TWs: Self-blame, mentions of ejection/running away, hostages/tied up, brief self-deprecation. Stay safe :)

"Triton's sunglasses..." Neptune looked at the item in the palm of his hand, "How could I have let this happen?"

"Now, now, Neptune- none of what has happened has been your fault," Jupiter spoke, coming to his side.

"But- Triton left my orbit and I was being too stubborn to go after him! It's all because of my stupidity that he got caught up in this mess. I should've known X would-"

"Neptune." Uranus flew forward, placing a hand on his shoulder, "How were we supposed to know any of this was going to happen in the first place? Sure, it was inevitable that X would seek revenge, but we had no idea how he would do it."

Neptune was quiet as he stared at the pair of cracked shades in his hand.

"He's right, you know." Messier spoke, "None of what has happened was your fault, Neptune."

'Then who...?'

"We shouldn't be looking for someone to put blame on. Instead, let's focus on the moment right now, such as saving your runaway 'moon.'"

Neptune eyed the sunglasses, his eyebrow twitching, "Right."

"Pl-Planet X..." Ceres grinned, "Planet X is..."

"He can talk!?" Mars shifted behind Earth.

"Planet X is... comiiinnnggggg~" Ceres couldn't help but cackle.

"What!?" Mercury frowned, "Does he mean X is coming h-here?"

"X wouldn't dare come here; not after what happened last time." The Sun spoke, "He knows what I'm capable of."

"Knows... X knows..." Ceres kept giggling to himself.

"Stop being cryptic and just spit it out already!" Venus threatened the dwarf planet with an asteroid.

Ceres backed away, his eyes wide as he trembled, yet still contained a grin on his sphere, "X isn't alone~ hehehahah... th-there are o-other dwarf planets b-beyond the K-Kuiper belt~ hahahhahahheheh!"

"Oh no..." Saturn looked to Jupiter, "Please don't tell me it's them..."

"Wait, what?" Uranus turned to them, "There are more dwarf planets?"

"Ejected dwarf planets." Jupiter sighed.

"F-For a good reason, of course!" Saturn forced a smile, looking at the Sun, "R-Right?"

"Oh, yes- I believe there were five of them." Sun nodded, "Gonggong, Quaoar, Orcus, Salacia, and their 'leader,' Sedna. Luckily, they were pretty small, so we could push them out easily. Although, it seems they're also seeking revenge on us..."

Neptune turned to Ceres, who was spinning around in circles, juggling small asteroids while giggling.

"How are we supposed to handle this? Not only is X out to get us, but there are five dwarf planets on his side." Mars spoke.

Neptune hummed, his eyes squinting as he looked at the small swarf planet before him. A smile formed on his face, "I think I have an idea."

"Neptune..." Uranus looked at the other uneasily.

"Don't worry, cousin! This time, it doesn't involve me getting hurt." Neptune grinned, "Hopefully."

Uranus looked unconvinced, crossing his arms.

"I just need..." Neptune raised a hand to his chin, looking around until he spotted the Earth, "You-! Uh- what's your name again?"

"Seriously...?" Earth muttered, shaking his sphere, "I'm the Earth."

"Right! I'm gonna need you, Mars, and... Venus. Is that right?" Neptune squinted his eyes, looking at the toxic planet.

The rocky planets glanced at each other, Mars speaking, "Why us?"

Instead of answering, Neptune turned to Ceres, "Hey, Ceres, have you heard of a game called Asteroid Dodgeball?"

Ceres dropped the asteroids he held, peering up at Neptune with a widened gaze. The dwarf planet grinned, "Havvveeee I...~?"

« × »

"We're back, Sedna." A red planet floated from within the depths, shifting his form along the way. His eyes landed on the captured dwarf planets, "This them?"

"Yep." The other Celestial spoke, "Have you seen X?"

"I thought he was-"

"Has anyone seen that big blue planet!? I've been trying to look for him everywhere!" A planet barreled through the asteroids, destroying everything in his path. He waved his two narrow rings around, nearly hitting Sedna.

"Quaoar, control yourself." Sedna glared.

"Nobody has seen X, it seems." The other one spoke.

"Just who are these guys?" Charon whispered.

"I think they're some kind of gang..." Pluto uttered.

"Ooh, like the one in our game!" Makemake grinned.

Eris grunted, "Seriously? Is this how we're coping?"

"It's more comforting that way..." Haumea spoke.

Triton sighed, "Welp, we're screwed..."

"Oi, stop talking, you lot!" A new voice spoke up as a dark grey Celestial flew by them.

"Salacia, where did you run off to?" Quaoar asked.

"None of your business." She spoke, going up to the whiteboard.

"Where are the others, Gonggong?" Sedna questioned.

"Why do you expect me to know everything?" The other replied, "I don't know where they are."

"Ugh, idiots..." Sedna scowled, "I'm going to find them myself then."

"If you happen to see X, tell him the eagle has landed," Quaoar spoke.

"What in the Milky Way is an eagle?" Gonggong furrowed his eyebrows.

Quaoar shrugged, "I don't know- X said it was an Earthling thing."

"What's an Earthling?" Salacia inquired.

"I... don't know, actually." Quaoar scratched the back of his neck.

The dwarf gang continued on their spiel about what an Earth was and what kind of properties it would have.

"Are they for real...?" Pluto looked at Charon, who shrugged.

"I guess they've never heard of the Earth before."

"That's incredible considering an entire Moon Revolution was out to get him," Makemake spoke.

Triton huffed, "It wasn't just the Earth they were out to get- it was every planet."

"Even yours?" Charon raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Triton looked at her.

"What about Neptune? Where was he?"

"I... It doesn't matter." Triton shook his head.

"Why not?" Charon frowned.

"I'm not his moon- I'm not anyone's moon. I'm tired of being held down and restrained when there's so much more to do out here." Triton looked around at all the asteroids, "I try telling Neptune that I'm not one of them, but this time, running away seemed like the better option."

"Oh, Triton..." Charon maneuvered her arms, twisting in her bindings to place a hand on Triton's, "Don't worry. When we get out of this mess, you can tell Neptune all about what you're feeling."

"Great..." Triton glowered. He didn't have much experience when it came to 'feelings.' He didn't know the first thing he would say to Neptune.

"Oi, didn't I tell you lot to stop talking!?" Salacia scowled, placing her hands on her hips. She glared at the others, "We should be moving on to the second phase, what's taking that blue buffoon so long!?"

"Calm down, Salacia." A familiar voice spoke as a larger Celestial body came into view, "I was merely gathering supplies."

"X, you're finally back. Did you get my message?" Quaoar asked.

"Indeed. The 'eagle' is in a safe spot... for now." X squinted his eyes.

"What is an eagle?" Gonggong inquired.

"Not of importance. What we need to be focusing on is," X floated past his workers and peered his eyes unto the hostages, "Them..."

The dwarf planets shivered as X glowered above them, staring them down.

'Is this really it?' Pluto thought, his eyes squeezing shut as he felt Charon press against him.

« NOTE »

Salacia is Bri'ish, cause I said so~

Dwarf Planet Sizes from Biggest to Smallest:

Pluto (2377 km), Eris (2326 km), Haumea (2100x1680x1074 km), Makemake (1430 km), Gonggong (1230 km), Quaoar (1110 km), Sedna (995 km), Ceres (946 km), Orcus (917 km), Salacia (854 km)

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