TWs: Getting slapped with realism (metaphorically), kinda sad towards the end. Stay safe :)

"Psst..."

"Mmh...?" The Sun opened his eyes, "Wha...?"

"Psst-!"

He blinked the tiredness from his gaze, looking around wearily, "Where...?"

"Sun, can you hear me?"

The ball of plasma opened his mouth, his eyes enlarged, 'Spica...?'

"Finally! You would not believe how long it took to find the right opening..." She uttered.

'How-?'

"Never mind that! Are you okay?"

'Yes, why wouldn't I be?' The Sun rolled his eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes at me, Mister I'm-so-great-and-powerful-yet-I-got-my-ass-handed-to-me-by-a-Star-smaller-than-me," Spica remarked.

'That was one time!' The Sun seethed, containing all his anger as his eyes and mouth twitched.

"Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that." The Sun could feel Spica's smirk from lightyears away.

'Where are you? I thought you would be with the others.'

"I live further away, dummy. I'll be there in a few more days." She responded.

'And...? Will you be with the others?'

Spica didn't respond, prompting the Sun to let out a huff.

'I totally get it. Everything that happened was my fault-'

"What? No- shut up, Sun." Spica snapped, "Everything that happened was in the past... and it should stay in the past. Besides, Gliese is also to blame."

The Sun snorted, 'Don't let her hear you say that.'

"Ooh, I would love to say that to her face." Spica laughed.

Mercury shifted, his eyes squinting as he stared at the ball of plasma, "Sun...? Isn't it a bit early to be laughing to yourself?"

"Heheh, sorry, Mercury... go back to sleep." The Sun smiled, albeit awkwardly.

"Okay..." Mercury huffed as he moved further away, opting to sleep somewhere else.

The Sun released a breath he was holding, his eyes wandering to the other planets; the other rocky planets were sleeping while the Giants seemed to be talking on the other side of the asteroid belt. Sun wished he could hear what they were saying.

"Friend of yours?" Spica asked.

'Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess you could say that.' The Sun smiled.

"You guess...?"

'Haha, let's just say, I can be a bit threatening.'

"A bit...?"

'...Okay, a lot threatening. You know I can't help it.'

"Just yellow dwarf behavior."

'Hey! What about the others? They're worse than I am!'

Spica laughed, "Hahahah! I almost forgot how fun it is to tease you!"

The Sun's eyes widened as he clenched his fangs, 'Yo- That-...'

"Blackhole got your tongue?"

There was a moment of silence.

'No...' The Sun frowned, 'I'm just...'

"Just...?"

'Mmnothing.'

"Nothing? Really?"

'Shut up.'

"Ooh, strong words for a Star that's smaller than me."

'You can't bring size into this!'

"Too late- I just did."

The Sun rolled his eyes, his gaze landing on the void beyond, 'Huh...'

"What is it?"

'The others were beyond the Kuiper belt, but they're gone now.'

"Maybe they decided this whole thing was stupid and just left...?" Spica guessed.

The Sun frowned, knowing that hoping for peace was useless when it came to the other Stars.

« × »

"HAHAHAHAHhahahh!"

"Sir, it's not funny- there are Stars outside the Kuiper belt at this very moment!" AstroDude exclaimed. The astronaut was met with more hysterical laughter.

"Sta-aha-rs!" Houston leaned back in his chair, "Ooh, that's a good one. Next, you're going to tell me that the planets can move and talk!"

AstroDude deadpanned, looking at the computer, which was making the same face.

"Sir, if you would just listen-"

"Stop wasting my time, AstroDude! Stars can't just appear out of thin air."

"Actually, sir-"

"If that's all you wanted to tell me, I'll be hanging up now."

"Wait, wait, wait-"

beep... beep... beep...

"Ugh, you've got to be kidding me." The human muttered.

...

"Hah, moving Stars..." Houston chuckled at the statement, propping his feet on the center console.

"Uh, sir- you might want to look at this." NasaDude glanced at him.

"What is it this time?"

"You remember Voyager 2, right?"

"What kind of a question is that? Of course, I remember Voyager 2!"

NasaDude tore a piece of paper from a machine, giving it to Houston.

"Am I supposed to know what this is?" The director asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked at the line graph.

NasaDude refrained from rolling his eyes, "Voyager 2 is within the Kuiper belt."

"And...?"

"And it appears to have caught a magnetic force ten to fifteen times that of our Sun."

Houston looked at the other, "Wait, that would mean..."

"AstroDude was telling the truth."

A sigh escaped Houston's lips, "Dammit..." he turned around in his chair, calling out an order to a random newbie, "Call in a meeting with the Big Corps!"

"Uuh..." The newbie hesitated.

"Just- get me on the line with USA, Russia, China, and Canada!" Houston yelled, "And don't forget Mr. Spherical!"

"Yessir!"

NasaDude hummed, "Why Canada...?"

Houston sighed, "Unfortunately, he's important."

« × »

"And that brings us back to right now." Neptune smiled, "Did you get all that?"

Titan looked at the Ice Giant with wide eyes, "I- wow, uhm... and you want us to help?"

"Well, of course! You guys are just as important as the rest of us. We need to work together in order to bring them down."

"Right, and I get that- it's just... with the Stars being here, don't you think it's a bit risky?" Titan questioned.

Neptune frowned, hesitating to answer, "Well, yes, but... I believe that good things can come out of this if we work together."

Titan looked unsure, his eyes moving to look down into the deep void of space. He took a breath before glancing up, "Believing in something isn't going to make it come true, Neptune."

"Well, I know that-"

"It's great that you're an optimist, but sometimes you have to think realistically." The moon spoke, "Will we win? Do we have a chance?"

Neptune blinked one eye, then the other, his frown deepening, "I..."

"Maybe we should think this over." Titan huffed, "I don't think any of the moons are ready to fight anyway."

Neptune could only nod, watching as Titan flew away. He bit his lip, letting out a sigh, 'Maybe he's right...'

"Giving in already?" Messier spoke.

'Yes,' Neptune shook his head, 'No- I don't know! Am I supposed to be feeling this bad?'

"I guarantee that everyone knows how you feel. Look around."

Neptune's eyes gazed over to the other planets. Uranus looked stressed as he paced around his orbit, his moons looking worried. Saturn was doodling on his notepad and Jupiter looked exhausted, eyes scanning words in a book.

Neptune's moons were nearby, sleeping as they huddled around each other, Triton in the middle.

"Pain comes in many forms; physical, mental, emotional..." Messier uttered, "You've experienced them all."

'I have...?' Neptune thought.

"Of course. Everyone here has." Messier paused, "Even me."

The blue planet looked down, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Tell me, Neptune," Messier spoke, "Are you ready to do this?"

'What... do you mean?'

"X is your brother. He has had the last strike before... will he have it again?"

Neptune's core rumbled within him, the winds whipping around as a raging storm continued to mark his surface.

'I...'

« NOTE »

Hello :)

Enjoying the story so far?

That's good :)

I made a personal Discord server- it's for the people who like my stuff, I guess lol
There'll also be a spoiler for an upcoming story I'm writing (and yes, it'll be SolarBalls related)

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