The coolness of the water swirled around his feet as Venus slowly stepped into the lake in front of him, smiling as he looked out into the distance. The water here wasn’t very deep, not even up to his knees, and it didn’t get all that much deeper farther in either, only maybe to just above his waist. This was his favorite spot to relax, now. Just a small pool where he could feel the sun on his face. He closed his eyes, facing the sky and smiling contentedly. The warmth hitting his face now was pleasant and peaceful and soothed any tension that he had felt before. The heat was nice, he could stay there forever if he wanted to.

A soft sound of splashing shook him out of his trance. He opened his eyes and turned around, grinning when he saw that Earth had joined him. He opened his mouth to shout a happy greeting, but immediately stopped when he noticed the troubled look on her face. Concern instantly filled him.

“Earth?” He asked slowly, “Kiddo, Is something wrong?”

Earth chuckled, though the tension never left her face. “Venus, you know we’re almost the same age-”

“I’m still older!” Venus grinned, but quickly let that drop, “But are you alright? You didn’t answer.”

Earth paused, nervously playing with her fingers. “Well…” She said slowly, staring at the water below them and refusing to meet the other Planet’s eyes. She slowly took a step into the water and came a little closer. “I…”

Venus didn’t say anything, but put a hand comfortingly on her arm, silently urging her to continue.

She inhaled deeply, squeezing her eyes shut as she spoke.

“Venus, do you think we were worth it?”

“Huh?”

“When Sol died,” She hurridly clarified, “When she died just so we could come about. Do you think that was worth it?”

Venus’ face scrunched in confusion, not exactly sure how to respond to such a confusing question as that. “Well… I don’t really know… It’s sad that she’s gone, but if she wasn’t, we wouldn’t be here so… I don’t know.” He tilted his head slightly, speaking his next words slowly, “Why do you ask?”

Earth continued, “I mean, did she do that because she was lonely, because she didn’t want to be here, or because she genuinely wanted us?”

“Neither of us really knew her, Earth,” Venus reminded, “Why don’t you ask Jupiter or Saturn, they’re the oldest, or even Neptune or Uranus. They were the only ones who really got much of a chance to know her. They could answer that the best. Why ask me?”

“Well…” Venus got the message she didn’t want to answer that, “do you think it would be a bad idea for one of us to do what she did?”

Venus stopped immediately, pulling his hand away from her. So that was what this conversation was really about. “Earth, do you mean…” Earth nodded, and Venus bit his lip, “But you’ll -”

“I know!” Earth exclaimed, “But I just… I don’t know why, Venus, but this has been stuck in my mind for so long and I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s been so long…”

She turned to look at him this time, but Venus quickly looked away now. He didn’t want to look her in the eyes. He didn’t want to see that emotion. He didn’t want to deal with this. His best friend, his sister, someone he desperately cared for, had just come to him to ask him for advice on whether or not she should die. How was he supposed to answer that? What was he supposed to tell her? He knew that the death of a Planet could bring about something beautiful, just like the death of a Sun had so long ago. But was he supposed to encourage it? Was he supposed to encourage the death of one of the best people he knew? He couldn’t do that, he loved her too much. Wouldn’t that be wrong?

Would it be wrong of him to not?

“I…” Venus trailed off, not knowing what else to say. Maybe… He could deal with all of those questions later… For now, he only needed to know one thing. He looked at her carefully, “You haven’t yet, right?”

She shook her head quickly, “No! Not yet, no. I still haven’t decided,” She smiled slightly, chuckling, “Don’t worry, I’m not dying yet.”

Venus wanted to laugh along with her, but he didn’t think he could. Not with the threat of ‘yet’ hanging in the air. He couldn’t find it in himself to laugh at that.

Instead, he just wrapped his arms around her, and held her as tightly as he could.

She hugged him back and didn’t let go.

***

Venus sat in the now dried up valley on the surface of his home, leaning his backagainst a rock off to the side. He could still remember a time when this land was filled with cool waters, but now it was instead filled with countless memories. Some being created now.

The Planet now watched as his friend impatiently paced the ground ahead of him, eyes darting back and forth in his desperate search for Mercury. Logan had agreed that once he got there, the three of them would go and visit the humans again, but it seemed like he was taking an eternity to get there.

Patton chuckled to himself as Roman groaned loudly. He turned to face Patton, who leaned back on his hands as he moved from the ground to instead sit on top of the stone. Roman sighed. Patton decided to attempt to change the subject, if only to distract him for a bit.

“So, I’m excited to see them again, but I do wonder what we’ll talk about.” Patton said, “What questions do you think they’ll have?”

“What’s the answer to life is a usual one.” Roman said after a moment of thinking back, searching his memories. He grinned, and Patton silently applauded himself for successfully ceasing his pacing. “Oh, and about aliens!”

Patton smiled, “Yeah, they probably will. Or they’ll ask how we live on ‘unhabitable planets’.”

“That will definitely be asked!” Roman sighed, looking off into the distance dramatically. “But I love the ones about what’s beyond the stars! About how beautiful it is out there! Or, when they ask about others beyond the horizon - but not just the regular questions” Roman explained, now standing in front of his friend, spinning around and waving his arms in a dramatic fashion, to present his story as though he were giving a monologue. “The ones where they want to know about how the beauty of life expands throughout the universe in so many unique ways, the ones where they appreciate the beauty of these differences, the ones where they just want to meet and love others like them in so many ways, yet unlike them in a million others!”

Patton giggled, “I know what you mean.”

“Oh I can’t wait!” Roman exclaimed, then frowned. “I can’t wait. It’s taking too long, when’s Logan gonna get here?” He demanded; Patton’s distraction had run its course.

“It’s only been about 5 minutes Roman, just be patient.” Patton reminded, chuckling again when Roman responded by groaning again. He was about to protest another time, when he heard someone clear their throat behind him. His pout immediately turned to a grin, and he spun around to greet Logan. The smile left his face quickly however, when he saw who it actually was.

“What do you want Saturn?” He spat, eyes narrowing. Saturn glared right back.

“What are you guys about to do?” Saturn demanded instead of answering. He folded his arms across his chest, not letting his harsh gaze leave Roman once. If looks could kill, the Planet would be dead. Roman shrank back ever so slightly, though he didn’t miss how bloodshot the other Planet’s eyes had turned, or the way his hands shook ever so slightly. He didn’t dwell on this, however, instead remembering his annoyance and focusing on that.

“We’re about to visit the humans again, Saturn.” Said a voice from behind them. Saturn turned and saw that Mercury had shown up, and it was Saturn who stepped back this time, frown deepening. Roman grinned, though Logan ignored it.

“Yeah!” Patton bounced up and stood besides Roman, “Wanna come?” He offered, while Roman’s face twisted into a horrified expression.

“You want to invite him?” He demanded, “He’ll probably kill them!”

Saturn rolled his eyes, and ignored both of them. He turned to Logan, “You seriously approve of this??” He exclaimed, “You’re supposed to be the smart one!”

“They already know of our existence, Saturn,” Logan explained,” And they took it rather well. If we visit only the ones who have already seen us, and ensure that they don’t go around letting this information out, I am sure we will be fine. I would not have approved of this unless I thoroughly thought it through.”

“Yeah!” Roman grinned, walking straight up to Saturn. He flicked the rings above his head tauntingly, “So why don’t you just head on back home? Leave us alone for a change?”

Saturn shoved him back harshly, “Get the hell away from me,” He hissed, “And no, I will not! You morons need to realize that this idiotic plan isn’t just putting you guys in danger, but us too! And even the humans that you all claim to love oh so much. This is ridicious. So get your act together and realize this is a horrible idea!”

“Oh, Saturn, we aren’t going to -” Patton started to say, but Saturn interrupted him. He noticed how concerned Venus was growing, and he wasn’t ready to deal with that right now.

“Don’t ‘Oh Saturn’ me!” Saturn exclaimed, fists clenched and knuckles white, “Stay away from the humans!”

“Saturn.” Logan said, interrupting their argument. “You can stop now.” Saturn’s glare grew harsher, but he didn’t say anything. Logan turned to the other two now. “We will be going now.”

Logan and Roman quickly disappeared, and Patton waved a short “goodbye” before he did too, leaving Saturn standing alone on the scorching surface of the planet.

He ran his fingers through his hair in deep frustration, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Of course,” He whispered quietly to himself, “They just had to make this as difficult as possible, didn’t they?” He opened his eyes, releasing the strands of hair from his fists. He looked off into the distance, in the vague direction he knew the ship would be, even if he couldn’t see it from where he was.

“Well, time for plan B.”