"Well, I did my best. You should let him rest for a while. He suffered major blows to the back, but he should recover just fine." Jupiter said as he closed the first aid kit he had before letting it float off.
"Thanks!" Neptune smiled as he floated over towards his moon, watching him.
Uranus watched him, a bit uneasy before glancing over to Jupiter.
"Hey, big guy," Jupiter turned over to face Uranus with a confused look.
"Can we... talk for a bit? In private?"
Jupiter was a bit confused. Why did Uranus want to talk to him instead of Neptune?
He didn't want to pry however so he nodded, following Uranus further away from the Asteroid belt.
Once they were at a safe distance, Uranus spoke first.
"I don't like this," Uranus whined as he glanced over to Neptune.
Now Jupiter was very confused.
"What do you mean? What's wrong?" Jupiter could sense something was off with Uranus.
Uranus and Neptune would be stuck to each other like glue and have fun spending time together, but they seemed so distant now.
"That 'moon'. That isn't a moon, Zeus. That's something else. I tried to check the symbol and it's not the usual Neptunian moon symbol. I have no idea where that thing came from, but it does not belong to Neptune! I would know! I know all of his moons and I have never once seen that!" Uranus pleaded with Jupiter who just stared at him with a slightly shocked expression.
"You have to believe me! Please Jupiter... you can smack some sense into him," he pleaded before Jupiter thought for a bit.
"Okay okay calm down!" He sighed as he rubbed his forehead, trying to make sense of this.
"You sure you didn't see the symbol?"
"Yes."
"And you are a hundred percent sure that this isn't his moon?"
"Well yeah! I've never seen them before."
"Well probably because it's a new moon. Listen, both Saturn and I gain a new moon every other day and forth. Maybe he gained a new moon as well during his orbit-"
Uranus glared at him and Jupiter sighed.
"Okay okay fine. I will double-check. Just," he took a deep breath, "...just calm down okay? I'm sure you're happy to see your close friend again. Both Saturn and I have noticed how unhappy you've been while he's been away and we've both been worried about you. I'll take care of this. You should have fun with him and spend time together."
Uranus glanced down before speaking, "Yeah I know. I'm just worried. I-"
Jupiter placed a finger in Uranus' face before smiling, "I get it. Don't stress about it, I'll check. Besides I need you to distract Neptune away from this supposed moon so go ahead and spend time."
Uranus nodded.
He was about to open his mouth and speak but decided against it.
Jupiter noticed his hesitation and was about to ask, but Uranus turned around and made his way back to where they left Neptune.
They both floated back towards Neptune who was now lying on his side, floating beside where his moon was.
It seemed Neptune was getting very attached to him.
Uranus cringed a bit, unsure of how to get his attention to leave with him while Jupiter examined him.
"Mate?"
"Oh, howdy Uranus. So what have you been up tooooooo?"
"Heh, oh I've been fine. Just-"
Jupiter could not take this.
He could feel how awkward Uranus was now.
He'd always felt bad for Uranus since being isolated for long periods wasn't healthy for a planet, but there was nothing anyone could do. He always seemed to want to be alone and just be with Neptune only, someone he was very close to and clearly comfortable with.
He needed to step in.
"Neptune." Jupiter started as he floated towards them both. "Welcome back. I assume your trip went well? It's been a long time and things have changed. Hey, maybe Uranus can catch you up to date. If I remember, he has some gifts he's been making for you while you've been away."
Uranus blushed in embarrassment, glaring at Jupiter after realizing Saturn had been spying on him and told everything to Jupiter.
Meanwhile, Neptune's eyes sparkled at the word 'gifts.'
"Waaaah really!?" Neptune exclaimed as he looked at Uranus who jumped a bit. "Uhm... yeah heh. Uh..."
Jupiter was glaring at him, moving his head to the side, as if telling him to leave.
"Uh- yes! Heh yeah, I have some things I want to show you. They're in my orbit of course if you don't mind coming along, mate."
Jupiter wanted to facepalm so badly.
JUST TAKE HIM AWAY! DON'T ASK FOR PERMISSION!
Neptune had his tongue sticking out again as he spun around before throwing his hands in the air.
"Okay!"
They both sighed in relief until Neptune spoke.
"What about my moon?"
"I'll take care of them, don't worry." Jupiter hummed as Neptune nodded before going up to Triton to rub his head with his finger before dashing off towards Uranus who was waiting for him.
"Finally," Jupiter said as he watched both icy giants disappear into the distance, talking.
.
.
.
"And then, the asteroids began to speak to me! At first, I thought they were moons, but they told me they weren't," Neptune rambled on about his adventures through his journey around his orbit while Uranus listened in silence, smiling.
"But yeah! Then I heard more voices coming from beyond the Kuiper belt, laughing and talking amongst each other. It was really interesting."
Uranus gave a small frown as he realized how much of a toll it was taking on Neptune's sanity to be all alone for so long.
How he wished he could be with him to have someone to talk to all the time or ask the Sun to move orbits or make them much shorter, but speaking to the Sun was nearly impossible for him.
"Uranus?"
"Huh?" Uranus snapped out of his thoughts as he looked over to Neptune who was smiling, seemingly excited.
"Huh- oh." Uranus noticed that they had reached his orbit. Neptune was doing small jumps as Uranus laughed a bit.
"Okay okay let me just get them," Uranus smiled.
He really missed this experience so much. It was like a breath of fresh air to be with him as he could finally feel welcomed and understood.
He grabbed some asteroids he had stashed away and brought them over to him.
"Alright- uh- Tuna? Tuna?" Uranus called out to him before Neptune tapped his shoulder from the back.
"AGH! TUNA DON'T DO THAT!"
Neptune snickered before Uranus noticed him covered in his paints. Uranus was in disbelief at how quickly Neptune was able to get to his stashed paints and make a mess of things. He shook his head, trying to get himself together.
"Anyways- uhm- I got you these! I know that they are normal-looking asteroids, but you should see what's inside."
Neptune looked at the rocks before using his gravity to launch them towards other asteroids, cracking them open.
Something shimmered.
Neptune quickly floated towards his gifts to see gold, iron, and silver rain down from the debris.
"It's so sparkly..." Neptune stared in awe as the minerals kept shining with the help of the Sun's light.
"So I assume you li-"
"I LOVE IT!" Neptune yelled as he hugged Uranus in a tight hug before launching himself towards the minerals, picking them up and playing with them like glitter.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, Jupiter was looming over Triton, staring him down as he tried to make sense of things.
Uranus was right, he had no symbol.
Well, he didn't have one that was clearly visible. There seemed to have been one, but it was impossible to decipher.
Jupiter carefully picked him, taking a closer look.
Previously, he hadn't done so since he was really focused on healing up the injuries as well as trusting Neptune's words.
He really didn't know Neptune's moons as close as Uranus does.
Hell, he doesn't even know all his own or Saturn's.
Just his biggest moons and even with them he sometimes struggled.
He sighed as he looked back down, trying to figure out what this person was then if he wasn't one of Neptune's moons.
Then he remembered.
Although very far from each other, Neptune and Jupiter are somewhat similar as their gravity is powerful and had previously tried to drag and capture other celestial beings.
Jupiter had tried to drag Ceres, a dwarf planet into his orbit while Neptune had once spoken about how he tried to drag in Pluto and some other being, also a dwarf planet.
Jupiter finally came to a conclusion when it hit him.
This wasn't a moon.
This was a whole dwarf planet he had kidnapped...