Chapter Text
JOVIAN EXILE ERA:
On their way towards the Kuiper Belt, Ganymede sarcastically noted how well their confrontation went, though Europa claimed they tried their best. Once they arrived, the duo witnessed five minor planets (and Charon) playing an ancient version of Dungeons & Dragons.
Spotting the duo, Makemake wondered why they were here, and Europa revealed she and Ganymede were recently banished from the Solar System because the Sun falsely accused them of causing a Moon Revolution that never happened in the first place.
Pluto and Charon openly expressed how unfair their situation was, followed by hearing rustling coming from behind. For a split second, only Ganymede and Europa were able to spot a dark navy blue silhouette before it vanished. Begging the mysterious figure to wait, both moons chased after them.
Eventually, the person finally came out of the shadows.
“Erebus?” the smaller Galilean moon gasped.
With a somber smile, he replied, “Hey guys. It’s been a while, huh?”
“H-How did you…? Wha—where did you…? I…you were here this whole time?” Ganymede spluttered.
Erebus exhaled deeply. “I—listen, I can explain — ”
Without thinking, the largest moon sped up to him and lightly pounded his atmosphere. “You idiot! W-We thought you were…! God! You just—left us behind a-and…! Why didn’t you come back?”
Planet X shook his head sadly. “I’m so sorry guys…but I couldn’t. The fate of the Solar System was in jeopardy because of me, and we’d already lost so much, therefore I—I did what I had to do.”
After a moment, Europa realized something. “Wait—if you’re here at the edge of the Solar System, then…what about the others? A-Are they here too?”
His head movements confirmed they were still rogue planets floating somewhere…far away from their planetary system, never to return.
She let out a sorrowful chuckle. “So they really are gone…”
Ganymede peered closer to X’s orbit. “Wait, hold up—what about your moons? Why aren’t they here with you?”
Clearing his throat softly, Erebus blinked back tears as he revealed extremely faint rings surrounding his equator. Both satellites stifled their gasps.
“Two billion years ago…there was nothing I could do,” X said. “But they were asleep when it happened, so…at least they weren’t in pain. That would’ve been a trillion times worse.”
He also described how he tried protecting his siblings from afar by preventing the remaining TNOs from drifting away as well, including Sedna (since her aphelion was further away from his). Apparently he saw almost everything that occurred since the Grand Tack. So he knew about their subsatellites and other events like the Late Heavy Bombardment plus mass extinctions on Earth.
Then both moons revealed they were exiled based on false premises. Angry on their behalf, Erebus reminded the duo that they had an additional witness—himself. Offering to help them return to the Solar System, Ganymede and Europa trusted him enough to agree with his strategy. Although X didn’t plan on staying long—just to let his siblings know he was alright.
During their return journey, Proteus joined them as Europa recognized major changes in the Asteroid Belt. X explained that Sol obtained full gravitational access to every single object within his heliosphere. In response, Ganymede claimed the Sun was too overpowered. All of them agreed with his statement.
Meanwhile, the gas giants felt their presence, gasping at the sight of Planet X.
Saturn’s jaw dropped. “J-Jupiter! Is that…?”
“I-It is…it’s him! I—I can’t believe it!” His older brother let out a relieved laugh. “X! H-He’s alive!”
“Wait what?” Metis exclaimed. “He is?”
Sol mustered up his strength and flung artificial asteroids in the trio’s direction regardless of Jupiter insisting they weren’t intruders.
“AAAAAAAHH!!” the Sun screamed, ignoring his planet’s protests.
A large one aimed at Proteus, until Europa shielded him and took a painful hit to her right cheek. Feeling guilty for not dodging the pseudo-asteroid himself, the largest non-spherical moon thanked her for saving him. As Helios attempted to attack them again, Jupiter rushed in front of Erebus to protect him from more incoming rocks.
Slowly turning around, he locked gazes with the Fifth Giant and desperately asked where he’d been all this time. Planet X gave the same explanation he did earlier in order to protect everyone within the Solar System. Yet Erebus didn’t leave completely because the ETNOs would’ve been ejected as well, and he couldn’t let that happen.
“So half the time, you were all by yourself? With no one to talk to?” Jupiter exhaled, which earned a nod from the respondent. “My god…do you ever think about yourself?”
X chuckled sheepishly. “Well uh…y-yeah, of course. I’m here, aren’t I?”
A few astronomical units away, the younger two ice giants approached their host star.
“Hey Sun, what was that pseudo-asteroid bombardment thingy?” Uranus asked curiously.
“Yeah, it was super cool!” Neptune praised.
“We’ll know soon enough,” Sol responded seriously. “Show yourselves!!”
The seven planets and remaining moons’ gawked at the long-lost trio.
Through clenched teeth, the Sun said, “You two?! I thought I told you never to come! Wait…Planet X??”
“Hold on—is that really him? The one the Outer Solar System told us about?” Earth gaped.
“I—I think he is,” Mercury nodded.
“Guess the Sun acknowledged somebody,” Venus mumbled.
Facing Cronus, Erebus smiled kindly. “Hey Saturn…it’s been a while, huh? How—how are you?”
The ringed giant’s voice trembled, saltwater filling his eyes. “I-I…I’m alright, I guess. I’m just glad you’re here, X. But why—why didn’t you come back sooner? Why now?”
“It’s—a long story,” X hesitated. “I promise I’ll tell you, but I don’t think now’s a good time, so — ”
He suddenly felt two icy bodies leaning against his sides.
“X! You’re—you’re back! I-I can’t believe it!” Uranus laughed gratefully. “Mate, you’re really here!”
“Ooh! Does that mean you can stay now? Are you gonna take your old orbit back? ‘Cause Caelus and I can totally arrange that for you!” Neptune offered ecstatically. “But seriously, I’m so happy you’re back buddy!”
“Yeah, we really missed you,” Caelus emphasized sadly.
“I missed you guys too,” Erebus nearly whispered, closing his eyes for a brief moment.
Mimas heard sniffling coming from his left, eyes widening. “Enceladus, are you crying?”
“N-No…there’s a lot of dust here, that’s all,” the said moon denied.
Before X was able to greet the four rocky planets, he heard Sol bellowing his name like a madman and grinned nervously at his orbital center.
“H-Hey, Sun. How’s uh—how’s life?” Erebus began awkwardly.
“How dare you show your face here after abandoning the Solar System like that?!” the yellow dwarf shrieked.
Europa and Ganymede volunteered to take over, the Sun assuming they were practically asking for a death wish. However, both satellites simply desired to unravel the truth—with Jupiter and Saturn’s permission. To X’s shock, his big brothers nodded.
Erebus vigorously shook his head. “Wait hold on, don’t — ”
Jupiter eyed him somberly. “I’m sorry X—but this was gonna come out sooner or later. I have to tell him.” Turning to his banished Galilean moons, he said, “Go ahead.”
Sol discovered that Planet X didn’t leave the Solar System willingly (at least not 100%). It was caused by another factor—Jupiter and Saturn’s gravitational pull.
“Pfft! Is that the best you can come up with?” Helios scoffed. “Pathetic.”
Zeus lifted his head. “They’re right, Sun—except for one thing. It was only my gravity, not Saturn’s.”
Genuinely astonished, the rocky planets, ice giants, and satellites whispered amongst themselves.
Frowning in disagreement, Cronus hovered in front. “Wait, hold on! Sun—Jupiter’s not the only one to blame! I also — ”
“Saturn! Just…stop,” his older twin cut him off. “Everyone knows you are just trying to be a good brother, but…no need to make things up.”
Feeling utterly betrayed, Sol said, “So you…you lied to me? You—you told me Planet X left the Solar System.”
Jupiter averted his gaze in shame. “I—I did.”
“Why?” the Sun asked, flabbergasted yet visibly hurt.
X couldn’t allow this, so he sprinted forward. “Sun, I’m the one who told him to lie to you about this. I begged Jupiter to release me in order to stabilize the Solar System, but he refused to let me go—so I had to do it myself. This was my fault, not his.”
“Confess to what exactly?” Sol blurted out.
Again, Ganymede was losing patience. “He just said — ”
Cronus also decided to chime in at the same time. “Wait, that’s not exactly — ”
But Jupiter shouted his name and told him to stay quiet.
Sighing audibly, he continued. “Before, you assumed most of your protoplanets randomly crashed into each other or left the Solar System. But that was a lie I told you ‘cause Erebus didn’t want me to get in trouble. So I—I hid the Grand Tack from you.”
Helios was taken aback. “The Grand…W-What??”
A diagram appeared over the gas giant’s head. “My orbit was closer to yours, but because I wanted to hang out with Saturn, I changed orbits further away from you. This movement…it caused Seia, Septa, Octa, and Nova to disintegrate by approachin’ my Roche Limit…a-and yours.”
Sol’s mouth was wide open. “J-Jupiter…is this true?”
“W-W-Why is he doing this? I-I-It was an accident! It’s no one’s fault that happened!” Io claimed desperately.
“I…I-I’ve got nothing…” Callisto trailed off.
“Christ…” Triton mouthed.
“M-Maybe the Sun will let Jupiter off the hook…?” Proteus hoped.
“Doubt it,” Titania sighed.
“You…destroyed the early rocky planets! Lied about it! Then ejected Planet X and lied about it AGAIN?!” Helios yelled in outrage.
The oldest planet bowed his head and bit his quivering lower lip before looking up at him with a devastated expression. “Yes. All of this is true, Sun.”
They heard several voices trying to defend Jupiter and plead for forgiveness on his behalf.
Sol hardened his gaze. “You are not who we thought you were. I have no choice but to — ”
“Banish me—I understand. I-I’ll go…but please. Have Planet X take my place, and have all my moons orbit him instead,” Jupiter persuaded.
The Fifth Giant’s eyes widened. “What?? No! That’s not—! Jupiter, they’re your moons! I-I can’t just — ”
“I know what I’m doin’, X!” Zeus countered firmly, which caused Erebus to shut up. “I—I already made the mistake of failin’ to protect you once, but not again. This time, I’ll do what I should have done a long time ago.”
Sol scoffed again. “You think you can make demands after all this?”
“N-N-No matter what, at least Ganymede and Europa deserve to be here! Whatever you think they did, it didn’t happen! And we definitely have proof!” Io declared.
The Sun pursed his lips. “Fine—you two can come back.”
Both moons didn’t feel victorious at all, since they were more worried about their host planet.
Speaking of which, he anxiously stepped forward. “B-Before I go, can I — ”
“No!” the yellow dwarf interrupted heartbrokenly. “Just leave, Jupiter. I don’t want to see you! None of us do!”
Earth, Uranus, Luna, Phobos, and Deimos frowned sadly. Mars, Neptune, and the Outer Moons were in deep thought yet visibly upset. Mercury and Venus sent death glares towards the Sun. While Saturn and Erebus averted their gazes, regretful over not being able to defend their older brother.
Jupiter finally resigned to his fate, preparing to leave as Helios mournfully squeezed his eyes shut. “Okay, I’ll go. I—I’m sorry.”
“Wait!” Ganymede’s voice called out to him as Zeus stopped in his tracks, turning around. “C’mon big guy, don’t…don’t do this.”
“Don’t go…please,” Europa begged sorrowfully—which she almost never did, so you knew it was serious.
Jupiter smiled mournfully. “It’s okay, you guys. I—I deserve this. Take care of each other, okay? I love you all. Goodbye…”
After turning away and leaving for good this time, Elara stood next to Ganymede and said, “What do we do now?
“Is he—never coming back?” Metis squeaked tentatively.
“Don’t worry—that’s not gonna happen,” the biggest moon vowed. “Cause we’re gonna fix this.”
It seemed like X wasn’t listening as he gazed at the solar horizon, which the gas giant recently crossed. Erebus winced once he heard Saturn sobbing hopelessly behind him as Earth and Mars consoled him gently.
“I’m so sorry, Jupiter…” he apologized. “We’ll—we’ll find a way to bring you back…I promise.”