The Zodiac: Chapter 15

“What’s our progress in the field?” Leo asked.

She leaned back in a chair and stretched her arms as she held onto the table. She was in an inn room with a dimly lit lantern. It was a bare with the window open. The night air was fresh and it was dark. They were further south, closer to Lyria’s border along with the ocean.

“Everything’s ready for the moment,” Kali said as she stood behind Leo. Leo craned her neck around and the light of the lantern was bright enough that she could see the worry in her eyes.

“What is it Kali?”

“It’s nothing sir,” She said and turned away.

Leo glared and started to growl. “Don’t bull shit me.”

“I’m sorry sir,” She said and looked at the ground. Raising her eyes to see her captain she nodded. “I’m worried sir. Worried about Vash and the prince.”

Leo’s aggression faded slightly. Kali and Vash were trained together. It would only make sense that she was worried. “Vash is one of the best soldiers I know. And the prince knows his way around a blade. They’ll be fine.”

Kali looked at her and her frown didn’t lift from her face. Nodding slowly, she turned around and something caught her eye. It made her stop perplexed. “Sir, what is that?”

“What is what?” Leo asked as Kali stepped to the side.

In the corner of the room was a metal pan. It had been filled with water but now it looked like the pan was filled with mercury. She had put it there at Aquarius’s request. Aquarius said it gave them a way to communicate. Now it glowed and both women stared at it like it was cursed. Neither one wanted to get anywhere near it but at the same time they were curious.

Leo walked over to it. Keeping a distance, she glanced down into it. She stared down into the water and started.

“Leo can you hear me?” Aquarius’s voice said from within the water.

“What the hell?” Leo glanced at Kali though she had no more answers than the lion did. “Y-yeah. Yeah Aqua I can hear you.”

“Oh? Good. I was hoping you had the pan near you.” Her voice sounded surprised but also excited. “Gem finally woke up and he’s doing good but we need some help.”

“What is it that you need?” Leo asked kneeling down. She felt odd staring into and talking into a pan of water but they’ve had stranger things happen to them.

“Gem’s worried about Vash and the prince. He got a bad feeling. Like a premonition. Do you know the location, or at least where Vash and the prince would be?”

Leo glanced back at Kali. Kali’s frown deepened for a moment. “We stopped receiving communication from them. The last time we had correspondence was when they were nearing Greyhara.”

“Greyhara? But that’s a dessert.” Aquarius’s voice was confused. “Why would they try to hide out there?”

“I have no idea.” Leo shook her head. “Vash must have had a reason for that.”

“Would they still be there?” The water bearer asked.

‘The information is old.” Kali said suddenly. “A couple of weeks. They should be moving away by now.”

There was silence on the other end of the water and Leo wondered if the call or whatever it was had ended. Leo stared to stand when her voice came back almost out of breath.

“Sorry about that.” She took a slow breath. “We’ll go to Greyhara. We check there first and then go forward.”

“Do you have any specific thing to worry about concerning Vash and the prince?”

“Not at the moment. But I trust Gem.”

Leo sighed softly. “Yeah, me too. Not to mention he needs to do something with himself. He’ll get restless.”

Aquarius chuckled softly. “Thanks Leo.”

The light from the water faded away until it returned to just being a clear liquid.  Both blinked in surprise but Leo turned that into a groan of annoyance.

“So there you go. The runt and Aqua are going to go find them. They’re in the best of hands now.”

Kali nodded and took a calming breath before resting her hands on her swords. “Yes sir, you’re right.”

“And we have our own mission to accomplish now.” Leo said with a grunt.

“Captain Capricorn should be back at first light and then we begin.” Kali informed her but Leo knew this already.

“How big is this supply train that we’re trying to hit?” Leo asked.

“At least three dozen wagons traveling cross the road between the docks and the castle. It’s a short journey but a large cargo. If we can successfully take that then the entire resistance will be armed for a very long time.”

“I know.” Leo walked back to her chair and then leaned her head forward, pressing her chin to her hands. “It’s going be risky.”

Kali didn’t speak on that. There wasn’t much to say to that. The truth of the matter was the benefits were huge but if they failed they would be significantly hurt. To the point that they would potentially be the end of them.

“Go get some sleep Kali. We need you at your best tomorrow.”

Kali bowed her head before turning around and exiting the room. Leo closed her eyes and she didn’t realize how fast she was falling asleep until she started to slide from her chair. Getting to her feet she pushed herself forward and then walked to her bed. Falling face first into the sheets she shut her eyes and she was asleep.

Leo grunted as she awoke cross-legged. She was in an empty expanse of white in every direction she could see and walk. The ground had been solid but rippled like the surface of water. If she struck it hard enough it would solidify into chunks. She had tried to walk its distance before but she had failed to reach an end. Eventually she stopped trying to walk and sat down to wait out the dream.

She could remember the first time she had the dream. She was only ten and she woke in this white world. She had been scared then but she had the dream a few times since then. Only when she turned thirteen did she find out the reason behind this and began her silence.

“Hello Leo, it’s nice to see you again.” Came a voice. It was warm and not of her world. It reminded her of Cancer’s voice when he used the power. But this was warm and heavenly and everything that Leo despised.

The woman had rich dark skin and stood under Leo’s height. She had teal hair and empty white eyes. Her face was in a gentle smile and seemed to glow. She wore a simple white robe and a hood that had a veil that covered her face. She brushed it aside as she came to sit beside the lion. Bringing her legs up to her chest she neatly placed her arms between them.

Leo ignored her like she had every time she came to this place for the last ten years. She held onto her negative feelings and her grudge for every one of those years. She never told anyone of her journeys to the white world.

“Please talk to me Leo.” The woman said as she had said every time prior. “I worry about you in your silence.”

It was almost like she spoke from the same script and Leo had heard it so many times it was almost memorized in her head. This time though, Leo thought that it would be worth her time to respond.

“I have nothing to say to you. Like I have had nothing to say to you for the past ten years, mother.”

The goddess was quiet for a moment and her smile faltered to show surprise. Though she had always pressed for her daughter to speak to her she had begun to doubt that they would ever have a correspondence. The silence however stretched between them

“It is good to hear your voice in person.” She said finally. “I had begun to think I would never hear it for myself again.”

Leo didn’t respond. She didn’t even turn her gaze to the goddess. She simply continued to shut her eyes and wait out her mother’s advances. Maybe one of these nights she would see how fruitless this was and give up on the whole thing.

“You must know, my dear Leo, that I will never give up on you.”

Leo was surprised but she fought to keep it off her face. The idea that she could read her mind wasn’t foreign but it was unexpected.

“I do not read your mind dear Leo, I merely guess as to your thoughts.”

Leo’s irritation turned into anger faster than before. Whipping her head around to face her, Leo’s eyes opened and the fire was burning deep within them.

“If you can guess my thoughts then guess my next few!”

Alpha’s gaze remained on her daughter and there was sadness in her eyes.

“I know that you wished to have a mother. To know your true parents. I never wanted to take that away from you my child.”

Leo’s anger increased with every word she spoke and her flames began to manifest around her as well.

“You never intended for it to happen but it did. And then you don’t ever introduce yourself to us. You left us in the care of strangers. One by one my brothers and sisters trickled into the castle. Not once did our mother ever grace us with her presence. In fact you didn’t ever show me your face until I was ten years old.

“The one thing I asked for had finally dropped into my life and then you disappeared for years. Over and over you would visit me but I was never able to enjoy the visit because I knew that you would just abandon me again. I wouldn’t ever trust the supposed love of the goddess.” Turning her back on her she growled as the flames pulsed around her. “I have no mother.”

Flames had surrounded the pair of women until they almost served as a cage for the lion and the goddess. Alpha looked at her daughter’s back and she felt the pain in her chest. She was the goddess of this world, she was meant to love her children equally from the normal humans to her Zodiac but she couldn’t help but be somewhat biased for her true children.

 “I have not been in your life, that is true. Never has that been by choice my daughter. The life you live, the life you have led. You have done so much good for this world I created. But watching my children grow from a far is not something I can be content with.

“Every step of your life I am with you whether you know it or not. I was with you when you broke your knee when you were only five, when you became dangerously ill when your seven, when you first started having your feelings toward Pisces, when you fought with the King over your ability to wield a sword, when you felt the previous Libra die, when you killed your first man, when you and Gemini’s bond finally revealed itself, when you confessed your feelings for Pisces and when he accepted them.

“I was there when you first learned of Cancer’s betrayal and every struggle that has befallen you since. I may not have been able to have an active role in your life but I have never abandoned you Leo.”

Alpha’s voice never rose or became angry through her words. Every word was soft spoken and her gaze was steady on the fire’s that burned in Leo’s eyes. As each word hit her though, the flames that had spread to surround them both were beginning to fade.

“You know so much about me, know so much about what’s happened then tell me. What do you want with me now? Why are you here now?”

Alpha’s smile broadened this time and simply placed her hand onto of Leo’s shoulder.  The lion flinched away from it but Alpha had expected that type of response.

“I know of your mission tomorrow. I know of its dangers and I worry that you might be going into it unprepared. So I’ve come to ask of you a question and I request that you answer it as truthfully as you are able.”

Leo frowned because her mother had done this to her before. Numerous times in fact. Every time she had come to visit her daughter before the end of their visits she would ask her the same thing.

“What is it that you want most in the world?”

Leo knew the answer to that question. She knew the answer a long time ago but she never answered her mother’s question. She would ignore the question though inside she would answer it in a heartbeat.

Leo growled and started to say something but paused. She blinked slowly and looked at her. “I want to protect those I care about. I want to be the one who can stand between them and everything that wishes them harm even if it meant me fighting the world.”

“That’s one of your wishes. But not your true wish.”

Leo stared at her shocked and took a step back but stood her ground again, “That wish can wait until Nerodala is safe.”

If there was one thing that her daughter was, it was that she was an honest soul. Every Leo before her was the same and she was glad to see that this incarnation was no different.

Alpha reached out and placed both her hands against the cheeks of Leo. The glow from Alpha traveled through the contact to Leo and she didn’t flinch away this time. The glow was warm and for the first time since she was a girl she felt safe. She felt comforted and she felt happy.

“What are you doing?” She asked cautiously, her emotions betrayed the thoughts that she had toward this goddess.

“I am giving my daughter the power to have what she wants. I am able to do little for you directly but this is the one thing that I can do.” She said softly.

Leo felt the surge of energy, not her own, enter her body but she didn’t fight it. No, she let it in whole-heartedly. It was as if a missing part of her, a part she had never thought she was missing was coming to a rest inside of her. Her energy and Alpha’s mixed together into her constellation.

“Zodiac Leo.” Leo’s eyes widened as the words left her lips. The power swelled forth and surrounded her in a visible light. A silver light just like her mother’s. Alpha watched with pride and Leo threw back her head and roared. Flames leaped up from the ground to surround her and they too were silver.

When they faded Leo looked at her hands and then at her. She could see her constellation trailing behind her. Shaking slightly she took a step back and she felt the near limitless strength inside her.

“I’m sorry but this is where must part ways.” Alpha took a step backwards and Leo turned her gaze to her mother. “I hope you remember that I am always beside you my daughter.”

As the world began to fade from white into black Leo felt a pang of longing in her chest. For the first time since she was ten Leo didn’t want her to go. Reaching out to her mother she shouted. “Mom! Don’t go!”

However in an instant her eyes snapped open. The sun was streaming in from the outside and she was alone in her room. Unlike the times before, Leo could remember everything that had happened to her. Leo stared at the ceiling and she felt tears stinging her eyes as they rolled down her cheeks. For the first time in awhile, Leo was crying.

Hours passed and there was a knock on her door. “Enter.” She grunted from the center of the room. She was dressed and was adjusting the straps on her gloves. The previous night was something she was trying not to think too hard about.

The door opened and Kali walked in wearing leather armor around her chest and lower legs. Her arms were bare while her blades were at her hips. “We’re ready sir.”

Leo nodded. “Good. Let’s get this done.” She swung her claymore over her shoulder so that it fit comfortably against her back. When she turned to face her lieutenant Kali could almost instantly see that something was different.

“Sir?”

“It’s fine Kali.” Leo said almost instantly.

Kali frowned at the rebuff but straightened her spine and then looked her in the eyes.

“Permission to speak freely sir?”

Leo was surprised. That was a request rarely asked of her by her lieutenant. “Granted.”

Kali nodded. “Leo, I respect you more than any other person I know. But right now your head seems to be elsewhere and we cannot afford that. If you aren’t in the right mind then please stay behind.”

Leo’s eyes widened at this for a moment before she chuckled. “Thank you for your concern Kali. However, I have never been better. I was forced to come to terms with something difficult. It has taken some time to swallow. When this mission starts, I will be more than ready.”

Kali nodded again swiftly and she averted her eyes. “Forgive me if I spoke out of turn.”

“Forgiven Kali,” Leo said and placed her hand on her shoulder “I couldn’t ask for a better lieutenant or friend. Now let’s head out. Can’t let Capricorn do this on his own.”