*Spoilers for if you haven’t watched the SipsCo Space Program. And Mars is a lot farther away than it is in our world. It’s like, we are Mercury (the planet closest to the sun) and Mars is like Pluto (even though that isn’t a planet anymore. . .)*

*There will be some sad moments in this so. . .It skips around time-wise. Zips is in it, but Simon and Lewis are almost ready to go to Mars.  And also going under the Spaceman!Sips head cannon. Unless he really is from space. . . Lewis is also from space, because I know for a fact that’s true.*

I was returning to our Slime island, having to make a trip back to the Sips Co. secret base to gather what I could, since our quarry is once again out of order. Stopping at the quarries to deposit some of the coal I found on the way, and headed for the ladders leading to our base.

“Sips! I’m back.” I shove everything in my pack into one of them many chests strewn about, ready to just lay down and sleep after the long journey.

“Wha- Oh, hey!” I enter and a man who looks a lot like Sips, but isn’t, is at the NASA work table. His spacesuit looks the same, but he is balding and has a unibrow. His voice  is much lower, and he just seems really awkward.

Deciding to wait until the moment is right, I play along. “Hey Sips! I found a lot of minerals back at the secret base. I just dumped them in a chest.”

“Oh? Uh- which secret base?” He walks over and starts looking through a chest. I grab a sword and move behind him.

“Turn around slowly.”

“What do ya mean, Si-jin?” (It says on the wiki that he actually pronounces it like that, and not like Shin like Sips does.)

“Where is the real Sips?” I place the tip of my sword where I assume his heart to be. I try to appear tough, but am terrified.

“Sjin! You are wasting time. We need to get to space. Here, grab some dirt. Lets just climb up there.” He tries to hand me some premium dirt but I hit it out of his hand.

I press my sword harder against his chest, and I see him wince. “Okay- okay. He-” The man looks around desperately.

“He what?” I readjust the sword.

“He’s on Mars.” My sword clatters to the floor and I find myself unable to move. Sips’ doppelganger bolts, the door slamming shut behind him.

“Sipsy?” I whisper to no one. Tears start to trickle down my face. A million different situations run through my head. Out of all of them, the one that sticks is:
Maybe he’s returning home. Never to return to Minecraftia again.

“He wouldn’t do that, would he? He wouldn’t just leave without telling me.” I stand up and decide to go see the Girl Guides. Lewis should have some idea as to what happened and what we should do.

It takes me a full day and a half, but I eventually reach their base. It’s later in the day when I arrive. Shaking my head at the architectural design and I don’t bother knocking on their non-mahogany door.

“Lewis!” I call out, seeing no one. I check the main room, then the kitchen, even wander the mines a bit. I head back up and look at their board, hoping that will point me in the right direction.

There’s a weird vroom sound and I head into a side room I didn’t notice before. “Hello? Lewis?”

“Sjin? What are you doing here, friend?” He comes out of yet another room into this weird library. His two companions are close behind, neither looking all that happy.

“Oi, what are you doing here? You can’t just come to Baked Bean Fort!” The short man starts stepping toward me, but Lewis steps in front of him.

“Uh- I need to talk to Lewis. It’s kind of important. I’ve been calling for you guys for a while. I looked everywhere for you.”

“So while you were looking for us in our chests, what did you take of ours?” The blonde sneers at me underneath his mess of hair.

“I didn’t touch your chests! Honest. I did go looking for you guys in the mine, but I didn’t go very far in.” I ignore the look the dwarf is giving me.

“Okay, well it’s time to eat dinner, lets do that first. I can quickly cook up some pork chops. We have some from Ham Base, right?” Simon brightens up and nods. Duncan still seems to be a bit leery of me though.

“Course! I’ll start cooking.” He waddles over to the kitchen and we take a seat at the the counter.

We make idle conversation while Simon cooks and serves dinner. By the time we are done and the kitchen is cleaned up, the sun is nearly gone.

I find Lewis on top of the can of beans, looking up at the stars that are starting to come out. “Oh, hey Sjin.”

I sit down next to him and look up at the stars. “Do you ever think about going home?”

He doesn’t respond for a long time. I manage to find the both the Dippers. “The longer I stay here the less the urge to return home is. Do I want to return home someday? Of course, but I don’t really want to. I don’t think I could leave them.”

“What about Sips? Do you think he could leave and go home?” Tears sting my eyes.

“I don’t think he would leave this planet. Not without you, at least.” His words do nothing but confuse me.

“What do you mean, without me?” Sips and I are strictly friends, even though I’ve liked him more than a friend for a while now.

“You guys have this connection. I don’t really know how to explain it, but it’s like you two are meant to be together. Maybe not in a romantic way, but platonically.”
“Like you and Simon?” I offer.

“Yes! Like Simon and I. I feel like we have a connection. While I could never be with him romantically, I definitely couldn’t leave him behind, ever. Sips couldn’t leave you, no matter what was going on.”

We sit in silence for a while longer. My mind wanders to the dirt factory, all the great times we had building it. I nearly forget he’s gone.

“Hey Sjin?” I turn to Lewis, his eyes glowing blue in the dark.

“Yea?”

“What did you want to talk to me about?” I must look confused because he continues. “You came here saying you needed to talk to me about something. What was it? And won’t Sips be wondering where you are?”

I look away, taking a deep breath. “That’s the thing. He’s gone, Lewis.” Tears start to run down my face. “He-he’s really gone Lewis. He’s on Mars.”

I try explaining what happened, but forming words is really hard when you are sobbing. I hear Simon and Duncan come up, but Lewis shoos them away. Simon comes back up and puts a blanket around my shoulders, sitting down next to me.

I lean against Simon and slowly start to calm down. “Tell me about it.” He doesn’t sound demanding, quite the opposite actually. But I feel like it wouldn’t be a good idea if I didn’t listen.

I tell him what happened, everything. Even my conversation with Lewis. He sits there in silence, and then asks Lewis to leave before talking.

“Let me handle this Lewis, I think Duncan needs help with the smeltery.” Lewis leaves without a word.

“Sjin, I know Sips’ disappearance is hard. There were times when we were building the Jaffa Factory, Lewis would just leave. He would be gone for days, not telling anyone where he was going or that he was leaving. I would always panic, worried he was going to return home and I would never see him again.

“It’s going to be hard, but I’ll help you get through it. You can stay here, and I will help you get Sips back. Or at least get you to Mars, even if we have to start new and build our own shit.” We both start laughing, we know how bad that would end. “But I will get you to him. That is a dwarven promise.”

“Thank you, Simon. I really don’t know if I could do this without you.”

~.~.~

“I found this great new area to start a farm, Sjin.” Lewis is leading me to this, according to him, literal field of gold he found that he thinks would be a good place to start up a farm. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, and now with Sips not really. . .here, Lewis has decided to help me do this.

“Woah! This is amazing!” I smile for the first time in a long time. Lewis pats me on the back.

“It’s gonna be great. I’m excited,” Lewis agrees, grinning.

Sips doesn’t say a word.

~'.~

I throw myself into this farm, not thinking about him until I am finally alone on the farm. We have a house built, and a small hoed area where we have random things planted. Lewis got a few weeks off to help me get back on my feet, and now he was going on a week long vacation before returning to start something new with Simon and Duncan.

It’s while I’m looking through the chests for some ores that I remember we have tons back at our Slime Island.

I freeze in my tracks, tilting my head up to look at the frozen statue that is my boss. I stay like that, trying to figure out if I can handle going back to where I last saw him.

We made it to Mars and it was almost like Sips was waiting for us, me, to come take him home. Yeah, he was a statue. Someone did something to him and now he is cold and unmoving. I spent weeks trying to bring him back, but to no avail. Duncan is currently trying stuff out, and Lewis hinted at Yogslab also running some tests.

“It’s fine, I’ll just grab what I need and leave. Quick and simple.” I find some cardboard boxes and head off, leaving a note saying I will be back soon. I doubt anyone will come by, but better safe than sorry.

I see the green blob in the sky and start running. I don’t want to be here. I stop at the base of the ladder, regretting this. “I’ve come this far, I have to do it.” I steel myself and start climbing.

I quickly pack up the chests in the cardboard boxes that are outside. Once I have all of them, I take a minute to look around. Tears start to blur my vision and I quickly walk over to the ladders and walk away from the island.

I can’t seem to get back to the farm fast enough. I quickly throw down all the boxes and flop down on my bed, soaking my pillow.

I wake to the sun peeking in my windows. I groan and roll over, not wanting to get up. Eventually I do, and I instantly regret it when I walk outside to see my yard cluttered with packed boxes.

So I set to work unpacking those and setting up a sorting facility. Days pass and Duncan comes to visit to see how Sips is holding up. While he pokes around I work on building a barn.

Two weeks have passed since I returned to Slime Island. I now have a barn and sorting facility set up in there. There are still two boxes I have to dump into the system, and it is while I am in the process of doing that, that Simon shows up.

“Sjin?” I exit the farmhouse to see the dwarf landing by the barn.

“Hey Simon! What brings you to my farm?” I walk over and force a smile.

“Just wanted to see how you were, see how the farm was going,” He isn’t a great liar. I know someone, Lewis probably, sent him to make sure I was still living. Make sure I didn’t go completely nuts yet.

“Oh, good. Good. I have a barn now, and I am hoping to expand the farm before Lewis comes back. Somewhere over there,” I gesture to an area I have planned for more plots.

Simon nods, but I can tell he couldn’t care less. “Let me show you around.” I take him through the farm house, pointing out the different things I have planted, showing him the barn and sorting area last.

“Wow, you have really been busy! Seems like you don’t need Lewis’ help,” He jokes.

I laugh. “He keeps me sane. If he didn’t come visit and help out, I’d end up just sitting next to him and talking to no one all day.” Truth be told I find myself talking to him more and more.

“You are always welcome anytime over at Hole Diggers buddy!” I nod and start looking through one of the chests.

I come across a journal and immediately recognize Sips’ chickenscratch handwriting. I find myself entranced as I stare at the cover page of this. The real journal, the best journal.

Something pokes my shoulder and I jump. “Sjin? What’s wrong?”

I turn and find a worried looking dwarf looking up at me. I look back down and drop the journal as if it burned me. I open my mouth to reply but a sob comes out instead.

“Come here, buddy.” I drop to my knees and Simon wraps his stubby arms around me. I cry into his beard while he sings a soothing Dwarven song.

Once I’ve managed to stop crying, I stand up. “I’m sorry Simon,” I hiccup.

“Shh, don’t worry Sjin. Why don’t you go lay down for a little while, I’m going to tell Lewis I won’t be coming home for a few days.” I shake my head.

“No! You need to go work at Hole Diggers, they need you. I’ll be fine over here, don’t worry about me.”

Simon shakes his head. “Sjin, I’m the boss over there. I can do whatever I want. And I want to hang out with you for a few days.” I know there is really no point to arguing with him, he doesn’t lose arguments.

I’m quiet for a minute. “Thank you.” He nods and I head over to the farmhouse.

I lay down and wake up some time later to the sound of two people whispering. I get up and creep over to the door, and hear Lewis talking to who I presume is Simon. “Did you read the journal then?”

“Yea, well the last couple entries.”

“And?”

“Uh, he wasn’t really,” They pause and I open the door a crack. “Happy.”

“What do you mean?”

“According to his diary/journal thing, he wasn’t as happy here as people thought. He doesn’t explain what was the cause of his unhappiness, but he had been planning this for a few weeks. Even purposely send Sjin away so he could leave. It says someone named Zips coming to take his place. That didn’t really work, but. . .” Simon trails off and I back away from the door.

I run into the wall and look out the window. From here I can see Sips’ statue. “You wanted to go home Sips? Then I will bring you home.”

I try to act normal, like I didn’t overhear what Simon told Lewis. Simon stayed for a few days, then went back to Hole Diggers. Lewis stayed to help out on the farm. The journal seems to have disappeared. I didn’t bring it up again.

Lewis eventually returns to Craggy Island, and I can finally put my plan into action. I go over to Baked Bean Fort and find nearly everything I need to get to space.

I get the rocket set up and make sure it has enough fuel before loading Sips and myself into the rocket. I start flipping switches, and then we are off.

.~'.~'.~.

We land on Mars and I set Sips in nearly the exact same spot as we found him. Then we wait. It doesn’t take long before the imposter, Zips, shows up.

“Follow me.” He grabs Sips and leads me to a small dome not that far away. “You can take off your oxygen gear in here. If you need to refill it you can.” There isn’t anything in here but a few chests and a couple machines.

I motion to Sips. “Can you fix him? I want to say goodbye.”

The man looks at me with his one good eye, the other one off looking at nothing. “Turn away.”

I do and a few minutes later I hear Sips speak. “Wha- what happened?” I turn around slowly.

“Hey Sipsy.” I try to smile.

“Sjin? What are you doing here? What happened?” He looks really confused, looking to Zips for an answer.

“Well you went missing. I got the Girl Guides to help me get to space. We found you frozen as a statue when we got here. I brought you back and I started up a farm.” I pause, hesitating. “I found your journal, Sips.” I say the last part quietly.

“Zips, can you leave us alone please?” The guy turns and exits the dome. “Sjin-”

“I just wanted to say goodbye. So, goodbye.” I turn and start walking away, blinking rapidly.

“Sjin- wait!” He grabs my arm and spins me around. I look anywhere but at him. “Let me explain. Look at me God damn it!” He grabs my chin and forces me to look up into his golden orbs.

“What is there to explain? You weren't happy, so you left. Nothing to explain.” I step back and Sips’ hand falls to his side.

“I would have come back.” He says, barely above a whisper. Now it is he that won’t look at me.

“When?” I start to get upset. “When were you going to come back? You didn’t even tell anyone you were unhappy and that you wanted to go home! You just left, and figured leaving some guy who looks nothing like you in his place! I know you were unhappy, but did you ever think about what your disappearance would to to us? To me?” A tear trickles down my cheek.

Sips doesn’t say anything. I shake my head and start putting my gear back on. I’m almost to the door when Sips speaks.

“Sjin, don’t leave me. Please,” He sounds like I’m the one who just decided to leave without telling anyone. Like I’m the one who wrote about how unhappy I was. Like I’m the one who was never going to return. Never give them any closure. Never give them the chance to say goodbye.

I stop in my tracks, my hands curling into fists, my helmet dropping to the floor. “ ‘Don’t leave me.’ You don’t want me to leave you alone on your home planet? You don’t want me to go, even though you know I’m leaving? You know why, and where I’m going. It’s not a big deal if I leave. Because you know, Sips. You know.” I shake my head. “I’m going home Sips. If you need me, you know where to find me. But if you ever come, don’t expect me to welcome you with open arms.”

I reach down to pick up my helmet but find Sips standing right behind me, helmet in hand. “Sjin,” I wait for him to continue, but no words come.

“If that’s all, I would like my helmet back. I have people back home who need me, people who wouldn’t leave me without telling me.” He does nothing but stares as I put my helmet on and walk out the door.

I start up the rocket and have started the countdown when Sips comes running toward me. I am helpless to do anything but watch as the rocket takes off. He raises a hand, a final goodbye.

“Goodbye Sips.”

*A/N: When I started writing this it was based on a coment made about how bright something was and it turned into this. So I hope you enjoy this long story, and sorry about not updating this in a while. If you have any requests, pop it in the comments. A prompt would also be appreciated :) Or a comment someone made that you think would be a good story idea.*