Chapter Text
The Earthlings were freaking out about something.
Earth had no way of knowing exactly what it could be, but he could feel the anxiety building in the highest levels of their governments. His connection with his Earthlings was unique - the highest level of connection was to the personified countries, and Earth felt their collective emotions before anything else, but he was also aware of the general feelings of his Earthlings and had to be careful to keep that connection closed or risk overwhelming himself completely.
He was starting to feel increasingly worried as Earthling year after Earthling year passed and yet the level of general anxiety hanging over the Earthlings stayed static, their frantic movements no less concern-inducing. He tried to maintain normalcy outside of his connection with the Earthlings — he played card games with his friends, he told Luna stories about the Earthlings, he listened to Jupiter’s lectures about space, he did everything he normally did, but… something still felt wrong.
The level of worry he had for his Earthlings - who were extremely vulnerable even at the best of times - constantly buzzed in the back of his head, and it felt like recently it was all he could focus on. Something in the back of his mind was sounding alarm bells, but he had no idea over what; was it something on his surface, or an outside threat that he was somehow completely missing?
Earth turned that thought over in his head for months. He fell asleep considering scenarios, thinking of all the reasons his Earthlings would be so anxious. He woke up from horrible nightmares where his Earthlings were destroyed over and over again — nightmares he hadn’t had for millions of years, nightmares he had never wanted to remember. This time, the old nightmares were mixed with new scenes where the moons actually had destroyed his life during the Moon Revolution. Those were the worst of them all - they left him gasping awake, scrambling to reach for the connection with his Earthlings just to remind him they were still there.
Could the moons be building another revolution? Earth had apologized, but he was also aware that one apology from him wasn’t enough to heal billions of years of perceived slights - and while Pluto and Charon had managed to get the moons to back down from their attack, Europa and Ganymede certainly hadn’t looked happy about it. Earth clasped his hands together over his eyes, heaving a deep sigh as he tried to ignore the ache of anxiety in his core. Maybe he should ask Jupiter and Saturn how things were with their moons? Or maybe Luna?
As far as Earth knew, the moons had formed their own little group again after the failed Moon Revolution, this time one they called the Moon Club, so Luna would know more about it than Jupiter and Saturn… but if he asked Luna about it, he’d also have to explain the constant paranoia, and he was not doing that. Earth scratched that off his mental checklist, instead vowing to keep a closer eye on his surroundings. If the Moons were planning something again, they’d have to lure him away from the Goldilocks zone, and Earth certainly wasn’t doing that.
It was times like this that he wished he had some way of communicating with his Earthlings, or that Astrodude was back in space so he could relay his worries to someone who wasn’t Luna or the other planets. While nobody else would understand the level of paranoia he associated with the safety of his Earthlings at least Astrodude, as one of his Earthlings, would know just how vulnerable they were. He sighed again, and this time Luna turned to look at him, his brow furrowed with obvious worry, but with a bright smile like he was trying to comfort Earth. “Earth? Is something wrong?” he asked, head tilted to the side.
“No, Luna, I’m fine! I- I promise.” Earth’s voice sounded exasperated even to himself, and Luna’s face briefly fell, his smile dropping. “I - listen, Luna, I’m just - I’m having a bit of an issue with the Earthlings, it’s nothing you can help with.” He stumbled over his words, not sure how to soothe Luna’s worries, especially when Earth knew that his worries were true. “It’s nothing like… It’s nothing like before. I’m fine.” Earth knew he was trying to convince himself with his words as much as he was trying to convince Luna - and he also knew it wasn’t working for either of them.
“I’m just worried, you’re - you’re acting weird, Earth.” Luna’s smile had completely disappeared now, his lips a thin line; he sighed, a noise with a disappointed edge that cut through Earth like a blade. “You know you can tell me everything! I worry about your Earthlings just as much as you do - sure, I can’t fix it but you can at least talk to me about it!” Earth looked away from Luna, instead focusing on the distant twinkle of stars; if he looked Luna in the eyes, Earth was sure he’d be unable to resist spilling all of his secrets. Luna had been with him through everything, was the very definition of a best friend - but something deep inside of Earth was screaming at the idea of showing vulnerability by sharing just how paranoid he was right now.
“I - I know.” Earth’s voice cracked as he said it, and he blinked away the barest edge of tears. He wanted to reach out, he wanted to know what was going on, he wanted - he didn’t know what he wanted. “Just give me some time, Luna.”
He heard another sigh behind him, and then arms wrapped around his chest from behind, and Earth just let himself sink into Luna’s hug. “I’ll give you some time, but you’ve got to speak to someone eventually, Earth. Someone! I don’t care if it’s Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, or- you could even say you want to talk to Uranus for some reason and I’d find a way to bring him over here! Just… you’re worrying me.”
“I will, Luna, eventually.” Earth breathed out, hoping Luna wouldn’t make him promise. However… if the Earthlings didn’t calm down within a century, Earth would reach out to someone. But only then. He had a pretty high limit for pain, mental or physical, anyway. That just came with having life, especially the kind of life that he had. Earth bit down on his tongue, the brief pain grounding him in the moment again as he turned around and pulled Luna into a deeper hug.
More time passed, and the Earthlings did not improve - instead, they devolved even more. They’d started building underground facilities, massive operations that caused enough pain that he had been sleeping less, and his paranoia had increased enough that the idea of even leaving his orbit made panic cloud his thoughts. It was a reaction that both Mars and Venus had both noticed the last time, when Earth had only gotten about halfway towards Venus’s orbit for a game of cards before something snapped and he’d fled. Venus had simply narrowed his eyes at Earth and followed as he flew back to his orbit, easily catching up to him.
Mars lagged a little behind them, but as soon as he zipped back to Earth’s side he was questioning him, hands pressing down on his shoulders - “Earth? What’s wrong?” - while Earth just stared back at him and tried to get back a grip on his mind as the panic subsided. He had refused to answer Mars’s questions, only replying that he was fine. That trend of paranoia continued on as time passed and the Earthling’s panic never subsided, only grew. Even the Gas Giants were starting to notice something was wrong with Earth - sometimes if he looked at where he knew Jupiter or Saturn were orbiting, he could see them looking back at him with looks of worry on their faces.
Earth took comfort in the moments he did have with his friends. Even if it was only briefly, during the moments he did have with them - Mars, Venus, Mercury, and Luna - the panic became easier to ignore. Until one time…
During a game of cards with all of them, one of the few moments of normalcy still in his life, as Luna glanced over Earth’s cards and the other three were figuring out which to play next, Earth found himself staring at an unusual orange dot nestled between the countless smaller white dots that were far-away stars and galaxies. He wasn’t even sure what drew him to look at the dot, but something did, and as he floated in his orbit and stared at the dot, it felt like someone was reaching into his brain and pushing his paranoia levels up even more. Before he knew it, the cards spilled out of his hand, floating in front of him as his hands began shaking. It felt like his core was imploding — his vision began to narrow until it focused only on that small orange dot — and his thoughts began to race, anxiety digging deeper and deeper until all he could think was that his Earthlings were in Danger, he needed to get away, they were going to Die… and suddenly Luna was in front of him, hands braced on either side of his face, and his hearing jumped back in as if it had never even disappeared.
“EARTH!” Luna was saying, not quite full-on yelling, but with a louder voice than normal, his brows furrowed. “Are you okay? You dropped our cards.”
Earth swallowed, his eyes wide as he realized Luna was blocking the orange dot from his field of vision. “I’m fine!” He tried to laugh it off, collecting the cards into his hands again and finally looking at the others. Venus was blinking at him, his eyes slightly narrowed as if he was considering something, while Mars and Mercury just looked concerned - both of them had let go of their cards as well, hands instead up and out as if they were both just about to reach out to Earth.
“I dunno, Earth, are you sure? You didn’t look okay for a second there.” Mars had a peculiar frown on his face, and as he reached out to lay his hand on Earth’s arm. Earth felt his face go cold and he shuffled backwards, making Mars frown deeper, his eyes hurt. Mercury, beside him, knit his brow and had the same sort of frown on his face, wings shuffling in an awkward motion. But he didn’t say anything, instead just keeping his gaze focused on Earth, a prying look in his eyes.
“Yeah, Earth, even I noticed that.” Venus finally interjected, having thrown his cards into a pile with Mars’s and Mercury’s, and crossed his arms, his characteristic frown embedded onto his face. Earth forced a smile onto his face, making eye contact with Luna, Mars, Mercury, and Venus one by one. Each of them stared back at him with narrowed eyes, suspicion clear, but Earth ignored that.
“I promise, guys, I’m fine! I just got… shocked, by something the Earthlings did!” He rushed out, hoping they’d take the explanation for what it was. Luna cocked an eyebrow, studying Earth’s surface with a keen eye, but Earth sharply pulled back from him, unintentionally pulling him forward with his gravity.
“Whoa, Earth! Watch out!” Luna grimaced, and as Earth realized that put the orange dot back in his field of vision, he sharply moved his head away from it and instead locked eyes with Mercury for a moment. The prying look had finally disappeared, and now the worry was obvious in his gaze.
After another silent moment, Earth could tell none of them were going to give up and finally threw his cards back onto the pile. “Listen, guys, trust me, I’m fine. I’m just - I’m having some issues with the Earthlings recently. Nothing you can help me with, so there’s no use worrying!” Earth repeated the words he’d said to Luna not too long ago, flinging his hands outward before crossing them over his chest in an annoyed motion. “I’m sorry - I think this game is over. I’m just going to go back to orbiting like usual, maybe my Earthlings just need that.” He turned away from the two of them and released control of his body to the natural inclinations of gravity, letting himself drift away from the others, who were still standing there looking at him; Luna had a deep frown on his face and was fidgeting with his hands, glancing between the others for a moment before he followed Earth, releasing a sigh Earth could hear even from the distance he’d gone.
Mars looked up and over the asteroid belt at Jupiter, head tilted to the side as he listened to the gas giant.
“Earth is obviously dealing with something at the moment, I don’t think he’s going to be in his right mind for a while. Just keep up as much a sense of normalcy as you can. And - make sure to let Saturn or I know if anything changes. I’ll keep an eye on him - but you and I both know that Earth isn’t one to share his issues unless his back is against the wall and it’s his last possible option.”
Mars nodded, briefly glancing over his shoulder at the silhouettes of Earth and Luna in the distance. “I’m just telling you, Jupiter, something really went wrong today during the card game. It’s like he just went somewhere else for a brief moment - dropped the cards and everything. He’s been like this for a while now, too, and isn’t explaining anything. I swear he’s become a million times more protective of his Earthlings too! Luna’s the only one he really lets near him.” Mars frowned, remembering that the other time he had drifted a little too close to Earth; the other planet had jumped back suddenly and violently, as if Mars had threatened him, a deep look of paranoia etched onto his face - and then the moment today, when Earth had looked like he thought Mars would hurt him when he reached out to touch his arm…
“That’s a little different,” Jupiter paused and looked weirdly serious for a moment, “If that happens again, please just come and get me. I think Earth does need help, but he’s not going to reach out on his own.” Jupiter sighed, adjusting his glasses. “I’ll try and do some research on my own, but there’s really not much I can do at this point.”
Mars nodded, understanding. Jupiter flashed him another worried look, his gaze jumping to Earth for a brief second before he nodded at Mars, turning around and heading back to his orbit. Mars turned back around to look at the Earth, who was twisting around in his orbit giving wild looks to every corner of the solar system, as Mars had noticed him doing more often these days. But before Mars could consider leaving his orbit to figure out what was bothering the other planet, Luna floated up to the Earth and smiled at him, causing the Earth to violently shake his entire body before sending a beaming smile at Luna.
‘Well–’ Mars thought, floating back over to his orbit where Phobos and Deimos were waiting, ‘At least we know Luna’s there if anything else happens.’