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Ever since the return of Planet X, and the banishment of Jupiter, the whole solar system seemed a bit... stiff, thought Mars. In all honestly, he had thought Jupiter to break over his own guilt eventually, but never in such a twisting way, so open, and shattering. No one in the entire system would have suspected Jupiter to be the killer of those early planets. In fact, none of them had even known about the early rocky planets, except for those who had themselves lived in that time period. Neither Saturn nor Jupiter ever talked about it, and the Sun seemed to be quite sensitive to the topic as well. At least, they could understand the reason why the Sun was so insistent on their orbits.The Sun was quite affected by the whole ordeal over what had happened. If what he had inferred from their conversation was correct, Jupiter had both lied about the reason for the Sun’s early rocky planet’s destruction, as well as Planet X’s ejection, of which both to help save his own surface.However, as much as Mars wanted to hate Jupiter for it, he couldn’t truly do it. They had spent a long, long time together, and Mars knew that though Jupiter was big, he was a pile of nervousness under his surface, and that he was plain terrified of the Sun. In the discussion the planets had once over leaving the sun, Jupiter had seemed to have sincerely thought the idea over. The thing keeping him back was his fear of the dark, the unknown, the isolation, and his care towards the planets of the Solar System.So, Mars really couldn’t find it in himself to hate Jupiter. But in wake of such devastating events, he had to do something, and hating someone had seemed to be the easiest thing that could settle his mind. He was afraid he’d lose his core if he didn’t.Earth had kept him distracted for a bit after. But in private, Earth had divulged his own worries to Mars: even he wasn’t idiotic enough to know that now Jupiter left, his surface would be much more receptive to asteroids hurtling down. And, he had added with a weak smile, since Planet X was much less massive than Jupiter, the Sun had pretty much drilled in the consequences of the abrupt change into their cores: bad things.None of them had thought about the consequences during the mock-trial. Perhaps, some of them would have then argued with the banishment of Jupiter. The entire solar system was unstable, Mars thought. Both physically, and spiritually. The Sun wouldn’t have made such a drastic choice on any normal circumstance at all. Man, he probably would have seared off the first face that dared to suggest the idea of what he had just did. And he had talked to Mercury- he was plain worried about the Sun, and in some state of shock himself. Venus had gone again, on the other side of the Sun. Last time Mars saw him, he had a face that spoke of fury, but at the last moment, something distraught. Earth was worried and concerned, Earth’s- Luna was terrified for Earth’s safety and well-being. He had been, apparently, after a lengthy conversation with Mercury following the banishment of Ganymede and Europa, ever since his failed journey to the Sun.Then, there was the Giants. Saturn hadn’t turned in their direction or spoken a word since. And Uranus and Neptune had always seemed off in their own world. Though, Neptune had seemed uncharacteristically serious this time around. He briefly recalled Neptune during the size ordering situation. He wondered if the giant knew what could happen next.Then, the fifth giant. Planet X had turned to Jupiter’s orbit in a strange manner: like he was remembering something every meter of the way. Half of the time, when Mars spoke to him, his eyes would remain vacant to Mars’s face.Then realizing, after some time of awkward silence, he was being talked to by an inner planet. Always, though, would his words be dark.Mars could see that the planet was desperately trying to hold on to his rough walls, like a blanket. This planet knew that he wouldn’t be able to stay for the forever they all wanted. Jupiter would have to bring back the balance. And Planet X likely wondered where else would he be able to go, but beyond the Kuiper Belt, where he was before.Mars was interrupted in his thinking by a very tiny voice.“Hey! Uh... you’re Mars, right?”“What?” He looked around. His moons weren’t around today. They had decided to go venturing with Titan today for a meeting or something. Besides, this voice was somewhat squeaky, compared the more scratchy versions his Phobos and Deimos had. “I’m Mars, that’s right. And... are you one of Neptune’s moons?”The little moon, whom he had first thought to be a piece of debris, beamed at him. He was small, and curiously rectangular. “I’m Proteus!” He happily announced. “I came here for a request.”“Hmm.” Mars looked at the moon, having located him. “And what is it?”“Oh! Neptune said once that he saw you inner planets once making an asteroid-thingy, and that it looked cool!”“What?” Mars thought back, but couldn’t seem to recall the event Proteus was mentioning.“Uh... there was a BIG bright light afterwards, and a spinny ship that Neptune said flew out of the Solar System!”Oh. That incident. Mars couldn’t help but smile over that particular memory. Earth had grouped the planets together to make an “asteroid cake.”Then came the Sun, who had attempted to “light the candles”. There went their “friend”, Astrodude, flying away top over bottom.“Neptune is a good exaggerator,” he told Proteus.Proteus deflated a little. “Oh, too bad, because I thought it would be ironic if I made my new friend, who also got flown out of the Solar System, one of those thingys too.”“Hold up, your WHAT?!” After Proteus told him the whole story,(“Does Neptune know you’re here?” Mars hissed. "Or-or your- your big brother!"“Nope! Oh, that explains why I can hear Triton yelling for me!” Proteus happily exclaimed.Then he paled. “Oh, and he’ll want me back to Neptune... you’ve got to hide me!”“You- I’ve got to WHAT?”)Mars, after much, much pleading and a large number of semi-working puppy doll eyes later, eventually agreed. With a condition."I think that the old tradition might help relax some of the other's minds," Mars explained, "and bring back good memories.""What do you mean?" Proteus wondered."There's an Earthling- you know, a life organism from Earth- that got sent up to space a while back. We made a cake for him, but the Sun saw it, and wanted to 'light the candles.' Because of it, there Astrodude went spinning.""Oh! I see! Where is Astrodude?""I don't know. Somewhere. Maybe back to Earth?""I hope not! I want to meet him!""You want to meet everyone.""Exactly!"And so, the two got to work....Er, well, Mars went to work. Proteus attempted to tug a reasonable size asteroid, and it was budging. Albeit... quite slowly.“You know,” Mars said, watching the struggle with pity. “How about you go look for some really nice ones? And I’ll get them for you?”“Sure!” Proteus grinned, and made his way off. Maybe five seconds later, Mars could hear him calling him over to look at a cool asteroid.Mars smiled. Proteus was like his own moons: he was enthusiastic at showing off every little detail he saw. But unlike them, Proteus seemed less like the going-for-the-thrill-ride type that his moons were of. As Proteus called for him again, he thought, how nice it was it was to be with someone fresh again. "Heey-y, Triton!" Triton turned to see Io- and Callisto- coming up to him, Io being quite out of breath, and Callisto, grumpy as ever, with a strange look on her face. "Hey, Io." He turned to Callisto. "What's the matter?""Nothing," Callisto muttered, just as Io cheerfully replied, "All the other moons are trying to interrogate the new planet for blackmail on you and Callisto!""The new planet?" someone whispered from behind Triton."What?!" Triton turned to Callisto, sunglasses half falling off.She had a little pink dust on her surface. "I told them to cut it off," she muttered."Well, don't worry about blackmail, s-since there's nothing to blackmail you for," Io continued, "Be-because y-you've got nothing left to hide! The whole solar system knows! Ha-ha!"Upon seeing the horrified expressions on both of his friend's faces, he wilted. "S-sorry, that was a b-bit ins-sensitive...""Ooooooh," smiled the red dwarf planet from behind Triton. "Tritonius faces a new challenge along the road: the dangers of drama??""Shut up about it," Charon scolded, while the rest of the troupe collectively bonked Makemake on the head with an asteroid. "Anyways, what are y-you doing here?" Io asked."Makemake wanted to see Europa and Ganymede, since apparently they're back," Haumea explained. "However, now he really wants to see for himself, this I quote, 'the one and only; Planet X.'""Yup!" Makemake smiled brightly. "I must see for myself what the essence of my research has led to!"Eris turned to him, an unimpressed stare thrown at the red dwawf planet's smile. "You do know that this entire situation has approximately nothing to do with your research. Europa and Ganymede would have probably found Planet X anyways.""Nothing is the wrong word!" Makemake declared. "Everything has had Makemekian the Mystic's signature on it!""Including my hate for your new name," Eris snorted."Exactly, my fellow teammate!"Pluto’s only acknowledgement to the whole situation was to sigh. Ganymede and Europa were discussing something at the back of the crowd of moons currently surrounding a more and more flustered X. They turned to the newcomers as they came. "Hey," Europa greeted them, without a clear target."Oh, you," Ganymede said, when he spotted Makemake.But Makemake didn't respond, for he was already rushing towards the front of the crowd, pushing through. Some of the moons looked at him in confusion, or annoyance."HELLO!" he declared. "I'm-"Makemake," X interrupted. "Hello, Makemake. Or, Makemekian the Mystic, if that's what you prefer. I'm Planet X."And for the first time in forever, the dwarf planets saw Makemake, so crudely interrupted, stunned, shocked, awed, noticed, praised, and surprised at the exact same muddling time, without words in his mouth. "So," Triton spun around to glare at the muttering mess of moons some way's away, "what's this about?"Ganymede shrugged. "I dunno.""I mean, they had to talk about it. Of course, they had to talk about it. Why aren't they talking about something else? Like, why you have a new planet. I know that you all have a grudge against Jupiter, but it can't be THIS deep, right?""You're deflecting the topic," Ganymede noted. "Titan also did that. But I could tell you why they're gossiping about you. It's a way of coping, like you are now. Ranting and deflecting the topic.""Oh." Triton looked back. "Didn't think it like that.""Yup," Ganymede grumbled.They were silent for a bit, before Triton then spoke: "You know, you seem surprisingly insightful.""Europa also says that. It's just that I tend to be blunt with it. So most think I'm just doing it to accuse others." Ganymede huffed. "Not my problem." Makemake, meanwhile, had been dragged away by the other dwarf planets to attempt to revive his frozen expression. With more space to work with, X, blinking, noticed Triton in the back. He called out to him. "Hey, Triton, have you seen Proteus around?"Triton blinked for a few moments, then realized one good fact. "PROTEUS?!?!?" Time turned. Some rough questions and very, very misshapen creations later, the two were about through. "Good work," Mars complemented, giving their creations a final good look-over. "I think they're great!" Proteus shouted joyfully. Suddenly, a very familiar voice was heard. "PROTEUS?!?!?" it shouted. Proteus nervously looked back at the asteroid belt. "I think we should hurry with the delivery!"Mars readied himself. And then, they were off. "Hey Luna," Earth grinned. "What?" Luna grumbled."Can we go see what Mars is doing?""Sure- wait, wait, Mars, what are you doing?""What? What's going on?" Earth tried to peek from behind Luna, who had moved in front of Earth, blocking his view. The projectile that Luna had attempted to protect Earth from stopped right in front of them. It was... an asteroid cake? With very misshapen little asteroid structures balanced precariously on top. "They're... my Earthlings?"Earth tried to look for the sender, and spotted Mars rushing towards Venus, several similarly lumpy luggages trailing behind him. He was being chased, it seemed."THANKS!" he shouted. A distant "YOU'RE WELCOME!" was heard.A moon- or was that a dwarf planet- wearing sunglasses? broke through the asteroid belt, rushing after Mars, so fast that a greenish dust trail was falling him. "GET BACK HERE, PROTEUS!" he shouted.And they were gone. "HEY VENUS!" shouted an outer voice. Venus, being Venus in a terrible mood, ignored the voice. Suddenly, something thunked into the back of Venus. He whirled around, shouting, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR, EH??" He picked up the object thrown at him into his orbit, and made ready to throw it at Mars, flying hard past him. "LOOK AT IT!" Mars shouted back. Venus spared a glance at the object. It was... a cake?There was something engraved into its top with a messy scrawl. He brought it to his eyes, and squinted. It was a picture. Wait, was that him? It seemed so- what was that behind him? Was that-"MARS!" Venus roared, making ready to hurl the cake again. "I'LL KILL YOU FOR THIS! I SWEAR! HOW DARE YOU, YOU DRAW ME WITH STUPID HAIR AGAIN, I'LL-"Lost in his rage, he completely forgot about the whole ordeal with Jupiter. Neither did he notice the other fast-flying object, streaming right after Mars. "Sun," Mercury said, hesitantly.Getting no answer, he tried again. "Sun?"The Sun turned. "Yes, Mercury?" He sounded terribly tired."Are you okay?""Yeah. I think. It's just- have I just made another mistake with ejecting another member of the Solar System?""Well-" But before Mercury could finish his sentence, an object came swooping in between Mercury and the Sun. Curiosity peaked, Mercury pulled the object closer. The Sun looked at it, too. "Is that me?""Yeah, looks so." On the object, there was messily painted with yellow-orange-colored dust, a depiction of the Sun, and a very hideous swirl in the middle. "What's that in the middle?"The Sun peered at it. "Hmm... I think it's... one of my solar flares? That reminds me- wait, ah-, ah-"Mercury looked at the Sun, realizing what was about to happen. He started to back off. "Wait, Sun, we talked about this, don't do this-""Ah-CHOO!" Saturn was under some sort of thick veil. Everything seemed dark, and sluggish, and as he blinked, he thought with some dull whisper, why? Why must fate deal with them so terribly? He'd admit, he didn't quite fully regret ejecting X. Why? He should feel guilt, but some part of him, the more defiant, self-loving part, the part that loved Jupiter as his other self, screamed, "But you only did it to protect him! The Sun could have destroyed him!"It was only true, he had done such a heinous act only to protect his dear friend. But it was wrong. Lost in his thoughts, in some sort of muddling haze, he felt suddenly woken when he felt something pass into his orbit. He blinked at it blearily. It was round, and spherical. Was it a new moon? He panicked, bringing the object up to his eyes. "Hello?""Great, now HE'S talking to asteroids, too," a voice complained. "Does TALKING TO ASTEROIDS run in this Solar System or something?"Saturn looked at one of his moons- Diane? No, that wasn't her name. His brain meddled with the answer for a bit, before he answered. "Dione?"The moon startled at being called on, and then blanched, realizing that her usual response regarding the mispronunciation of her name could not be used. "Yeah?""What's going on?" "You ignoring your moons again, that's what.""Oh." Saturn looked around, and saw several of his moons glaring at him. "Where-where's the others?""Thought you were going to say, 'Where's Titan?' again," Dione grumbled. "The others are at the new planet's orbit. Gossiping about Triton and Callisto, I remember. I stayed behind, for YOU.""Oh." Saturn smiled at the moon. "Thank you."He hesitated at the thought of going near X again. And, it seemed like the returned planet was entertaining his moons quite well. "I think that they can have their fun for a while."And, while Dione spat previously-true answers at him, while Saturn gave hesitant, presently-true facts back, two were rushing past, one a planet, the other a dwarf planet with the responsibility of a moon. Uranus was silent for once, and Neptune decided that he didn’t like it one bit. Which meant that he was quite happy when a strange object came floating over to them.”Hey, Uranus, look!””What?””It’s a cake!”Neptune happily showed off the cake to Uranus. “It has words on it. Instructions!” ”What?”So, with nothing better to do, Uranus and Neptune together followed the instructions, and lobbed the cake away, as hard as they could, out of the Solar System. “Hey!” A little voice shouted.X smiled down at his best friend. “You know you can’t keep things hidden from me.”Proteus stuck out his tongue. “At least pretend it’s a surprise,” he complained.X laughed. “Alright, best friend. What have you got for me?””A cake!””And what’s on the cake?””A picture of us together!”And the two happily looked at the cake together. Suddenly, a voice sounded from behind. A very familiar one. “Proteus.”Proteus weakly grinned. “Hi, Triton,” he replied.Both looked at the other.Then, Triton lurched fowards, and his glasses drooped off his face. “Don’t worry me again,” he whispered in a relieved-but-worried voice. And together the two moons were, in the best planetary speech, in a hug. Somewhere far out of the main Solar System, there remained one planet. One who wandered alone, afraid of the dark, afraid of the silence, and afraid of the solitude.There, he suddenly felt something that seemed familiar. Something that tasted like home.A round asteroid, messily adorned with other asteroids, in what one could call, the Frankenstein’s Monster of cakes. The planet turned it over. On one of its infinite sides, there was an instruction: “Send to Jupiter.” On another, there was a heart.