TWs: Feelings of anger/dissatisfaction, ominous behavior, blowing things out of proportion. Stay safe :)

Earth's eyes blew wide, looking from Neptune to Jupiter.

"Oh, yeah." Jupiter nodded, "I heard about what happened to your last manager, so I took it upon myself to assign you a new one, and who better than a good friend of mine?"

Earth stuttered over his words, staring at the older one incredulously, "Wha-What!?"

"Yeah! Isn't this great?" Neptune grinned.

"But- you- you're-" Earth waved his hands about, gesturing to all of Neptune.

Jupiter frowned, placing a hand on the younger's shoulder, "Earth, I know this is a lot to take in but believe me when I say Neptune is one of the best managers out there. He may be better than me!"

"Aw, that's not true." Neptune fiddled with a stray hair, wrapping it around his finger, "I'm not a very focused and timely person..."

"True, but you do get things done and that's what's most important."

"Mmh, yeah..." Neptune nodded.

Earth puffed his cheeks out, glaring at Neptune. This had to be a joke. Jupiter was setting him up with Neptune? The person he, for some reason, bumped into time and time again? The guy who appears lost in space all of the time?

Earth couldn't help but feel as if the world was against him. The world was a stage and Earth was tied on a single thread like a puppet. He hated people making decisions for himself. He was an adult, not the same teenager he was seven years ago.

"I found it!" A triumphant voice rang through the backstage, "My lucky pic!"

A person with messy taupe and viridian hair stepped out from around the corner, flipping only what Earth could assume was his lucky pic. The stranger paused upon seeing the others.

"Oh, hey, guys!" He waved with two fingers. His hazel eyes wandered to where Earth was, his expression dropping into a look of surprise.

"Titan, I'd like you to meet someone," Jupiter waved the other over, "This is-"

"No way. Y-You're Terra!" Titan's face lifted to pure joy as he awed at the singer.

Earth's eyes widened, subconsciously raising a hand and running it through his green and blue hair, "You've heard of me?"

"Of course! You have an amazing voice, I've been following you since you went viral a year ago! Well, not following following, but- you get the idea." Titan rambled.

Earth basked in the compliments, "Why, thank you. That's very much appreciated."

'At least someone appreciates me.' Earth smiled to himself, checking his nails.

"Well, Earth, Titan here is the lead singer of Cassini-Huygens," Jupiter spoke.

Earth hummed, analyzing Titan closely, 'Potential competition...'

"I've never heard of it." Earth crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow.

"W-Well, we only started the band a few months ago, so..." Titan muttered, playing with his fingers.

"What do you do? Besides singing."

"Well, I play electric and acoustic guitar."

"You look like someone who'd play guitar."

"Uhm... was that supposed to be a compliment?" Titan tilted his head.

"Sure." Earth shrugged.

"Titan! Are you ready to practice?" Saturn beamed as he walked over to the group.

"Of course, let me get my guitar." Titan smiled, "It was nice meeting you, Mr. Terra."

Earth's eye twitched as the other walked away, "Just Terra is fine- or Earth!"

"Alright," The dark yellow-haired individual yanked the curtain, holding it for his bandmates, "Io, you improved nicely, it was better than last time. Callisto, the bridge section needs a little more power to it. Europa, you were a bit late with transitions."

Europa huffed, "It's not easy playing piano and then moving to play guitar."

"You could s-stand while playing piano." Io suggested, "Th-That way, you could have your guitar strapped to you the wh-whole time."

"Ugh, I'll try," Europa uttered.

"Great work out there, A-Team!" Jupiter called out to them.

"It was only practice." Callisto placed her thumbs in her pockets.

"Even so, I can tell you've been improving every time." The taller took a second to assess his clients before turning to Earth, "By the way, this is Earth, also known by his stage name, Terra. He's also going to be on the tour."

"Terra...?" Ganymede raised an eyebrow, "Oh, yeah, I've heard of you. You're that guy that went viral a year ago over a video that took place on some community stage five years ago, right?"

"It's been seven years, actually." Earth corrected.

"Right." Ganymede frowned.

"You guys should get something to eat. There's a convenience store around the corner." Jupiter spoke.

"Alright." Ganymede led the group away, "Don't have too much fun without us."

"Now, there's only one other band for you to meet." Jupiter turned his head to look at Earth, "They usually practice last, so they should be here any second."

Earth nodded, not really listening. As far as he knew, everyone around him was competition and the stage was the battlefield.

Based on the information in the papers given to him, Earth was to perform last, making him the final act of the tour. He was going to make sure he made stardom history.

Everyone was going to know his name;

Terra.

"Ugh, they don't have extra fizzy pop!" Io whined, his face pressed up against the freezer door.

"I'm sure you can find a different drink, Io," Callisto assured.

"Well, they do have fruitalicious..." He mumbled.

A few feet away, Europa was scanning the shelves for her favorite chocolate bar. She perked when spotting it, her hand reaching out to grab it.

"Hey-!" She yelled upon another hand grabbing it before her. She huffed, "Uh, excuse me, but that was extremely rude and uncalled for."

"Oh, oops, didn't see you there." The stranger spoke. He handed her the chocolate.

"Yeah, oops." Europa rolled her eyes, pushing past him to check out.

"Are you by chance in a band?" The guy asked.

Europa paused. She slightly turned, "What's it to you?"

"My name is... Nine. I suppose you can call me a connoisseur of all things music."

"And...?" Europa gestured for him to continue.

"I can help you and your band to be successful."

Europa faced him fully, a look of confusion painting her face, "What?"

"I can't spare the details further," Nine reached into his pocket, taking out a card, "Just call me anytime and I can arrange for us to meet."

Europa took the card, her face scrunched as she looked at the bold print on the card, "But wha-"

She cut herself off, her eyes widening as the mysterious person was nowhere to be found.

"Hello...?" Europa uttered, her eyes scanning her surroundings confusedly.

"Babe, did you get what you need?" Ganymede walked up to her. He frowned upon noticing her troubled expression, "Europa? You okay?"

"I'm... fine." Europa nodded, "Let's get out of here before it gets weirder."

Before Ganymede could question what she meant, Europa took him by the hand and dragged him to the checkout, hurrying him along.

⫸ NOTE ⫷

The song in the last chapter was Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance.

Also, most of the moons in this story are teenagers or young adults (Luna is 19, the Galilean moons are 17-18, Cassini-Huygens (the band) ranges from 16-18, Triton is 18, Charon is 19, and the other Neptunian moons are kids ranging from 6-12).

Comments are appreciated 3