The Planets Are Aligned (Original)

Chapter Fourteen: Hostage to the Helioids

     Jupiter slowly opened his eyes to find himself in a dimly-lit place. He could not see very well, however, he could hear voices from all around him, and they were all familiar. "Huh? Where am I?" Suddenly, Jupiter's vision was starting to come back, and he saw nine familiar faces. He nearly gasped as he saw everyone. He saw that everyone was chained up around their limbs, including their ankles and wrists. He saw a young boy curled up next to a finely-dressed woman. They were definitely Mercurius and Terra. Next to Terra was a beautiful, young woman who looked quite angry. She was Venus. Next to Venus was a younger man in a familiar, black trench coat. Jupiter recognized him as Pluto. A little further away from Pluto was an old man in a colorful robe. Saturnus was here, too, thought Jupiter. Two young girls were huddled next to each other. They were Eris and Uranus. Not too far away from them was a young woman who Jupiter had just met recently: Neptunus. Finally, near what looked like a steel door was a burnt-looking man. He refused to show his face, but Jupiter knew he was Mars.

     "Jupiter," spoke a gentle voice. It was Terra's. "Are you alright?" Jupiter's attention now belonged to Terra. Jupiter nodded quietly. "You have a huge gash on your face, Jupiter. I was worried sick!" Jupiter's eyes widened as he brought a finger to his face to feel it. He felt the remains of the gash along his face as he looked upon his old friends from earlier. He started to be flooded with some sort of odd feeling that he had never felt before. Jupiter could not interrupt the feeling with a bright smile or a laugh. Something was happening to Jupiter that confused him.

     "Whats going on?" Jupiter asked quietly and shakily. "Why are we all here?"
     "Well," Venus said as she looked over at Jupiter sadly. "One of the Helioids explained to Terra, Mercurius and me that they wanted Planetoids. Only problem is, they won't tell us what a Planetoid is. Anyone have any ideas?" As everyone was quiet to think, Jupiter looked down at himself. He saw his necklace. Then, he remembered something. He looked at Mars' medallion, Venus' boot, Terra's earrings, Mercurius' hat, Pluto's eye, Saturnus' staff, Eris' bracelet, Uranus' shirt, and Neptunus' glove.
     "V-Venus," Jupiter stammered silently. "We're all Planetoids. Our symbols. They want us." Jupiter held up his necklace. Uranus covered her mouth and looked at Jupiter in shock. She looked over at the strange symbols on everyone else.
     "Oh no," Saturnus gasped. "What would they want with us?" Just then, the steel door clicked and it slowly opened. Behind the door were three Helioids and a humanoid of some type. She wore what looked like a silky orange dress and beautiful, glittery heels. Her hair was long, flowing and resembled a flame. Her eyes also looked like they had fire inside of them. She walked into the room with the Helioids.
     "Ah," she mused as she looked upon the Planetoids. "You are all finally awake." She scowled at Jupiter, and he looked away. "Good. Now, I'm sure you're all wondering why you're here." She grinned evilly as she stepped by the Planetoids. "It's as simple as this: power. You are all Planetoids. It's defined on your strange symbols." Everyone looked at Jupiter in shock to see that his theory was correct. "Oh? Why are we all staring? It's rude to stare."
     "It's just that Jupiter said that, and he was right," Eris replied. The fire-like woman approached Jupiter and she knelt down to him. She gently lifted up his chin and looked into his eyes.
     "You're ahead of the game, aren't you?" She grinned at Jupiter, which eerily imitated one of his own grins. She got up and her dress graced Jupiter's nose slightly. He wrinkled his nose and looked up at the woman fearfully. "Well, let me tell you all something. No one ever tells you about the Planetoids because they are sacred legends and they are very secretive ones, too." The Helioids appeared from behind the woman. "Even Sol and Luna never speak of the Planetoids. Want to know why? Because they are Planetoids, too! But, what are Planetoids, you may ask?" The Helioids began walking in a circle, almost hypnotically.
     "The Planetoids are different from the Humanoids," one Helioid started. "Twelve specific Planetoids build up a specific system of Planetoids, which are you ten, including Sol and Luna."
     "Legend states that every Planetoid possesses incredible power and prophecy. They are all secrets to something so extreme, it seems impossible: different universes."
     "Your system of Planetoids, the Solar Planetoids, unlock the secret to a parallel universe, somewhere similar to ours. The Planetoids not only hold this secret, but when Planetoids unite together, incredible power is formed, and they can have the power to even match those of gods."
     "However, if a whole system is united, unspeakable power is formed, and it can also unlock the secret they hold, which in your case, is the key to the parallel universe."
     "We want you so that we can have more than enough power to get back at Sol for what he did to us," the woman crossed her arms as she stepped into the circle the Helioids created. "Do not worry, we are not going to kill you. However, you will need to be in a state where you cannot revolt or fight back. We have specifically designed tanks for each of you, so do not think of fighting back. Your power will be extracted from these tanks and given to me. Then, I will have the power to strike down Sol, and we can have our revenge."
     "So you're telling me you're doing all of this just for revenge?" Eris snickered. "What would you do after?"
     "I'm glad you asked!" The woman put her hands together. "Once Sol has been overpowered, we can use his energy, like yours, to get Luna, get her energy, and then we can find that parallel universe and colonize there with a fresh start. We will build a better colony there and pursue our own ideals there." She kicked Eris away from her and looked down on the rest of the Planetoids. "Without a further ado, let's begin!" Mercurius buried his face into Terra's dress. The woman noticed this and she looked down at him. "Would you like to be first, little one?"
     "N-no!" Mercurius grabbed onto Terra's dress and started crying. "Please, no!"
     "He said please," another Helioid remarked smugly. The woman whacked it on the head and looked around. "Perhaps the dorky-looking one in the blue?"
     "Huh?" Uranus looked up at her. "Why me? I haven't done anything wrong to you!" The woman rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
     "Good thinking," she observed the Planetoids more. She walked away from the ladies. "I say we get rid of the one who caused us the most harm first." She grinned down at Jupiter. He gulped as he cowered before her.
     "Wait, Asis," a Helioid growled quietly. "Don't you remember the one who forced us into exile in the first place?" It turned its head and stared dead at Mars. "He hurt us." Asis, the woman, turned to Mars.
     "How could I forget?" She stepped up to Mars and stepped on his hand and attempted to break it. Mars showed no signs of pain. He was too infuriated. His hand was gushing blood, but Mars continued to keep his stare on Asis. "I remember it all. I spoke to you before you left us to suffer." She walked around Mars intimidatingly and stared down at him. "The little boy who thought he could, full of rage and fury, and look where it got him now." She put her sharp heel next to Mars' neck. "You thought you had outdone us, Your Majesty, but you were wrong, and I was right, wasn't I? I have gotten under your skin once again. Your anger derived of your grieving has cost you your being." She burnt all of the chains off of Mars magically and pulled him up by his cape and medallion. "Are you afraid?" Mars looked dead into her eyes and glared at her. She could feel him shaking with rage.
     "No."
     Asis simply looked at Mars and smirked. "Good." Just then, the Helioids took a hold of Mars' arms and started dragging him away. Mars was about to snap. He kicked around and tried to slow the Helioids down using his feet. Mars' pupils became small and his eyes widened.
     "You'll never take me alive!" Mars screamed angrily. "You'll regret this, Asis!" Jupiter looked at Mars horrified. He wasn't able to make eye contact with Jupiter or even look at him. Soon, the Helioids had dragged Mars out of the room. It was eerily quiet.
     "So," Asis started walking out of the room with her hand on the door handle. "Don't play games with us, Planetoids." As she shut the door, she laughed loudly and evilly, and the Planetoids were all alone now.