Collecting Stardust... {A Marth one-shot}

<3

"Why's the Earth been so jumpy around the Sun recently?" Mars tilted his head in a physical gesture of curiosity. Venus nodded, backing up Mars' question.

All of the planets knew the consequences of disobeying the Sun, but, by now, they had for the most part gotten used to being his satellites.

Earth was acting different, though.

He hung his head whenever the Sun mentioned him, and avoided the star's gaze at all costs.

The signs were subtle and vague, but Mars knew the Earth well enough to realise something was up.

At first, Mars had figured that he was still shaken up from the Moon Revolution, but...

Mars wasn't just curious about Earth; he didn't just want to idly gossip about his best friend. He was worried about him.

"He... uh... he didn't already tell you?" Mercury replied.

"Didn't already tell us what?" Venus rumbled, his eyes sharpening until they were slits.

"Nothing, don't worry..." Mercury mumbled so faintly Mars had to strain to hear him.

"Well, I am worrying." Mars replied nonchalantly, but the other celestial body's disposition was in stark contrast to his own. Mars sighed, and put one hand over Venus' glaring face. Venus brushed the hand away without so much as a groan.

"The thing is, if he didn't already tell you, he might not want you to know. After all, he's still healing, and healing takes time, he might want-"

"Earth tried to ram into the Sun!" Luna zoomed out of seemingly nowhere, interrupting Mercury's fearful spiel.

Mars and Venus' faces dropped, their mouths agape, seamlessly reflecting eachother.

"LUNA!" Mercury yelled shrilly. "WE WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO TELL THEM THAT!"

"Oh." Luna edged away from the three celestial bodies with unease. "Uh... oopsy daisy?" he said with an awkward grin, before quickening his pace and zooming away completely. The impact from Luna's departure left ripples on all three of their surfaces.

"I'm going to check on the Earth." Mars said with conviction, his face set in a focussed glare.

"I.. uh... I don't think he wants company right now!" Mercury exclaimed, standing in Mars' way.

"Move your ass, pipsqueak." Venus stepped in beside Mars.

"But I-"

"Move it, little shit."

"Y-yes sir!" Mercury squeaked before rushing off.

Venus nodded, and stepped back as Mars began to head towards the distant blue spec.

But before Mars could get out of Venus' earshot, he said; "Why do you care about him so much? After everything he's done?"

Mars didn't turn to acknowledge him. He closed his eyes in genuine thought, before sighing and truthfully replying, "I don't know."

***

"What are you doing over here? Collecting stardust?"

Earth turned slowly to see who was speaking to him, before turning back to stare at passing asteroids. It was hard to distinguish between the male planets; their voices were so similar.

After a few heartbeats, Earth simply replied, "Hey, Mars."

"There's something I wanted to talk with you about, Earth, and if you're not ready, then that's fine. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Earth nodded tiredly.

"It's, uhm... it's about the Sun-" Mars tried to ease his way towards the sensitive topic, but was immediately interrupted as Earth quickly turned to face him.

"I'm sorry, okay? I wasn't thinking, it was in the heat of the moment, I really thought it was the best thing to do! Please don't be angry with me..."

"Angry? Why would I be angry with you? If anything, I'm worried about you, Earth, very worried."

Earth's gaze dropped in shame, and Mars moved closer.

"I don't deserve your time."

"I'll choose who deserves my time, Earth."

"But... look at me Mars, look at me! I'm a monster, I did awful things... I got you and Venus hurt all because I wanted to hold on to the one thing that made me 'special'. And then I tried to kill both myself and my life just to get out of the hole I dug myself into. Don't you realise how selfish that is?" Earth turned, and Mars stopped him by resting one hand on Earth's cheek.

"But... you didn't kill your life."

"I would have, if Mercury and Luna hadn't stopped me."

"You chose to let them stop you."

"That doesn't make any difference! And plus, aren't you forgetting what I did to you? You-"

"Stop it."

"Wh... What?"

"Earth, you're blaming yourself for what others chose to do. Titan started the Revolution, not you. Ganymede and Europa planned the attack, not you." Mars said sternly, looking deeply into Earth's eyes.

"But- but- I drove Titan to start the Moon Revolution! I drove Ganymede and Europa to plan the attack! Mars, I was so stupid, I didn't think about what I was saying before I said it, and I tried to get away from all my problems when it went to shit."

"Earth... you're sorry, aren't you?"

"Yes!"

"That's good enough for me." Mars murmured into Earth's ear, tilting his head to the side. Earth tilted his to the other.

The two of them exhaled after their lips had touched, and, eventually, a smile was on Earth's face.

"What's done is done, Earth, and there's nothing we can do besides regret our actions. And you clearly do. You deserve to be here, Earth. You deserve to live. We all make mistakes."

"My mistakes are just bigger than others..."

"Earth... I wouldn't change a thing about you. But for the love of the Sun, it's water under the bridge."

Abruptly, Earth rushed into him, and wrapped his arms around him. Mars hugged him back, shutting his eyes.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore, anyway." Earth murmured.

"Me neither."