Earth was bored. Like, deep-space bored. With nothing to do and no disasters to worry about (for once), he floated aimlessly, staring at the endless black around him. Most of the other planets were off doing their own thing—Saturn was busy showing off his rings again, and Venus was cackling while chasing poor Mercury around like usual.

“Mars!” Earth called out, spinning around slowly. “Where’d you go, dude?”

No answer.

He squinted in thought. Mars disappears like this when he's brooding, Earth figured. Probably near the asteroid belt again. With a sigh, he drifted toward the field of jagged rocks and icy debris, the Sun’s warmth thinning behind him. The cold bit at his surface.

“Mars?” he called again, this time just above a whisper.

Then something moved. Between the quiet churn of rocks and frozen dust, he saw a shape—pale, cracked, almost shimmering.

It wasn’t Mars.

It was... Theia.