The Zodiac: Chapter 7

Gemini looked at Leo’s prone figure near Speedy’s warm body. They were far away from Virgo’s village and deep in the forest. Far from the soldiers and where they could lick their wounds and deal with the pain. Since they had left Leo hadn’t woken up yet. Virgo told the twin that Leo was almost hibernating. She had taken too much hurt physically and mentally.

With Virgo’s abilities he had helped them both recover a bit faster. Both of his wounds were aching and needed more time but he could walk. Coupled with a trip in a small village for bandages none of them were bleeding anymore.

They set up camp with a small fire in a small clearing. The sky was dark again. It had been two full days since they got away and only now did they feel safe enough to really rest. Speedy was kneeled down resting with the warmth from the fire. The horse had taken well to the priest Zodiac being near her and Gemini chuckled softly.  Leo was laying down flat on the ground her breathing even. The cuts on her body were bright red even against her skin.

“I’m sorry Virgo.” Virgo glanced at Gemini who elaborated. “For your village and everything else.”

“This was my choice, my decisions, and my fault.” Virgo said and ran his fingers through his hair.

“No Virgo. There’s a difference between you not making a choice and Cancer razing your village.” Gemini looked toward the fire and there was silence. Nothing but crackling fire was between the two of them as they waited. There was the soft sound of Speedy breathing but that was it.

“Virgo do you still have your pendent?” Gemini asked and Virgo blinked in surprise. “I haven’t seen you wearing it. I thought you might have lost it like mine.”

“You lost yours?”

The twin nodded. “We got hit by Cancer’s guys. It was just the two of us. She didn’t want to risk us both getting captured. Leo told me to run and I lost my pendent in the process. Found out later that Aries had it. I managed to get it back the night we met up again.”

Virgo smiled. “She’s always looked out for you.”

“Yeah, she has.” The idea warmed him from the inside out. He never thought too hard about it. Leo had his back always and Gemini was always going to be at hers.

Virgo nodded and then raised his pendent up his A, the symbol of his faith. He ran his fingers across the small golden symbol and then turned it around. Resting against it was a small disc with the symbol of a praying maiden. “I always keep it close to my heart and my faith.”

Gemini smiled. He was glad that Virgo had that at the most. They had two things that represented them, their weapons and their pendants. “Do you have a weapon Virgo?”

Again, the priest shook his head. “No Virgo has ever had a weapon. We… we’ve all abhorred violence. Because of that however we have a greater connection to the energy of this world. The energy that forms our constellations. We can do many things with that from manipulating objects in the world to helping others. It’s how Leo and myself have healed faster than normal, even if we had self-healed. In fact all of us, if we put our minds to it, we could make our bodies into formidable weapons. Our Mother is strong and she is good Gem.”

Gemini chuckled softly. “I know Virgo. Just don’t tell Leo that.”

With a chuckle Virgo nodded. “Let’s hope that she awakes tomorrow.”

Laying down Virgo rested his head against the ground. He brought his robes around him tightly and despite the cuts in them he was warm. Gemini did the same and pressed himself against Speedy. She was warm and Leo was nearby. That made it easier for him.

“Please wake up soon Leo.” He whispered before he let himself slip away.

 “Everyone I have news for you.” King Riku said as he walked into the library.

The library was a huge room with shelves upon shelves of books. There were several cushioned chairs and couches strewn about for comfort. More than one set of ladders on wheels for convenience were on the shelves. Though some of them forsook the ladders and climbed the shelves directly, Aries being one of the frequent ones.

Today the Zodiac were having a lesson being taught. One of many to make sure they were well learned individuals. Simple math, something that most of them disliked. Cancer, Aries and Virgo were the only ones to show a real knack for it.

However, with King Riku’s introduction all of them were glad for the distraction He watched as they all ran up to him thinking of their ages. The oldest of them was Virgo who had to be only fifteen. Leo’s group, which consisted of her, Aries, Taurus, Scorpio and Pisces were twelve. Gemini, Cancer, Capricorn, Aquarius and Sagittarius were eight. He watched as the eleven of them crowded around him excited just to see him.

“King Riku.  What’s the news?” Aries asked.

“Yeah tell us Riku.” Leo said eagerly.

“Anything’s better than trying to do math.” Capricorn said with a sour look on his face.

“I’ll say.” Gemini added and the two laughed.

Cancer shook his head. “You guys just suck.”

“Settle down. All of you.” Riku raised his hands up and then glanced at Virgo. Virgo gave a confused frown. Something had been bothering him for some time now but he couldn’t place what it was and it wasn’t bad. He just felt weird about it.

Bringing them away from their study lesson, the king smiled at their teacher. The woman just waved him off as she left. Teaching the kids was a special task and the older woman, despite her love of the children, could use a break.

King Riku walked to one of the couches and sat down as Virgo sat down on the other end. The rest of them either stood or sat on the floor around them.

“A little while ago, the previous Libra… passed away. You probably felt it when he passed. His loss was great.” The King frowned as he thought about how to proceed. The previous Libra had been a friend of his.

The King had asked him to gather information on one of their neighboring countries. What happened to him they may never know. They weren’t even able to recover his body. In fact, they wouldn’t have known he had passed if the other Zodiac hadn’t reacted to it. Virgo was the one to confirm it.

“What about him?” Capricorn asked. The youngest of them hadn’t had time to get attached to Libra outside of being one of them. Even Virgo didn’t have the same level of attachment toward him as the King. Libra had told the king that every generation was tied together. Previous and current generations didn’t always have closeness between them.

“Well,” The King turned toward the door. “Please come in Vash.”

The door to the library opened again and this time a new man entered. He had a dark blonde hair, beard, and mustache. He was wearing pants and shirt though he had on leather vambraces and boots. He had a sword at his hip and dagger at his waist.  He was the captain of the guard and the kids had played with him often. He had a son by the same name who played with the kids as well. He was a good friend to Gemini and Cancer.

Vash walked into the room and he had something in his arms. He came to stand by Riku and handed off the bundle to him. Riku was gentle as he smiled and then brought back the blanket. There was a tiny wide-eyed baby with an open mouth and black hair. Her eyes were a deep purple and face full of curiosity at the new faces. She had a tiny necklace around her neck with a pendent easily the size of her fist. On the pendent was a set of scales. She fidgeted a bit and reached out not at Riku but toward Virgo.

The king smiled at this and glanced toward Virgo. Virgo however had eyes only for this child. Reaching out slowly he held out his hands and Virgo took her. What happened next startled him and everyone in the room. There was a surge of energy. Not just from Virgo or the child but from each of the Zodiac. All twelve of them in one giant array of stars.

The power from the twelve of them was enough to knock over a chair and sent books falling off the shelves. King Riku, Vash, and their teacher were beyond startled by the event. The Zodiac however were crowding around the girl and Virgo as tightly as they could. Some of them were even pushing others out of the way. They just wanted to see the final member of their generation.

The King chuckled softly as he turned to Vash. Vash looked at the twelve of them one more time before back to the king. “Things are going to get livelier around, here aren’t they?”

“Oh, I think we can count on that my friend.”

Gemini found himself awake staring at the slowly lightening sky. His hands were folded across his chest and he sighed softly. Sitting up stiffly he rolled over onto his side and then shivered. It was very cold this morning and there was mist hanging on the air.

“You’re up early.” Virgo said and Gemini turned to face him.

“Me? How long have you been up?” Gemini asked and yawned.

“Since I woke up.” Leo said gruffly. She winced as she started to sit up higher.

“Leo? Leo!” Gemini ran toward her and slid across the grass as he placed his hands on her shoulders. “You’re awake. Thank Alpha.” He hugged her tightly and she growled in pain at the sudden physical contact.

“Fucking runt, get off me!” She pushed him hard and he fell flat onto his back.  He lay there on the ground and laughed looking at the sky. “I wasn’t dying.”

“I know. I know. I was just worried Leo.”

“We both were.” Virgo said and Leo glared.

“This is partly your fault Virgo. Don’t think I’ve forgiven you.”

Virgo didn’t have a response so he nodded. “I know. I do not expect forgiveness for this. Not from you nor from the people of that village.”

“Don’t beat yourself up. You guys have already had enough of that.” Gemini said frowning.

“Yeah we did.” Leo groaned. “What the hell did Pisces do?”

“What do you mean? Other than you know, kicking your ass.” Gemini said and she glared.

Virgo held his hand up to stop the lion’s anger. “Pisces did something new. Something we’ve never seen before.”

“Well what was it?” Gemini asked.

“He had another power. At least his power changed or something.” Leo growled. She wasn’t able to think straight.

“Gemini,” Virgo said getting his attention again. “You know that to use our power we have to speak a specific sort of incantation. A focus usually.”

Gemini nodded. “Yeah. We can summon as much power as much as we want, if we don’t speak the right words nothing happens. I remember not knowing the words for so long. I think I just figured them out one day during our training.”

Virgo nodded. “That’s how it’s happened for most of us. But Pisces spoke a different word and even a different order. His constellation changed.  It grew, mutated. I don’t have proper words for it.”

Gemini looked at his hands as he heard that. “What did he do?”

“He controlled us.” Leo said flatly. “His normal power, flow, lets him see energy and other things. He can figure out what moves we’re going to make before we make them. On top of that when he pushes that into his chakrams he can control them with his mind.

“But with this. It’s like he forced his flow into us. We couldn’t control what we were doing. Easy attacks were going wide. Not able to dodge the simplest of moves from him. It was insane. He’s never done that before.”

She was still baffled by the sensation of her entire body filled with water and not obeying her commands. No matter how much strength she forced into her body it wouldn’t obey her. She’d never felt so powerless before.

 “So, what does this mean? That there’s more we can do with our powers?” Gemini asked.

Virgo grew thoughtful. “I didn’t think it could be true. I’ve had moments where I could do more, do more than the limits of my abilties. I always thought that to be me imagining it. Not actually having more power.”

 “That’s what made them stronger,” Leo said and she got the attention of the others. “Pisces can’t be the only one who can use these powers. They’re all stronger. They all have an ace in the hole.”

“And Cancer was the first one to get it.” Gemini realized. “That means Sage was holding back on me.”

It was all making sense. At least it was making sense in new ways. It let him know just how outclassed they were. Just how much help they were going to need.

“So, what does this mean for us?” Virgo asked and Gemini shook his head.

“We’re going to have to get strong fast. When we break into the castle we’re going to have to be on their level if not stronger.” Leo growled.

Gemini agreed. “I think I have an idea.”

Leo snorted. “You’re full of ideas nowadays.”

“Sure am.” Gemini said and then focused. “We need to go to Orrin. It’s near the castle.  It’s also a resistance town. I remember it being a decent size of them there. We just wanted eyes over there. Is that still true Leo?”

The lion nodded. “Yeah, as far as I know they haven’t been found or moved to a different location.”

“Good because we’re going to need their help. They’re going to cause a bit of trouble around the castle to distract them. That’s where we come in. There’s a sewer drain in the castle. I doubt that Cancer’ll have reinforced that. At the most there’ll be guards and we can handle that. Once we’re inside we’ll be near the dungeons and from there we can find the girls and then get out again.”

Virgo nodded. “It’s a plan. What happens when we meet any of the other six Zodiac in the castle?”

“We fight,” Leo said simply. “We lost because we were weakened. We weren’t all together. Four on one we can win the fight.”

“Four?” Virgo asked with a raised eyebrow and even Gemini looked at her like she was still disoriented.

“At Orrin. There was a garrison change. Capricorn should be there now.” Leo said and Gemini grinned huge.

“That’s perfect!” He shouted and jumped to his feet. “With Cap on board this’ll be a cinch.”

“I don’t know about that.” Leo shook her head. “But it’ll make things easier. Or more annoying.”

Virgo stood as well. “How far are we from the nearest town?”

“I don’t know.” Leo got to her feet with a grunt. “But we can find out.”

“Think Speedy can carry the three of us?” Gemini asked. Speedy in response made a sound of protest. Gemini wasn’t sure if she actually understood him but he let it go. “Alright so I guess I’m walking.”

“No, ride Speedy with Virgo. I need to walk this off.” Leo said grunting.

“No. Stop being so stubborn and just ride the horse.” Gemini said. “When you’re through healing then you can be stubborn.”

She glared but Virgo looked at her. “Please just relax Leo. We don’t have time for arguments amongst ourselves. We need to cooperate.”

“Fuck it. Fine.” Leo said as Speedy came over to her favorite of the current Zodiac. She got into the saddle and then Virgo sat behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist as Leo grabbed the reins. She urged her forward as Gemini began walking.