TWs: Brief crying, worrying, feelings of anger/fear, kidnapping. Stay safe :)
Neptune clenched his fists, feeling the way his liquid fingers lapped against the palms of his hands. A smile formed on his face as he tensed the water.
"I'm awake..." He uttered, "That means I can see my moons, and... Uranus."
A couple of units away was a cyan-ish figure with a canvas before them, softly going over the portrait with a paintbrush.
"Uranus...!" A grin rose on Neptune's face as he flew over to meet him, "Uranus!"
The other Celestial perked up, his eyebrows raising as he heard the familiar voice. His eyes widened as he got a glimpse before being bombarded with a tight embrace. He gasped, watching his paints go everywhere and losing his grip on the canvas. Uranus was frozen, watching as his creation floated away.
Neptune realized what he had done, "Agh, sorry Uranus- I ruined another one of your paintings. I can go get it-"
Before Neptune had the chance to pull away, Uranus pulled him closer, clutching at his blue sweater.
"Neptune..." He uttered, letting the silent tears fall on the other's shoulder, "Thank the stars you're awake."
Neptune returned the hug, grinning from ear to ear. Uranus wasn't much of a hugger, always cringing away from Neptune's reach, so Neptune used this to his advantage.
After a few moments, Uranus pulled away, his eyes scanning over him, "Are you still hurt, mate?"
"Mmnope!" Neptune shook his head, "I feel great, actually! How long was I out?"
"Uhm... three weeks."
Neptune grabbed the other's shoulders, squeezing them, "What!? Oh no-"
Neptune flew past Uranus, looking out at the solar system.
"Neptune?" Uranus grabbed his hand, "What is it, mate?"
'Nothing looks different... it's been three weeks, why has X been waiting this long?' Neptune thought. He looked over at Uranus, "We have to talk to the Sun."
"What? But you just woke up, mate. You still might be disoriented."
"If we don't go now, everyone else will be in danger!"
Uranus looked into Neptune's eyes, seeing the desperation. He sighed, letting go, "Fine, but- you still have a few ice particles stuck on you."
Neptune looked down at his torso, seeing the bits of ice caught in his sweater. He shrugged, "Eh, I'll live."
Neptune grabbed hold of Uranus' arm, pulling him along.
"Come on, cousin, it's time to face the Sun. Again."
While crossing the middle rings of the system, they happened upon Saturn who spotted them quickly.
"Oh my- Neptune! You're awake!" Saturn exclaimed, bouncing up to them. On his way over, he shifted his physique, wrapping his arms around Neptune, "We all missed you so much!"
"Good to see you too, Saturn!" Neptune returned his hug, backing away once he spotted familiar figures among the ringed Giant's moons, "Hey, are those...?"
He flew closer, his face lighting up once he realized that they were his moons.
"Proteus, Thalassa, Sao, Psamathe, Neso, Nereid, Naiad, Larissa, Laomedeia, Galatea, Halimede, Despina, Hippocamp! All my moons are here!"
"Neptune!" The satellites exclaimed.
"You're awake!" Larissa grinned.
"We missed you, Neptune!" Proteus flew up to the Celestial, "We were so worried you wouldn't make it!"
"Hey, now- I'm Neptune, remember? No matter what is thrown my way, I'll always get back up again."
"That's why you're the best, Neptune!" Thalassa grinned, her brothers and sisters agreeing. Neptune smiled.
"Now- we have to go talk to the Sun, you all stay here."
"Awe, do we have to?" Galatea whined.
"Sorry, gang, but- hey, wait- where's Triton?" Neptune looked around.
"Oh, he went back to the Kuiper belt with Pluto and his moon, Charon. They were very nice!" Larissa spoke.
"I'm going to miss Triton, though..." Despina uttered.
"Yeah..." Proteus nodded.
'The... Kuiper belt?' Neptune's stomach dropped, a pit hollowing inside, 'X lives in the Kuiper belt...'
Neptune fidgeted with the sleeves of his sweater, his eyes darting everywhere.
"Neptune? Weren't we going to see the Sun?" Uranus asked.
"R-Right. You moons stay here- come on, guys."
"Oh, guess I'm coming along then," Saturn spoke.
They traveled close to the asteroid belt, spotting Jupiter reading a book.
"Jupiter~, look who's awake!" Saturn called, waving a hand.
Jupiter looked up, his eyes widening upon seeing the blue Celestial, "Neptune! You're-"
"Awake! Yeah, yeah! I've been through this plenty of times- nice to see you too, Jupiter!" Neptune gave him a quick hug, "Let's go, everyone!"
"Where are we going?" Jupiter inquired.
"Neptune wants to speak to the Sun, and I guess we all have to be there." Uranus shrugged.
Moving the asteroids out of the way, Neptune tumbled out to the other side, nearly bumping into Mars.
The planet looked at him with wide eyes, "Neptune!?"
The yell seemed to catch everyone's attention, the atmosphere turning stale.
It was all quiet. Way too quiet for Neptune's liking.
The Sun's eyes burned holes through Neptune's liquid surface. Neptune took a deep breath, floating up to the flaming ball of plasma.
Once he closed in on Mercury's orbit, he raised his arm, summoning his trident. He held it before him, closing his eyes as he got down on one knee.
"This wouldn't have happened if I were more careful. I had a plan, so I took a chance. I didn't want anyone to get hurt even if it meant at the cost of my own life." Neptune said, "So, I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused and put you all through... I accept any punishment you see fit."
The Sun said nothing, just stared down at Neptune. He hummed, shifting his form from planet to Celestial.
"Rise, Poseidon."
Neptune stood up, his eyes avoiding the Sun's stare.
"I'm not going to punish you."
"Huh?" Neptune perked up, his eyes finally meeting the Sun's blinding glare. He squinted at the light, "But, aren't you mad?"
"Mad...?" The Sun cackled at the word, his eyes twitching, "Mad... oh, I'm beyond mad- I'm fuRioUs! But, not at you."
"Then..." Neptune dispersed his trident, "Who?"
"Isn't it obvious?" The Sun crossed his arms, "The one who hurt you- oh, let me deal with the rest of those ice shards."
The Sun raised his pointer finger down, melting the small shards of ice. Neptune nearly gagged, feeling his body boiling under the pressure of the Sun's heat.
"There- that's better!"
'I think I'm melting...' Neptune frowned, raising the back of his hand to his temple, 'Is that even possible?'
"You'd be surprised." A voice spoke.
"Ack-!" Neptune jumped, surprised.
"Sorry, did I burn you? I sometimes do that to Mercury."
"Sometimes?" The small planet droned.
'Messier, you scared me...' Neptune huffed.
"Sorry, I didn't know when I'd get a chance to talk." The Star apologized, "Anyway, guess who knows what X has been up to?"
'Who?'
"...Me. We're the only other ones who can talk using the Novastar."
'Oh, right! What'd you find out, Messier?'
"Anyway, Neptune, I'm so glad you're okay. You can really take a couple of hits." The Sun grinned.
"Sun." The Giants deadpanned, glaring at the dwarf star.
"What? I'm just saying- unlike some planets, Neptune causes the least trouble out of you four."
"WHAT!?" Neptune exclaimed.
Everyone turned to the blue Celestial, surprised at the outburst.
"Neptune? What is it?" Uranus floated up to him, noticing the panicked look in his eyes.
"It's X... he captured the dwarf planets!"
« NOTE »
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