The Planets Are Aligned (Original)

Chapter Ten: The Sapphire Mountains

     The following morning, Jupiter awoke feeling a little pained around his head. He had nearly forgotten about what he had done to himself. Jupiter was still in his fancy clothes from last night, so he switched out of them and into what he wore before. Jupiter was quick to shower and brush his teeth and soon, he was ready to cease the day. When he opened his bedroom door, he saw Mars at his door, who had his hand raised a little and his fingers curled. He looked like he was about to knock. What incredible timing!
     "Jupiter!" Mars smiled. "Glad to see you're awake! Are you ready to go into the Sapphire Mountains? They aren't too far away, but it's not close to here as it was with here to Olivine."
     "Of course," Jupiter said as his eyes darted around his room. He ran over to grab his bag. "I still got everything packed! We can go now, if you want."
     "Good, because Pluto said he wanted us to leave as soon as possible. He actually arrived here at two in the morning. He was kind of," Mars paused. "Standing in front of the castle doors creepily." His face made him look both confused and impressed.
     "I'm right here, you know."
      Mars nearly jumped as he turned around to see Pluto. Instead of wearing the clothes from last night, he wore something different. He had a shirt with shades of brown and a black jacket with a red design on each side. He wore brown and baggy pants and dark brown shoes. Besides that, everything else was the same.
      "Sorry!" Mars looked a little worried. "I didn't notice you there. I assume you're ready, too, Pluto." Pluto nodded quietly and looked over at Jupiter. He squinted a little at Jupiter, and it frightened Jupiter.
     "S-so," Jupiter stammered. "How are we going to get to the Sapphire Mountains?"
     "Simple," Mars crossed his arms. "Instead of trekking through the thick woods and passing through many towns, mostly shady ones, we'll take a boat across the Turquoise Sea. Right along the sea's edge are the Sapphire Mountains, and from there, we can hike up to see Saturnus. How about that?"
Jupiter nodded. "That sounds like a good idea."
     "But what if we get hit by a storm?" Pluto suggested pessimistically. "What will we do then?"
Mars looked over at Jupiter and grinned. "Well, I know that Jupiter is a good swimmer." Jupiter laughed and blushed a little.
     "I'm not going to carry you all if our boat gets hit!" He said through his smiling and laughter.
     "Alright," Mars could not help but to smile with him, but since he remembered that Pluto was with them, Mars made his smile disappear as quickly as he could. "Everyone ready?"

     Meanwhile, within the same city of Bloodstone, Terra and Venus were about to leave the hotel that they stayed at for the masquerade. Terra was carrying all of the bags in a strangely comedic way: she was acting as if the suitcases were tons heavier than they were supposed to be, but she was only doing it to guilt out Venus because she always made Terra carry the bags because, according to Venus, "Mothers like to take care of their children, and I like to pretend that Terra is my mother." As Terra and Venus were loading their suitcases in the horse-drawn wagon they had borrowed from a friend in Olivine (because they liked to do things authentically), a young boy rushed up up to the ladies desperately and tugged at Terra's dress. The young boy happened to be Mercurius.
     "Ma'am!" He tugged more at Terra's dress. "I need your help! You just looked like a nice young lady, and I don't know where the sheriff's office is!" Terra and Venus both looked down at the boy in both fear and sympathy.
     "What's wrong?" Venus bent down a little to see the little boy because her heeled boots were tall.
Mercurius, before speaking, made a ton of different motions with his hands to indicate that something was wrong. "My parents are missing! I just woke up and saw that they were gone! I'm really worried because my parents were the only ones who knew what to do in a situation like this." He started to cry a little, and Terra went to her knees to embrace him.
     "Don't worry," she said calmly. "We can take you to see the police. We'll talk to them." She looked over at Venus, who obviously looked a little angry and panicky. She was mouthing the words, "what do you think you're doing? We don't even know where the police are!" Terra simply mouthed back, "don't worry about it." She rubbed Mercurius' head reassuringly, and then she got up. "Come on, let's go find the sheriff's office."

     At this time, Jupiter, Mars, and Pluto were all at the edge of the sea with a boat that Mars rented. The sea stretched far out into the distance and looked endless, much like the river near Olivine.
"This should take about a day or two by boat," Mars said as he climbed on the boat. "We won't starve because I already got the boat loaded with some food and water. Hop on!" With that, Jupiter and Pluto joined Mars in the boat, and they all started sailing across the Turquoise Sea.

     Not a lot happened too much during the two days. Pluto would occasionally creep out Jupiter and make Mars laugh, who had to almost immediately hide his smile whenever he did. When they all ate together, they would talk about things that had happened to them, such as Mars talking about how annoying his siblings used to be, somehow without breaking into tears. Pluto would talk about his recent "paranormal investigation" where he visited an old home in Sapphire to help one of its citizens get connected to her dead relative. Then, Jupiter would lighten the mood by talking about how his mother would get angry with him whenever he got up onto the dinner table and started to dance to one of his mother's favorite songs.

     Finally, they all made it the Sapphire Mountains, which were covered in trees with a bluish hue. It was a beautiful site. However, the mountains were also very rocky and they looked difficult to climb up.
     "Shoot," Jupiter stared up at the mountains as he got off of the boat. "I've actually never been here before. I've only ever seen pictures, but now I get to see it up close and personal!"
     "I've been here many times," Mars searched along the mountainside for a path to start upon. "I came here with my family when I was younger. We would go camping here." He kicked down a few bushes to see that a small path was made behind them. "Here. Let's go through here." Jupiter and Pluto, without hesitating, followed Mars over the crushed bush and into the forest. It was much darker in the woods than it was on the shore. The bluish hue was now a dark, menacing color, and all of the trees were close together. It was a little difficult to get through the forest and climb over rocks at the same time for Mars, Jupiter, and Pluto. Mars would use his sword to whack away any overgrown plants that were in the way, which Jupiter thought was a little brutal, because Jupiter believed that plants had feelings, too. After a few hours of lashing at plant life, Mars reached sunlight, which instantly made him jump.
     "I think we're finally at the top!" Mars exclaimed as he poked his head out of the hole he made in the leaves. He could see a lot of tree tops and, not too far off in the distance, a wooden roof, which indicated that there was house there. "I think I see a house in the north. That must be Saturnus!" He came back down and guided the others into the north until they reached a house. It was shabby-looking and made of wood, but the old man who appeared from the house complemented his house completely. He wore a silky, brown robe with bubble patterns that came in green, blue, and purple, an the end of the sleeves had a golden rim. Around his robe was a large ring with shades of blue all around it. He had a scraggly white beard and a long, brown staff that had a strange lower-case "h" shape with a line through it, which looked like a ♄. He raised his head to see the young men and he recognized one instantly.
     "Pluto! Pleasure to see you here." He looked over at the other two humanoids. "And Your Majesty. Hello." He bowed, but quickly got up because his back hurt. "And...? Who is this young one I see?" Jupiter's eyes darted around at Mars and Pluto as he grinned sheepishly.
     "I'm Jupiter! I suppose you're Saturnus. Look, sir, we need your help. It's about Sol."