Chapter Text
With the Sun, half of the planets, half of the moons and even half of the dwarf planets gone, the Solar System stayed in absolute silence for around a minute. There was a lot of think about and many things would need a certain order, with hopefully no major restrainments.
Jupiter was the biggest planet, and without the Sun, he was the biggest celestial object. Of course, not totally. The Sun, the planets and the moons were still physically present in the Solar System. Not all in spirit, however. All who were left agreed Jupiter would be the one in charge of the system as of now, since, in a way, a great part of it moved and stayed balanced thanks to Jupiter's influence.
Everyone who had left their orbits was now returning to their positions. They came to the conclusion the first step was to check if orbits would destabilize, but hopefully not, since the unconscious celestials would stay in place. After arriving, Earth, Luna and Mercury floated in Earth's orbit to chat a little bit about what had just happened.
"Earth... Do you want to talk about anything?" Mercury asked. Earth slowly turned to him, upset. Luna also turned to his planet.
"I just...," Earth murmured. He stayed a few seconds in silence. "This happened so fast, I..."
"For planetary terms, it really did...," Luna said.
Earth had been through five mass extinctions before. Many of them lasted for thousand of years and took so long to happen. Things take time in the universe, but for life? For life? Life by itself lasts the blink of an eye in the universe scale. Surely some life in some kingdoms, like part of Animalia, last for a few hundred years. Sometimes more. Life is always renewing itself in short amounts of time. Life, however, also kills itself in very little time. Thanos' snap was literally a split of a second. The effects took a few minutes to spread, like Singularity was taking its time to get all the work done, but it all happened so fast, with no way to counterattack.
"I feel... Empty." Earth said. "This is different from the others." He was upset, but his words felt dry. Emotionless. "You wouldn't understand."
"I really can't, Earth, but remember that you are not alone here. Okay?" Mercury said. Earth gave his fellow planet a small nod.
"Y- Yeah...," Luna murmured.
"I'll go back now, like Jupiter said. But I'll come back soon. Be careful, Earth!" Mercury said as he started to leave Earth's orbit.
Earth and Luna silently looked at the rocky planet moving towards the Sun.
"Earth?" Luna asked. Earth turned to him. "Do you want to talk?"
"Not for now, Luna...," Earth said, his voice weak. "I... I need to think."
"Okay." Luna said, upset. Both planet and moon turned away from each other. It looked like a long introspection moment had just begun.
Mercury was, as of now, isolated between two unalive celestials. Not only that, but two noisy and loud celestials.
The Sun was present, his light was still shining bright, his surface activity was moderate and about to enter a low phase. He had no idea how flares would work from now, but not that it mattered anyway.
On the other side, Venus, known as the Morning and Evening Star to the Earthlings, rested on his upside down tilt — something Mercury never understood. Had the rocky planet gone through a massive collision or so? Was he born this way and was just pretending to have a tilt that was "closer" to normal?
Venus was also showing his atmosphere since he couldn't control it anymore, which Mercury had never seen. It was white and bright — it had a cream tint to it. Earlier, he was thinking of making fun of Venus because of it. "The 'White Pearl' of the Solar System." It sounded very feminine — the small rocky planet thought it would be fun to mock it a little bit.
But now... None of that mattered. It was no longer worth it.
Mercury was alone. Everything was a memory now. This was his moment to think about everything.
The Sun puns were no more. Before he had his planets, he was alone. He had nobody around him, possibly for millions of years. Nobody to listen to him, to be there for him, to tell him words he needed to hear. Sun knew all about being alone, feeling alone. It's no wonder he got so fixated to the rocky planets: they were all very close to him, physically at least.
Mercury was the closest, always had been. Sometimes, he feared the Sun would do something crazy again. Similar to what he did to Proto and Theia back then, when he split the two after their plan to obtain life. But... The Sun never did. Not that way at least — or not that Mercury could recall.
He wanted balance. He wanted life to blossom in the Solar System. Despite all the chaos, it happened. Earth got life, Mars and Venus had conditions — maybe they had some sort of simple life as well. The Sun, overall, was happy. He found happiness. But sometimes, this happiness could feel... Clingy. The demands to stay in orbits, the overprotective attitude towards Mercury... And now, after everything, Mercury was missing only one thing.
Whether the Sun was happy with the current state. With himself. With life, despite the intergalactic chaos.
"I get it now." Mercury said. He faced the Sun. "I get why you always wants us to stay in our orbits. It's because you can't control what we do all the time." He sighed. "One wrong move and there could be a flying planet or moon, moving away aimlessly. Sure, you... You wanted to keep a certain status quo, but it wasn't with ill intent, was it?"
A pause of a few seconds.
"I understand why you worried so much, Sun, and why you shouted at us so much...," he said. His voice started to break. He realized he will never hear the Sun's shouting again. "You...," tears were building. "You took care of us so well, you protected us, you... You have always been here, no matter what. You are our star, after all..."
Another pause, and a small smile.
"Thank you for always being here, Sun."
After a minute of silence, Mercury wiped his tears and turned to Venus.
Any and all of his bullying towards Mercury ceased to exist. The small rocky planet, at this point, forgot when this "teasing" had started. He remembered how Venus' first few steps in life revolved around Theia, how he had helped her with life experiments, how he got furious because of her ditching him to stay with Proto and how he had then ruined everything for her. Later on, Mercury found out Venus helped Theia and Proto collide, meaning Venus lost his friend.
Some time later, Mercury saw how Venus actually tried to get life. He made his and Theia's dream real. He stayed in orbit, got water after the Late Heavy Bombardment, had a good atmosphere... Venus was on the right path. But then... Things happened. Venus never explained it, but Mercury thought something to do with volcanism made his surface change. Or an asteroid, or maybe both... Regardless, all the water and all the possible life were... Gone. Wiped out.
Venus had lost everything he held dear to him. Theia, water, any chance of having life... Maybe this was it. Maybe this was when the bullying started. Mercury was now the "pipsqueak", Venus always had an unbothered look, his aggressiveness was much more noticeable. Mercury came to the conclusion that Venus was just done with everyone and everything. Then, another thought, an even clearer one, crossed his core.
"Venus, you... You hated yourself, didn't you?"
Venus was not there to hear it, but Mercury knew it... If he was there, the bigger planet would have shouted at him right now.
"You... You lost someone dear to you, you lost your life conditions... You became bitter after everything, and maybe even more after Earth... Well, after Earth developed intelligent life."
Another pause, Mercury looked down.
"I'm sorry you never got some answers you wanted. I'm sorry things were so difficult for you. I saw you tried, but some things wouldn't work the way you wanted. I... I just hope you can rest now."
Mercury looked up.
"I'll make sure you and the Sun are honored by the others around here."
After a long exhale, more tears started building. It was frustrating to stand between two celestial bodies that talked so much, but were fully quiet after all of this.
Mercury would surely need to get used to that.
Earth had been through a lot. A hell lot. All the planets knew that.
Late Heavy Bombardment. Cooling. Tectonic activity. Volcanism. Water. Lands. Life.
Mutations. Evolution. Complex life. Extinctions. Mass Extinctions. Intelligent life. Humans.
Supernatural life. Interstellar life.
He had been through a lot. He knew that despite the balance the Solar System had, there was a bit of disorder. But out of everything he experienced, this was the worst one, for a few reasons.
The snap caught everyone off guard. Sure, Earth was following up with the battle by the end, but despite hardships, the Avengers almost never failed. They'd make things work eventually, but the enemy was much stronger this time.
The snap happened in a split second. Earth's previous mass extinctions took years, sometimes millennia, to happen, and they lasted long amounts of time. This one was instant: half of his life... Gone. And it's not just human life. If it was ONLY human life, it'd suck, for sure, but it was half of ALL life.
Plantae. Fungi. Protista. Animalia. Bacteria. Archaea.
Half of them... All gone. How were the ones left going to find a balance? How would ecosystems sustain themselves? Would the food chain change completely? Were some species doomed to full extinction after this?
Okay, calm down, calm down...
Earth had a few priorities to make sure things stayed balanced around him. For himself and his life.
First, orbit. He needed to make sure he maintained his current distance from the Sun, which was one astronomical unit. Very simple, he could do that. Sure, sometimes he would drift away a little bit, but overall not a hard task. He needed to keep himself steady because Mars and Venus, his neighbors, weren't... There. Anymore. They wouldn't drift away.
Second, his stabilization. Luna was there, thankfully. He wouldn't ever forgive himself if he lost his moon. He heard Luna say he felt... Empty? That was the word he used. Earth didn't really understand what Luna meant, since Luna, in surface terms, didn't have life. He'd need to ask that to him soon.
Third, his magnetosphere. His geology, literally speaking, didn't change. Not his core, mantle, crust, compositions... Nothing. All the same. His magnetic field was safe.
Fourth, his atmosphere. This was where things were going to get complicated.
A great part of his atmosphere and its composition were regulated by his surface life. With half of his oxygen-producing phytoplankton gone, his forests cut in half, some gas-producing species vanished... Things were going to change. Not fast, but over the next centuries for sure. The surviving life would need to adapt itself to an atmosphere with probably less oxygen, unless, somehow, the lost producers are replaced. Earth would need help of his Earthlings to make this happen.
Fifth, his surface. A LOT of things were going to change here.
Some of his ecosystems would adapt themselves to survive with less... Right? For animals, plants and fungi, the strongest and most resilient would be fine. The first few moments would be a shock, but life moved on, so they surely would be okay. Hopefully. As for humans, though... Humans (as well as some animals) have bonds with each other. Humans are born together, they grow up together, surrounded by many others. So when someone passed away, it was... Difficult, to say the least.
Earth liked watching over his Earthlings, so he paid attention to some of this stuff. He liked how humans researched a lot and even came up with solutions to ease pains, be them physical or psychological. He learned a bit about grief, not only from personal experience, but from these studies. How grief has a few phases which needed to be overcome so things could be better. Earth felt like he skipped a step for this case. Or, well... It happened so fast, he just kind of disregarded the anger. There was no "undoing" the snap and he knew that. Then it came some analysis, some thinking, some... Some silence, some more thinking---
"Earth?"
Earth had been thinking about everything while staring at the constellation of Capricorn. As he heard Luna's calling, he turned around.
"Hey Luna...," he said, his voice low.
"Everything okay? You zoned out completely...," his moon asked.
"Just... Thinking of what's going to happen next."
"Yeah... L- Listen, are you sure you want to just... Keep thinking of what's going to happen?"
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe we should focus on other things, Earth. Like... Us. All of us."
Earth sighed. Luna had a point, but Earth couldn't stop thinking about his life.
"Maybe... I...," Earth said, confused and almost crying. "I need a moment, Luna-"
Earth turned around. Luna tried to reach out to him, but he knew his planet wouldn't respond like that. Earth was going through it again. Both of them were now turned away from one another, thinking by themselves.
Luna couldn't help but worry about Earth. He knew Earth would be the one to suffer the most from this type of event, since he was a planet with life. In a sense, Earth was a planet who was "alive" as well. Not because of sentiency, but because of geology. His surface was changing constantly, his atmosphere was always with activity. Luna, at some point, even heard of how Earth has a heartbeat — one not even Earthlings can explain. Earth said it's thanks to core activity, but Luna was sure it had a deeper meaning, one maybe not even Earth himself would understand. Luna was sure his planet would need him to stay close, so he would do that for now.
Then, Luna remembered how, just now, he had a glimpse of more moons of the Solar System. Truth be told, he really wanted to get to know other moons, so maybe, after this initial chaos settled down and after him and Earth agreed on this timed leave, he could visit the gas giants.
But... He shook his head. None of this made sense right now.
Luna was feeling different. Empty was the right word — there was no other way to describe it. As if part of him had died along with the snap. So he thought about it. He remembered he had his dark side, who was now gone. Not a personality dark side kind of thing, but an actual sentient self. Someone who shared a body with him.
Luna remembered a few instances in which Dark talked with him. One of them was during the Chicxulub incident, when Dark mocked the dinosaurs and wished they would vanish. He despised reptiles. Another one was when the astronauts landed on the moon. Of course the spotlight had to go to Luna. Why wouldn't anyone attempt to land on Dark's surface? And the most recent one was when that Pink Floyd album was released. Dark really appreciated culture — it was one of the reasons why Luna really liked music.
Dark didn't appear much, but he made himself present. And now, he was just... Gone. Luna's emptiness turned into melancholy. He never thought he could lose part of himself like that. At least, he considered Dark to be part of him, even if he never gave Dark "full control" of the body. He felt bad he didn't really have... Productive conversations with Dark. Never really asked him if he had a name. Never asked how he could sleep for so long and just come back randomly. Luna never asked how he was doing, for stars' sake.
Luna was decided he was going to change this.
During a majority of the time, Luna had stayed quiet, since Earth was the one talking to the planets. He didn't really interact much with anybody else besides them. Sure, he knew Mars had two little moons, but he can't recall if they were all ever presented to him.
If the snap took half of each, as it was said to be... One of the moons of Mars was still there, even if the planet was not anymore. Right now, Luna was decided he was going to do his best to make this work, at least. With whichever of the two was left, as well as with the other moons of the giants. Dark was no longer a company option when the Earth talks with the others, so Luna wanted to make things right. For himself, as well as Dark.
But first... He needed to sort things out with his planet. He needed to talk to Earth.
"Eart-"
"-una-"
Both turned around and spoke at the exact same time.
"Y- You go first." Luna said.
"No." Earth said as he shook his head. "I... I already talk for the both of us... I want to hear you."
Luna didn't know how to react at first, but he felt warm with his planet's words.
"Okay." Luna said with a shy smile. He paused, then switched to a neutral face. "Earth, I know you have a lot to think about regarding your surface and everything around your life, but... I... I just lost someone as well."
"Wait, what?" Earth questioned, he was startled. "What happened? Who did you lose?"
Luna felt sad about the whole situation. Earth had no idea Dark even existed.
"You see... A long time ago, I found out I wasn't exactly 'alone' here. I had a... Uhh... Another company with me."
Earth was confused.
"Are you talking about my quasimoons? I never saw them-"
"No, no, Earth, it's not that. It's...," Luna was choosing his next words carefully — it was a complex situation. "I had...," Another pause. "There was another celestial here with me."
"I... I don't get it...," Earth said, he was upset now.
"Behind me, on my far side, there was another celestial being here. With an independent voice and mind. He... He never told me his name."
Earth was quiet, but slowly realizing what Luna was saying.
"Huh... But why-"
"I- I never presented him to you, since I'm tidally locked to you, and he was sleeping most of the time." Luna continued, but he looked down now. He was upset.
"I... I had no idea, Luna...," Earth said, reaching out to his moon. "I'm so sorry for your loss."
There was a brief moment of silence. Both of them looked down and closed their eyes.
"Dark." Luna murmured. "I started calling him Dark just now. He... He appeared a few times, during some chaos, and... He really liked Pink Floyd." There was a small smile now. Luna felt like he was at least honoring Dark.
"Pink Floyd? Interesting... Yeah, Pink Floyd is not bad." Earth said, a small smile briefly appeared.
"Earth, I... I'm so sorry I never introduced you two. Dark appeared at random times and... And most of them chaotic for you." Luna said.
Earth thought for a moment, reached out to his moon and gave a gentle smile.
"I'm glad you told me." He paused, with a neutral expression now. "And... I agree with you." Luna was confused. "We should focus on ourselves from now on. We... We are still here, aren't we?"
Luna saw how Earth recognized his suggestion and felt happy to have helped. He smiled.
"Yes." Luna said. Earth smiled back to his moon.
"So... How... How do we start this?" Earth asked.
"We start...," Luna said and paused. "... by getting to know each other, for real."
"For real..." Earth murmured. He looked away briefly then turned back to Luna. "Do you want to go first?"
"S- Sure!" Luna said.
"How about we mention one of our strengths and one of our weaknesses?" Earth questioned. "It's a... It's one way to get to know each other better, r- right?"
"It is... Okay, let's do this then." Luna started. "I'm Luna, your moon, my radius is 1,737 kilometers. My strength? I'd say I'm pretty resourceful when needed... I mean, with stabilizing your axis, offering help... I think that's a good thing!"
"It definitely is." Earth said, reassuring. Luna exhaled in relief.
"And my weakness... I guess... I guess I lack empathy sometimes. I- I just... Ugh, I don't know. I'm just a moon, I don't know what it's like to be a planet and I don't have life on my surface, so whenever you or any of the other rockies complained about your problems, or just asked for help, I... I can help the way I can, but I probably will never be able to understand from your perspective. And this bothers me."
There was a pause. That was a bit for Earth to digest.
"That... That was not what I was expecting...," the blue planet said. "But I can see where it comes from."
"I... I know I sound cold sometimes, Earth, and... Maybe this is why." Luna said.
"Then... Let's change that." Earth said.
Luna nodded. It was a huge relief for him to confess this feeling to Earth.
"That was it from me, Earth. And... What about you?"
"Right... I'm the Earth, third planet from the Sun, I have a 6,378 kilometers radius." Earth started as he smiled. "My strength is that I have life, intelligent life, and I'm proud of them! Despite all the... All the chaos around us, I'm happy to be the home planet of so many beautiful beings and landscapes."
Luna gave a smile to Earth. He knew how much his planet loved his life, despite not being unique in the universe — and knowing that. Earth switched from a smile to an upset look.
"And my weakness is that, sometimes, I think too much of them and too little of what's... Here. Out here. Us. The Solar System. I also sometimes disregard others because of my life, and I know I shouldn't...," Earth continued and sighed. He lowered his body. "Not to mention... We have been here for billions of years, and yet... I... I barely know anyone beyond the Asteroid Belt."
"I... I feel the exact same as you, Earth." Luna said.
"Luna...," Earth said as he turned to his moon. "We should get to know everyone in here. Not just... Say names and radius. I... I really want to know more."
Luna gave Earth a strong nod. Both agreed on it: they should get to know the Solar System better. If anything, what was left of it.
"Earth...," Luna started. "What about your life now?"
Earth knew this was a delicate, but necessary question. He already had given it some thought, he just needed to fully accept what was going to happen next. Maybe, like this, if he told his moon, then Luna could understand him better, so he answered.
"Mass extinction." Earth said. Luna's eyes widened. Earth shook his head as he continued. "The food chains around my ecosystems will very soon collapse, the oxygen-producing phytoplankton are half gone, among many other factors...," he faced Luna. "It will happen, again... Eventually."
Luna didn't know exactly what to say at first. Earth was just... Accepting a mass extinction event, just like that? Luna knew Earth did not like talking about his previous, but he seemed very okay with this one. He assumed it was because Earth was aware, and at least... This was not his own fault.
"I... I will be with you all the time, as always." Luna said. Earth smiled to him. They fell silent for a moment, enjoying each other's company.
After reflecting for a little while, Luna remembered something.
"Earth...," he started. "We need to... We need to talk to the moon of Mars who is still there..."
Earth had completely forgotten about Deimos. Mars and his other moon were both dead, but Deimos was still probably orbiting around Mars. He would need to choose his wording very carefully... Mars had mentioned his two moons had a young mentality.
"We... We need to go to Mars. Come o-"
"No no señor!" Luna exclaimed. "You need to stay in orbit like Jupiter asked. I will go pick the moon up and bring him here."
"Eeee... You got a point. Okay. His name is Deimos, and he's pretty small. Be careful...," Earth said, worried. Luna nodded to his planet and left his orbit to go to Mars, who was positioned a bit ahead.
After some time had passed, Luna saw Mars from a distance. As he approached, he attempted to focus his gravity to locate the small moon of the red planet. He looked for a few minutes, then saw him. Deimos was with his expression low, apparently confused. The little moon turned to Luna after feeling his massive gravity.
"Wh- Who are you?! An invader?!" he squeaked. Luna froze in place.
"Wh- What? No- I'm Luna, Earth's moon. We have met before, but we never... Talked." Luna said.
"Oh... Okay." Deimos said.
"Are you okay, Deimos?"
"I... Mars and Phobos just fell asleep and haven't moved..."
"I... I see... Uhm, why don't you come with me for a bit?"
"But Mars said I shouldn't leave with strangers... Even if they offered me space candy."
"Huh... I mean, Earth and Mars are best friends, aren't they? So we aren't strangers. You can trust me."
Deimos felt slightly conflicted, but went ahead and followed Luna, who started to float back to Earth.
"Do you know what's going on?" Deimos asked.
"I do, but... I think Earth will be better at explaining it than me." Luna said.
"Okay...," Deimos said, upset.
For some reason, Luna could feel Deimos had some awareness of his surroundings. He was yet to find out how Deimos would deal with this situation, since he had no idea if the little moon knew what happened after the snap.
Both moons were approaching the Earth. The planet noticed them and focused.
"Hey... Uhh, Deimos, right?" he asked.
"Y- Yeah...," Deimos replied.
"Welcome to my orbit. I... I hope you are comfortable with us here." Earth said, caring.
"I don't get it... Phobos and I always sleep together, but now...," Deimos said.
"Deimos, they are not really sleeping...," Luna said. "Mars and Phobos, they are... Gone."
There was silence. Earth glances at Luna with approval, then back to Deimos, whose mouth was wide open.
"What? No... No, they-"
"Deimos, I...," Earth said. "We- We really wish it wasn't true, but... There is nothing we can d-"
"No!!! I- I can wake them up, I just need to shake Phobos a bit and-"
Deimos was beginning to leave, but Luna's gravity held him back.
"Deimos, y- you can't...," Luna said, as his gravity offered comfort.
"We're sorry, little one...," Earth said as he lowered his body.
Deimos was crying now. He was gently pulled closer to Luna.
"We... We will take care of you, okay?" the bigger moon said.
"B- But... How did this happen?" Deimos asked, sobbing, as he turned to Earth.
"Th- There was a very, uh... A very evil creature from outside the Solar System came here, got a very strong weapon and... And used it, and now, we lost... Half of all life." Earth explained. "Even my own surface life."
The little moon of Mars was too young to understand about life and all of that. He knew Mars had water at some point, but that was about it. Deimos had more knowledge about the Solar System itself, but not life.
"You can stay with us for now if you want, Deimos." Luna said.
"But Mars and Phobos, they... They are still there... They are still THERE!!!" Deimos shouted. "I- I need to go back to them-"
"But wai-"
"Luna...," Earth interrupted. He shook his head, then looked at Deimos. "You can go back to say goodbye, but-"
"NO! I will stay!!!" Deimos said, a bit of anger in his tone. "I- I won't leave their side!!!"
Deimos floated away from Luna, who attempted to reach out for him, but it was unsuccessful.
"Why...," he murmured.
"It's... It's more difficult for him, Luna." Earth said as he approached his moon. "We knew about this risk, we... We already had an idea, but him... He was caught off guard. He needs some time."
"But he... He can't stay around Mars, right?"
"No... It wouldn't be ideal. But... Let's not think about that right now. Once Mars and I are in conjunction, we will talk with him again."
Luna looked upset at Earth, but he realized it: the little moons of all planets would need to hear what had actually happened. It was going to be tough.
"Okay...," Luna said.
Earth and Luna gave the whole situation some much needed time. The blue planet has been slightly unstable as a great part of his ecosystems were already collapsing, given three months have passed since the snap. Earth was also feeling how his Earthlings were handling the situation, given many humans lost their families and friends. He surely learned a lot, but regardless... You don't learn grief through observation — it's a skin in the game thing.
Luna played the supporter role in this mean time. Both of them would chat a lot to make things less awkward or uncomfortable. They learned to actively tell one another when they were feeling low or just needed a good ear to hear them out.
Right now, both of them were in a conjunction with Mars. Earth and Luna had the mission to check on Deimos, to see how the little moon was handling the loss of his companion moon, as well as planet. Luna approached Mars first.
"Deimos? Are you here?" Luna said as he looked around for the little moon.
Deimos was upset, but he wasn't crying. He looked at Mars as Luna approached him.
"He...," Deimos murmured. Luna stopped behind him. "They... They aren't coming back, are they?" the little moon asked.
"No...," Luna said, as Earth approached him from behind. Both of them with sympathetic expressions. "I'm afraid not, Deimos."
Deimos turned to face Earth and Luna. He was clearly frustrated, but he seemed be handling it better than before.
"What...," he started. "What am I supposed to do now?"
Earth moved closer to Deimos, next to Luna.
"You should come with us, Deimos." Earth said, firm.
"Yeah... Staying here won't be good for you." Luna completed.
Deimos stopped to think for a moment. He glances at Mars and Phobos, the other little moon close to the group. Mars was a really good planet for both moons, he was present and always made sure Phobos and Deimos were having fun around him. Deimos also saw how he was a good friend to all the other planets. Not only that, but Mars was very resilient during some phases, especially when he lost his water. He kept his core high and rarely showed weakness. Deimos felt happy he orbited around such an amazing planet, but felt sorrow since he would never be able to speak to Mars again. He also thought of Phobos and all the fun they had together. Despite shouting at each other, they liked each other's company very much. With no hard feelings despite all the chaotic moments, the little moon of Mars let go of his bad thoughts. He felt a short wave of peace.
At that moment, Deimos was still unsure of how things were going to be from now on. He didn't feel fully happy with leaving Mars' orbit just because his planet was no longer there, but he understood this was something much bigger than him. Sticking there would not be good for Deimos... And he was sure Mars would agree with that.
"Okay." Deimos said as he turned to Earth, kind of defeated, but with a bit of hope. Luna and Earth exchanged looks with smiles.
"Okay then, welcome to my orbit, Deimos." Earth said, soft. Deimos gave the blue planet a small smile. He quickly turned to Mars one last time and glanced at his planet, as well as Phobos.
"I... I'll come visit, Mars! I promise!" Deimos said. He took a deep breath and moved closer to Luna.
The group slowly left and made it back to Earth's orbit. All was settled and in place for them.
"So... We are gonna have to find a place for you around my orbit, little one." Earth said.
"Yeah... In a way that we all stay balanced." Luna said.
"We might not be able to, though...," Deimos said. Luna and Earth felt confused.
"What do you mean?" Earth questioned.
"Have you not heard of the three-body problem?" Deimos asked.
"The what now?" Luna asked.
"It's what happens when three bodies try to stay stable orbiting around each other, blah blah blah, but it doesn't work out well in the end!" Deimos explained. Luna and Earth were shocked with the little moon's knowledge and explanation of a complex concept.
"How... How do you even know that, Deimos?" Luna questioned.
"I heard Jupiter explaining it one time!" Deimos said.
"Hmm... Hey, maybe if my orbit doesn't work out, you could go to Jupiter's orbit eventually... What do you think?" Earth said.
"If you are okay with it, of course." Luna said.
Deimos didn't know much about Jupiter's orbit or moons, but he had good memories of listening to Jupiter's stories and explanations. The little moon had learned a lot from the gas giant, even though they never properly had a conversation before.
"I absolutely am!" Deimos said, more energetic. Luna and Earth smiled and nodded.
"Seems like we found the solution, then." Earth said.
"Guys?" a voice said, coming from the direction of the Sun. Earth, Luna and Deimos turned and saw Mercury approaching the group. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, hi Mercury! We just picked up Deimos, from Mars' orbit. He is with us temporarily." Earth explained.
"You are so small for a planet!" Deimos teased.
"Oh- I- Uh- Heh, not that small though...," Mercury said with an awkward smile. "Anyways... Earth, I just came to say I completed another full orbit and things seem pretty normal over there."
"That's good, Mercury. Seems like... The inner solar system is now stable." Earth said.
"Yeah... I thought of giving the Asteroid Belt a small check, just in case it started to go rogue or something... Wanna join me?" Mercury asked.
"I... I'd rather stay in my orbit." Earth said. "Maybe Luna wants to join you?"
"What do you say, Luna?" Mercury asked as he turned to Luna.
"Y- Yeah, sure, we can do that. Will you be okay, Earth?" Luna asked, worried.
"Yeah. As long as you don't take too long." Earth said, reassuring.
"We won't. Let's go, Mercury." Luna said.
Both celestials started to move towards the Asteroid Belt, while Earth stayed with Deimos. On their way there, they started talking.
"You think the Earth has been okay after the snap? I mean, you know...," Mercury said, doubtful.
"His surface, right?" Luna asked, and Mercury nodded. "He's been handling it better than his previous. He's, well... He's going to face a mass extinction again, soon enough."
"Oh. I... I see." Mercury said, upset.
"But we promised to look for each other from now on. It's something we should have started doing much earlier. But... Yeah." Luna said lowering his body.
"We'll make things right from now on, Luna. Between all of us." Mercury said, firm. Luna glanced at him and nodded.
Both of them arrived in the Asteroid Belt and had a good look around. Mercury went ahead.
"Seems like things are steady here." He said.
"Yeah. I believe we can go back now-"
HEHEHEHEH---
Mercury and Luna get scared and come closer to each other as they hear a maniacal laugh.
"WH- WHAT WAS THAT?" Mercury asked, scared.
"I- I DON'T KNOW!" Luna yelled.
From behind some clumped asteroids, a round and dark celestial object appeared in front of them. He had a creepy smile on.
"Wait... Are you..."
"Eeeennnn... Troooooo... Pyyyyyyy... Everywhereeeeeee...," he said.
"You must be Ceres... Right? I- I'm L-"
"ENTROPY IS EVERYWHERE! HAHAHHAHAAH!" Ceres yelled.
"Luna, I- I think we should-"
"One moment, Mercury." Luna said. He slowly approached Ceres. "Ceres... Do you want to come with me?"
"Come... Come to... Chaos... Chaos!"
"No- I mean, come to Earth's orbit with me."
"Luna... What are you doing? He has been in the Asteroid Belt all this time, he couldn't-"
"I just...," Luna said as he turned to Mercury. "Why should we leave him here? It's... It's about time we united the whole Solar System, don't you think?"
Mercury could understand what Luna was trying to do, but it was difficult, since Ceres, technically speaking, has been alone for billions of years.
"HEHEHEHAHAHAA!"
"Just stop for a moment, Ceres! I- Ugh. I don't understand...," Luna said as he turned back to Ceres. "I mean... This is no place for a planet to live in. Dwarf planet, planet, moon... Nobody... Should." His tone was melancholic.
Ceres looked at Luna for a moment. His words resonated in his core. Ceres got a flashback of his past, one with a female planet repeating the same words. "This is no place for a planet to live in." Back to present, Ceres realized something... It felt like the celestial in front of him was her. That female planet. Ceres' grin disappeared.
"O... Orbit...," he murmured. Luna heard him.
"See? Come on, Ceres, let's get you out of here for a moment." Luna said. He turned around and started to leave, Mercury following him. Ceres stayed still for a moment, but decided to follow Luna as well.
Back in Earth's orbit, the blue planet was having a small conversation with Deimos.
"So you've heard some of Jupiter's stories from far away?" Earth asked.
"Yep! There was one about one of Saturn's moons having some weird lakes!" Deimos said, enthusiastic.
"L- Lakes?" Earth questioned, his tone worried.
"Yeah! Some lakes of methane! Or so...," Deimos said.
"Huh, weird...," Earth said.
From a distance, Mercury and Luna appeared in Earth's field of vision.
"Oh- Hey! Welcome back! Is everything okay in the belt?" he asked.
"Yeah- Seems like it's steady." Mercury said.
"That's good! We were-"
Earth noticed the celestial coming behind Luna and got curious.
"Who's that, Luna?" he asked.
"Oh- This is Ceres, the dwarf planet who lives in the Asteroid Belt."
"C- Ceres? Wow!" Earth said, surprised.
Mercury moved near Deimos, who was by Earth's right side, while Luna floated by Earth's left side and turned back to the dwarf planet. Ceres approached the duo and squinted. He stared at the planet and moon duo for a few seconds before he saw a flashback. His point of view showing two planets he met once a long time ago. Instead of a blue and life planet, he saw a dark gray volcanic world, who had the same face as Earth. Instead of a moon, he saw the same female planet from before, looking brownish with double lashes on her eyes. Both of them were smiling to the dwarf planet, who was now upset.
"Uhh... Everything okay, Ceres?" Earth asked. Ceres' vision of the two old planets disappeared.
"D- D- Disorder...," Ceres said. Earth and Luna exchanged looks.
"Yes, uh... There is a bit of disorder happening right now." Earth said, slightly confused.
"But we can get through it together, r- right?" Luna said, reassuring.
Ceres was feeling confused. He understood the chaos reigning in the Solar System was in an extraordinary amount at that moment, but he did not know why. Ceres knew about interstellar life and a bit of their shenanigans, as they fed his thoughts of entropy and chaos. However, he knew nothing about the specifics. Ceres also felt overwhelmed in a way, since this was his first time seeing Earth and Luna up close. He witnessed the old collision, but never saw the result up until much later. He was upset the two other planets were no longer around, but the new celestials felt... Comforting. As if Ceres was meeting old friends. They had good energies on them. Ceres felt peace in his core, like he had not felt in a long time, and decided to stay for a little bit with the others.
"Y- Yes." he said, with a neutral expression, as he stood still. Earth and Luna both smiled to him.
"Alright then!" Earth said. "So... How about we all get to know each other a little bit more?"
"Sounds good to me." Mercury said.
"But I already know who you are!" Deimos said.
"We mean... Really get to know each other. With more detail" Luna said.
"I can start this now." Earth said, with a small smile. "I'm the Earth, I have a radius of 6,378 kilometers. I'm also the third planet from the Sun. I really like my surface life, despite all the chaos...,"
"Heheheheh...," Ceres laughed.
"It's- It's part of it, heheh...," Earth said as he giggled awkwardly. "And, well... I've really been wanting to talk more with everyone else, so I hope... I hope we can do that more often from now on."
Mercury smiled at him, while Deimos kept a neutral look. Ceres had a grin, but slowly calmed himself down.
"I'm Luna, I have a 1,737 kilometers radius, I orbit around the Earth and help him with... Pretty much everything, right Earth?" Luna said, teasing.
"Right, heheh... Uhm- Sorry about that." Earth said.
"Don't worry about it." Luna said, caring. "Anyways, I hope to talk more with everyone. Earth talks for the both of us, but I hope to interact more with all the others now too."
Deimos looked at Luna and smiled.
"I- I'll go next. I'm Mercury, my radius is 2,439 kilometers and I'm the first planet from the Sun. I... I'm the closest in average to every other planet, but...," Mercury paused and looked down. "I- I almost never had these long conversations with others because of the Sun and Venus, constantly keeping me away, for any reason... Well, not that it matters anymore." He shook his head. "I also hope we can chat more from now on." He smiled.
"MEEEEE! I'm next! I'm Deimos, one of the moons of Mars, the best planet! I have a radius of around 6.2 kilometers! I-" Deimos paused for a moment. "I don't know what I want, but I'm happy to TALK! YEAAAH!" His voice was very energetic. The planets and Luna smiled at him. Then, they turned to Ceres.
"It's only you left now." Luna said.
"I- C- Ceres. Kilometers- 4... 7... 3...," Ceres said, with a bit of difficulty. "Find... Find others... Me." He murmured.
"Find others?" Mercury asked.
"I think he means find others like him...? There are more dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt... Maybe that's one place to look for." Luna said.
"Yeah. I'm sure you can find others like you there, Ceres. Not all around here is pointless, or... Not made for you." Earth said.
Ceres had a quick flashback of the old dark gray planet repeating something similar. "Everything is pointless?" The flashback disappeared from his sight.
"Not... Everything...," Ceres murmured.
He quickly remembered the old double planet he had seen a few times near the Asteroid Belt, billions of years ago. Maybe he could meet up with them again. Ceres managed a very shy smile. The others noticed it and recognized it, giving the dwarf planet a nod.
"I can already sense some good changes coming, Earth." Mercury said as he turned to the blue planet.
"Yeah... Things will change around here." Earth said, smiling.
"For sure!" Luna said, enthusiastic.
"FOR SURE!" Deimos shouted.
As the scene zoomed out from the Inner Solar System group, hope was reestablished around the remaining celestials. Despite all the chaos, there was a spark of hope — and that was all that was needed.