ring, but it’s been so long since then that he doesn’t feel a thing other than guilt of not feeling anything anymore. 

     As much as he loves his moons, he cannot defy the laws of the universe. One day, everything will come to an end, and on that day, he hopes that everything and everyone that once existed would soon live happily in whatever afterlife existed for celestial bodies like themselves. Mars hopes there’s something out there for them after this is all over. 

     But until then will Mars hate to ever open his eyes to lay sight on that ring he will never call his own. Sometimes saying hello or good morning to it whenever he’d wake up from a relatively decent dream that didn’t startle him awake crying. He hopes Phobos can hear him. 

     Glancing out towards the other rocky planets, he saw what was left of the only sustaining planet in their system. The molten body of lava and rock stayed quiet in his orbit, staring into the endless void of the vacuum of space down below. Dark Side was awake and watching him concerned, just like his dream. Earth was back to normal in his dream, though. He wasn’t a ball of lava. He had his life back. 

     Sometimes Mars wonders why he has such dreams, he wasn't afraid of Earth before, he’s terrified of him now. When it all happened years ago, Venus and he tried to talk to him and see if they could learn what happened, but it only ended up with Mars getting a face full of asteroids and accidentally throwing Ceres at him. 

     They still don’t know what happened, other than the information Dark Side gave Mars - something about a moon uprising, the reason why the moons had attacked him and Venus that one time. They were after the Earth, and they had succeeded in doing so. 

     But it only ended up worse for the moons…

     “I miss the old days…” Mars said suddenly.

     Deimos sighed, “I think everyone does.”

     “This solar system has gone to shit.” 

     “I wonder what Phobos would say right now. He’d probably try to lighten the mood, say some joke or something, we’d playfully fight about said joke…” Deimos smiled lightheartedly, “Maybe we’d go out to the asteroid belt and see the other moons. Titan used to find miniature asteroids in the belt and we’d play fetch with them. Sometimes Ceres would join in, it was funny watching Phobos get so scared.” 

     Deimos laughed at the memory of Ceres joining in on their game, but expecting a laugh or an airy chuckle from Mars, he didn’t receive one. Looking over at his planet, Mars was looking away from him, shaking and breathing as if the airless void around them was suffocating him slowly. Deimos shrieked, panicking on trying to find a way to help Mars. 

     But when the planet that everyone had forgotten the voice of showed up, Deimos realized how close he was to Mars’ surface when Mercury pulled him away with his gravity. That's probably what set Mars off - he doesn’t want to lose his only moon, like what happened to Phobos. The memories of the Moon Revolution also probably set him off, too. So many things he wanted to forget. 

     Deimos, now drowned in guilt, got as far away from Mars’ gravity as possible without leaving orbit. If he left orbit, that would’ve set Mars on a mental breakdown, something none of the planets wanted. The last time Mars went so emotional and unresponsive during a breakdown, Venus almost collided with a tear-blind Mars wandering around trying to get away from everyone surrounding him. 

     Mercury knew what to do after witnessing the first of his breakdowns, making sure everyone stayed far from him except Mercury since he’s the one who helps them. He’s done this with Venus, Earth, and even Uranus before he went… …

     Deimos sat at the edge of his orbit, waiting patiently, watching the scene unfold as he tried not to think of anything else that would guilt trip him further down the endless void. 

     “…M-Ma—s…” Was the small quiet voice of Mercury attempting to speak for comfort, he only spoke to planets he trusted, or who needed it. But after so long of being nonverbal, he practically doesn’t have a voice anymore, and almost everyone has forgotten what he sounded like. At least, that’s what everyone thought. 

     “…M-Mercury…?” Mars peaked out of an eye, trying to regulate his breathing but didn’t want to open his eyes for fear of that fucking ring. 

     “Mars… shh…” The smaller one got closer to Mars’ surface in an attempt at something similar to an Earthling hug. His eyes closed as he struggled to hum a peaceful lullaby for Mars to calm down. 

     Eventually, the bigger celestial did calm down a bit, breathing returned to normal (as normal as a planet in space could be) and Mars had finally opened his eyes after Mercury finished his lullaby, somewhat completely forgetting he was breaking down in the first place. Crazy what Therapist Mercury can do. 

     Mercury smiled as he saw how calm Mars was, being proud of himself for helping. But Mars had other ideas, such as being confused as fuck on what the hell was happening. 

     “Mercury? What— What the fuck are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with the Sun? Wouldn’t Venus—” Mars stopped upon seeing Mercury’s mixed expression of worry, sadness, and concern when mentioning Venus. Mars understood what that meant, “Venus is missing again… isn’t he?” 

     The smaller planet nodded in silent pain. Though they both hate the bullying Venus does to them, they still care very much about their friend. Venus is strong for being the third smallest planet, but after everything went down with the revolution… he just suddenly disappeared for several Earthling decades. 

     And it’s happened more than once. When he finally returned from his disappearance, everyone wanted to know what happened to him. But Venus said not a word about it, there was no way of pressuring him into saying anything. The Rocky Planets would be talking amongst themselves peacefully, then someone would mention it and it would get as quieter than space itself, Venus would soon leave without saying a word after a while. 

     Everyone eventually stopped trying to get anything out of him, and when he would return, no one would bother him or even acknowledge that he was back. As if he’s always been there. 

     Deimos always thought that Venus just went downwards off the solar system’s disc. Though that is a possibility of where he goes, it is unlikely according to Mercury. 

     But when the Sun started noticing he was disappearing was when things stopped making any fucking sense at all. Mercury’s estimate was thrown out the Kuiper Belt like it was trash. 

     “He’ll be alright… He always returns… doesn’t he? He’s strong. He knows how to defend himself… even if he’s out there in the dangers of the universe… Maybe that’s not even our Venus— it could be a rogue familiar- I-“

     Mercury pushed against Mars’ gravity a bit to make him snap out of it before turning to the side as if listening to something. Then turning back with a smile and a nod, quickly bidding farewell before returning to his orbit near the Sun. Mars watched him with complexity, looking at Deimos questioningly. Deimos simply shook his head in confusion as well. 

     “Wonder what that was all about…” Mars asked himself. 

     “Dark Side said something about him talking to himself for a long while, probably could have something to do with whatever just happened,” Deimos willingly answered. 

     “He talks to himself…?” Mars concluded, looking frightened as all hell, “Helios, this solar system is a fucking mess! Everyone’s going insane or losing their sanity! Planets are disappearing, losing emotion, losing their life! What’s next, an outsider comes in to invade us?!”

     “Don’t jinx it, Mars…” 

     “What else is there to jinx, Deimos?!” 

     “Literally anything and everything,” the moon deadpanned, looking unamused as he turned around to face away from Mars. “I’m going to get some sleep. Try not to panic so much.” 

     Deimos goes limp into his orbit around Mars, signaling his rest as his planet throws metaphorical hands at the moon for being so sarcastic. Mars faces away from the moon in playful anger, huffing at himself. But when the silence of the void threatens thoughts, Mars tenses at being alone again. 

     He does try not to panic again, focusing on breathing and keeping it steady as Mercury’s taught him before. At the same time, he’s trying to move the ring away from his sight with his gravity, only to make him end up rolling off his orbit towards the asteroid belt, having one feel like it hit him. He quickly recovers, immediately trying to return when he notices Deimos has disappeared on him. 

     Mars freaks the hell out, circling himself endlessly to try and find his only moon. Screaming Deimos’ name loudly it almost wakes Jupiter up from a slumber - even with knowing the consequences of that, Mars doesn’t care about it, only wanting to know his moon is safe somewhere. 

     “Mars? Mars, is everything okay?” The voice of a gas giant rings in his ears, the smaller planet freezes when hearing it but soon recognizes it as Saturn. “You’re screaming quite loudly over here… What happened?” 

     “Deimos… Deimos… Where’s Deimos…? Where’s my moon…? Where is he? Deimos…? Where is Deimos… W-where…” Mars attempts to explain, but of course, is overridden by panic that sets into his core and he can only think about finding Deimos. 

     Saturn understands what he says, however, “You lost Deimos? I can help you look for him.” 

     “ DEIMOS !!” Comes the wailing cry of Mars.

     Saturn flinches away from the scream but recovers easily to try to calm Mars down from yelling. Seeing the poor planet with tears flooding from his eyes, Saturn can’t help but feel guilty for him. He wants to comfort the rocky planet, but he’s too large to even get near him. 

     “Mars… shh… Please, be quiet. We don’t want Jupiter waking up. I’ll help you look for Deimos, just stay here and don’t make a sound. I’ll return when I find him. I’m sure he didn’t go far from you, okay? I’ll be right back.” 

     Mars just sniffles and nods, cowering back to his orbit and waiting for Saturn to return with his moon. He focuses on trying to stop crying. 

     But when he notices that the rings are bigger and more colorful than they originally were, Mars goes silent. He stares at those stupid rings, he wants to throw them off of him if he could. The weight of dead moons in his gravity kills him inside, feeling the pull of his gravity on the rings makes him feel sick. 

     He wants to rip his own core out. 

     It’s always his fault. Of course, it is.

Chapter Text

     Mercury returned to his orbit, followed by a circular blue glow that was almost the size of him, just slightly smaller. One of its eyes was gone, replaced with a long streak of a blue glow resembling a scar with burn marks. Mercury was able to see this forgotten planet, it was the only one he ever spoke to other than the Sun whenever he was actually awake. 

     Similar to Jupiter, the Sun had been sleeping for a long time, sometimes he’d wake up, but only to check on his planets and if anything went to chaos again. Mercury feels bad for the Sun, only waking up for that reason, knowing that he can’t even trust his own planets anymore to keep peace. Sometimes it would be to see if Venus or Neptune returned, but usually they wouldn’t be.

     The spirit circled Mercury, an indication that something important needed to be said and that Mercury might need to speak. Mercury was grateful for this new “tactic” the spirit was doing to warn him he needed to prepare his voice that’s been wasted for centuries. 

     “W-what is it.. V-Vulcan?” Mercury stuttered, voice hoarse and raw. He cleared his throat, waiting for the spirit to answer him.

     Vulcan, the spirit, stopped spinning, immediately starting to tell Mercury what he had found out when he was with Mars. “It’s about Uranus, he seems very… distant and lonely. I know he doesn’t… have many emotions left because of all that’s happened, but he really seemed like he was losing his last threads of sanity just by staring at the Kuiper Belt.” 

     “P-probably waiting for N-Neptune to return…”

     “He seemed skittish… Like Saturn is, but a lot worse than Saturn,” Vulcan explained. “Even the slightest movement in the Kuiper Belt startles him. Even his own ring jump scared him!” 

     “I can go-”

     The angry voice of none other than Helios interrupted Mercury’s thought, the Sun has been awoken and it’s not going to be fun by the sound of his voice.

     “Where do you think you’re going, Hermes ?”

     “S-Sun! H-Helios! Uhm… m-morning! I-is… why are you awake today… Mr. Sun?” Mercury attempted to dissolve the conversation to a different topic other than him leaving his orbit. 

     “Has Neptune or Venus returned yet?” The Sun asked, letting go of his Helios voice. It still wasn’t the voice they were all used to, it was much calmer and serious, and Mercury tried to never bring it up, thinking it might be sensitive. 

     “N-No… Not Venus. I-I was just about to- to leave to check on Uranus,” Mercury stated. “M-Maybe I can see if Neptune r-returned.” 

     “No need, Mercury. I can see form here he hasn’t returned yet, he’s not anywhere near the Kuiper Belt right now. Perhaps on the other side of it, I cannot see past it so I don’t know,” the Sun explained, looking out past his planets to look for his furthest one. 

     “B-But- Uranus— he needs-” 

     “No. You do not leave your orbit, Mercury. I allow you to leave to help the inner planets, but going past the Asteroid Belt is off limits, so you hear me?”

     “S-Sun—”

     “No more excuses, Mercury. I will be returning to slumber. If you leave your orbit while I am sleeping, you will be severely punished for it, Mercury. I expect you to listen.”

     Mercury saddened, looking down, “Y-Yes, Helios… I understand, I’ll s-stay here.” 

     The Sun turned away, going back to sleep peacefully as Mercury and Vulcan sat there in their orbit wondering what to do. Vulcan looked pissed at what transpired, while Mercury understood why the Sun was acting like this. He shouldn’t leave his orbit, the Sun would know even without being conscious. Better to be safe than sorry, but unfortunately, Uranus will have to deal with his panics alone for now. 

     “I can go search for Neptune past the Kuiper Belt?” Vulcan asked, “Watch over Uranus while I’m out there.” 

     “E-Even if you report back to m-me about it, the Sun wouldn’t b-believe me that I didn’t go out of my orbit to get that information. N-No one knows about you, a-and it’ll be hard to get planets to believe that I can see you,” Mercury said. 

     Vulcan hummed in thought, looking out to the giants then back towards Venus’ empty orbit, “There is someone who knows about me.” 

     “Wait w-what? Who? You n-never tell me anything about yourself, Vulcan,” Mercury pressed on, curious about his ghostly friend. 

     “The one who killed me in the first place.”

     Mercury looked out to where Vulcan was eyeing, Venus’ empty orbit seemed like the bane of existent from how long they stared at it - before Mercury finally understood what was happening and what Vulcan was trying to imply.

     “Wait- VENUS?” Mercury screamed in shock, blushing in embarrassment when he saw Mars and Dark Side look over at him confused. He chuckled nervously and looked away, “Vulcan, why didn’t you ever tell me about this?” 

     “You never asked about me.”

     “So?? I would think it would be obvious I wanted to know more about you. You’re… my only friend in this chaos, the only one I talk to other than Sun… I want to know more about my friends,” Mercury said sadly. 

     “Look, Mercury… I’m not used to having ‘friends’, okay? I don’t know how to do this whole friendship thing. I didn’t know you wanted to know more about me, you never asked so I just assume you didn’t want to know. So I never said anything. But right now isn’t the time for bonding, Uranus needs help, Neptune is still gone.

     Yes, Venus was the one who threw me to the Sun millions of years ago, and he should still remember my name. He might freak out, but if you explain to him, he’ll understand, and maybe we can get Sun to believe you,” Vulcan ranted on, pacing back and forth in Mercury’s orbit. 

     “Vulcan,” Mercury stopped him, “One thing - we don’t know when Venus will ever come back.”

     “That… is a big problem… I forgot about that,” Vulcan sighed. “I’ll keep an eye out for Venus whenever I go check on Uranus or Neptune. He has to be somewhere along the Kuiper Belt, if the Sun can’t see him…” 

     Mercury sighed. Everything was not going according to any plans set. Venus is still missing, so they can’t help the Sun in knowing where the hell his furthest planet is. He cant leave his orbit, so Uranus is having to suffer alone without anyone since Neptune is gone, and they can’t find where Neptune is because Sun won’t let them leave or will believe that Vulcan technically still exists! Galaxies, this is difficult and stupid all together. 

     “If the Sun can’t see him, it’s probably fine, since within the belts he can’t see. He can easily see past the Kuiper Belt, he just says he can’t because… of some reason I haven’t figured out yet, but I think it’s cause of something else that’s out there,” Mercury aid worryingly, “So I know Neptune is still out there in the Kuiper Belt… He has to be. He couldn’t have drifted away so soon.” 

     “He’s drifting away?” Vulcan asked, “I should - even if the Sun won’t believe you - go check on Uranus and report back to you, and see if I can spot Neptune in the Kuiper Belt.” 

     Mercury nodded, “Yes, he’s drifting away from the solar system, but he won’t leave for another couple million years, maybe billion. I think he knows that he is drifting, I’m not sure.” 

     “Well, even so, I’m going to go check on the ice giants now. I’ll be back before you complete an orbit,” Vulcan said, but he stopped before leaving the orbit, turning around to face Mercury with a smile, “Also, your voice has gotten a lot better. I didn’t hear many stuttering,” Vulcan then left Mercury’s orbit and heading towards the Kuiper Belt.

     Mercury watched the spirit soar away from him, Vulcan never looked back, quickly heading past the first belt. Mercury paused for a moment, processing what Vulcan had said to him about his voice. Soon realizing that it was true, he wasn’t stuttering ever since he got surprised that Venus was the one— huh. Guess Mercury’s mind is just going after a placebo effect with his voice, thinking it’s hoarse until his core forgets all about it. 

     But that doesn’t matter. He was just using his voice a lot today and the stuttering was wearing down by getting used to talking. Nothing to do with a placebo effect - honestly he’d forgotten what that meant, he’ll have to ask Earth about it whenever he gets a chance to again. Earth has been… chaotically unresponsive recently and doesn’t really allow anyone near his orbit other than Luna - or… Dark Side. 

     Luna has been absent for a long time. 

     Mercury wonders if the Earth is alright. 

     Hope Vulcan can report back soon.