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𖤓— ♃『1/8』 The Post Office At The End of the World
𖤓—♃ 『12,884 words』

He awakens from the first wave of his slumber due to the sound of screaming, as his eyes, bleary and heavy, open to a hostile, orange sky. There is a faint instinct, at the back of his mind where he should be alarmed by this sudden change in surroundings. Even the sounds were not the same as he had been accustomed to; the howling of Saturn's winds, the loathsome chattering of Hades and his favorite Giant, and the derogatory chuckles of the innovator as the pair watch them with envy and spite, even the chatter of moons that he doesn’t remember having were absent in his ears, were not heard, as if they never existed.He tries to get up. He fails, falling to the ground once more.Everything feels wrong— from his surroundings, the sky so orange and pink and so much light, even when his vision is blurry and muddled. He is uncertain if he belongs in this chaotic, disorderly environment, for he has just been created, a mere fledgling of what he is now, a shadow long dead and yet still eternally living within the version of him that is supposed to exist, and yet such form is null and void. He barely has any memories from what has transpired prior to this strange, sickly, uncomfortable feeling currently happening inside of him.He feels everything— the pain, the uncertainty, the way his palms touch the ground with the thin strips of… he is not sure what color this anomalous creation is, and the way it tickles his… why does his body feel so… overwhelming? It was not the simple existence of the form he was provided, the form that he had been given when he was created, crafted by his star, to be present in his eternal life, no. it was as if this crafted body was fighting against his will to become omnipotent and unharmed, even when his eyes are still cloudy and hazy. His vision swims amongst the hues of orange and browns, but he knows something is wrong.Something is wrong, but he could not will himself to get up. Why would he need to get up? What must he do? Why is his body protesting greatly to his wants and needs? Why does it feel so painful, like the pricks of needles, like the heat of his star, burning fast, burning bright across his surface, painting him with burns and flares?It was such an agonizing, terrible feeling— he feels like he has melded with his insides, fusing with him, with the organs he knows are not there, but he could not help but feel these organs coming together. He feels something beat inside him, which was peculiar; a core does not beat, but it thrums with energy and the elements and substances that makes it up, that keeps his soul, or his sentience, in check and conscious for as long as he needs. He feels like his face is being ripped apart before being molded into a different form, a different being entirely.He grits his teeth— which was also strange. It was like an instinct, that when he feels like he is burned in the inside, the beating in his body going fast, faster like some form of cacophonous melody, he needs to reimburse such pain. He needs to prevent the pain from spreading, before ultimately failing the test and falling foolishly. He finds himself at odds with the way he is currently moving— sluggish, unused, uncertain, unsure. He wonders what is happening to him, why he is currently feeling the way he is, when he looks up at the sky (sky? There is no sky. There is not supposed to be a sky.) once more, visiting the heavens (where did he get that word?) wondering if it could provide him with some form of enlightenment.Through the haze, the thick obscurity which continues to prevent him from seeing what he is supposed to see, is still the auburn, orange and blazing sky. He is not sure why, but he feels like this environment is wrong for him, and not in a multitude of ways. The bemusing and unfiltered color of whatever is below him continue to prick his skin, however, he does not feel like moving. In fact, he cannot move his limbs at all.This form is supposed to be limitless— filled with boundless energy only a Giant, a Gas Giant crafted by the grandiose fingers of Sol, Lord of Light. It is not supposed to feel so… useless. (Like he already is.)He lurches at the thought. He narrows his eyes, although that does not help his terrible vision at all. In fact, it does him worse, only being able to see what is in front of him, but never perceiving it. Why would he muse such a thought? He was created for a purpose only his great star will disclose. He must not fail his star, even when his eyes have already failed him.He tries to get up again.He stumbles, and he lets out an undignified shriek as he falls back down.This is strange.For the first century or so of his existence, he has never felt the gravity around him wish to bring him down, to rid him of the balance he has made sure he has when traversing the solar system, always guided by the pinpricks of light that follows his every movement, watching him and stopping him if he ever gets too far from the light.He does not know what he is, now that he is realizing it.Everything feels wrong— his surroundings were not empty, they were filled with substances and objects that were foreign to him, he knows they are foreign to him, for he spends so many years alone and only with Sol there to guide him. There is a strange thrumming entering his ears, as if he is currently being bombarded with the sounds of everything, when there had been nothing but the flitting void of space, only to be interrupted by the soft sounds of his storms, or his voice, or perhaps even Sol’s own as he goes off creating other planets for his company.Then of course, there was the screaming.The screaming was loud— as loud as these cacophonous honking filling his ears. He clutches his head, and feels his hands— his hands that were supposed to be filled with storms, swirling around him like a spiral, yet there is nothing there.Just a fallacy of smoothness, with some bumps or blisters.Where did he get those words?It was like they were created alongside him, forming words that had never been uttered before, in a language he is sure is foreign and confusing to him, however, he knows the meaning behind those words and how to use them in one context or another.He opens his mouth to speak the language that has been ingrained into him since the beginning of the solar system.He lets out a couple of sounds that were incomprehensible, guttural, and undignifyingly feral. He shuts his mouth as quickly as possible when he realizes he cannot get a word out.His language— oh stars why can he not speak his language? He knows the words, he knows what to say, but his mouth is not cooperating with him, just like his entire body, thrumming with strangeness, peculiarity, unfamiliarity. His mouth feels so foreign and unfamiliar, filled with things he believes he has not had before— the wetness of his mouth, how warm it feels even when his surface is supposed to be cold and unforgiving, and the languid tongue lapping at the roofs of his mouth in order to articulate his words.He cannot speak his language.What happened to him?The… thing beating inside of him beats faster, and it was just as disturbing as the screams and the sirens he hears, alongside whatever is veering off the roads before him.He looks up at the sky; its hue was still orange and brown, the clouds — how did he know they were clouds? — overhead moving at an abnormally brisk pace.He smells… something. He is not sure what to call it. It smells like— burning. How could he smell something burning? Are the new entities Sol was making collapsing and being pushed into his gravity?But this smell it… pervades all his senses. He feels so overwhelmed, as if he is being restrained, constricted into a coiling beast.Giants were not made to be contained, after all.But this body… it feels like a prison. He cannot do anything here. While his abilities are not blooming yet, he has always felt immensely powerful in his own right, despite Sol telling him that he failed to become a star, and he tries not to feel hurt by how callous those words were spoken to him.(After all, who would believe a defect Giant like him would become a star?)Either he’d been smelling this acrid, awful scent of burning for so long, or something else, because his chest constricts, and he is off choking again. He could feel his body demand for something, anything to be entered, but he does not know what it is demanding of him.He pants, he shivers, and he crawls, trying to get this body to stop thrashing around, to stop trying to perish under his watch.Then, in some whispers of a god, as if watching over him, he hears one word through this horrific episode.
Breathe.
He doesn’t know what that would do, but… he tries.Gritting the teeth he knows he is not supposed to have, at least not in this form, he breathes through his nose.The beating in his chest quiets, and, suddenly, his chest is no longer constricting.Relieved, he lies on the ground, trembling and exhausted, his eyes looking upwards at the sky he knows should not be there.He breathes some more.He needs to breathe. He doesn’t know why, but he has to. It was like this body will stop functioning when he does not breathe.Why does this body have too much limits?He looks up at the sky once more. There are no stars— even his defect eyes could see that there are no stars, no neighbors, and not even the inky blackness of space winking back at him. The ground is solid, he did not need to float, and his gravity is not very compromising to him any longer.Then, he sees it.Somehow, this… thing has escaped his sights.Yet it was so large— it encompasses the entire sky, the sole reason why the sky was a hue of orange and disturbing browns. Its shadow looms across where he is, and he swears that it was looking at him with a sickening grin on its face.That is when He realizes what this thing staring at him, looming over whatever he had landed upon is.A planet.More than a planet, a Giant— though he’s certain than most things he’s seen since waking up in this strange location that this Giant was smaller than he is.However, this Giant has a strange characteristic; it resembles an eye, and the rings around its main body is wrapping around the main body, as if it was a protective shield, a shell.He cannot help but shiver when he looks at it.He cannot help but feel like it was watching him.The earth — where did that word come from? — trembles, and he realizes where he was.He was inside of a planet.He was not a planet himself— where are his storms, his cosmic intelligence, the language he could no longer utter, the hardness of his form?Why is he here?The planet he was staring at moves— it was laughing, from what he could see.Why was it laughing? Did something funny happen?He hears the screaming grow louder, alongside the ringing he’s been hearing since he opened his eyes to be met with a strange, peculiar land.His eyes grow heavy, and so does his body, as if he was being dragged down by his gravity. He feels like closing his eyes, but what will happen if he does? What will happen when he gives into the tiredness seeping his veins and rendering his body restless?He hears the sounds of heavy boots crunching, and he opens his eyes blearily to glance at whoever is making such raucous noise.He only sees a mere shadow looking over him with a disgruntled but relieved expression in his face before succumbing to the lethargy.***Sol could not begin to describe the emotions he is feeling right now. Anger coils within his newly occupied body, as sensations he thought were merely a distant concept begin to clench around him, keeping him within a steady, tight grip. He never thought that he would feel what it is like to be in a body that is susceptible to heat and hurting when it burns, or the idea of being a solid being entirely. He was a large ball of fire, gas, and helium. He was not meant to have a solid body, and Sol prefers it that way.The sensations he feels as he walks, stumbling as he does so, were not a welcome change, right next to the sudden foreign composition of his body. He could almost feel everything, like a plague and sensation of feelings that he was not familiar with. It bites into him like a dozen snakes, poisoning his very body with the understanding that this was not the body he is used to, because where is the power? Where is the unfathomably glorious prowess that he has since he was willed into existence by a higher being? He was a force to be reckoned with even when he had been a small, confused, and incredibly codependent ball of gas, only listening to either his mother, or to—He wills himself to stop thinking about them. It is a horrible day when he thinks of them and their malignant laughter and terrible smiles.The Sun grunts as he takes another step, holding his bruised arm. That’s another thing, now that he is trapped in a human body; it is very delicate and very vulnerable to forces that were small and easy to avoid at best or just something he could annihilate by burning through the hurdles at worst. Now, however, he is being subjected to an insurmountable amount of pain that, if Earth were here (where the fuck is Earth, anyways? The entire world is ending and that asshole couldn’t be assed to do anything about it), he would tell him to brush it off and say it was merely a scratch.It was a scratch, perhaps, but stars, Sol was never very well-versed with the art of human anatomy and its shitty pain receptors. Celestial beings can feel pain, yes, but only enough to the point that, if they are feeling the worst form of sensation and they cannot take it any longer, their reception to discomfort will numb until it is nothing. But that is not what happens to a human body— he could feel the wound that he is currently holding onto with his hand become wet with… what does Earth call it? Blood?For fuck’s sake, he’s bleeding and he doesn’t know how to stop it.He was not even sure where he’d gotten the injury in the first place— in one moment, he was the true king, the ruler of the solar system, whose fist was as iron as the cores that made up his Gas Giants. The next moment, with his back turned from his solar system as soon as Ganymede and Europa returned with Planet X on tow, their grin menacing and conniving and reeking of Nemesis’s influence than ever before, he felt a sharp, almost painful prick on his back, before collapsing. When he awoke, he was nothing more than a soul trapped inside a body he does not know how to steer its courses.It was a rather rude awakening, of sorts— he felt the unfamiliar pounding in his head, one he will commonly compare to a bombardment of asteroids hurtling his way and him having a difficult time trying to disintegrate them all. When he opens his eyes, he is no longer a celestial being with unfathomable and incomprehensible power. He was just a human being with a terrible sensitivity to light (a horrifying irony, if he sees one) and his body felt like it had been dropped from a ridiculously high-story building, colliding with the asphalt road. And, somewhere along the way, in the midst of him trying to figure out if his abilities survived this poetic sense of Apollo being forced into a mortal body to construct the great gates of Troy, he had wounded himself upon accidentally entangling his arms with a barbed bush, punctuating his skin in the process and drawing blood.He did not want to admit the panic that settles within him when he had seen this adventive, new, crimson liquid pouring from the wound. It hurt like fucking hell, of course, but he did not know how to stop it. He wills himself to stop the pain by snapping his fingers; he then tries to get the blood to stop running down his arm by concentrating, although nothing happens. It is then that a cold dread washes over him, determined to make him feel as he had done when he was created, panicked and horrified.He was human, and he was powerless. He does not control nature; nature controls him. Sol took to breathing like second nature almost immediately, when he realizes that he is trapped in this flesh bag of a body. It was disgusting, it was deplorable, and most of all, it was below him as a god. He was not meant for his mind to be scooped up and forced into something so small and unidentifiable, and fuck, if he wasn’t hurting so damn much, from the wound to the arm, and to the pounding in his head, he might be able to think a way out of this situation fast.However, when he wills his mind to think of possible solutions, there is nothing but a buzzing static. He bites his lip as he tries again, finding any form of memory useful enough for this sort of conflict, only to have nothing in his brain.He can’t remember.Why the fuck can’t he remember the shit he’s done in the past billions of years?A billion years or four isn’t anything to laugh about when one is a star, a celestial being in his own right. Nothing really happens to the solar system, unless you’re Earth.But what if he was a human?All that billions of years worth of memories and knowledge stored within his head, emblazoned and resurfacing when he needs some form of knowledge during a trying time — such as the solar system trials that had occurred some time ago — was nowhere to be found in this tiny, puny and human brain of his. There were some memories surfacing, although they were fuzzy and abstract with no form of recollection or context to the events that had transpired.But he does remember the revelation of Hades’s murder perfectly— somehow, through the mild traveling and forces of a deity deep into the fleshy, delicate, and ultimately useless body of a human, that memory remains crisp and sharp as ever, as if he was forced to reckon with the past and all the mistakes in his solar system.Fucking hell.He didn’t want to remember that— not when he was dying in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, the sky brown like shit, and the humans that had no idea what was happening appropriately screaming. Because, from what he’s seen, that’s all they’re useful for in the first stages of the apocalypse until they get their shit together and start acting like the so-called intelligent beings Earth described them as.Sol doesn’t hate humanity— in fact, he finds them strictly exclusive to deal with when they get to studying him, or, in special cases, the astronauts that have spread across his solar system.But fucking hell were they annoying.He found the dinosaurs a much tolerable species to brag about to the stars during the stellar meetings; they were unordinary, strange, and, better yet, very understanding of the food chain they have locked themselves in actively for millions of years. They do not even speak or articulate their thoughts, driven by the instinctive need to feed themselves or kill one another. They were superbly entertaining.Humans, however, if they weren’t off killing each other with those long-term wars in which they wage on themselves, were not.They barely count as a living being, if Sol thinks about it whilst remembering he’s got a damn wound to try and heal, to no avail, because everyone here is too busy screaming and punching each other to get to the nearest shelter, uncaring if they’re hurting a bunch of people along the way. They’re driven by their need to be selfish, to care only about their needs and drive others into the brink of death to get what they want. They were exclusively a pile of brains and matter and heart stuffed into an armory made of bones and muscle that will break at the slightest force, unlike the awesome power the dinosaurs had.He should’ve punished Jupiter a lot harder for hurling that stupid asteroid into Earth’s surface to wipe out the dinosaurs.They’re stuck with Earth wannabes because of him.They were tolerable when they were coming out of the evolutionary process, kind of confused and detached from their environment, only knowing how to hunt and kill animals and eating them through the bone. The only thing on their minds was fucking and then dying, and it was as straightforward as the day Earth had come forward, telling him of beings that almost resemble their forms. He doesn’t watch them, but he’s heard about their prowess through rumors spreading through the solar system. Then, they learned how to make weapons by carving them from stones and wood, they learned how to paint their hands in the caves, they learned to create fire with friction, then they learned they can domesticate animals.When he discovers that Earth had sped up their intuitive process by gifting them an orchard of apples which tastes like sweet, cumbersome knowledge, he had been livid— but the damage is done, even if he wanted to scorch Earth’s surface until nothing of those apples are left.He remembers how he had told Earth that he should have left them alone, and not to meddle in their gross affairs of hunting then fucking then dying to produce more scions, his star planet just shrugs and says he was proud of them.Was he still proud of them now, when they still exhibit the same instinctive drive to hunt then fuck then die?To think he was in the same body as them makes Sol shiver.The Sun was a star— he was the reason why these humans were all alive, giving them a resource for light and energy, alongside helping them with their day and night cycles alongside offering them the beauty that the sky could offer.(Earth’s Moon never liked him because of the solar eclipses and auroras.)Without his light, they would’ve all gone cold and died.These humans need the sun, the earth, and the moon, for all the wonders of the world, and yet they still traded these wonders for those atrocious metal death traps, shaping the elements lying inside of Earth’s crust into things of innovation, and also, things of hurt.He remembers the making of the hydrogen bomb, and he still could not believe that the power of the human mind had created something so… devastating. The radiance of a thousand suns, they said a long time ago. But that was nowhere near the power of Sol.Humans and their hubris. It sickens him greatly.He grits his teeth as pain continues to flare within his wound, like an inflammation.God, it feels so horrible being as alive as humans— you have to keep this damn body in shape or happy for it to be satisfied. Stars’ main purpose is to orbit around whatever they’re orbiting (Sol was orbiting the center of the galaxy) and give energy to the planets they created, then, once they’re plump and ripe enough for the taking, they slowly grow bigger, turning into a red giant, before consuming the planets they’ve created, and then fuck off and die into obscurity.Sol walks, and every time he moves, he feels like killing himself already. The light was blinding his eyes, despite it being a fiery, angry orange and brown thanks to the Iris.He made a mistake in creating her— he was sure he created her from some remnants of Nemesis. If that was the case, maybe he should’ve disposed of his twin’s leftovers from when he banished them.It’s strange that The Iris managed to travel into the inner solar system without him noticing. Everything seems to be falling apart already, even if Sol had just gotten transported into this body, it would’ve taken Iris a while to get this party of hers started.Unless.Unless his soul had been trapped in a state of idleness for a while before Iris decided to make him experience the fun she was having in first person.How long has he been in slumber?Fuck, his solar system, what the hell’s been happening—!Because he was so distracted thinking of the welfare of his solar system, he trips. He groans, the forces of gravity once again not being cooperative with him. He lands on the asphalt ground, narrowly dodging some asshole almost trampling over him, never looking back.It does not cure the stupid pounding on his head.He looks ahead.There was a young man — was it a young man? — sprawled across the ground, his golden blonde hair splayed out before him. His hands were shaking, and trembling as he struggled to get up before failing.The Sun narrows its eyes at him.Whoever this man is, he’s not… truly a man. Not in a humane sense. He felt… familiar, a string tugging within Sol’s terribly human body.He decides to throw caution to the wind, as he approaches this man with trepidation and suspicion.As he grows nearer, the sense of familiarity accumulates within him— this man is not an ordinary human. He was just like him; trapped within the dreadfulness that is having his soul forced inside a flesh bag, only known for its promiscuity and horrid feelings. Sol has learned to keep his emotions at arms’ length, a mantra he repeats to himself as the years continue egregiously. He bites back the pain to continue his walking to him. His blonde hair reminds him of the colors of his body, golden and bright, too bright to be looked at directly, to be perceived in photos, to be anything else but the mystifying ball of light in the center of the solar system.It was not a terrible fate— he thinks that photos will make him look bad.It never captures his grand beauty; it will never encapsulate how he is the big deal of the solar system, not Earth, not Jupiter, and certainly not the mysterious planet lurking from beyond the Kuiper Belt, who is the main catalyst of whatever is happening in his solar system.He looks over at the man, who is now staring at the sky dejectedly; he must be wondering if this is what his fate shall be now— trapped in a mortal body, prone to the entropy and decay which awaits him in less than a few decades. Another thing about humanity Sol will never understand— their affinity for destruction whilst having so little years within their bodies, before it gives out entirely.Sol looks at him, wondering who is accompanying him in the most humbling, humiliating, and abominable experience of his immortal life. Could it be Earth himself? No, only he knows the intrinsic ability of projecting their consciousness into bodies, and he is never one to share its secrets. Could it be Saturn? If this was him, Sol would have left him to fend against whatever beast lurks in this hostile surface now.He looks over him to see who it is, hoping that there is some familiarity, or a recognizable trait in his face.Sol’s eyes grow wide, as the man breathes in, panting, letting out a warbled whine, as if he could not vocalize what he wishes to enunciate with his mouth.This man has orange eyes— filled with the great, whirling storms and nouveau glory that is Jupiter’s surface.Jupiter. Jove. Zeus.It’s his Celestial Monarch.Then, Jupiter’s eyes draw to a close, his breathing evening out.He is unconscious.Sol sighs. Perhaps he has just processed the fact he has a human body that did not bend to his whims. He must've been willing his thunderbolts to materialize out of thin air, only for it to fall flat upon his face. How strange for him not to know how to navigate a human body, for he has more experience with it when he and Saturn visit it to… enjoy the pleasures of being human. Ugh.A howl hollers from beyond the woods, and Sol perks his head upon instinct, his human body willing him to run to the opposite direction. He hates it; being so damn helpless in this form.Sol points his finger to the darkness of the woods, trying to will some of his powers to existence, and yet, nothing happens.He grits his teeth, swearing as he does so, before looking back at the prone body of Jupiter. He can’t just leave him there to be taken away by the monster lurking in the woods. He is not sure if there is a monster on Earth’s surface that is not just some beast that has yet to be discovered, or if this was an actual monster that he needs to get away from, but he has to rescue Jupiter. He may be of help to Sol, even if he does not want to admit it to his face directly.Taking a deep breath, he kneels and props Jupiter's arms onto his shoulders, before lifting his body onto his back. He stumbles slightly at the sudden weight, his knees buckling before he casts some support onto them. Then, with a stifling huff, he gets to carrying his prodigal planet on his back, away from the creepy woods where howling is the only thing he could hear for miles.He is glad that, for all the bodily autonomy Iris took, she did not touch any of his physical strength. However, carrying someone who seems to be almost the same height and as heavy as he is is, perhaps, rather challenging and detrimental. Every step he takes is like he is walking through heavy lead, breathing heavily, feeling a cloud of emotions begin to blanket his brain. He doesn't even know what sort of feelings these are, because, again, he doesn't quite label them. He's… what does Earth call it again? Emotionally constipated?(As if he wasn't either, brushing off his problems like it was nothing.)What does a former star trapped in a human body, within the surface of an apocalyptic world do when he is trying to run away from danger with one of his planets on his back?Well, he has to find shelter, of course.He scours the entire landscape in order to find a shelter, any kind of shelter. He wonders if there is a shelter, for there does not seem to be anywhere here. There were a few houses dotting his vision, but he expects to be greeted with suspicious and hateful inhabitants who will close the door on both their faces at a moment's notice.Because they are all selfish beings, and this attack will test the fate of humanity.Sol hopes they pull through; only because he will still be considered as a champion or pioneer for being the only star with a habitable planet. They have to hold on, even when the Iris seems to want them dead, and, morbidly, their bodies unrecognizable.He walks slowly; he wants to go faster, but is deathly afraid that doing so will jostle Jupiter and lead to his untimely death. Thinking about whether or not they will die in this body was a can of worms he has yet to open. He doesn't want to open them. The howling continues from within the woods, and he puts a good distance away from it. He can smell the scent of burning rubber, and buildings crumbling. He doesn't think twice to run away from those, knowing that if the building is destroyed, the interior is not going to be welcome to those with injuries.Speaking of injuries, his arm throbs, pleading for him to get medical attention.He wishes that Iris let him have his fast rate of healing, because this is simply getting ridiculous.The bleeding continues as well, and while the world screams in fear and anguish, he hears the sounds of his blood dripping.It's almost music. Almost.Sol looks back at Jupiter, who seems to be put through the same wringer as he is. Tired eyes, haggard blonde hair, a sallow complexion.
Why was he turned into a human besides Sol? What is the point?
It's simple, really: I need you and Jupiter out of the way.
Sol stops, tripping on a rock and almost falling right there and then with Jupiter on his back. He stops himself from doing something stupid in the nick of time, as he looks around, trying to find out who was the one whispering to him. It couldn't come from his mind, right? Humans don't have telepathic powers, so he must be going insane already, hearing things that aren't there, that are not about haunting and Hades's ghost whispering in his ear his regrets and desires.Was his ears now playing terrible mind games on him? This isn't a game, Sun, a voice that sounds like Iris's wafts its way into his ears once more, and he stiffens, hackles rising. He hates the fact that he is spooked by this sudden whisper entering his ears. He hates how his body is scared of a measly planet that has to result to dirty tricks in order to trap him in this loathsome form. If he was at his rightful body, he'd—A laugh, one that sends chills down his spine as if he was still a young star, scared of disobeying his mother, echoes through his skull, and it makes the pounding in his head worse. How do humans work with migraines?
You'd do what, Sol? You're trapped in that body until I finally succeed in turning this solar system of yours into a wasteland. Until it is nothing but ruins for you to make your bed on.
Sol frowns, gritting his teeth as he continues walking, focusing on searching a shelter before deciding to grace Iris with the probability of a civil conversation, even if her promises to turn his solar system into her own personal playground makes his blood run cold.
What do you want, Iris? And how are you speaking to me?
He nearly bumps into a car, opting to veer off into less urban areas, but not too near from the woods, wary of what lies there. It must've been one of Iris's creations as well. I'm simply speaking to you to tell you of my plans before your telepathy runs out of power, leaving you less of an omnipotent being and more… well, you know what you are now. She chuckles, and Sol grits his teeth.He was powerless. He was powerless and the Iris is quite literally above him, and he cannot do anything about it except to continue walking and looking for shelter. He wonders vividly how the rest of the solar system is doing— how Mercury is doing.He tries to quell this anger. He has to know why Iris is doing this. She was never this thirsty for power prior to her disappearance.Perhaps Nemesis corrupted her. I've always been like this, Sol. Iris answers for him, and he makes a face, a displeased frown carved across the contours of his face. Glad to know it wasn't because I failed you. He says sardonically, feeling himself sagging with energy. It must be that his human body could not keep up with the stress that is telepathy. His omnipotence must already be fading away, it seems. I was being sarcastic, her voice takes in a bitter tone, and he looks up at the planet in the sky that was Iris. She was different than he remembered; the beauty having faded away when she decided that choosing the megalomaniac option was the best thing she's ever done in her entire life. But now, you and Jupiter will be in front row seats seeing what I can do to Earth's ecosystem. A chill. What will you do?
You and Hades always go about exercising power in a restrictive, domineering way. All I want is to showcase powers as grand as yours, if not grander like mine, and experiment on what I will do to the entire galaxy when the results of this examination are satisfactory.
Sol raises a brow. That's ambitious, thinking you can conquer an entire galaxy. What do you have planned? Keep her talking. Iris has always been fond of thinking that she's incredible with words when she learned all that from Hades.
A world without any rules. One ruled only by the chaos and anarchy you and Hades always loathed, because you both like control.
Well, Hades loved control. Sol doesn't give two shits what his planets do, unless it was something that could potentially harm the delicate balance of the solar system. However, ever since Earth's earthlings decided to become more prominent in mapping out the stars, his planets have gotten terribly rebellious. He expected Jupiter to tell them off and get them to behave, but frustratingly enough, he doesn't, and he even joins them in on violating his orbit, such as his paranoid episode of running off into the Kuiper Belt when he thought that Saturn's ex is about to come back because he abducted his moons.He feels disgruntled towards Jupiter's lack of inaction; at least Hades knows what to do, even if he doesn't seem to like it.
You forget that the reason we have rules is because we may risk destroying ourselves. Don't you think, Iris? What is this about?
Iris is quiet for a few moments, before chuckling icily. I know you're smart, Sol. You simply choose to look the other way when Hades has bruised Jupiter again or Hades decides Shiva and Saturn weren't being on their best behavior, banishing them to the edge of the Cloud. Sol… ignores that. So you want to turn Earth's surface into a playground. The question is why him, of all planets?
Do not play stupid, Sol. We all know that, through the fame and widespread rumors regarding your planet, there are bound to be some who would exploit the vulnerability of your precious golden boy.
And you're one of them? Sol asks dryly, as he spots a building that doesn’t look too worse for wear as soon as he crosses past a destroyed stoplight. He shudders to think what had caused it to be broken like that in the first place.
If the results I yielded from Earth’s miserable creatures are satisfactory, I will consider my findings successful. There's no returning this state to what it once was, however; you will simply end up burning the beings you and Earth brag about having.
Sol bites the inside of his cheek, feeling nonetheless called out. He feels this familiar surge of anger grasping through him, the thought of what Iris is doing to his solar system unforgivable. His wrath burns hotly through his human body, to the point he could feel the heart he tries to ignore beat faster. He can feel the last vestiges of his power slipping away, and Iris's voice fading slowly.
When I finally get out of this dreadful mortal shell you pushed me into, I will have no qualms in destroying you!
Iris laughs, as if Sol is simply just some planet that is on her fingertips, and not a full-fledged star she once orbited around. How will you stop me, when you don't know Earth's whereabouts and you are powerless? He feels the air leave him as he feels the winds around him shift, as if he is trapped within a cyclone. She's right; he doesn't know what spell Iris had trapped him into, but it was rather effective and efficient if it was able to make two of the largest beings in the solar system feel so vulnerable and weak. Or perhaps it was because this body isn't very strong, outside of the physical strength.At least he stopped bleeding. How? He doesn't know either.
Once I'm done with this world, I'll bring you back so you can see the absolute carnage I have wrought upon your beloved solar system. Then again… you do not care for them like you should, do you not? Because instead of nurturing them, you let them kill each other.
They had to learn, is what Sol wanted to say. They had to learn about the consequences their actions will bring.Why does that noticeably exclude Sol, too?He staggers, stumbling as he could feel his mind beginning to forget how to waylay messages into another planet’s brain; forgetting how to function his omniscient abilities to a point.Iris catches onto the mortal coil now gripping at Sol with glee. It seems that your mortal body is rejecting the very being you have once been, Sol. I will take my leave now, but don't relax. I'll make sure to send my beasts your way to prohibit you from finding Earth. And… Nemesis sends their regards. A cold, awful feeling plunges into his stomach at that name.Chilling laughter echoes in his brain until it all dries out; gone was Iris, and any other proof that he had once been a being that was so bright, no mere mortal could gaze upon him without going blind.Sol takes a deep breath, only to sigh. He needs to find shelter, quick, before whatever beast Iris is about to send after the both of them comes running.He hopes that once Jupiter wakes up, he has some sort of plan.… He doesn't like the idea of having to resort to Jupiter in order to think.***Darkness.That was the first thing Jupiter has ever seen, when he realized that he existed, his consciousness having become evolved enough to the point it could be qualified as sentient.Then… there was the light. The golden light his star emits, beautiful and otherworldly.The light had been beautiful. Golden and colorful, even.But this light was… dim. Like the pure white halls of a mundane office hallway.
… A what?Where did those words come from? And why does he feel so heavy? Even his limbs felt like he had just finished carrying jewels and asteroids towards the cloud to be disposed of. He has never felt this sore and lethargic before. Never since his creation, when he was understandably exhausted after having just realized he was born.His eyes open. To his disappointment, despite knowing that his foreground is a stark white, peculiar to the usual inky blackness of space dotted with stars that are forming or already about to burst into a Red Giant, it was still all blurry. There were shapes all around him, but he could not identify what they were— he always managed to identify easily what the shapes in the solar system are, since it was empty except for the makings of the Giants, as Sol calls them. This, however, he knows is not empty, and he feels tight and restrained in this space.Such a thought wakes him up fully, as he sits up, gasping for air.Air?What the void is air? Why would he need it?His body feels… wrong. So wrong. Why was he only noticing now?He feels a strange, fuzzy texture tickle his… surface? And he flinches readily at the disturbance, at the way that this sensation makes him feel.He looks around, cursing when he realizes that, wherever he is, his eyes still cannot perceive. He still can’t see what is going on, and the sensations, the feelings, the textures… they were driving him mad— He hugs himself, shivering slightly. It’s always been cold in his orbit, but this time, he feels it through his surface. To his horror, he doesn’t feel the storms that make up his grand surface, but rather unfamiliar, tantalizing, and horrifying smoothness, as if he is devoid of the whirlpools and mosaics of his storms, his great winds that brings him cold comfort.Jupiter lets out a shriek, falling to the ground instantly as he presses his hands close to his face, hearing something beat deep within him.His hands do not turn into smoke or clouds like it does. It doesn’t do anything except for staying solid.And it was a dark color, too.What happened to him?Why is he like this?Where is he?He feels so… small. He didn’t think he’d feel that way, when the only times he’s felt small was when he’s with Sol and—Hades.Gritting his teeth at the name, he looks around, trying to find answers that could help clue him in on what is going on here and why he is stuck in a body he doesn’t know how to maneuver, doesn’t know what to make of it, and doesn’t know what to do.“You’re awake. About time.” A voice that sounds familiar (sans the benevolent echo that always blankets it when he speaks to him) is heard from behind, and, with a slight jump, he pivots his head to look towards the one speaking.To his disappointment, it wasn’t who he was hoping for.Sol was a giant— more giant than he and Hades ever will be, the crown jewel of the solar system, as everyone comes to bask in his warmth and brightness.This being… it’s not him. It can’t be him.Sol does not radiate the power he promised that he has.So it cannot be Sol; yet that voice tells him otherwise.With a feral glint in Jupiter's eyes, he moves away, kicking and freeing his legs from where they had been laid down to rest. Which was rather odd— he has never, not once has he seen his legs not raised from the position he was prone to resting on when he regains his energy. His hands touch a cold, solid surface, provoking him into panicking even further when he feels like he is being trapped in a cage of material that is definitely not the properties of the ever limitless space.He tries to speak, opening his mouth, but all he can do is sputter. He still remembers the language, of course, as it is simply an impulse reaction to utter a single sentence with ease, however, with this new and wrong mouth, none of his sentences ever gain much fervor. He knows that this blurry being in front of him is currently speaking in a different language, something he should not be understanding, however, his ears and his mind processes it flawlessly without any complaints. The body moves closer, and he shakes in anxiety and suspicion, studying him closely.“Jupiter, are you mute?” He asks, sounding displeased and disgruntled. He sighs, moving away. “Tell me if you're lucid. It seems getting trapped in a human body such as I had some rather adverse effects on your psychology, if you are simply babbling like a child.”Jupiter frowns, as he opens his mouth, jaw shaking. He loathes how wet his mouth feels, not used to feeling these kinds of sensations before. In fact, he's never felt this alive.“Hu…man?” So he can speak in the language that this being is speaking right now. It comes across as heavily stilted, but he can articulate the word well.And, like a waterfall, more words in this language, alongside other languages that he's never even heard or learned of before, begins to flood his mind, sending a piercing ache through his entire mind. He falls to the floor, crippling slightly at the information overload. He feels a tingle of wetness forming above his head, and he hates the fact that he is so unfamiliar with this body that he panics at the touch of it.“Calm down, Jupiter.” He hears urgent footsteps from in front of him, which is strange; they should not be hearing one another's footfalls in space, for there is no platform for them to stand on. They stand with their own gravity, surrounded by stars that are either the Sun's siblings or enemies. He hears the voice drop to a whisper, sounding a whole lot exasperated. “Iris must have rewired your brain or threw your soul into a human body as forcefully as possible, since you seem so out of it.”He raises his head, shivering as his hair brushes against the skin of his arms. “Who… are you? What am I?” He doesn’t see it, but a look of dawning horror crosses the man's face (he is certain he is a man, and he is most definitely certain he did not know such a word exists until now.“It's me, Jupiter… it's the Sun. Sol, Helios, Apollo, Uriel, whatever you want to call me.”“You can't be him,” Jupiter responds, as realization creeps in. He could no longer feel his connection to his star, nor to the great storms that litter his body. In fact, he could not feel the force of his gravitational pull. It was like there is a null in lieu of the power he exudes and emits, feeling nothing, not even a taut pull to whatever direction he deems fit. He looks at himself when he finds a mirror near him, but is met with a blurry reflection. Despite his terrible vision loss, however, he can confidently confirm that his skin was not the nouveau spiraling of storms, orange and white and peach; it was a dark color, and he wears… something else. Not the grand robes sol designed for him either.What happened? Why can't he remember? “Too bad for the both of us, but I am him,” the being sighs. “Is your vision still an obstacle in this form?”Jupiter blinks— he should not be surprised Sol is aware of his terrible vision already, but still, he does. He swallows, hating how that had been an unconscious reflex, before nodding. He sighs, standing from where he had been at eye level with Jupiter (at least, that's what it looks like). He looks around the place, and with a cautious look in his eyes, Jupiter watches him. It is right for him to be suspicious of someone, after all.Sol looks through the desks around this abandoned post office he managed to fight in the middle of the wasteland that is the United States of America, as far as he could tell. The only reason he managed to find out he was in the country was because of a ruined, slightly blood-splattered signage welcoming people to the grand state of Minnesota, or some state similar to it. He didn't think post offices still exist anymore either, since, according to Earth, letters have become obsolete and messaging someone directly has become the new way to connect with people. Still, he decided not to look at the gift horse in the mouth. The post office was in ruins, the workplace areas all scrubbed of the tiniest resources, furniture and computers thrown haphazardly around like people were in a hurry ransacking this place, and there were some suspicious, darkened stains from the bathroom door. He doesn't want to find out what he will see when he gets there, so he decides to push a desk onto the door in order for others not to get too curious.He couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit concerned over Jupiter’s welfare— he was confused, almost kicked him in the shin, and had a hard time pronouncing words, a rather uncharacteristic trait for someone who establishes himself as an eloquent kind of being.It was like he lost most of his memory… which can't be possible, because that would mean Sol would have lost his too. However, he does have to admit that there are some memories he could no longer easily access, and any attempts at remembering them would simply further them into his mind, and he didn't want them to go away so soon.He fucking hates this body. He wants to return to his glorious, clandestine and opulent form, and yet, he can't, unless he either finds Earth, or find a way back to kill Iris.The wound he previously had afflicted itches slightly, and he lets out a deep breath, trying to calm himself down from these sensations. They’re all so annoying, like he had been bombarded with an anrmy of asteroids.What was he doing again?He looks back at Jupiter who, despite not actually being able to see, is staring at him.Right, finding some glasses for him. That's enough introspection for today.He rounds out another corner, hearing screams from the outside. He looks at the source of it, through the windows, to see more people running from whatever is beyond those shitty, fucked up woods. Sol didn’t want to know what goes on within those woods, either, and he would prefer to keep it that way.“Wh–what noises were those?” Asks Jupiter, sounding so fucking vulnerable and delicate, that something inside of Sol twists a little when he hears it. He rushes to cover the windows with blinds and flower pots, which were very impractical behind the boring white walls of an office. He did not want any more human beings to happen upon him and Jupiter, not when he looks absolutely terrible, and Jupiter being too volatile to be with other human beings yet.“Don’t worry about it,” Sol tells him dismissively as he happens upon a desk with a single pair of eyeglasses. Jackpot. He picks them up, studies them closely by the lens, and, believing this is what he is looking for, he returns to Jupiter, bending on his knees to be in proper eye level with him. Jupiter squints at the pair suspiciously, and Sol holds back a sigh. He really did not have the time for this; he needs to figure out what is plaguing Jupiter’s mind so badly that he does not recognize his ardent humanity. “Put this on your eyes. It can help you with your vision.”Jupiter frowns, but, after a minute pause, he takes the pair of glasses and wears it upon his face. Sol watches as Jupiter hisses at the sudden stimulation, blinking a little, before his pupils dilate, staring at the entire world in an amazed, new lens, one that he has not seen him do for a long time.He looks around, and the Sun knows that he is currently trying to process seeing the world for the first time in his life, without having to rely on frowning or squinting or accompanying other planets that much. He remembers him clinging to Hades, much to his brother’s consternation, or to Neptune and Uranus when Hades is occupied or they have just gotten over another one of their hapless arguments. There is this strange naivety and joy in his eyes that Jupiter, ever formal and acquiescent, merely keeps a forlorn, wan smile on his face when he is shown with the other planets to project his soft power.“I can see,” he says, mesmerized. “I can see.” “You have for billions of years, Jupiter, don’t act like this is your first time,” Sol tells him, feeling rather concerned. He should not be acting like this. He should not be acting like this is the first time he’s worn glasses. His memory is supposed to be with Saturn sacrificing his wish for Jupiter to get him to fall in love with him.A look of confusion flashes over Jupiter’s face. “Billions…? I’m not sure you are who you say you are, but it had only been a thousand years since my creation.”An ice cold feeling plunges within Sol’s gut as soon as he hears what Jupiter had said, his breath hitching.So his suspicions are true— he has lost all memories concerning the events that had transpired in the solar system in the past billion years. A thousand years after his conception? That is too early, and too little eventful memories playing in his head. Sol racks his mind, trying to find some way to remember what he had done in the beginning thousand years of his solar system. Uranus and the other Giants have already been formed and gained sentience a few cycles prior, and Hades is about to be crowned the Celestial Monarch a few more cycles later.Fuck.Jupiter doesn’t remember the War, Theia and Tierra’s colision, Shiva’s exile, and then the beginning of life as they know it in Earth’s surface, Tyche’s prophecy ringing true.Jupiter lets out a startled noise, and Sol looks up to find Jupiter looking at his hands, puzzled over how it did not look like his — admittedly pretty — surface in space. He looks like he is about to panic, which Sol wishes to put a stop to immediately.“What happened to me?” He asks, his voice shaky. He meets Sol’s eyes. “Did you do this?”He snorts, “Fuck no. it’s all Iris’s doing.”Jupiter’s face contorts into a frown. “Iris? Messenger Giant and Rainbow Goddess? What does she have to do with this?”“Everything,” Sol says, standing. “Believe me when I say this, Jupiter, but I really am the Sun. I was ambushed by Iris and my consciousness is trapped inside of this loathsome and dreadful human body— so are you.” He addresses Jupiter’s form, and Jupiter looks down, to discover that he too, has on clothes he would normally not wear. Sol also doesn’t wear clothes, on the prospect of it being difficult to navigate and not understanding what the fuss is about, but humanity seems to be fond of the entire clothing idea, and, for some reason, Sol feels an amount of shame just… displaying himself bare out there.Jupiter opens his mouth to ask the most obvious question, and Sol speaks before he says anything else. “Humans are one of the earthling species from the planet we call Earth. You haven’t met her yet, she hasn’t been formed. Humanity does have some resemblance to us, from what you can observe— except they don't have the animalistic traits that you or other planets have. They're completely boring, as far as I can observe and say with certainty. They do not have the limitless abilities or powers we have, and most importantly, they're driven by the need to be selfish and survive. It's how they managed to stay alive.”Jupiter listens to him with rapt attention, furrowing his brows.Sol continues, pacing back and forth, casting a wary glance at the windows that are currently hiding them from the outside world. A world that is currently being torn at the seams by a planet that is doing all this for her entertainment and the unethical manner of her studies. He could not control the shudder that brushes over his skin. “And humans are one of the most delicate beings out there, despite being so ‘smart,’ as they all say they are. The things that you’re feeling? It’s basically sensors on how to keep yourself alive. We might even need to shovel food down our throats in order to survive.” He shudders at the thought of having to eat, after so many years of only consuming small particles, biding his time for the very day that he will finally get the most grandiose feast in the form of his planets.“But—” Jupiter tests his mouth, feeling the simultaneous dryness and wetness it exudes. He doesn’t feel anything stopping him, except for his surprise at being so capable at speaking a language he has never had the exposure for. “None of us Giants have any constituents for… life, as you call it. We don’t have solid surfaces, nor do we have the capability of letting humans stay in an area of strong winds. I can feel this body and it is not as strong as the one I have. What happened to us?”“There are a lot of things you need to know, Jupiter,” Sol begins, his eyes fiery and light. “Firstly, we are billions of years into the future. I don’t know if Iris taking your consciousness and forcing it into a human body is a cause for your amnesia, but let’s hope that it’s temporary. Secondly, the one who sent us here is Iris, for nefarious purposes. We’re the strongest beings in the solar system, and, as much as I have faith in the Earth that he can hold her off as long as she can until he either finds us or we find a solution to this predicament, we can’t be here for long. Thirdly, Earth’s surface, it seems, won’t be kind to us now— it’s filled with Iris’s horrible creations and mutations, and I don’t know if we should let ourselves be found in broad daylight. Iris may be watching.”Jupiter frowns. He does not have any qualms about Iris, despite Uranus being quite insistent that she was a ‘shady bitch,’ and Hades’s taciturn nature when she approaches, but he always thought that it was because Iris was rather strong with flirting with him. He would be a whole lot more surprised over having lost eons of his life, but he knows that such a concept is true. “Iris would never do such a thing. She’s a loyal woman.”Sol scoffs, remembering how he felt Iris’s psychic links to him sever when she left. He tries to act like he was not hurt over it, either. “You don’t know her anymore. In fact… you never knew her at all, so leave it to the expert.”Jupiter tries not to flinch, and Sol clenches his fists. Why did he say that? To their fortune, the former planet changes the subject, his eyes happening upon Sol with a gasp and a grimace. “What happened to your arm, Lord Sol?”Sol’s lips curl in awkwardness at the title, but he shows Jupiter the laceration. “It’s a wound. Something that humans get when they are hurt by something, because they are weak.” Miraculously, it managed to stop the bleeding, however, it still hurts and irritates him. He worries that it was an open wound, as Earth calls it. “We must prevent ourselves from getting wounds like this in the future. Luckily, I scrounged up this entire place we call a post office and procured a bunch of first aid kits from those that had left this place.” He displays Jupiter a first aid kit, and he looks at it with the same confusion as the wound on Sol’s arms. Why didn’t he get a couple of bruises?Sol dislikes the fact that he has to heal himself manually, wondering if this was entirely a cosmic irony by Iris. why not just put him or Jupiter to sleep? Or kill Jupiter using the very same weapon that he killed Hades with? Why must they both suffer through the mortal coil, the agony of having a mortal and delicate body, unfit for the raw nature of the world that wishes to force them to let their teeth sink into their flesh like they were still the same animals that had exited their forests and caves millions of years ago. Was it poetic justice, as Sol has always thought of these mere earthlings as expendable and trophies? Is this why he feels like he has been forcibly dipped in molten gold, to be burnt and melted so he could be forged into something new? Didn’t one of the Roman emperors die because of this death?Wasn’t he Apollo? God turned mortal? Or perhaps he was Hou Yi, divine archer that struck down nine suns and sons, gaining the ire of the Jade Emperor thus stripping him of his mortality? Was he Ra, who ascended to the heavens and gave up on the whims of mortals and their terrible pleas?Was it a humiliation tactic? All for Iris to look down upon him as if he were a mere subject rather than a full-fledged star, known for the war that had changed the status quo of his solar system and gained him an even worse iron clad reputation amongst the other stars? Was it so he can kneel down to Iris and pray to her as if she were the god and he the man, when it is supposed to be the other way around? How could he pray to her when she’d been the one who had betrayed him first, deciding to go against him behind his back, searching for the power she believes she deserves, only destroying her face and her reputation?Perhaps he should have heeded the stars’ warnings more; of a Gas Giant bearing the ‘X’ mark on their face, devouring cores, of a pink rocky planet growing bigger and bigger as she guesses a planet’s correct fate, of Iris mutating various celestial bodies to her own will.He should have— instead he decided to laugh at all of them.Who’s laughing now?Certainly not him.Iris may have been one of his planets in his heyday, but she is not anymore. Nothing about her screams that she is Sol's old planet, and now, she brings destruction that will cause mental degradation on all planets involved as well.She will be tried as an outsider, once he finally leaves this place. He will make sure that the damage she has caused will be undone and she will not escape the consequences of her actions.He realizes that the post office still has a ton of windows; ones that will make the planet above Earth take a peek at them and find them. Urgency fills his senses— he looks towards Jupiter, who was currently just… staring into nothingness. “Jupiter,” he gets his attention. “I need you to—”“Why do you call me that?” He cuts in, a frown on his voice. “That's not my name. It's—”A name Sol has never really heard since the beginning of the solar system was uttered, and Sol, for his and Jupiter's sakes, tuned it out until it was nothing but broken history.Sol stares at Jupiter weirdly. “You remember the Giant's names but not the fact that you do not go by that name anymore?”Jupiter frowns, but there is something akin to relief in his eyes. “I do not?”“That's not your name,” Sol confirms. “Jupiter is.”Jupiter beams, and Sol wishes he could hate it.To distract himself from the rather conflicting and strange thoughts going on in his head, he decides to tell Jupiter about covering the windows with just enough things found within the office building in order to prevent Iris from locating them. It was a difficult endeavor, as he watches Jupiter get adjusted to maneuvering his body and piloting it around to look for things to conceal the windows with. It was strange, in a way, to see Jupiter’s grace and disciplined walking regressing into stumbles and clumsiness. It was not something he thought would ever see, when Jupiter was eloquent and opulent in a way that reflects how he walks.Too bad Iris has to take that away from him at this point in time.He watches as Jupiter continues to flounder around, trying to look for things that can conceal the windows, until every single window is covered by either cardboard or paper, the only things that Jupiter is able to carry. He looks at Sol, as if waiting for his approval, and, feeling nonplussed, Sol just responds with a nod.“Are you going to patch up that wound?” Jupiter asks, pointing at his laceration.Sol frowns. “None of your business.”Jupiter’s face falls, and Sol regrets saying such things to him.He takes a breath. There is no need to be so hostile to Jupiter who doesn’t remember who he ends up becoming. He didn’t even know his name until he has to tell him.“I’ll take care of it myself,” he backtracks, clearing his throat awkwardly. “While we are powerless humans, I am still able to take care of myself. You don’t even remember the eons that have happened in these past eons. You need to rest.”Jupiter’s eyes soften. “I am your inferior, Lord Sol. The least I could do is take care of you.”Sol’s eye twitches. Was Jupiter always this subservient when he had been a fledgling planet? He simply takes another deep breath and gives Jupiter a simple smile. “I will be fine. Why don’t you find any clues that can help us find Earth? Perhaps there is a map around here somewhere?”“Map?”Right, he doesn’t know about earthling leisures. Well, it’s not like most earthlings even use maps anymore, displaying them for show.He tries to dumb his explanation down, as he doubts Jupiter would know what being in the surface of the Earth entails, with it being filled of terms and definitions he has never quite understood when he was still in space, much less towards someone who just learned that organic life can exist. “Basically, if you see anything resembling a sheet of paper with a mass of… blobs, then that would be a map. Try finding it for us.”Jupiter nods in assent, as he goes around trying to find a map based off on the vaguest sentence he has ever heard his star tell him. Begrudgingly, Sol gets up from where he’d been kneeling, hissing as his joints creak. He is not sure how old he is in this body, but he doubts he could be that old, as he had managed to carry a taller human like Jupiter into this post office without any struggles besides minor things. He looks at the first aid kit before him, and he groans, gritting his teeth and rolling his eyes, opening them to find himself thrown in a flurry of unfamiliarity and grit.He should be in the solar system right now, not learning how to treat his wound.But alas, this is his life now— paying for the crimes that Jupiter and the other Giants have reaped all those years ago, when the solar system is trying to combat the instability they have plunged it in.He grits his teeth as he treats his wound, hoping to whatever god the earthlings pray towards that it isn’t infected, as Mars had casually told everyone in one of his stories when he was out gallivanting with his boyfriend and happened across a wolf. Earth tried to get him to safety, but Mars is still as stubborn as a star, hence getting the hand of his vessel bitten off. Luckily, he didn’t get his ass bitten by a wolf, but still, it hurts like hell. Do humans really experience these kinds of pain on the regular?Once he’s done taking care of his dreadful wound all by himself, he hears Jupiter let out a low hum in front of him. He looks up, and stands, propping himself up to prepare himself from the sudden levity. He walks over to where he sees Jupiter stand.The other man seems to have recognized Sol’s approaching aura, as he turns to look at him with an awestruck expression. He fixes his glasses perched upon the bridge of his nose and says, “I can read the words that have been written here, despite it not being written in the old language.”“It seems that you are able to retain the skills of your four billion year old self,” Sol muses, as he looks at the map displayed in front of him. “This is the map we’re looking for, Jupiter. Now we need to know where we are.”There are actually two maps plastered on the billboard— one with the country, and the other with the state in which they are currently in.“We’re in the United States,” Sol identifies just as quickly when he sees that specific shape of the country. He remembers the country prominently, as Earth has always meticulously complained about the country and its immortal incarnation. Sol simply dislikes any country Earth rants about in a long manner by association. “Specifically, in Minnesota.”Jupiter opens his mouth, no less about to ask what Minnesota is, but Sol interrupts him. “So we’re in a country currently being plagued by the creations of Iris, which isn’t good. However, judging from the people I have seen running from the imminent danger, it means that there are still citizens out here, alive, but afraid. I suppose it won’t hurt following them. How good are you at running?”He frowns. “I recognize running as an activity I usually do to get to Hades’s orbit in order to give him an announcement or concern from the further planetal orbits.”Sol tries not to wince at the mention of Hades’s name. “Well, yes, but this time, we will run because of necessity. Earth told me about how each nation in his surface has some sort of immortal incarnation that basically encompasses the inner workings of a country. If we are unable to find Earth in this state, then we could ask either Minnesota or the United States herself if they are able to get us in contact with Earth and get us out of here.”“Strange,” Jupiter says, fixing his glasses once more. He seems unused to it. “How come Hades isn’t doing anything?”Sol stiffens. He tries to think of what to say. “What about him?”The former Giant gives him a funny look. “You sound dismissive, Lord Sol. Hades is our Celestial Monarch, and you even appointed him to do the duties you are too superior to be doing! Shouldn’t he be working on getting us back? Should he not have defeated Iris and punished her accordingly? Where is he?”Sol forgets that, before Jupiter took on the role as the King of the Solar System with none of the oozing control and meticulousness Hades does but twice the charisma and sociability that the old Giant never quite grappled with, Hades had been a very involved kind of Giant— not in the way Jupiter involves himself intervening with issues that don’t affect him, but rather, in an imposing kind of involvement. He has always been authoritarian and intimidating, and he uses it to his advantage. Jupiter has always made himself small and unperceiving, intentionally or not, and that gave him the ample advantage of acting like he did not act very superior towards other planets. If Hades was still alive and had gotten word of Iris’s hooliganry, he would have poisoned her with his powers and taken her to Sol, pushing her into the furnaces of her star as he watches her burn alive.Only Earth would enjoy seeing her writhe in pain and agony.Fuck, Hades. Just thinking about him makes… something in his heart and stomach lurch, and he dislikes knowing why it does that.“Hades is occupied right now,” he lies, the lie burning his tongue inside out. He doesn’t want to say You fucking killed him, Jupiter, and now your uselessness has managed to land us in even bigger trouble. “So we have to keep moving— I don’t know if Earth can hold on much longer, seeing how his surface is starting to become the very thing Iris wants it to be.”Jupiter nods, sounding disappointed that Hades is not coming to save him. Has Hades ever saved him?Sol tries not to feel the doubt that has always manages to crawl into his mind when he thinks about Hades and his missing morals. He looks away from the first planet he’s created, and the last planet he will ever cherish. “Find anything else that might be useful here. We’re leaving this damned post office in an hour.”He hates how he immediately follows the order, like it was something he is born to do.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

𖤓—
♃『2/8』 Strangers In A Strange Land
𖤓—♃ 『11,177 words』

They leave the post office (Sol called the run-down establishment that a few times before they have left) an hour after gathering a few supplies, as Sol calls them. In Jupiter’s bag, something he had found amongst the rubble and ruin, was the first aid kit, the map of the aforementioned state, and the food that had been abandoned. According to Lord Sol, the bodies they are currently trapped in need nourishment— akin to a Giant consuming planets, except they are given energy and supplements for when they consume the food that is being kept inside the bag.

Jupiter stares at his fingers— none of them have that certain, orange glow, or smoke billowing softly from it. It was plainly solid, without any spirals of beige or orange. It was dark— not as dark as the Sun’s skin in the body he is in right now, but still, this was strange.

Everything he is made of is now strange, actually. He feels

solid

and perceivable, unable to dissolve into gas or smoke, as if everything is now as heavy as his core.

He is having a hard time trying not to panic. It would not do well for him to panic, if Sol is trying hard to make light of the situation the both of them are currently in. he should not have to burden his star with his problems with this horrendous body.

Every time he moves, he feels everything pressing into him. This clothes are constrictive, and they certainly are not something he would wear if the times were not dire. He subtly misses his loose, pure white and stainless robes, where he does not need to feel the strings of cloth that holds it towards his body, nor the utter strain.

Jupiter hates this body, he concludes. He cannot believe that his eyesight continues to be a horrendous problem even in a new vessel that is so unfamiliar to his old one. Unless, perhaps, it is his vision.

He stumbles slightly on a rock, but is caught by Sol’s arm grabbing his wrist. “Come on, we have to minimize our injuries so we can save the medicine in the first aid,” he reminds him, and Jupiter feels silly as he is dragged into an upward position, before following Sol into a land of strangeness.

He’s been in his surface for a few times, watching the winds move past him with an envious speed spreading frigid storms across his surface. He’s been aiming to create the largest storm in existence, however, he is yet to be successful.

Never had he seen a surface that has… a

lot

going on. He can feel the stagnant air all around him, still, but unlike the wild winds in his surface, this one is a lot more tamed and less cool in temperature than his. Then, there were also the inhabitants running around whatever is scaring them— he reminisces how the rocky planets had also ran away from them with the same look of fear in their eyes, their eyes always trailing up above, still seeing that same, brown planet with a shell encompassing its spherical form as if it were their star.

Jupiter shudders to think that he is now much smaller than the rocky planets he had enjoyed eating and killing. He thought a simple role reversal would never happen, but here he is, traveling under the covers of rubble and broken buildings, following humanity to escape their extinction event.

He tries not to think that they are not able to go home; they

will,

if they can find Earth, or whoever runs this nation. Sol is ahead of him, staring at the buildings and vehicles riddled around the asphalt, left to be destroyed by whatever entity that is going to hunt them down. He doesn’t know why Sol is worried about that— how can a mere being find them when they are simply needles in a haystack? But Sol dismisses his questions by stating that Iris is smart, and she will get her way.

So, like any good and obedient Giant, Jupiter decides to trust Sol with everything he’s got.

Although he has doubts.

He cannot help himself. He remembers when Sol had created him, only to be utterly clueless as to why he cannot treat his eyesight. He felt, for the first time, frustrated with his star when he does this.

Or the other time when Hades had gripped him by the hair after accidentally killing the first wave of terrestrial planets, looking towards Sol with fear and helplessness in his eyes, requesting for his star to, at the very least, calm Hades down before he hurts him.

Yet he never does— his requests and subtle hints over reigning in Hades’s behavior are met with inaction or dismissiveness, and he could not help but feel bitter over it.

So, he is having doubts.

Having doubts on what?

On whether or not Sol likes being forced to follow him around the country in search of the Earth.

Ever since he had waken up, Sol was rather dismissive, impatient, and curt with Jupiter, except for softly getting him to stop panicking when he had regained consciousness for the first time. The Sun has always treated his Giants and terrestrials — sans Hades — with a bit of respect and neutrality, and while he does respect him as well, there is a hint of anger and irritation in his voice and actions.

He looks at him as if he was disappointed he is to be his companion for this excursion.

But that is simply ridiculous! Jupiter has always kept himself safe, after the fiasco with the first terrestrial planets getting destroyed. Out of sight, out mind, as all the Giants have said about him when they see him behind Hades, and then try and ignore that he is behind him once more.

But, apparently, it has been eons, and his memories are playing catch up— he can remember things in a non-linear fashion, but he could not remember many specific events that had transpired in the past billions of years.

Did he do something that could warrant in Sun’s disapproval?

Please don’t let it be another mistake with accidentally killing planets who have yet to develop a conscience. He doesn’t think he could take anymore of the shame and hatred most Giants have spewed onto him enough.

But what if it was something

worse?

Jupiter cannot imagine fucking up already more than he has.

They feel a rumbling coming from the ground, and Jupiter and Sol stop for a second.

Even the humans that have not ran far away from whatever they are keeping themselves safe from stop when they felt the ground move and shake from beneath their feet, as the gravel begins to jump and shake.

“Iris finally releases her toys,” Sun mutters a shaky breath, and here’s another thing that Jupiter has to adjust to: the fact that Iris is irredeemably evil. She was always rather unsettling, but Jupiter thought that she was great at stabilizing Hades when he could not. And believe him, he can’t, most of the time. Although, Uranus doesn’t like her very much, and Neptune doesn’t have much of an opinion of her. However, Jupiter knows Iris sees him as rather useless, since she had said it so herself when they had their first — and only — conversation.

“How was she able to create life all by herself?” Jupiter asks towards no one in particular, as he was rather curious and fascinated at how she willingly crafted beings from organic materials. At least, he hopes they are organic. “From what I remember of Tyche’s prophecy, they are supposed to be able to have constituents for life, not necessarily make one.”

“So you remember Tyche’s prophecy?” Sol asks, turning to him and raising a brow. It was practically jarring to see Sol and not have to squint his eyes in order to adjust to the brightness he emits. His skin was a whole lot tanner, although with some splotches of pale skin over his face and arms, and his dark hair was uncharacteristically cropped short, messy and tousled, with no sign of the braid he keeps. His eyes are still quite golden, however, but it doesn’t blind him like his original form does. And, he does not feel the need to distance himself from him, as he doesn’t exude the same amount of heat either.

“Yes,” Jupiter says with a furrow of his brow. He remembers Tyche screaming it for everyone to hear during one of the Solstice gatherings. It had the rocky planets eyeing each other, vying for the very day that the prophecy will ring true.

He remembers feeling slightly disappointed that some more inferior planet will become even more powerful than he is.

He wonders who Earth is, however. That is one of Tierra’s names, but he never was interested in having life— he told Jupiter himself when he asked him about the contents of the prophecy. His wife, however, vied for it, more desperate than Phaeton, Antichton, or Mars combined.

Tierra isn’t also the type to change his mind, unless something happened to either his wife or his brother…

The ground begins to shake even further, signaling that this creature must be walking.

Walking towards them.

Jupiter gulps. He hates how all of his senses are screaming at him, telling him that there is danger lurking from beyond his line of sight— even when he is no longer struggling with his vision blurring, he could feel the sensations of a fearful, worried and catatonic man being lambasted all around him, now some sort of reflex or instinct. He could feel his heart pounding, an organ he never thought necessary until Sol had told him what it was through the vaguest, most confusing kind of description that Sol has ever used for him.

He feels someone making physical contact with his shoulder, and he jumps, turning to see who had caused him surprise, only for it to be Sol’s human face staring at him with a level of seriousness he’s never seen in the other celestial body before. The Sun has always been a rather detached and neutral figure, never quite betraying any emotion even when he is needed to be. It was so he could be impartial to whatever is happening to his planets— to not be tied to the strings of bias when they come forward to him with the issues they need to resolve.

(Yet Hades always wins these kinds of discourse; Sol doesn't need to think about it.)

“We need to move.” He says this as he pushes him forward, almost making him stumble through the rubble spread throughout the lands.

“Now.”

The rumbling does not stop; it, instead, continues, becoming stronger each passing second, and faster as well, somewhat mimicking the beat of a drum.

Like he is currently on autopilot, his feet moves for him despite his rather shocked demeanor over the utter urgency his star has over this situation. It brings chills across his spine, as the thumping grows louder, the ground shakes even harder, and humans who were still lingering around the area are currently running for their lives in different, varying directions. Jupiter tries to keep up with Sol, who was running as fast as he could, his agility enviable despite, apparently, having only been in his human body for less than a day. He feels his heart beat faster as he picks up the pace, his eyes doing its job overtime, looking for places that could either hinder his movements or make him faster. He tries not to let go of the bag he is currently holding, as he and Sol round a rather dizzying corner to get away from the creature making those horrible thumping sounds and instinctively making him feel terror.

He hears an ear shattering wail, cutting through the sounds of an omen, of utter silence. He flinches, letting out surprised, confused noises as he falls whilst running. He immediately covers his ear as he flounders for a way to get up, with Sol stopping himself from running in order to return and get him back to his feet as forcibly as he can.

“Next time you fall, I'm not helping you up,” Sol says as Jupiter gathers his bearings, breathing heavily, before resuming their running.

The wailing stops, and all is quiet once more; with the sound of nothing but their feet running against the ruined ground.

He did not like how quiet it had become.

He is starting to loathe quietness now, when he had heard the thumping of a beast that causes great tremors, alongside its great wail. He wonders where it had gone, when the thumping has faded away as well.

He looks up at the brown, orange sky, blocking out the Sun which gives the world a bright ray of light. Iris is still standing before the planet she decided to make her victim, however he does not see any identifiable features, but perhaps it's because this inferior human body could not comprehend the grandness of the planets deep in space. He wonders if he will be able to see the solar system again, seeing that Iris is intent on keeping him and his star here for the time being.

But why? Is something he wonders as his pace slows down to match with Sol, carefully behind him, as one befitting of his rank. He observes the muscles and tan skin around Sun's coat, musing that this was the first time that he has seen his star wearing attire. He must also be displeased with his choice of clothing as he is, judging from how he sometimes adjusts the collar of his shirt when they have been walking too far, or complaining about how utterly drenched in sweat he is. Sol also dislikes the feeling of sweat, indicative of exhaustion and simply a revolting excrement in particular. Celestial beings do not get tired, not in the way humanity does, and to see his tiredness be turned into a form of liquid, it fills him with disgust.

He wants to get rid of this body, this constraining, mortal coil. It bites into him like a snake biting the poisonous apple in order to gain unmistakable, unimaginable knowledge.

But it could only be done when they find Earth.

The thumping begins once more, causing Sol, who had been looking around the surroundings to find some shelter that isn't infested with mutations or a virus, as he suspects they all are filled with, to perk up in sheer wariness.

“Do you think Iris found us…?” Jupiter suggests timidly.

“Never suggest things like that or it may come true,” Sol says in a brusque manner, as he holds Jupiter by his wrist before guiding him into a small shed that looked dutifully undamaged throughout this devastated land. It was dark when Sol opens the door, and Jupiter steps inside first, followed by Sol.

He chokes on the air as soon as he enters the shed, the musty air suffocating him. He cannot describe how it smells, but it was a rather pungent, dreadful odor that leaves no room for imagination. It smelled like the blood soaked bathroom door he found, barricaded as if no one wants to see what was inside, but worse. Did something perish inside here? He hopes not.

“Lean back so we can both fit in the shed,” Sol advises, and Jupiter mumbles an apology as he scoots backwards, having no time to be picky with his choice of hiding spot. The thumping continues, and dust showers this shed.

Jupiter promptly covers his mouth with his hand after brushing away the dust that had stained it. He will not risk being found by whatever is hunting them both, whatever has become the scourge of humanity at this moment.

The thumping grows closer, and when Jupiter hears it, it feels more appropriate to describe the noises as… someone dragging their body through the asphalt ground. The sounds make Jupiter sick to his stomach, and he wonders if he could stomach such a creature. The existence of black holes, as well as their rumored appetites and science-defying capabilities already make them a terrifying horror story, something which he tells the tales of during the solstice gatherings in order for people to understand how much in grave danger they are when a blackhole strays too close to the solar system.

… However, they did not seem to enjoy his tenacity for making the horror story a lot more easy to consume, it seems.

He hears the sound of squelching, and his breath hitches, wincing slightly at how it must

hurt

to be dragging…

whatever

is being dragged around the entire street.

Then, he smells it.

It has the same exact stench as the inside of this shack, only doubling it and filling it with unimaginable waste and excrements.

He coughs, but one look from Sol tells him to cover it up before it senses they are currently hiding from whatever this is.

He tries not to cough, even when the smells intermix, a motley of the most pungent and unpleasant of odors together like a damn storm, and he tries not to acknowledge the tears that are currently running down his eyes at the horrendous stench.

“We just have to make sure it passes us,” Sol says, leaning forwards to peek through the doors and see what is out there.

He nods, failing to speak for this moment. He is sure that, if he does speak, it will come across as a high squeak susceptible to the being to chase them. He doesn’t

want

to be chased, at least not yet.

He steps inside the shed even further, quite surprised that it had a rather modest space despite being, well, a shed in the middle of nowhere, as Sol says. He watches slightly as Sol’s grip on the door tightens, closing it until it was slightly ajar, so he could see what is outside. The smell wafting around the entire environment begins to creep closer, and Jupiter holds his breath and closes his eyes.

Then, he hears the sounds of… something.

It was like the highpitched, terrible wail that he had heard a while ago, but it sounded broken, or separate.

It sounds like a wail, a sob, a moan, and other various noises that humans are fit to make when they are distressed.

It was the sound of utter desolation, and he hates that he can now understand the language of humanity, hearing some whispers and hisses being uttered in the air.

“Kill me…”

“I’m hungry…”

“Please let me die…”

Jupiter feels his mouth go dry.

He fucking hates feeling so helpless, feeling like he is about to meet his fate immediately when he sees what is out there.

He hears whatever is outside moan and groan, as it drags itself through the ground, making the most disgusting squelching noises.

Suddenly, from the windows of the shed, a shadow crosses over the entire room, plunging them into a semi darkness, where he could still see, but it means they are not as alone as they might think.

It’s here.

He clenches his eyes shut, gritting his teeth as he steps backwards, trying to ignore the sounds of moaning and sobbing from this monster. What else could it be, but the machinations of Iris’s fucked up mutations? Apparently, she could not create, more like, she could only manipulate what is already existing, before dubbing it as her creation.

Jupiter watches as Sol’s shoulders tense, as he freezes up on the spot, and, from the corner of his eye, he sees Sol’s eyes grow wide with horror, his jaw gaping. He wonders if Sol cares about whatever dirt is on this mutation entering through his mouth, before deciding against commenting. He already looks quite horrorstruck, and he hates to see what he had seen outside.

So, Jupiter, not wanting to have the same mutual feeling as Sol, decides to step backwards in order to give Sol some space to recuperate. You know, like the good planet that he is.

He steps backwards.

Backwards some more.

Before he feels the soles of his shoes hit something, and he hears a

SQUELCH,

slow and soft, elicits from this slight misstep.

Jupiter freezes.

Then, he hears a low moan, the words dribbling blood and barely comprehensible in his ears.

Jupiter feels disgust and revulsion begin to flow into his body.

He doesn’t want to turn around.

He wants to.

What the hell did he step on?

He loathes to know about what these questions could mean for him.

But as he takes another step, another squelch ring out, and the moaning grows louder.

Sol must have heard as well, since, with a disgruntled look, he looks back at Jupiter in order to shush him, before he takes one good, final look the shed where they thought was a good enough place to hide.

Jupiter didn’t want to look, but the horrified, nauseated face Sol makes is tempting him.

Finally, he breaks; his curiosity must be sated, and this was already torture.

He looks around.

He doesn’t

want

to look around ever again.

Upon what seems to be sinew and ligament, orange and brown acting like strings upon a puppet, was a human person.

Emphasis on the

was.

According to Sol, they are the only ones capable of advanced speech, after all.

A human being that is so horrible disfigured— it was like its bones have melted off onto the floor, its skin becoming nothing but a shapless, sopping blob leaking of blood and other excrements, its limbs now deformed and sticking to the strings on the walls.

Its eyes look at the two of them, and Jupiter hates how pleading they look when it is beyond saving.

It tries to talk, anyway, to beg for help.

Jupiter does not want to hear it speak any longer.

Feeling so many feelings — frustration, disgust, nausea — clawing in his body and forcing him to understand that he is no longer impregnable like he is in his Giant body, he runs out of the shed, tears in his eyes. This body fucking sucks.

Jupiter hears Sol cry out, telling him to get back here, but he’s no longer listening. His ears are ringing his, nose feels entrenched in the smells he would have never smelled unless he had been forced into this body, and his vision swims.

He lets out a short, panicked breath, gritting his teeth. He could still feel his shoes scrape against that fucking mutation, hearing the squelch echoing through his ear like it was an echo chamber.

He just couldn’t stop thinking about it— how disgusting it was.

He tries to catch his breath. It would not do him very well to be catatonic in a wasteland filled with unfamiliar creatures out to kill you.

Somehow, somewhere, he could hear

someone

laugh.

It sounds a lot like her, when he thinks about it.

He hears the sound of warbling and the smell coming closer— he had

just

fucking left that shed! Why does he still smell so fucking horrible?! Why is he still hearing that terrible sounds he supposedly left behind?

He feels something breathing behind him.

Jupiter’s breath hitches when he realizes where he is now and what had just occurred.

He went outside, where he was not allowed to be in, until the threat had been resolved.

The threat had not been resolved.

Jupiter doesn’t want to turn around, but his entire body begins to shake when he realizes that he is out in the open and, for the first time in his life, he felt like a terrestrial planet in the vastness of space filled with Giants.

“JUPITER!” He hears Sol shout, but his voice was so far away. Jupiter turns around to look at the being currently leering at him, his entire body shaking as he makes eye contact with

one

of its eyes.

He knows it's a human being. It

was

a human being. However, it no longer isn't. It was, like he one he found in the shed, basically a blob of flesh that is past his expiration date, however, bigger and more horrifying than the last one ever had been. Instead of it being one person, it was like two, or more human beings were packed into one being, one

abomination.

He could see the mocking machinations of arms and feet along the side of this anomalous creation, with some eyes staring into him with a desolate and sad look. Some mouths were opening and closing, as if they were speaking; only, their words are either incomprehensible, or he simply could not make out the words because of his panic and his heart beating loudly. They moan, as it moves towards him. Jupiter is frozen still— his mind wills his body to move, desiring to live, but his body is stock still.

Fuck, why can't his body move?

The being begins moving towards him; at first at a slow pace, however it immediately picks up as it hurts itself scraping its underside and letting it bleed across the ground to get to him. Jupiter only stares in horror, not knowing what else to do except accept the fate assigned to him.

The being wails, roars, and elicits noises that sound like they are excited to force him to join their unholy union of misery and desolation.

Suddenly, a stick flies through the air and hits one of the creature's many eyes. The reaction, although delayed, did elicit the appropriate one would have when someone assaults their vision: they scream in pain as hands began to scratch at the skin in order to get rid of the pain that had been inflicted on them.

“Jupiter!” He turns to see Sol running towards him, while also keeping his distance from the monster that is screeching about its injury. He flashes him an urgent expression. “What are you waiting for, for it to kill you? Fucking

move!”

As if Sol is able to order him around without his abilities.

But Jupiter moves anyway, his feet regaining the speed and mobility he had lacked just a few seconds ago.

With adrenaline pumping through his veins, he follows his star away from the monster, trying to ignore its agonized screams of cacophonous voices. He could make out every and any kind of tone within that hideous being.

“Where are we going?” He asks between pants, running and narrowly avoiding the broken shards of the building.

“Away from that thing!” Sol says, panting as well, slowly growing just as winded as he is. “What were you thinking, uncovering our hiding spot and causing us to blow our cover?!”

“That…

thing

was inside the shed!”

“You should've kept your disgust to yourself, damn it Jupiter! You aren't this picky over how we do things!”

Jupiter grits his teeth. He shouldn't be disrespectful to his star. He shouldn't talk back to his star. Everything he says is right. He repeats these sentences like a mantra, as the two of them pick up the pace when they realize that the thing is chasing after them. “The stench and texture is killing me, Sol! I can't be in that awful shed any longer.”

“You'll live!”

Jupiter hears the monster smashing into buildings, knocking them down into the ground forcibly and with all its might. It makes him pick up the pace faster, because whatever that monster does, it had absorbed humans into its body. It had made them feel the same pain and agony they are feeling now.

And that, Jupiter feels, with something close to empathy filling his veins, is unforgivable. He doesn’t know who to exert his blame on— the monster who is in pain, reaching out to its prey in order to seek some extension of assistance when it should just be put out of its misery; or Iris, who fucking mutated a living, breathing being into a former shell of itself and forced him to wreak havoc on everyone else.

That is a fate worse than… than…

He doesn’t know what word could be suitable for this. Even his memory, as fractured as it is, could not conjure a new word from his subpar vocabulary out of thin air again.

His eyes light up when he traces the orange nimbus clouds over the sky.

Nonexistence.

That was the word he was looking for, but he did not think it was appropriate.

He continues to run, whilst the howling becomes wilder, more uncontrollable, more volatile. He feels like he’s been running for an extremely long time— the muscles of his legs burn, his heart is beating crazily past the limits he fears that it would escape his rib cage altogether, and he feels beads of sweat slithering down his face, symbolizing that he still has the capacity to run, but when will it stop? When will this surge of energy stop, when he needs it to last longer?

He could already feel himself tiring out— Jupiter always had a rather high energy, due to not needing to feed on emotions of other planets like Shiva, Brahma, Mars or Venus; instead, he keeps to himself in his orbit, occupying his hands with something since Hades had seen them as rather annoying when he leaves them unchecked. Uranus had teased him about it, stating that he simply needs to find something his hands could be comfortable with doing, before creating such device for him: a multi-color cube he can play when, as Uranus quotes, they’re having the most boring meetings in the entire world. And, while he was busily rearranging the cube until every single color is in place, his hands never felt tired. His core never felt tired. He never felt the need to close his eyes or stop moving to gather his bearings.

It was always like he was packed with lightning, like the storms littering across his surface.

But where was the lightning now when he needs it?

He doesn’t.

The lightning left him when he was turned into a human, and, just like in the solar system, he tries to run from his mistakes.

The difference is: will he get caught?

Jupiter, lost in thought, does not process the rock in front of him in time— with an undignified shout, he slips and falls face first onto the road, feeling pain flare on his face, and on the elbow he had tried to land on in order to stop himself from falling, which really didn’t do anything.

He grunts, trying to get up, although clumsily, and the thumping, once again, becomes louder.

“Shit,” Sol says, running back to help him back on his feet once more, even when he had vowed to leave and never help him when he falls down again. “Stop being so fucking clumsy, Jupiter. We can’t afford to be in a situation like this!”

“I am so sorry,” Jupiter says with a choke, feeling all of the emotions he’d bottled up inside of him beginning to rear its ugly head out in the open. “This– this body is so—”

His sobs are interrupted by the sound of a building being demolished— the two of them turn their heads to see the monster having found them and kept up with them despite the ludicrous pace it has.

“We don’t have time to talk!” Sol says, yanking on Jupiter’s sleeve to prompt him to run. “We have to run.”

What is interesting is that, despite Sol having the urgency to leave, he still risked his life to check if Jupiter was alright.

He thought he was Sol’s least favorite.

The two resume running again, but this time, this fucking abomination is hot on their tales and extremely angry as all hell. Well, if someone threw a stick at you when you’d been eyeing your next meal, perhaps you’d be miffed about it as well.

He is reaching peak levels of his exhaustion— his legs are aching, he is breathing a lot harder now as the air in his lungs begin to deplete with every step he takes.

“Where are we going, anyway?” He asks Sol, who, hopefully, has some plan already devised. His star is smart and logical— there’s no way he could leave the two of them hanging.

The Sun looks at him with an unsure look. “I… don’t know.”

Jupiter’s face falls. “What do you mean, you don’t know?! Lord Sol you

always

have a plan for dire situations!”

“Your fuck up with Hades was

not

as dire as this! I have no time to prepare for being chased around the state of fucking Minnesota!”

Jupiter furrows his brows. “My fuck up with Hades?”

Sol’s face becomes indescribable, a flurry of guilt, anger, and grief embroiled into one expression, and Jupiter finds it rather uncanny that he could translate all of those emotions individually. Sol has never been great at expressing emotions, always keeping it from him at a distance. Did something change?

He supposes something has. It had been a billion years after all.

As if willing to change the subject, Sol’s eyes flit around their surroundings of ruined buildings, shattered glass, houses that barely look habitable, and wreckages of cars along the road. Finally, his eyes light up, as he points towards the big, hulking pile of cars on the side of the road.

“We can lose the thing there!” He tells Jupiter, as he begins to run faster. “But you have to go faster. Can you still pick up the pace?”

Well, from how his legs hurt, his face and eyes straining slightly, and his elbow from earlier hurting like a bitch, he wonders if it was not a bad idea at all.

He nods, determined to get away from this creature. To get away with the tidbit that he was prey and these beings were predators.

He doesn’t feel like talking for this.

With speed he thought dwindled when he was busy running for his life with a noxious stamina, he accelerates the speed, forcing his legs to work over time, before following Sol’s example and jumping onto the roof of one of the cars that had been caught in the wreckage. When he turns his head, he sees Sol looking at him, his pointer finger to his lips. Somewhere, the more knowledgable part of his mind whispers that that gesture means that he must keep quiet, or he might gain the being’s attention once more.

Well, he’s learned his lesson, if he was being honest— he will no longer run off into the woods where he knows was not safe, simply because whatever is inside the shed wasn’t safe to be around with either.

Sol begins to crawl further from the car wreckage, and Jupiter follows him, silently crawling after him.

They hear the sound of the being’s howls, but, as far as Jupiter could tell, they sound a bit frustrated, like he never thought that they would elude it and its hundred eyes.

Sol begins to inch away from the car, and into the shrubberies; it seems that, instead of an urban hike, they’ll be doing a little nature hike this time.

That’s fine— Jupiter has had

enough

asphalt roads where he seems to scrape every part of his body in. his elbow does not seem to be doing fine, but he doubts his star would concern himself with it.

The bigger problem is how they will be able to track whoever they’re searching for deep in the woods.

“I am not sure if this is the right course of action, Lord Sol,” Jupiter says as he stands, brushing away the fine dust that had gathered on his pants and sleeves. He is starting to find such particles rather cumbersome to deal with, like they were grinded pieces of asteroid dust. “Didn’t you say that, since the woods are shrouded, that could mean dangerous creatures milling about?”

“We’ll be fine, Zeus,” Sol says dismissively. “The reason why we’ve been chased was because we were running in plain sight— taking shelter in some ruined buildings won’t do much for our stealth mission. Also, don’t address me as Lord Sol, I told you that.”

Jupiter still could not shake off the uncertain feeling pooling inside of him. However, his loyal side is unwavering, so he nods at his star. “Alright, I trust you… Sol.”

“That’s the spirit.” The two of them began walking, and Jupiter tries to ignore the sounds of howling and cars being smashed, hearing them honking as the entity continues to look for them as if it were desperate for a meal. He still did not want to enter into unbidden territory, with him being so afraid that something will go wrong in this dalliance about to blow up on both their face. Sol swivels around to look at him. “But just to be safe, we’ll be at the outside part of the woods. Enough for us to be covered by Iris, and enough for us not to attract any monsters. Is that alright for you?”

Jupiter meekly nods. No point in arguing with his star, after all.

“Great. Let’s go.”

***

Of course, like everything that has happened since the both of them got ousted from their familiar, invincible bodies, Sol’s idea goes wrong.

It’s almost like every idea he has, every plan he makes when he is currently vying for the best possible outcome, is almost always thrown into his face like that one solar flare hitting Hades’s largest moon during that fateful Solstice gathering over billions of years ago. He thought that telling Hades to get over his moon would alleviate his consternation for his brother, but instead it led to his highly avoidable death. He did not make any plans when Jupiter was exposed for being a fraud, too heartbroken by his betrayal and what happened to Hades to consider manning his solar system.

He never had the pleasure of being chased before— sure, during the simple times when he didn’t get jealous of the power Nemesis holds, the two often play chase, since it was just them at the edge of the universe, with their creator only checking in to see if they were doing their jobs, but being

chased

was something that never happened to him. And he believed it never will, because who would chase after a star as powerful as him? Who was able to force him to stoop down from his pedestal in order to get chased by beings he would’ve set fire to?

Sol supposes that his reckoning has come today.

The search for USA had been as fruitless as ever, but he believes that endeavoring hard enough would bring them both the fruits they need to endure another bout of terrible harvest for their luck. They were on the edge of the woods at all times, ready to inch out of trouble as soon as something that does not resemble normal mother nature comes at them. He doesn’t want to run— not yet, when his legs feel like jelly and his breathing is still ragged and irregular. He sneaks a glance at Jupiter, who was looking dejectedly at the ground. There was a trail of blood coming from his nose, and the lenses of his glasses were cracked at the rim. If he breaks them, Sol isn’t sure they can find a ready and available replacement.

He misses being able to just summon the things he needs to summon— in fact, he misses a lot of things that he had taken for granted in that illustrious form of his.

Then, the sky had darkened— and fuck, Sol forgot all about the day and night cycle that perpetuates with every planet that revolves around him.

And Earth has been very particular about his day and night cycles— so much so that even the earthlings on his surface have different forms of routine when it comes to exerting and gathering energy.

He could feel himself growing tired as well— but he tries to trudge on, even when he knows his energy is depleting.

Humans need to sleep. However, Jupiter does not know that fact as a human, hence, he is starting to sway a little from where he is walking, slowing down his pacing a bit. His eyelids have gotten heavy as well, and his lips quiver either from the cold, frigid winds or from the lack of sleep.

Well, they had a very eventful day, after all; having the striking realization that they are both human, getting chased by a horrifying entity that had once been a group of humans, and then having to walk to find some sort of reprieve, well, that must make for a very exhausting day. Of course their body would need to sleep— he suspects his own would drop on a mattress due to the sheer exhaustion of it.

But he has control over his body’s needs. He doesn’t need to rest. Not once. Not even when his stomach starts to grumble, meaning that he has to

eat

something. When was the last time the both have eaten? He doesn’t think Jupiter knows what hunger even is and what the symptoms of it are.

Then, that’s where the wolves had come in.

Or, well,

he

thought they were wolves.

Jupiter did not.

Suddenly, as if time has started again, they are being chased by wolves that weren’t actually wolves at all, now that Sol thinks about it— their eyes were a vicious red, and their fur was translucent, like he is able to see through their skin. The way they move was differently, too; all ragged and eager and not with the same organized and controlled pack that the wolves he’s seen work in the shows Earth forced every planet to watch about his life. He was suddenly thankful for all the nature documentaries, but he is not sure how he could possible save himself from a bunch of asshole mimicking wolves that aren’t actually those creatures.

He wishes he could have met a

real

wolf. None of them even howl the way a wolf does, sounding suspiciously more like a dying human, gurgling acid and muttering obscenities under its breath. Although, he could hear the sound of a dog barking, if he tries to crane his ear a little bit.

He concludes that being chased by a bunch of motherfuckers hellbent on just killing him was the worst experience in his life. Nothing could ever top that, unless it is finding out about Hades’s murder. He still has some regrets over it.

But being chased means that he was going to

die

when he is caught. While he would wonder what death would mean for him in this meaningless body, he finds himself

afraid

to find out whether his mortality will continue to fester when he is torn to shreds. Will he return to the solar system, his consciousness having been freed from his mortal body, or will he simply…

die?

Cease to exist?

He hates this so damn much. He hates having to feel so helpless, unsure of what to do.

The wolves are gaining on them. It must be because both he and Jupiter are slowing down, with Jupiter moreso.

Then, one of those fucking wolves jump, about to land on Sol, and he wonders if his time is up now as he stares frozen into the white, reflective and translucent fangs of the wolf’s teeth. If the sky had been its dark blue shade, with the pretty moonlight being the reflection, and not that hot brown color that makes Sol feel nauseous every time he looks up, the wolf would look beautiful, being in its proper habitat.

Alas, that is not a real wolf, and it is about to bite his face clean off anyway.

“LORD SOL!” He hears Jupiter scream, and he’s never really heard his planet scream like that before, since he’s more used keeping it inside of him, as if no one should be privy to his more paranoid and anxious rambling. But, it’s been a while since Jupiter had spoken, being caught in the haze of drowsiness and then being chased by these anomalies. Sol doesn’t have the time to process before the air is knocked out of his lungs as some force sends him tumbling into the ground.

That something is, apparently, Jupiter, who had pushed him out of the way and turned around in some amateur way of trying to fight off the wolf.

Only for it to go dire.

Of course, Jupiter’s act of heroism doesn’t work the way he wanted it to work— Sol watches with horrified eyes as the wolf fucking tackles Jupiter on the ground with a large thump. He runs towards them, wondering if he could pry the damn thing off his stupid,

stupid

companion before the rest of its pack gains on the both of them. Jupiter was undeterred; he punches the predator with what little arm strength he has, and the wolf responds by—

Sol feels his heart drop.

He runs to him, not caring if the wolves are about to get near. “MOVE, Jupiter!”

— By biting into Jupiter’s arm.

The scream Jupiter had released from his mouth reverberates around the woods, and Sol

swears

that it had alarmed more of Iris’s mutants and showed them their location. He hears the woods from all around them rustle, alongside the leaves on some trees shaking, like they want to get a closer look at the carnage that is about to happen.

Jupiter is still on the ground, and the wolf is still baring its teeth, biting into Jupiter’s arm. Sol knows he has to get it to stop biting into the other man’s arm.

With the limited light which that horrendous brown sky provides, being slightly thankful that Iris continues to revolve around Earth like some sort of star for him, he looks for anything that even resembles a weapon— he and Jupiter had never found one in the post office, only because the place was empty outside of the barest essentials. He hadn’t even found a gun that people loved to use so much, wondering if people took it with them in order to fight the monsters. He wished he had some sort of weapon now, hell, he wished that he could just snap his fingers to obliterate the wolves, but he has to rely on his smarts and the surroundings all around him this time.

He finds a stick on the ground— it wasn’t his first choice for a weapon, but damn it, he had no choice. It was either watching Jupiter’s arm getting hacked off or the both of them getting eaten by wolves.

He swings the stick towards the assaulting wolf, hitting it square in the jaw and forcing the monstrous entity back, letting go of Jupiter’s arm, much to their relief.

Jupiter was still on the ground, the imitators stop and prowl around their leader, so, for the third time today, Sol helps Jupiter up. Jupiter’s arm was

bleeding,

crimson rivulets streaming down the puncture wounds. His arm did not seem to be broken, but Sol is wary of what that bite could entail from the wolf. He wonders if celestial bodies can get infected by viruses from Earth in this vessel, and he did not

want

to know, especially when they were on borrowed time.

He could feel the vitriolic words already forming in his throat— he wonders why Jupiter would do something

so reckless,

pushing him out the way when he had the opportunity to save himself, and Sol

was

about to start moving out of the way when he realizes that the wolf is about to lunge at him. He doesn’t need anyone to push him away from danger, because, as the star, he was

meant

to be taking hits no other planet should be able to endure.

Now the two of them are stuck in the middle of the woods, surrounded by trees and things that were not truly trees watching them, their shades blocking them from the vision of the skies.

Now the two of them, he knows, are about to

die

meaningless deaths.

Why did Jupiter do that?

“Keep it held,” Sol tells Jupiter, who was gritting his teeth, having felt no kind of pain like this before. Well, that’s what happens when you decide that the best way to approach this situation is to become a bit self-sacrificial. “We need to leave, before—”

Growls interrupt him, and Sol rolls his eyes, groaning as he makes eye contact with the wolf’s ominous, red glowing eyes. Its teeth were bared, and its fur, or rather, the imitation of it, were standing tall, making it look angry. It

should

be indignant, since Sol had just finished hitting it with a stick when it was digging into the meal he had rightfully earned as his, but, well, he should pick another human being rather than someone that is not really one, unless it’s following Iris’s orders on hunting them down.

Sol, instead of acting rather defeatist in face of an opponent he knows, with his limited arsenal of his fists, both of which are trying to support Jupiter’s weight as he hears the sounds of his labored breathing, and of course, the stick that he had used to fucking beat the shit out of this damn wolf.

Suddenly, thoughts of his inevitable death begin to enter his mind.

Was this the end? Was he going to die a powerless mortal without anything to his name? Will he be remembered? What of his original body? Will it continue to stand the test of time, or will it also just die with him, rendering Iris’s victory on Earth, alongside X and Tyche’s?

He fears that more than anything, he realizes. That he was so useless that no planet could look at him and ask for his help.

Still, he doesn’t accept this fate. He

can’t

accept it— he’ll go down fighting if he had to, but that would mean he won’t be scolding Jupiter for the stupid shit he had down today.

“Okay,” he takes a deep breath in, making eye contact with the wolf. He could still hear Jupiter’s labored and pained breathing, but he’s trying to be quiet, only for it to be futile. “This is– this is fine. What if I give you guys a brand new human you can eat? Leave me and my buddy alone? I really don’t want to end up as some mimic’s dish, no offense.”

If they can understand human speech, this may be the time. Still, they continue growling, leering at them as if sizing up their prey.

So, that won’t work.

Sol inches away from them, and the wolf barks— but it wasn’t the same kind of barking a wolf does, because to assume that this was still a regular wolf would be preposterous— the bark sounds a lot like a high-pitched, human wailing, and Sol winces at the sheer volume of it. Jupiter, for his part, whimpers slightly, his hair covering his face.

Well, they’re fucked. He doesn’t know how to get out of the situation they found themselves in— maybe they shouldn’t have went into the woods. Maybe he should have listened to Jupiter’s advice over this. If only he trusted Jupiter enough.

What was he

thinking?

He can’t trust Jupiter. He’ll

never

trust him for as long as he lives.

Not when it had mattered.

Sol bites his lip, wondering if, should he leave Jupiter to be eaten by the wolves, could he save himself from his horrible fate? After all, the solar system needs the Sun more than the largest planet in the solar system, after all, and if there is one thing the three vagrants all fear, it’s a star’s great, blinding power.

He wonders if he could leave Jupiter.

He tries to let go of him. Jupiter would not budge— or,

Sol

would not budge.

Something in his stomach churns. What was he doing? Here he is, having a solid escape plan in his head, and yet, when asked to leave Jupiter, he just stands still, even going as far as

shielding

him from the wolves.

What is he doing?

Is this a symptom of being human? His rational thought being slowly replaced with the naive strings of emotion?

He fucking hates this.

The wolf lunges.

Knowing he can’t exactly stop himself from doing anything else, he closes his eyes.

He may have sealed his fate by doing so.

Just then, a loud

BANG

suddenly rings out of the entire woods.

Not just any kind of mundane bang.

He knows that noise, even if he had only identified them when he caught a glimpse of the rocky planets having movie nights with each other— it was a gunshot.

A gunshot? He and Jupiter don’t know how to use a gun, and none of them have guns in their possession.

Could it be…?

He turns around, only to find himself face-to-face with a human woman— she had long, dark hair, brown eyes, a pink sweater, and a shotgun (he hopes it

is

a shotgun) in her hand.

Brown eyes meet gold. “If you want to live, follow me to my car!”

Sol doesn’t want to waste this opportunity immediately. He lets go of Jupiter, pushing him forwards to prompt him to get moving, before the two of them break into an awkward run to follow that woman out of this dreary woods, away from the horror movie setting that this woods’ aura exudes. To his relief, Jupiter seems to understand the heaviness of this situation, as he, despite nursing the large gash on his arm, picks up his pace— he is still noticeably slower than Sol, but he’ll complain about it later.

Sol spots a car in the distance, parked at the edge of the woods— this must be the woman’s car.

The woman opens the door leading to the driver’s seat, turning the engine on as the car roars to life. Jupiter jumps in surprise, but Sol is not affected as he opens the door to the backseat, shoves Jupiter inside, and then jams himself onto the passenger seat. He tries not to notice the shotgun dangerously just within his reach, as he hears the wolves outside barking their not very wolfish barks. It sounds more like dying animals, now that he thinks about it.

The wolves are gaining on them, he realizes. He turns to the woman, their savior, with an urgent expression on his face.

“Drive!” He exclaims.

She glares at him. “I

am!”

She grips the steering wheel as hard as she can, swiveling it to the right as the car begins to move. She presses on the accelerator as soon as the car is back on the highway, speeding away from the wolves as fast as this car could be.

The ringing in Sol’s ears stop, and silence plagues the car. The car was only filled by Sol’s panting, thoroughly exhausted from running, the adrenaline that had fueled him now drained as all hell. He hears the sounds of Jupiter’s pained breathing, and he risks a look at the man on the rearview mirror— he looks rather shit, but outside of that very concerning bite wound, nothing much he should fret over about.

He gulps, looking at his hands— they were calloused and filled with minor nicks and wounds that, hopefully, they can treat with the little first aid supply that they have. Despite everything that had happened, Jupiter kept a rather tight hold on that bag.

Remembering the woman that had saved them from death, he turns to look at her, exhales, and says, “Thanks for saving us. We would’ve gotten

killed

without you.” Human decency means showing gratitude, correct?

She takes a deep breath, as the drive becomes steady. “It’s no problem. I was out hunting for food, and found you about to get eaten by a pack of mimics. It seems that they already took a bite out of your companion over there.” She looks back at Jupiter, who whimpers in pain.

He swallows. “Is it infected? The bite, I mean.”

“You mean in the general way, or the Iris infected way?”

He doesn’t know how she knows of the planet’s name. These earthlings never even

knew

about the Iris until now. Or whenever Iris had decided to wreak havoc upon the Earth just for existing.

“If he’s infected in the Iris way, then.”

“Luckily, mimics of that nature can also only mimic the danger levels they mimic as. They won’t infect your friend with mutations, but someone should really get him checked for the open wound he sustained during the fight, or it might get infected.”

Sol lets out a deep, relieved breath. “Oh, thank the stars.”

The woman gives him a funny look. “You might need him to rest for a couple of days. I feel like he’s coming down with a fever.”

He raises a brow. “You can sense it even when you’ve only seen him once?”

She shrugs. “It’s the best case scenario. Do you have any medical supplies?”

He nods. “In Jupiter’s bag.”

The woman looks at him with a soft smile on her face. Sol finds her countenance familiar, however, he could not put a finger on why. “Your companion is named

Jupiter?

Like the planet?”

He shrugs, “Who else?”

“So your name would be

Saturn,

if we’re going with this pattern?”

He blanches at the idea of being

called

that name. Saturn was not who he wanted to be compared to, especially for these past following days when it had been exposed he was a two-faced lying asshole who had, personally, wanted X to return and wreak havoc to his solar system again.

“Ugh, no, that guy’s an asshole,” Sol tells her. “You can call me Sol. I think naming myself as The Sun would just make everyone more confused.”

The woman’s brows furrow.

“I’m

getting confused already.”

He waves her off, deciding to change the subject. “Where are we going? Are we going to your wasteland shelter? Do you have a bunker like all those earthling movies my planets watch?”

The woman looks at him with a wary look. “Are you high right now?”

“I’m sure I’m taller than you by a foot, lady.”

“No, I meant… do you know what being

high

means?”

Sol sighs, “Look lady, the only thing I know about your kind is that you would rather kill each other if it means getting the last piece of meat. So, riddle me this: why did you save us? Are you going to feed us to your litter of carnivore babies? How am I sure that you’re not one of Iris’s mutations, about to kill us when you stop the car?”

“I wouldn't have saved you if I was human. And what is up with you acting like you aren't like us? Are

you

one of the Iris’s mutations?”

Sol rolls his eyes. “Girl, I am

better

than all those creatures combined.” All of

you

combined, he doesn’t say. He might sound like a weirdo with a superiority complex, which isn’t technically a lie. Still, he has to get in the good graces of this woman.

The woman simply raises a brow at him, as she focuses her eyes on the road. He tries to ignore Jupiter’s pained grunts at the back. Sol keeps an eye out on the road, his eyes warily looking at their surroundings to check whether or not they are being followed by any kind of monster from the Iris. He looks up, only to still see that abominable Giant continue to float amongst the sky. He grits his teeth in distaste, looking at Jupiter, before avoiding his gaze when he looks at him.

“You can stay with us, if you like,” she says after the lapse of silence passes between them in the car. “Your friend could use the downtime to check on his wounds.”

Sol curls his lips. “We don’t need to rest. We have to keep going.”

“Your friend looks like he’s going to pass out if you don’t keep that wound treated and rest.”

She was right— he is not sure how well Jupiter would be just exploring after treating that damn wound he caused himself to earn when he decided to push Sol out of the way. Just what the hell was he thinking? They were both powerless humans, they both have the same strength as a weak-willed, terrible human, but he

had

to act as some sort of savior? What is with him? He doesn’t know either.

“Damn it, Jupiter, why did you have to be so reckless?” Sol says, turning around so he can admonish his planet directly. “Why did you push me out of the way? I could handle it.” It was a bluff, but seeing Jupiter so weak and sequestered into this sniveling, crying, and feverish looking man was not doing well for Sol’s newly developed conscience. Who knew that, for all the horrific actions humans have made, they have also felt so much to the point he could only feel disgust creep within him?

Jupiter meets his eyes, orange colors completely contrasting with how pale his skin looks in this dim, ombre light. “You’re more important than me, Lord Sol. I would rather you live if it means that you can continue fighting for us, for the solar system. I am simply the last ranked Giant in the solar system, and I feel like I’ve been burdening you by getting us stuck in troublesome situations like this.”

“Damn straight,” Sol grits his teeth, and he doesn’t know why he is so irritated at Jupiter, and then towards himself. Then, there was this…

guilt

eating inside of him too. Where did that come from? Jupiter was right— he was unimportant. Well, less important than Sol is, when they are speaking of stars and their untouched power, unlike Jupiter. However, Jupiter will be missed— he was well-liked by the planets around the solar system, Mars, Saturn, Uranus and, debatably, Neptune would be quite devastated if he returned without Jupiter. Who’s going to mourn for Sol? Hopefully Mercury, but he’s been in the planet’s mind— he

knows

what he thinks of him. No one would mourn him like a king. “You cost us time with this ridiculous stunt of yours! You’ve become nothing more than burdensome! Do you realize this?!”

Jupiter seems to realize this, as he shrinks further into himself. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Lord Sol.”

The way that he is shivering and muttering the apology makes Sol deflate, the fiery anger leaving him so soon, immediately when he sees the pitiful state that Jupiter has found himself in. The guilt continues to roil in him, burning his insides alive— or perhaps that is hunger, the instinctual need to keep himself full in order to burn the constituents he had consumed into energy. Sol breathes out, turning around so he is fully seated into the passenger seat.

He ignores how the woman is looking at him.

“You guys really named yourselves after the celestial bodies in the solar system?” She asks after another bout of silence passes.

Sol rolls his eyes; did this woman not get it. “We’re not named after the things scattered around the solar system. We

are

the real Sun and Jupiter. That bitch just crammed us into human bodies so she can go on with her shitty plans of universal domination without us interrupting her. Hopefully, Earth is trying to stop her from doing anything else.”

“Are you sure you guys aren’t high?”

“Ugh, fuck no. i’ve been in this human body for only a few hours, but I’m not touching the things you think are stress-reliefs. And does the guy at the back

look

stable enough to be snorting lines of cocaine?”

“... I’m starting to regret picking you two up.” She slows her car down, and, shit, she’s going to kick the two of them out, huh? Just after saving them from their inevitable doom?

Sol flounders for an explanation. “Shit, lady, there’s an

injured man

sitting on your backseat! Don’t slow the damn car down!”

She glares at them, suspicion leaking through her features, as she grabs her shotgun with a free hand, keeping her remaining hand on the steering wheel. “How do I know that you both are not mutations from The Iris?”

“Because we’re— ugh, you call her

The

Iris? Can’t you be casual and call her Iris? That bitch

really

doesn’t deserve to be titled in such a way.”

The car continues to slow.

“Okay, okay, you have to believe us when we say that we’re not Iris’s mutations!” Sol sputters. He really doesn’t want to be left alone with Jupiter in a desolate wasteland. He’s lowkey admitting it— getting a selfless human to offer them a home to recover in and adjust for a brief period of time was the best option for the both of them before searching for USA again. “But… we are like her. A sentient planet, or a sentient star, since you’re talking to me.”

“So The Iris

is

a sentient being?” The woman says, her eyes shining with horror and interest. It was all very uninteresting, in Sol’s eyes, when the sentience and being able to speak entails

someone

starting an entire fucking war because he got jealous of his brother. “It makes sense— but how did you know?”

Sol wants to claw his hair out. “If you get your car back to proper speed and arrive at your home, we’ll tell you the story. Just don’t think we’re joking, because what we’re going to say is true. And we need your help… I guess.”

The woman sighs, but acquiesce in the end, as she speeds up the car, as the trees and highways fade into the suburbs that, for all intents and purposes, still look like a damn horror setting in Sol’s eyes. “I thought you were a god; you don’t need help from mortals.”

“Unfortunately, Iris took away my damn omniscience when she put me in this body.”

She chuckles. “If you really are a celestial being, then you can tell my son stories about space. He loves it ever since his father began telling space stories during bedtime.”

Sol blinks. It can’t be— but it could be. There are only so little astronauts, to the point he could remember all their names despite their tenure in space lasting so short. But he knows only one family man who constantly talks about his incredibly amazing smart wife and his silent but precious son.

“Your son’s name would be Lucas, perhaps?” He asks, and the woman stiffens, turning to look at him.

“How did you—?”

“Holy shit, you’re Astrodude’s wife.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

𖤓—
♃『2/8』 Fever Dreams
𖤓—♃ 『12,609 words』

Astrodude’s wife (damn, he doesn’t even know her name yet, so he’s just going to call her Astrowife) parks silently on a suburban house’s driveway, before ushering them out of the vehicle before someone sees that she has brought passengers from beyond the small suburbs that looks rather safe enough. Uncannily time paradoxical, and a bit eerie, but it was safe. Then again, Sol still thinks that this is all some horror movie setting in disguise, and is simply waiting for the other shoe to drop. Still, a woman’s orders are orders, and he removes himself from the passenger seat before opening the door to the backseat. He shoots Jupiter’s shivering form with an unimpressed look as he grabs the bag Jupiter still wears on his back.

“Come on, Jupiter, let’s get inside now,” he tells him, and the man just shivers.

“Is she… safe?” Jupiter asks, but it sounds merely like a whisper, cautiously looking at the woman who was slinging the shotgun onto her back.

“Don’t worry, she’s Astrodude’s wife, she’s safe,” Sol says. “And besides, we need to to clean your wounds. We allowed it to fester out in the open for too long.”

He touches Jupiter gingerly, and Jupiter inches away from him with a startled expression. Sol distances his fingers, but he waits for Jupiter to climb down the car already.

He tries not to be impatient with the shell-shocked man.

After a few more seconds of coaxing (more like just watching as Jupiter’s shivering form tries to accommodate the fact they’re in a safe place now) Jupiter finally exits the car, landing on shaky feet, as he stares at the suburbs with a skeptical expression. He is still holding his arm out.

“This looks like a horror movie scene,” he deadpans, and Sol laughs.

“It does, doesn’t it?” He asks humorously, as the two of them head towards the porch of Astrowife’s home once they’re done admiring the sheer loneliness of the suburbs. It was eerily beautiful, in a way— it was like how the stars in the galaxy are technically neighbors, but out of reach.

The doors, as Sol could see, were locked; it must be the work of Astrowife’s son, if he thinks about it. Well, in a world filled with mutations that are just human beings in disguise, well, it wouldn’t hurt to be careful.

“You left your son alone?” Sol asks skeptically as the implications finally ground to his head, and Astrowife’s shoulders simply sag in shame.

“I can’t hunt with him… you know how dangerous the world is right now,” she tells him. “He’ll be safer here in our home.”

He raises a brow. “And if a mutation ever tries to trespass into your home?”

“They can’t get in unless they are let in by us,” Astrowife tells them with a resolute look on her face. She looks at the both of them more clearly, “And I’m making the sacrifice and horrible decision in trusting two crazy men who think that they’re celestial bodies.”

Sol sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Lady, I thought we got over this.”

“We’ll see if your stories are true,” she shrugs, as she knocks on the door. Well, knocking is an understatement— she makes a series of thumps that would classify as rhythm, which Sol identifies as some sort of calling card, a way for her son to realize that the one answering the door was human. Once she’s done, she turns to Sol, and opens her mouth to explain, “It’s this night’s door knocking combination. We change it every time I go out hunting. Then, when I manage to pass the first test, he asks me only something I would know.”

“Clever girl,” Sol states with a huff, as they wait for Lucas to ask his question. Oh wait, he forgot that their son was mute, so he might be using paper for this.

As expected, a paper slips from under the door. He did not have the time to read the question written on it, as she immediately picks it up, reads the question, then smiles. She digs into her pockets to procure a pen, writes her answer, and slips it back under the door.

He hears a series of locks and padlocks being unlocked, and the door opens, only for them to be met by a small boy with messy black hair. He wears a poker face, although his eyes shine with relief and happiness when he sees his mother. When he notices that she has companions, he looks at them, tilting his head.

Astrowife introduces the both of them to her son, “Lucas, this is Sol and Jupiter. I met them when I was out hunting for food, and they needed all the help they could get. Jupiter and Sol, my son Lucas.”

Lucas silently points to Jupiter’s arm, and Astrowife nods her head. “We need to treat his wound, yes.” Lucas nods, before disappearing up the stairs. She turns to look at them, her expression of steely determination. “Now we have the entire living room to ourselves. He won’t disturb us until I call him down for dinner.”

Sol nods, ushering Jupiter inside as Astrowife closes the doors once they have entered. “Thank you so much— I’ll make sure to tell Earth to bless your family for eons to come.”

She looks at him weirdly. “Can we save the cosmic exposition during the time I’m dressing Jupiter’s wound?”

“Eh, sure lady. Hey Jupiter, can you sit down on the sofa?” Jupiter nods his head as he follows Sol’s advice.

“Where’s your first aid kit?” She asks as she examines the wound. She hisses softly at the laceration, but shakes her head when she sees Jupiter’s panicked gaze directly on him.

Sol opens Jupiter’s bag and procures said first aid kit from the abyss of his bag. “Here.”

Astrowife huffs a breath, “Thank you. Let’s see what you have—” She opens the kit, and is, from the look of her face, horrified and disappointed at what she sees inside of it. She looks at Sol with a disappointed face.

“What?”

“This first aid kit is nearly empty.”

“Not my fault people plundered the post office we have been in before setting out in the world. What else is there? I never actually seen it myself.”

“Some gauze, bandages, laxatives, cough medicine, some painkillers…” She rummages around, but her searches seem to be futile. “But that’s it. Why is this

empty?”

“If it’s empty, it shouldn’t have so many items! I think that’s enough to last us an amputation! Not that we

have

to amputate your arm, of course.” He says the last bit to Jupiter, who was slumped over the couch. He doesn’t look like he’s listening.

“Do you even

know

how lacking your first aid kit is?”

“No, because I

don’t know

what those medicines are for!”

“I really am starting to believe that you two are what you say you are— no human being would not know what the things in here are used for.”

“Gee, thanks for believing our story now that we expose ourselves at being terrible at health.”

Despite her complaints, she does her work with treating Jupiter’s wounds efficiently— she even forces Sol to help her, from disinfecting the wound, to bandaging them with the clean bandages they found in their first aid kit. He didn’t

want

to help her with treating the wound, however, Astrowife insists that he should learn how to, at the very least, assist with an injury so they won’t be as helpless as they are with their health the next time they come across a dire situation.

And, Sol hates to admit it, but she’s

right.

He was helpless before she managed to save them from utter carnage from those mimic wolves. He was helpless when they were running away from that horrendous mutation. He was helpless when Jupiter, in a fit of disgust and nausea, ran away from their hiding spot because Sol did not think to restrain him. He was completely, utterly helpless, all because, if he thinks about it, he is still thinking like a star in a strange land with even stranger beings. He cannot think like a star, because he is completely and utterly powerless, and, loathingly, a human being.

He fucking hates having to come to terms over that fact.

Sol watches as she forces Jupiter to take some pain killers, before softly laying him down on the sofa. His eyes were closed, but they twitch slightly, brows furrowed. He is not going to have an enjoyable rest; Sol could feel it in his bones. He almost looks bad staring at the man, as Astrowife exhales, letting out a deep breath.

She turns to look at him with a serious expression. She must want answers now.

Instead, she asks, “Have you eaten yet?”

He looks at her. “What?”

“Have you eaten? You two look like you’re about to drop from exhaustion, with those eye bags of yours.”

He shrugs. “I’ll just sleep.” He has

no

interest in shoveling food into his stomach, no matter how much his stomach is grumbling, wanting

something

of nutrition to slip inside it.

“No, you’re going to eat. Jupiter will eat in the morning, once he’s lucid enough. Do you have any food in your bag?”

“Yes.” He bites out begrudgingly. “Canned goods and… a few packs of oatmeal?”

“That’s good,” she says with a sigh. “I’ll turn the stove on and make both our dinners. How about you keep watch over your friend there?”

“He’s not my friend,” Sol can’t help but correct her, feeling extremely disturbed and uncomfortable at the thought of Jupiter being a ‘friend.’ Stars don’t have friends, they have

inferiors.

Those they consider equal are too far away for any of them to interact with on a casual basis, and their relationships with their creations aren’t quite deep enough for them to be considered friends. Yeah, sure, he and Mercury are friends,

best friends,

if Sol wants to become rather particularly insistent, but the both of them know that was just a horrendous lie that was crafted because the both of them are lonely.

Astrowife raises a brow. “Then what do you want to call him then? Lover?”

He makes an expression of disgust. “He’s married. Not to me, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Yeah, I figured. You aren’t exactly one would find attractive in a romantic partner. I’m not sure about Jupiter, since he’s making a feverish impression on me.”

“What the— hey, I’m plenty charming!”

“Let’s get you something to eat, then,” Astrowife tells him. “And you get to watch me cook your stupid oatmeal. That way you’ll know how to cook for yourself and for Jupiter.”

“I told you, I don’t need to—”

“You’re going to have dinner with us and that’s

final,

Sol.”

Her glare was one of the scariest things Sol has ever seen in the entire multiverse— who knew that humanity could be so scary when they want themselves to be? Or perhaps it’s because of his human body registering the fear of being admonished for things he’s never been admonished before. His own mother was not very involved in his life, until he and Nemesis began being at odds with each other. With a sigh, he puts his hands up in surrender, as he follows her into the kitchen in order for her to show him how a stove works.

Lucas, as expected, comes down when he hears the sound of utensils clacking. He tilts his head at Sol, who was begrudgingly placing a bowl of oatmeal on the table after Astrowife convinces him to serve dinner with her. As he does so, he casts fleeting glances towards Jupiter, whose face was still tightly morphed into a frown, not very relaxed from what he is currently seeing. He wonders what he sees from behind those eyelids.

“You can sit down now,” Astrowife says, and he sees that Lucas has disappeared from the basement of the stairs and is now seated at the table. “You’re free to eat anything you like.”

Sol, hesitantly, sits, feeling very out of place. “I’ll just eat the oatmeal you cooked for me.” He really doesn’t want to deprive this family of their supplies, if the mother had no choice but to go out hunting for her son. He coughs, covering his mouth as he looks away. “You can take the food we gathered. I would not mind. It feels like we’ll be staying here for a long time.”

She smiles, as she turns on the lamp at the center of the table, casting a golden glow of ombre and burgundy across the small section of the dining room. Humans have electricity running in their houses— however, it seems that ever since the beginning of this damn apocalypse, humanity has been relying more on the cheap light that these lamps or candles provide, as if they have returned to the olden days of plague and poverty. The rest of the house is dark, save for the kitchen, and the lamp inside the living room, which was dim. It must be to dissuade predators from coming to their place. He avoids the direct light of the lamp as he takes the spoon to the bowl of oatmeal, hesitantly putting a few morsels of it into his bowl.

Eating was a foreign concept to him— he doesn’t eat, no one actually eats anything, unless it had been the Giants with their unsustainable appetites and their obsession with making it a competition on eating as many rocky planets as they can. Honestly, he thinks that the earthlings, especially the humans, for them being the smartest beings on Earth, needing to be

fed

with either the artificial slop they create or destroy their habitat with the hope that it could give them the fresh meat and greens that he thinks they loathe eating. He hates seeing humans eat, hates how they have to open their mouth in order to taste their food.

Now, he’s about to do it— he knows that he has to eat, as it is a function to survive. The body cannot do anything any other way, and he might waste away if he tries to starve himself.

He hates it, really. He hates how useless he feels, to the point he

has

to eat in order to survive. To see his appetite be turned into an instinct, instead of the innate feeling of power surging within him when he sees how fast his planets are evolving for him to feed upon.

He hates this.

Quelling down his discomfort, he swallows as he puts the spoon full of oatmeal onto his mouth— it was hot, but not intolerantly so, and he opens his mouth. He feels the hot morsels enter inside the crevices of his mouth, feeling its chewy, soft texture.

He chews.

And chews.

He frowns. “This tastes like nothing.”

A smile burgeons across Astrowife’s face. “It’s

oatmeal.

And if you are who you say you are, you might probably try out foods that are flavorless before you start eating more… exquisite foods with refined taste. Do you even eat, as the star that you say you are?”

Lucas looks up when he hears that one of his guests may possibly be a celestial body, staring at Sol with fascinated brown eyes. Sol internally sighs.

Astrowife was right— the tongue could sense so many flavors all at once, to the point he wonders if he could handle if a food is too sweet, or a food is too spicy, only for it to be mild in humans that have adapted. While eating bland, flavorless slop was not how he wants to eat his dinner, it is better than the alternative of being overstimulated. Hope Astrowife doesn’t mind if he borrows her stove tomorrow morning to cook breakfast for Jupiter, befitting for a feverish man.

He pauses slightly, his mouth hanging open.

Why did he think about feeding Jupiter and helping him when

he

was the one who got them both into trouble in the first place, letting that damn wolf bite him?

He sighs, as he chews on his oatmeal. “Well, I’m predicted to consume the rocky planets in my solar system after four billion more years. I’m still waiting for that.”

Astrowife’s face pales, but unlike his boring broad of a mother, her son’s eyes sparkle with reverence and intrigue.

He shrugs. “Chill, lady. You’ll all be dead by the time I start eating my planets.”

A few decades, hell, even a century from now, this woman and her son, along with her missing husband will all die, and be buried to the ground. Then, their bodies will decompose shorter than they have ever been alive, and one day, the cemetery they were all buried in will be made way for whatever selfish monster decided to disrespect the graves of the dead by building a project that spits on their faces. Then, that establishment will decay too. He will outlast them, and he could not help but envision their skeletons being the one eating with him miserably in this dining room.

It goes to show that Sol knows the cycle of life despite being forced to proximity to its ugly sides just today. Just when things are getting even shittier.

Astrowife calms herself down, but the vein protruding from her forehead isn’t doing her any good. She must still be pissed about the whole ‘learning about the most disturbing facts about the solar system during dinnertime’ thing. Sol idly feeds himself with the oatmeal.

“So,

Sol,”

Astrowife utters his name like it’s some dubious secret to be kept between them, but he ignores it for the need to consume his oatmeal until he’s satisfied. “If you’re the Sun, how come you’re currently a human being? And you seem to know what The Iris’s deal is. Do you have any information?”

Sol laughs. “Oh lady, I have

all

the information I need about this planet. I know how the dinosaurs died in full, lucrative detail. I know what caused the Dancing Plague of 1518, I even know where Cleopatra is buried!” He, actually, does not know any of these things. Human history is more Earth and Jupiter’s forte, but his knowledge amongst the universe isn’t an understatement. If only his memory could collaborate with him. “So don’t assume that I am some brainless and clueless being, just because I’m human right now.”

Astrowife clenches her spoon. Hard. Lucas just watches.

She smiles, but it doesn’t quite meet her eyes. She’s mad. He

really

shouldn’t be antagonizing the woman with a shotgun.

“Please just answer my questions.” She sounds desperate, enjoyably so… well, what else is Sol going to do? He’s making this dinner more awkward than it needs to be.

He relents. “Okay, fine.” He pauses as he considers what information he should tell this lady about the solar system and why this is happening. To be completely honest, he was saving all this exposition junk to when he finally meets USA and gets her to find Earth for him. He doesn’t want to leak too much information to the common populace, much less a woman living with her child while her husband is unaccounted for in space. He doesn’t trust them not to blab about having the privilege of meeting a celestial body to others, and he most certainly didn’t want to put them in Iris’s short blacklist for knowing what the heck the Great Attractor and its nature is.

“It’s a long story, but I’m willing to tell this over dinner. The one who put me in this body is Iris. Long before she was a fu—” The look on Astrowife’s face dissuades him from continuing the crude sentence, and he clears his throat as he plays with his oatmeal. “She was my planet. There were multiple planets in the solar system a long time ago, but they whittled down to eight main planets after you decided to demote Pluto from the periphery.”

“There had been no records of extra planets from NASA.”

Sol sighs, rolling his eyes. “Woman, do you not know who you're talking to here? I've been alive for a long time, and I know all my planets and their moons. Even if I sometimes fail at remembering their names back then. But something happened, and it caused Iris to desert her place in the solar system, which was a big no no for me. I kind of forgot about my missing planets until the fateful day Ganymede and Europa returned with Planet X in tow. When Iris beamed me into this body, she also told me why she did all this. The reason why she had decided to turn your world into a playground.”

Astrowife takes a few moments to process the information, but her kid seems to understand, as his eyes are wide as saucers. He is itching to ask something, but is refraining to get more information from him. Stars, he’s literally a mini Astrodude. She looks back at him with a concerned expression. “But why would she choose us? Why is she tormenting and mutating the people in the world?”

“Because it’s fun,” Sol says, taking a passionate bite of his oatmeal. “Us immortal beings can live forever. You guys are nothing but blips in time to me. Iris is doing this for the hell of it. She wants to do the things she had done to the surface of the Earth with the solar system, and, soon, the entire galaxy.”

Astrowife’s face morphs into horror, realizing that they were just a small,

small

piece of the sandbox Iris wishes to play in. Perhaps not even an experiment— she may just see them as entertainment to watch, to see them play a part of the carnage they always inflict towards others. Honestly, if Sol was not very attached to humanity, and doesn’t see them as a way to gloat over other stars, he’d be laughing with Iris hearing the moans of humanity and how they throw themselves at any other god who they believe would save them from suffering, which they won’t. Because Sol

is

god, technically, and he’s an apathetic man.

She meets his eyes again. “Can you stop her?”

“Of course I can; what do you take me for?”

“I’m being serious.”

“Serious is my middle name!” It isn’t, but he’s watched a few movies with that incredibly funny gag and wanted to be part of it.

Astrowife did not seem to be amused.

He sobers a little. He clears his throat, scooping up another portion of oatmeal. To his delight, the little rations he had put in his plate was starting to look empty. “Once I find Earth, he might help us get back to our bodies. We’re not sure where he is, however.”

“I never even thought that planets are sentient until The Iris showed up.”

“We were never quite open about it,” Sol says with a shrug as he finishes up the last bits of his oatmeal. Strangely, his stomach wanted more. It was not full yet. He grinds his teeth together. He is eternally hungry, as a star, and he has been patient as he waits for the time for him to feed, but this body can’t go a day without needing to be fed. “Besides, humans are more interested in themselves than what the outside universe could offer them. Well, outside of replacing their only safe haven.”

That seems to strike a deep nerve within Astrowife— as it should, if he was being honest. Her husband’s initial goal, outside of exploring space to see if it
space he had envisioned that drove him forward to become an astronaut in the first place, was to fulfill the whims of the shifty company he’d been hired in. He

had

tried to see if life on Mars is verifiable — with mixed results — before fucking off and vanishing after Titan coerced him into entering his surface to find any signs of life. That had been a wild blot in their history.

“If you’re the Sun…” Uh oh, he knows what she’s going to ask next, “Do you know where my husband is? He stopped answering my calls a few months ago, and it’s just radio silence since. I contacted the company he is working with, but they never responded back to me about his whereabouts.”

Oh, he knows the answer to that question, all right. He is not sure if it is appropriate to talk about it with a child currently listening in on their conversation.

Astrodude landed on the Dark Side of the Moon when he flew away from the location he crashed back onto Earth. That should be the end of him— running low on oxygen, on food, on supplies in a ship that had only taken him a few weeks to build, would mean instantaneous death for him.

But no, that did not happen.

He flew again, something that the other celestial bodies were not aware of. He watched Astrodude fly his little spaceship away from his home planet, from all he has ever known, and into the asteroid belt.

Then, he was never seen again.

Or, never detected by Sol after he slips past the asteroid belt.

How does he tell his clueless family, currently surviving a world run by a planet playing god amongst all of them, that Astrodude may as well be dead?

Stars, why must he be the one to break this news? He’s so callous at giving out declarations and announcements, to the point he lets Mercury convey his message better. He doesn’t trust Jupiter to

not

be crude with his words, because that man doesn’t know how to shut his trap when the rest of the solar system is now shedding tears due to how boring his lecture is.

He shrugs, no longer looking at the family before him. He picks up a spoonful of oatmeal, before opening his mouth to eat it. “Oh, you know. In space. Signal’s all junky from a literal cosmic horror tearing your world apart. Of course he can’t hear you now.”

He doesn’t see her face, but he knows she has an uncertain, dubious expression. “Are you sure?”

“Lady, you’re talking to a

god;

of course I’m sure.” The lie he had uttered out his mouth tastes like blood.

***

Jupiter lets out a pained grunt as Hades lets go of his long, beige and orange hair, filled with its swirling storms and fast winds. They were beautiful, in a way, but Jupiter merely uses his hair as a way to cover the bruises that color his face purple. However, the strands of his hair would block his already limited vision, and Hades has always

loved

pulling it as a form of punishment, pushing him into directions he didn’t want, or to humiliate him in front of the other Giants, who watch on like vultures watching their prey slowly die.

He refuses to let them have the pleasure of seeing him give up, however. He’s going to be better than all of them. He will get in Hades’s good graces once more, after the fiasco that had been accidentally killing a bunch of forming terrestrial planets.

Before he could compose himself from having his hair literally pulled, Hades pushes him back to his orbit with a disgusted noise. He lands on his orbit in an undignified manner, and he tries not to glare at Hades. Tries. One little negative emotion would cause the both of them to fight again, and end with Hades’s favor. There is no winning with him, so he has to resign and stop fighting. He has to.

Hades doesn’t even offer a directive before he returns to his orbit, and Jupiter hisses as he stands, remembering Hades gifted him a black eye before he returned him to his orbit.

This is going to be a bitch to cover up; he’s planning to cut his hair after this. Treating it has become tedious, and he knows he is going to look like Saturn or Iris when he continues to let it grow.

He refuses to look like those assholes, especially Saturn.

“Oi, mate.” He lights up when he hears Uranus’s voice amongst the angry ringing currently pounding in his head; that always happens whenever one of his fights with Hades concludes, with his hands shaking to do…

something.

He doesn’t know what his hands want to do, but he doubts it is anything benevolent.

He turns around, giving a small smile to the direction where Uranus is walking to him from. He knows that he should tell Uranus to leave him alone, since his ideas are beginning to get radical, especially after Iris began expressing interest in Hades’s leadership. His animosity towards her skyrocketed, and then, as consequence, he began pressuring both Neptune and Jupiter to start excelling at what they’re good at, or whatever that means.

But right now, he can worry about that mindset later.

His friend has come to visit.

“Is Gaia with you?” He asks, as Uranus finally enters his orbit properly.

“Nope, they’re alone in my orbit.”

Jupiter chuckles. “Wow, you are a horrible lover, neglecting your partner like that.”

Uranus lets out a derisive snort. “They can handle it. They just have to stay in the same place all the time, how hard could that

be,

Jupiter?”

Jupiter’s face falls a bit when he hears the keys of Uranus’s mindset begin appearing in his speech. He sighs, preparing himself for what he knows is another one of Uranus’s attempts of conviction. “Why are you here, Uranus? I doubt you’re here to visit a friend because you are worried.”

Uranus hums, “But I

am

here to cheer you up, mate.”

Jupiter raises a brow, and expectantly stays silent, waiting for his friend (can he even call Uranus that, when their relationship is simultaneously transactional and exploitative?) to say what he has to say.

“You shouldn’t have to feel bad about killing those sorry cunts,” Uranus says, his voice bordering on gleeful— Jupiter often forgets about how sadistic Uranus could be, in order to get what he wants. He wonders what drives Uranus to do the things he does in order to survive and stay popular, when his abrasive nature often gets in the way of actually rising in the ranks. “They were small! You can’t see them! Fuck, they were half-formed! But Hades got pissed over you trampling over them, as if we haven’t been eating Sol’s little baby-sized creations behind his back for over a hundred years. Sol will get over it and make new ones. You know how fucking eager he gets making new planets. He gets careless.”

Jupiter knows he does. It is how he had come to exist, flawed existence and all.

“Don’t disrespect Lord Sol like that. Do I always have to remind you that you need to quell your recalcintracy around those of higher beings?”

“You

are

a higher being, Jupiter.”

“No.” He shakes his head, even when he

wants

to agree with Uranus. He

is

a higher being. He is like Hades. “We’re not doing this, Uranus.”

He raises both hands placatingly. “Fine. But still, don’t be so guilty over destroying a couple of small fry, Jupiter. They don’t fucking matter.

We

matter. Not these new beings created from the solid debris of the Big Bang. We are fucking better. You are better than them. Remember that.”

He knows. Of course he knows Uranus is right.

“Get out of my orbit.” It comes off angrier than Jupiter would have thought, but this is what he gets for choosing brevity over telling Uranus that this conversation should not be happening in public, when Hades can still hear him. They can speak in hushed voices when they have the permission of traversing one another’s orbits, but not out in the open. Uranus often forgets that, with how loud he could be. With how confident he is that no consequence will ever come and smash him across the face to force him to enter self-realization. His temper has been flaring since Hades dragged him to his orbit like a ragdoll; Uranus was just at the wrong time to be speaking blasphemy.

Uranus narrows his eyes— Jupiter hopes he doesn’t take his snappishness personally. He was always so sensitive. Then, he shrugs. “Fine. I will get out of your orbit. Just don’t forget what I told you.”

Oh, Jupiter won’t forget, alright. He will remember it for millions of years to come.

He will remember it when he stands over [

‘

], looking elated, and heartbroken, and maddened all at the same time.

***

At first, there is darkness, heavy and encompassing. Jupiter cannot get out of said darkness; no matter how hard he tries wading deep into the pool of it. It was like tar, and every time he moves to escape, it sticks to him.

It was a horrible feeling, but he has always felt this, since—

Since—

Blank.

Right. His memories are all but gone, and he is still trying to get them to return. To will them to return in order for him to be more useful to his star, to be more useful to…

To the star that has always favored Hades over you?

He could feel himself frowning, but he cannot see his body anywhere in this darkness.

Don’t lie, Jupiter. He’s never loved us.

That sounds like Uranus speaking— how strange. What are his spiteful contemplations doing in his brain? He tries not to listen to his friend blather on about how Sol has never looked their way unless they’re accompanied by Hades. He knows, deep in his heart, that Sol loved them. He does— even if he favors his brother before the others, he won’t abandon any of his Giants. He won’t ever hurt them.

He turns a blind eye to the way Hades treats you.

Neptune’s voice rings out, sounding righteously angry in lieu of Uranus’s spiteful tone.

Well… that’s his Celestial Monarch. Hades does a good job keeping the solar system in check, that he sees Jupiter suffering as a lesser evil to a disorderly star system.

That’s fine. He can sacrifice himself for the greater good.

It’s fine.

His fists clench.

It’s

fine.

He grits his teeth.

The darkness dissolves, and he can feel

everything.

The darkness was not very dark anymore— if anything, it was like he had been plunged into a bright pool of light, except the light wasn’t very bright as he expects it to be. It was… dimmer, bland, and just beige. Like something is blacking out all the excess light in order for him to have an okay sleep.

But who would do that?

And why was he sleeping?

He opens his eyes, heavy and stubborn, to look at space.

Only to be met by a white ceiling.

A recollection of yesterday hits him like… like an asteroid on his surface, he supposes. Reminders of his subsequent mortality and delicacy hits him when he realizes, in a bleary manner, that his arm is sore. That it is thrumming with discomfort and numbness. He remembers the wolf, that wasn’t actually one, and how he instinctively pushed Sol away from the predator. He remembers the teeth sinking into his skin, of how the wolf was threatening to move with his teeth still in his skin, before Sol hit it with a stick.

He’s never felt so much pain— and he’s never seen so much crimson liquid dripping down from his wound like it was a stream.

It may have caused him to panic, and Sol’s admonishing statements did not help him to keep calm.

He’s only looking out for you.

Yes, that’s the logical explanation as to why he had been so worried when he took the fall for him— nothing else.

Has Sol ever admitted directly that he favored Hades over them all? Not exactly, but his praises, attention, and pride has always been centered towards one Giant: Hades. It was a rarity that Sol would even

remember

their names, not when Hades is there to be the center of his world, to be his greatest creation, a trophy amongst trophies. Jupiter always stares when Hades and Sol converse with one another; the utter detachment and discomfort in Hades’s eyes, and Sol’s manic pride, glowing subtly over his form as he rakes his eyes up and down his Giant.

But when he looks at the others… nothing. Not even a blip of positive emotion.

It is no wonder Uranus has a grudge against him.

He wonders how he’s doing.

Is Hades alright? Is he managing this crisis well? How come he has yet to defeat Iris?

He opens his mouth. It feels dry, to the point of nausea; he feels like he is forgetting something, although he doesn’t know what. Even his lips were chapped; it feels like he is deprived of something. Is this another human necessity he must continue consuming in this loathsome body in order to continue living?

Being a human is difficult.

Why can’t it have been Hades?

Because Hades is [

.]

Jupiter lets out a groan of discomfort, as he tries to roll over so he won’t have to be greeted by the luminosity of the light. However, as always, since he had been beamed to Earth, this body would not cooperate with him, refusing to budge. If he so much as budge, his head will flare up in irritation and pain, which leads to Jupiter gritting his teeth as he tries to alleviate the pain manually. He whimpers, feeling incredibly warm. No, not just warm— he felt hot, like he was sweltering in a dessert of sand right about now, and he was parched, now that he thinks about it. Everything was blurry, to his disappointment; he must have dropped his glasses when he passed out on the couch. His neck is sore as the void of space, and it hurts moving it to process his surroundings.

He feels a weight settle down in front of him on the sofa. Deliriously, he lets out a confused whine, and he hears this person let out a familiar sigh. One he has been hearing ever since he was forced into this body.

Sol. He is here, watching him. He must still be mad about what he did last night.

What he did, truly was brainless, now that he is thinking about it in hindsight; even if Sol was a human, powerless and without his abilities, he is still a star. It is his job to manage the welfare of his planet, and Jupiter has violated this unspoken rule, for making Sol believe that he is not suited to protect himself and Jupiter, when that is his job. It had been his job since he had chosen to create planets from the debris all around him.

If Hades had been the one to sacrifice himself, to be the one to have his arm miserably bitten by a wolf, would he be mad at him? Is the fleeting thought within his mind as he refuses to meet his star’s gaze, suddenly humiliated and mad at himself.

Yet… he knows the answer already, even if it is just rumors and doubts swirling in his mind. Sol would be a lot more lenient when it comes to Hades. It is a well-known and well accepted fact within the Giants. Even those who were not interested in gaining favors or were just pleased to exist, like Oceanus and Neptune, were aware of this and have long given up trying to be noticed by their star. So did Saturn and Shiva, who focused more on the praise of Hades than their star. He and Uranus had laughed about how Sol had always gotten Saturn's names wrong when he called for him.

At least Sol remembers his name— he should, because he’s his first planet.

Not Hades, even if Sol chose

him

in the end.

He hears the sound of a spoon clacking against a porcelain bowl. He can’t believe that earthling terms are the first thing he remembers before his actual memories, which were still muddy and obscure at worst and vivid and lowkey looks like an LSD induced dream at best. Why does he know what LSD is like? He went to Earth in order to have some downtime with… with…

The sounds of sweet, fond laughter laced with ecstasy and hedonism echoes through his head, making his heart beat like drums.

He was with

someone.

And, judging from how his heart flutters even at the thought of him, he was quite in love.

Who… he cannot remember the name of.

He knows it is one of the Giants in the solar system, but he doesn’t know who. He never even thought someone would become very fond of him, but here it is, the memories just out of his reach. He guesses that Neptune has finally reciprocated his affections, although he feels as if that assumption is plainly inaccurate. Maybe Oceanus, then? Or perhaps Krypton? If only he could remember more…

Before he returns to bury himself in rumination, something rather

hot

collides with his lips.

Without a regard towards his headache, he flinches backwards, as he hits the headrest of the sofa trying to escape whatever is being force fed at him. He spits out the things that have gotten stuck in his mouth.

“Oh my stars, Jupiter,” Sol’s irritated voice rings out through the echo chamber of ringing. “I’m just giving you breakfast.”

Right, breakfast. A meal eaten in the morning to satiate a human’s appetite and offer them energy through the day before they return for lunch. And, because Jupiter is human, he must eat.

His stomach grumbling is enough of a testament of how hungry he is. And parched as well, remembering that the two of them had not ingested water in the last twenty four hours. He wonders how they were still alive, now that he is beginning to remember the fragility of a human body and how much of a torture it is maintaining it.

His eyes open wide, seeing the rather blurry vision of Sol right in front of him, holding… something in his arms.

“What’s that?” He asks, coughing a little as he sits up… before lying back down as his head begins to protest his recklessness. He still feels hot all over, and the clothes were not helping him.

“Just sludge Astrowife calls an oatmeal.” To emphasize his point, Sol simply stirs the contents of the bowl listlessly. Jupiter picks up on the name, and he doubts that it is actually the woman’s name. Right— she took them in last night, after he got wounded by a wolf because he pushed his sun out of the way. He wonders where she is, so he could bestow upon her the human instinct of politeness he doubts Sol has given to her in the tenure of their stay here. He blinks, puzzled at that blasphemous thought. Why is he becoming more defiant when he thinks about Sol? He could feel irritation, indeed, but he did not know why.

“Are you going to get up and eat this or do you want to force me to feed you?” Sol’s irritated voice sparks another flare of irritation deep within Jupiter, and he bites his lip in frustration. He wants to get up and regain the autonomy of his body, truly, because getting a

fever

in the midst of an apocalypse is a surefire way of not surviving.

Human bodies and their vulnerability to fevers. Damn it all. Must he always be filled with misfortune that he is struck with the maladies humans experience?

His body continues to run hot, and when he swallows, it feels like he is burning himself at a stake.

“Can’t.” He speaks, voice raspy and untreated; he wants a glass of water,

badly.

“Can’t or won’t?” Another irritated thought enters Jupiter’s head at Sol’s unwillingness to simply stoop down at his level and feed him a bowl of oatmeal.

“I’m… I’m hot.” He tries to articulate again. Where are his glasses? He swears he was wearing them last night. Now, they are nowhere to be found. He would not be bothered by it if their survival does not hinge on him being able to

see.

Sol makes an unamused noise, but one of his hands does let go of the bowl of oatmeal to reach out and touch his forehead. Jupiter feels discomfited— he is not aware that Sol can

touch

someone without any prompting, without having to push him around in order for them to move towards the end goal he had strived for. He narrows his eyes, and lets out a deep, disappointed sigh.

What is he so disappointed about? That Jupiter’s human body cannot fend off a wolf’s bite without a fever? They were both lucky that he was not comatose or infected by Iris’s shitty germs she picked up on during her excursion outside the solar system?

He doesn’t understand.

It makes that searing, burning fire within him madder.

“Yep, you have a fever,” Sol lets out a sigh that means he was not very amused with this conclusion, letting go of Jupiter’s head. “You have to stay here for a few more days— which means more delays in my journey to find the USA or the Earth.”

“Your

journey?” Jupiter repeats in a scalding tone. “This is

our

journey, Sol. you sound like you’re blaming me for our delay.”

“Why do you sound so mad?” Sol asks, sounding angry, but Jupiter can’t make out his face. “I should be the one pissed here. Your self-sacrificial stunt last night cost us a few more days and you have a fever, meaning we’re going to be running low on supplies! Way to go taking advantage of the poor woman and her kid that lives here!”

“I did not

ask

to encroach on their supplies,” Jupiter hisses, gritting his teeth. He didn’t want to argue, not when his head is currently pounding. “I wanted to

help

you last night. We both know that you’re a valuable asset, and I’m just the Giant you were forced in proximity with.”

“Wow, I’m glad that you’re

this

self-aware,” Sol sniffs snidely, and Jupiter can feel his clammy fists clenching. “How come you didn’t realize that when Hades dragged you to the Cloud?”

“Since

when

has he done that?” Jupiter asks, his voice rising slightly.

“Oh, so you know how to talk back to me, but you don’t remember

why

you know how to talk back to me?” A chuckle, derisive and mocking. “Stars, Jupiter, what is going on in that fucking brain of yours? Are you in denial about the most obvious thing during this entire mission to return to our bodies?”

Jupiter wants to know. Really, he wants to know why Sol

dislikes him

since yesterday when he woke up and Sol’s shoulders were all tense. Why does his expression flit to an annoyed one when they speak? Why does Sol always take the opportunity to take a jab at him when he’s trying to help?

Uranus’s voice continues to haunt him, of how Sol really doesn’t give two shits about any of them that weren’t Hades.

“Is it because I’m not Hades?” Jupiter asks, voice low. If the humans were listening in to this conversation, they should not know the details surrounding it. “Are you disappointed that the one in this journey is a man who can’t see a unit away from him instead of your perfect Celestial Monarch? Is that what this is?”

“You’re getting close,” Sol assails, and he could

just

picture Sol with a gibelike smirk burgeoning on his face. “But alas, so far.”

Jupiter tries not to scream at his sun for being so callous and insensitive. Damn it, he was getting on his nerves, when he is not supposed to betray any feeling for his star except for reverence and some form of melancholy.

But how could he revere him when he was the one who brought him a list of the misfortunes he suffers?

“I don’t understand what I did, Sol,” Jupiter says, his voice returning to pleading with his star. There is no lost dignity, like there is no lost love between them. “But please… whatever I have done in the last few eons since I have lost my memory, let it be known that I regret all of them. I regret the mistakes I have made under your supervision, and there won’t be a day where I think about them. I will be sure to reflect on my actions when my memories return, but… please, do not look at me like you hate me. Do not look at me like you prefer me dying to living. I want to be your faithful liege.” It was everything he had dreamed about before Hades began showing potential, anyways.

A pregnant pause settles between them, and Jupiter waits patiently for him to respond.

Then, Sol stands, placing the oatmeal on the coffee table in front of Jupiter. He also notices the familiar shape of his glasses sitting on top of it as well.

“You should think about what you said when you finally regain your memories,” Sol tells him, his tone void of any form of emotion. “Because I want to know: do you regret it? Do you really?”

He leaves before Jupiter could even reply.

He looks at the bowl of oatmeal, and then his glasses, which he picks up and wears on his face; suddenly, his vision is clear again.

He looks at the oatmeal, and, ignoring the protests of his pounding head, he gets up and picks the bowl up to begin eating. He notices a glass of water in his periphery too, which must be from Sol, no matter how hard he denies it.

It seems like he is going to feed himself, after all.

***

Astrowife is the one who takes care of Jupiter's rather pesky cold when midday comes; the fever continues to plague him, hot to the touch and forcing him to be extremely thirsty and needy as well. Of course, he's become a master of trying to ignore feelings of yearning, even when it is something as unfamiliar as a malady currently rendering him immobile and prone. He feels slightly guilty that Astrowife is the one taking care of him when it should be, perhaps, his star, but since their little confrontation he is nowhere to be found and honestly, Jupiter did not want to be around him for a while.

So, Astrowife has to be the better candidate between the three inhabitants of the house; Lucas was too young and he doesn't seem very interested with the intricacies of taking care of an immortal being experiencing the alive part of being a human and what that means, and Sol is… well, he's behaving erratically. More than Jupiter thought of someone of his style.

She takes the bowl of oatmeal and refills his glass of water, but he doesn't move to take it. Only when she offers him medicine for his ludicrous fever does he hold the glass of water, and, after ingesting the medicine, he drinks in order to get rid of the bitter aftertaste.

He's not feeling any better, but someone has always told him medicine works overtime, unlike the instantaneous healing prowess both Mercury and Saturn have.

He misses having to have some kind of healing magic. No celestial body should experience a fever, especially one that induces vomit every time he moves.

Jupiter doesn't miss the way Astrowife's eyes continue looking at him with an expression he can't quite land on; it looked intrigued, but also concerned. However, politeness seems to win over her curiosity in the end, as she doesn't say anything except some surface level information about human bodies and fevers, which he is beginning to remember thanks to her little tidbits of information.

He doesn't see Sol for the rest of the day, even when his headache has faded into a mild form of discomfort behind his neck. It was honestly more annoying, as the slightest of moves can aggravate his rather delicate immune system.

When he gets up, he lets out a relieved sigh at not having to return to laying down, his head no longer responding with an ache. He gets up, gingerly, and he realizes his bandages from last night have been replaced. Just who replaced them is left to question.

Curiosity gets the best of him as he staggers out of the couch he'd been laying on, his back aching and his legs shaking all the way. All that time immobilized, his body lying prone, must have rendered him unused to standing, which is, of course, no good, if he's going to spend the next few days after he recuperates from his fever running from horrors he shouldn't be seeing.

Fucking Iris. Thanks a lot for forcing him to face the terrible side of being mortal.

He doesn't know why he knows that he'd been in the surface of this world before, but they are often buried with the stupor of ecstasy and hedonism, which he blames, slightly, on his partner and Earth… who he has not technically met yet, not when his mind is drawing up a blank of who Earth is.

It couldn't be Tierra. It just can't.

He looks towards the windows, covered with blinds. He wonders if monsters could peek inside. Jupiter wonders if he's allowed to see what is outside.

With a huff, he stumbles over to the windows, and, slightly, with two fingers, moves some of the blinds out of the way in order for him to see what is outside properly.

It was still dark outside. Well, not actually dark, but because of the Iris blocking out the light of the Sun, her shadow still continues to cast that looming, imposing shadow of humanity's doom.

And the two beings who are able to do anything is… stuck in powerless forms.

He blinks. What about Hades?

Hades is

.

Hades is what?

.

WHAT?

—

Jupiter lets out a sigh of frustration as he lets go of the blinds, hating the way that the streets look empty. He knows humanity is made up of billions of creatures trying to get by, trying to be heard, trying to become someone as if they'll be known through the entire universe. At the end of the day, they will be immortal for a few hundred more years, before their name will die out of their tongue.

Suddenly, he feels alone. Very alone, in this cold house. He knows Astrowife is in the kitchen somewhere, washing the dishes; if only he knew how to do basic human chores, he could volunteer to help her.

Instead, he wishes to seek out Sol's presence. His presence that was heavy, and yet, the only thing he is familiar with in this terrible world.

So, he walks to the kitchen. Astrowife is humming, facing the sink as she rinses. The water doesn't come from the faucet, and instead from a gallon filled with water. The faucet must have ran out of water a long time ago, and Jupiter wonders how much they have left. Her back is turned to him, so he has to grab her attention.

He clears his throat, and she jolts, spinning to look at him with alert eyes. When she sees it was just Jupiter, she lets out a relieved laugh. “Warn me next time you want to speak, why don't you?”

“Sorry, I just wanted to ask you something. If I'm bothering you, I could always—”

“You're not bothering me.” She wipes her hands on a wipe on the counter, before smiling at him. He notices the shadows underneath her eyes, something that contradicts her well-mannered and kind façade. “What do you want to know?”

“Can you tell me where Sol is?”

“I can,” she replies with a chirp. “He’s upstairs with my son, talking to him about the secrets of the solar system.” She says these last few words with a tone of mystification, as if she was already convinced of the things Sol had told her during dinner, which Jupiter had not caught on due to the fact he had been rather mad with illness when they were having said meal.

Jupiter nods, bowing his head in thanks of her answer. “Thank you. I just have a few things to ask Sol about, now that I’m well.”

Astrowife stares at him, and he realizes that she was not staring; more like she is studying him. What is she studying about his face? She sighs, shaking her head. “You better wash up first before going upstairs to my son’s room— you look like you escaped certain death.”

“But did I not?” Jupiter questions her surreptitiously, but one look from Astrowife sends him to the bathroom; not wanting to antagonize the woman who saved him and Sol from certain annihilation, decides to just freshen himself up in the bathroom. He takes a deep breath, hyping himself up to finally see the reflection in the mirror. He feels his heart beat fast, as if what he is about to see is a list of corpses, of debris that had once been planets. He shudders thinking about it, not knowing why he would think of such things.

He faces his reflection in the mirror, and was not only unimpressed, but disappointed and horrified of what he saw— what he sees was not a planet with the wildest storms, his surface cold and perceptible to fast winds. He sees a weakling. He was already weak as a Giant, but to see it in person, on his face, it makes his skin crawl with self-loathing and hatred.

Messy, long blonde hair frames his face— it was not smooth, nor it was wavy, it was just rough and terribly messy, like it was caught in a whirlwind of storms of sorts. He doesn’t know if brushing his hair would help, since he believes he’s still quite amateur when it comes to general haircare, however, he supposes it would do him well to brush his hair, not liking how filthy and tangled it looks. His skin was dark, as if it were kissed by the sun, but it was covered with dirt and grime that neither of them have managed to clean— his clothes, which was what he’d woken up in, a white collar and pants, were stained as well. His eyes, orange, were wide and bloodshot, and outside of this, he was unrecognizable.

He was unrecognizable, and Jupiter could not help but seethe.

Of all the things Iris had taken from him, it had to be his identity, too.

He’s going to make her pay, he thinks to himself, as ruthless fires begins to be set off all across his insides.

He doesn’t know why, but he relishes in the rage burning, instead of being ashamed of it.

Using the water from the basin, he splashes his face with cold water, experiencing how it’s like to feel wet and attempting to refresh himself. He wipes his face with a towel, looks back at his reflection — it frowns back with as much hatred as he could muster — before he leaves to go upstairs and find Sol.

Lucas’s room was very obvious, with the space decor hanging outside his door, which was slightly ajar. Meaning that Jupiter can catch a glimpse of the conversation the two of them are having.

As he steps closer, making his footsteps deliberately light, he settles in on the door to ask for Sol’s time.

However, he did not expect to be caught up in the conversation that follows, even if it was only Sol’s voice he can hear.

“Oh yeah, kid, there used to be more than eight planets in the solar system. Thirteen, if we’re counting the dwarf planets, but your space institution doesn’t count them as important!” Sol’s voice filters out of the gap, seemingly enthusiastic and blase about undervaluing a few more entities within his solar system, but Jupiter stops short when he leaks a piece of information.

Eight.

Sol says there are eight.

There are supposed to be more than that, seventeen, more or less.

Why are there only

eight?

And why does Sol sound so damn happy, after saying that piece of information? As if he had not lost so many of his planets to… whatever happened?

(To him.)

He swallows, knowing he is happening upon future information— upon information he should know, but can’t remember because his brain won’t let him remember.

How could he be smart when he doesn’t know the events that took place that made the solar system have only

eight

planets?

Sol’s voice continues in that irritating enthusiastic lilt of his. “Four Giants, four terrestrial planets! But there were more, you know! Just like Jupiter, just like your precious planet, they’re just destroyed or dead!”

Only four…?

Oh stars, is Uranus or Neptune still alive? Is

Hades?

The solar system won’t be manageable without his brother around.

Any Giant would be preferable, if it were not Shiva or Saturn. Perhaps throw in Brahma too, with how his saccharine words were just insults. Let them die, for all Jupiter cares. Let everyone die.

Let

him

die.

He forgets why he is here in the first place. He needs to know more. Needs to know what else he has been missing, and, if the truth is miraculous enough, why Sol hates him so much.

“You want to know who died, or are not part of the solar system anymore? Sure, I can tell a little kid the

secrets

of it! Just make sure never to tell anyone, since most of these aren’t scientifically founded…

yet.”

Sol chuckles, but Jupiter holds his breath as he lists down those who are no longer part of Sol’s influence, of his love. “Vulcan, Antichton, Theia, Tierra, Phaeton, Tyche, Iris, Shiva, Krypton, Oceanus and… my personal favorite, Hades!” Jupiter’s heart stops as soon as he speaks the last name. He grits his teeth as he looks up at the ceiling listlessly.

Sol was lying. Even if it was a way to help Jupiter feel relaxed, he was lying.

Hades is dead, gone.

Why?

What in the void happened to

kill

the most powerful being in the solar system?

(YOU.)

So Hades is not coming to save them, after all.

They are on their own now.

No one is coming for them— they’ll be part of Iris’s shitshow soon, then.

Jupiter lets out a deep breath, but he doesn’t calm down. He

can’t

calm down from the feeling of sadness washing over him.

And also relief.

Why would he feel relief about Hades’s death?

Then, there comes the glee.

Why

in the stars would he feel gleeeful when it comes to the demise of his brother?

In his blur of emotions, he listens to what Sol has to say about Hades.

A mistake on his part.

“He was my favorite of all the planets, before wee little Mercury took the spot due to being so close to me. He was

everything

I could dream of in a Giant— precocious, meticulous, smart, agreeable, and loyal. Obedient to a fault too. If he was human, I might compare him to a loyal dog always barking up my tree. He was so adorable with his little pout, too. Kind of like what you’re wearing now.” A sigh escapes from his throat, and it sounds so,

so

disappointed. Jupiter clenches his teeth, wondering if he should interrupt him now before he says something that’ll really just anger

him—

“Too bad Jupiter isn’t half the Giant he was. He’s too nervous and second-guesses his decisions. He doesn’t have any kind of confidence standing up to me. All I could give plus points for is how good he is pleasing me.”

Jupiter could feel himself roil with anger and hurt at the things he had said.

He stands to his full height, before opening the door to look at Sol in the eye.

Sol was with Lucas, who was sitting on the bed, holding what seems to be a book about the solar system. The planets there were all unrecognizable; planetary forms whose colors, terrain, and even axis do not make any form of sense to him.

But he knows who they are, and he hates the feeling he gets when he sees that

Saturn

is now beside him in the orbital arrangement.

Jupiter shouldn’t be doing this. Really, he shouldn’t be airing out his frustrations towards Sol in front of a child. He is very mature for this.

But he does.

“I knew it,” Jupiter tells him, even if that line was commonly used when a secret that had been obvious from the start had begun circulating around the solar system. (Fleetingly, his memory dredges up

one

instance where Saturn used it on him, before rolling [

‘ ] head onto his feet.) “My suspicions and the rumors surrounding the solar system

were

true. You favored Hades. Favored him from the rest of your creations.”

“Isn’t that not obvious?” Sol asks with venom laced in his voice. He’s not going to hide his profound distaste towards one of his benefactors anymore, it seems. “All of you Giants that came after him couldn’t hold a

candle flame

to what Hades was. He had potential, he had

something

that you all lack, and everyone

squandered

it.

You

squandered it, Jupiter, for being so stupid despite priding yourself to be smart.”

He could not handle this argument, it seems. The way Sol brazenly brushes off his accusation, no matter how obvious it is, and simply continues to grit his teeth, wanting to get this over with. “I’m older.”

Sol furrows his brows. “What?”

“I am

older

than Hades! I thought of all the things you forgot about me, I thought you’d

remember

that important detail!” Jupiter shouts, his voice reverberating around the room. He doesn’t register Lucas kicking himself off the bed and exiting his room, bumping into Jupiter in the process.

A silence replaces the loud shout.

Sol looks at him, not very affected by his rage-filled outburst. “Oh,” he says, very judgmentally and deliberately mockingly, “So you are.”

“I don’t understand,” Jupiter says, almost pleadingly. “Have I done something to offend you, Sol?”

“You gotta get your memories back before I answer that question.”

“It’s fine if I’m not your favorite,” Jupiter says, taking a deep breath. “Not one of the planets I know chose me as a favorite. Hades, who chose Shiva and Saturn, Uranus, who chose Gaia, and Neptune, who chose Uranus. They never chose

me.

But please, Sol… tell me you love me. At least that could bring me peace and quiet.”

Sol doesn’t respond, still staring at him with an expression Jupiter could not begin to muster trying to know. It wasn’t one of hate, that’s for sure, but it doesn’t soften into a reassuring expression, either. It stays like that, stone cold, ironically, like he was once more a stone statue in the middle of the solar system.

Jupiter waits. He has always been a patient man.

He waits some more.

Sol stares at him with an unimpressed look.

Jupiter begins to feel his anger return to him at full force.

“Okay,” he says, narrowing his eyes. “So you

don’t

love me.”

Sol opens his mouth, but nothing comes out.

“That’s fine,” Jupiter continues, but the terrible crack in his voice betrays his need to act calm in the midst of having his suspicions confirmed that Sol really didn’t like him. Didn’t

love

nor cherish him, because eons later, when Jupiter is the Celestial Monarch (who else, when Hades is dead and Shiva is seemingly lost?) he still thinks about Hades in a bright manner, even when his cracks are just as obvious as his virtues. “This is fine. I don’t need you to love me. Because you are also not loved by anyone, not even Hades.”

Sol’s eyes grow wide, and he grits his teeth as he looks at Jupiter warningly. “How dare—”

“What I’m saying is true,” he hates how gleeful he sounds destroying Sol’s perception of his favorite, of his so-called greatest achievement. “He doesn’t like you. In fact, he’s

uncomfortable

with how you always present him as the greatest thing that ever lived.”

“No he doesn’t,” Sol denies vehemently, gritting his teeth as he stands from where he’d been sitting. Even in this human form, he still has an advantage in height over Jupiter. “He

loves

me. I gave him

everything

he could dream of— prestige, love, and power.”

“You didn't end up getting his love. No one did.” Not even his so-called favorites gained his love. He wonders if Hades ever loved someone in his life; perhaps he did, but when Sol began seeing his potential, the power he holds, perhaps that love he had wanted to share was all but gone.

But how would Jupiter know? It's not like he hasn't seen all sides of his brother, destructive and otherwise, to form an opinion.

No one thinks to ask him.

“You don't know

anything,”

Sol says, “you're not him. You can never be him. You're jealous of him because he got everything you wanted. Of what was in your birthright, being the oldest to be created.” He leans in his personal space, and this should be serious, as it should be, but he doesn't try taking this seriously, not with Sol looking positively murderous in a child's bedroom.

Jupiter, knowing he could get away with disrespecting his star for once without Hades's choked declaration of disrespect, or Sol's immense power, just stares at him unblinkingly. “Who created me, then? Who gave me these eyes? Face it, Sol: you created Hades because you failed me. He was everything you could've seen in me.”

“Yes,” Sol confirms, his frown hardening. “I did not fail you though, Jupiter.

You

failed

me

by being born having to be coddled by everyone else.”

Jupiter stares at him, speechless.

Sol, seemingly having won the argument, sighs frustratedly before sauntering out of the room. Jupiter, after taking a few deep breaths (something Uranus never does when he gets mad about something) decides to follow him back to the living room, where he is met with Astrowife lecturing Sol with Lucas clinging tightly to her pants. Sol, meanwhile, doesn't seem to be quite affected with the things she's telling him. Typical.

When Astrowife notices Jupiter, she whirls around on him, and he stumbles backwards when he sees the utter look of fury in her eyes. “And you! Do you have the decency to be ashamed of yourself? Of deciding to turn my child's bedroom into an arguing chamber? You couldn't just ask Sol to transfer to another room to air out your frustrations on him, huh? You scared a kid!

My

kid! God knows why I put up with a bunch of irredeemable a—

jerks

in my house!”

Jupiter can't help but feel guilty for Astrowife. All she has done for the two of them was save them from potential death from those annoying mimic-wolves, and then spent the entire night cooking dinner and dressing Jupiter's wound, which is, as if sensing karmic retribution, starting to become more irritated now. Even his fever is beginning to surface, or maybe it had never left and he had just wanted to talk to Sol. He feels that guilt stab him in his heart, and he looks away from her gaze, his skin prickling with shame.

“Are you kicking us out?” Sol asks, and Jupiter glares at the floor for his brusque way of handling a woman who was in the right kicking them out.

Astrowife glares at him, gritting her teeth. Then, all the fight left her as she slumps, with Lucas just glaring at Sol— whatever respect he had for the star must have vanished completely. Maybe his respect for Jupiter as well had vanished. “I should, but…” She spares one last glance over to Jupiter, who looks ready to collapse, pale. “He's not getting any better with the stress he's putting on himself while running sick, for the first time.”

Sol scoffs. “He put this on himself.”

“You're letting us stay?” Jupiter asks, cocking a brow. “Why? I don't… I don't understand.”

Humanity was selfish, all filled with cruelty and hatred.

Yet, the very first interaction he had with a human was concern and worry, and even kindness, after everything. She tolerates Sol's derogatory comments, she reasonably airs out her frustration towards Jupiter and his — admittedly — petty outburst happening in her child's bedroom, and she hasn't so much as gotten a thank you for it.

“Why not? I want to see you get rid of that pesky fever, even if it means having to put up with your star being annoying.”

“I'm

your

star,” Sol tells her, looking quite displeased.

She ignores him. Her face softens into a solemn frown. “And… you guys are our only hope. If I can take care of you, help you on your journey to become celestial beings again, maybe you'll be able to defeat The Iris. Then everything will go back to normal.”

It was transactional. But Jupiter could not bring himself to be mad about her wanting to care for them just so they can kick Iris's ass. Who else is powerful enough to stand against her?

Jupiter's face softens, and, since coming her, holds her hand as softly as possible. He cannot believe that he knows how to caress one's hands, entwining his fingers with theirs, as if he'd done this multiple times before with another planet. Fleetingly, he wonders who it was he had been holding hands with.

“I'm sorry,” he tells her, looking at her face. “For being such terrible guests. You have done so much for us both, and we received your offer to stay her with callousness and inhospitality.” His eyes look at Sol, who huffs and looks away.

Astrowife looks at their entangled hands. She doesn't speak. It gives Jupiter the confidence to continue.

“Sol has very unflattering opinions on humanity, and even I am doubtful of their capabilities for kindness. You have proven me wrong, and I thank you for that.”

Astrowife stares, before she chuckles good-naturedly, warmly, even. “Do you planets all believe that humans are just terrible beings?”

“I think only Earth loves you all,” Sol speaks up. “Venus too, but I think he likes the concept, not what makes you guys human.”

Astrowife smiles. “I'll hold him to that, then.” she looks back at Jupiter with those eyes filled with flowing kindness. He wishes he could have the same amount of love filling her eyes right now, and maybe he does. He remembers how to hold one's hand with intimacy, after all. “Let's get rid of your fever, Jupiter. Try not to have anymore recurring fights with your star.”

Jupiter looks at Sol, who was looking away. He doesn't know if he should promise it, but this woman has done enough for them. Enough to the point that, were he in his true form right now, he would bless her with gifts unimaginable. “I promise. I'm… I'm actually feeling quite dizzy now.”

Astrowife sighs, as she guides him back to the sofa. “Let's get you to bed.”