The Forgotten Zodiac

Kazue tensed slightly. "Lyre's here?" he asked, looking around to try and find her. She was standing still, wherever she was. He quickly focused on Libra again. "What do you three want?" he asked.

Ophile growled. What the demon was saying was right, though. What about Borealis? The Zodiacs weren't supposed to be evil, but Borealis... "Borealis is different, he...he made his own choices, that was before I was made, too." Ophile snarled. "But I was told about Libra! Sure, he was strange, but all the Zodiacs are different. But Libra wasn't evil, not according to Sylas!"

"And who's to say other Zodiacs couldn't be different? Who says they couldn't change?" The demon was slowly edging around the camp, closer and closer to Libra's location. For all the creature's hate of the Zodiac, not trying to kill Libra when he was this close would go against every atom of his being.

"Do we have to want something?" They had almost reached the camp by now, and he was making no move to slow down. Kazue wasn't telling him to stop moving any more, so he must be okay with it. "Maybe we're just trying to find other Zodiacs, defeat Borey and all that jazz."

"Nothing says they can't change, but the matter still remains, it's my duty to protect the Zodiacs. It doesn't matter who's doing what, I have to protect them!" Ophile growled angrily. "And you hurt Cancer, then insulted the Zodiacs! I'm not going to stand for that!" He pounced again, this time very much intending to continue attacking until he hit something.

"You are?" Quinn peeked out from underneath his blankets. Quint was quiet. In all honesty, he was pretty confused, and he didn't know what to think.

Kazue shifted his feet uneasily. "I don't believe you," he said. That was all that came to mind.

Libra laughed. "Why not, Kazue? Because Lyre is with us? You know, just because you two have some sort of petty ex-romance, you spurned her, she hates your guts thing going on, doesn't mean the rest of us have to care." At this point the two of them had nearly reached the camp, so Isabella was clearly visible to Kazue and partially visible to the rest of them. Not that that was necessarily a good thing.

The demon sighed and stepped forward, catching Ophile in mid-leap and injecting a mild amount of pain. Not even to deal any real damage, but it, surprise surprise, hurt. "The Zodiacs are the spawn of all the evil in the world; I see no reason to respect them or their creations."

Kazue bristled. "We did not..." he began, but the sight of Isabella distracted him. "Put away that knife, girl. You're worrying me with it," he hissed just loud enough for her to hear.

"Quinn, stand up," Quint said, trying to pull the blankets away from Quinn in an attempt to get him up. It would be safer if Quint was able to just grab his hand and run, should the need arise. Quinn looked from Kazue to Libra and back to Kazue. He then pulled the blankets over his head again, ignoring his brother.

Ophile yelped in pain, tumbling backwards. He got back to his feet quickly, snarling still, but he forced himself to calm down. Clearly, attacking wasn't working, and neither was talking. Ophile did the next thing that came to mind, which was to walk up to the demon and pee on his shoes.

((I couldn't help it. xD))

((HAHAHAH!))

((The poor guy. He's barefoot. -twitches toes- That's... Wow.))

Isabella shook her head instantly. It was a good thing they weren't even trying to be sneaky. She had long, blonde hair and it would have been quite visible, especially to Kazue. "Absolutely not. That would make me a relatively unarmed female walking into a camp of mostly male Zodiacs, with their powers at full command. Besides, if I put it away, you won't know where it is, whereas if I keep it out, you'll be able to see it. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer."

Libra frowned observing the light that was coming from the demon. "You expect us to trust you, Kazue, but you threaten us and hold my public enemies in your camp?" He flexed his fingeres, inwardly delighting at the chance to finish the brat off once and for all. That syphoning of his power thing was intensely obnoxious.

The demon leapt backward before Ophile could actually pee on his feet, though it did sprinkle his legs some. "Don't do that, you mutt!" He assumed that, what with the creature's devotion to 'Sylas', whoever that was, being called a mutt would be somewhat of an insult, as it was a comment about the Zodiac's skill.

Kazue blinked. "What are you talking about, Libra?" he asked. "None of us are your mortal enemies.We're just Zodiacs."

((Kazue. Hannah. Bun. Trin. Anyone who missed that. Demon and Libra want to kill each other. Constantly. Always.))

((KAzue hasn't realized that the Demon's there, he can only focus on one thing at a time. Call it a weakness.))

"We're not holding him here, he came of his own regard," Quint spoke up at last. "What's with all the hostility, anyways? Aren't we all on the same side here, one way or another? I hardly think all these threats are needed."

"Hmph!" Ophile snorted angrily. "Sylas made me as purebred as can be, foul one, I am the only of my kind! I grow tired of these games." He turned his back pointedly towards the Demon, resorting the the oh-so-mature silent treatment.

((And now the demon calls Ophile 'mutt' for the rest of eternity. Probably to Sylas' face, if they ever meet.))

"Sure, sure." The demoon pulled his other glove off and shoved both gloves into a pocket of sorts in his shirt. He walked past the wolf and up behind Kazue, arms loose at his side, though he wasn't at all relaxed. "I'm hardly foul, except for what Libra messed up. The rest of me is perfectly fine. Zodiacs do tend to ruin things so. That's why their mistakes turn out so wonderfully."

"And you allowed him to stay." Libra reached the camp and stopped where he could see both Kazue and the demon, about equally distant from Kazue as the demon was. "He freely admits to being my enemy, and you openly associate with him. Either you're expressing agreement with his views, or you're about to order him to leave. Which is it?" Now that the two were close to each other, the similarities between the two were far to close to be coincidental. They were practically identical, differences only coming in clothing, the amount that the eyes glowed, a few small scars and such here and there, and the amount of dirt on the two of them.

Kazue turned around, staring at Libra's double. "Who invited you?" he snapped angrily. Rin watched the scene with a growing sense of foreboding. Something was going to happen soon, if all this tension wasn't relieved...

Very suddenly, with no warning whatsoever, there was a small and loud explosion that threw Quinn and everyone around him forward a bit, including Quint. Smoke spurted from the ground where the explosion just happened, and it took a few long moments to clear. Long enough for Quint and Quinn to get back on their feet, though Quinn stayed curled underneath his blankets, shaking violently in fear of whatever had exploded.

When the smoke finally did clear, it revealed the little crater that was also a result of the aforementioned exploding moment. In the center of the little crater was a pair of nike sneakers and mismatched blue and red socks, which were being worn by a pair of tall legs that were covered by black pants. The black pants had a red button-up shirt tucked into them. A dark blue long coat was placed neatly on top of that, leading down to the figures hands; one of them had a red and black striped fingerless glove on, but the other had a bright blue legwarmer around the forearm, worn like a detatched sleeve.

The man (as it was indeed a man) had short-cropped black hair that was covered by a top hat, red eyes that were concealed by circular black shades, and a twisted smile on his face that revealed pointed teeth.

He looked around for a brief moment and removed his shades, pocketing them quickly. "I'm not late, am I? For the killing and the cutting and stuff like that?" He asked, still grinning. "The name's Franz. I don't need to know your names, because most of you will be dead when I'm done. And if you aren't, you'll be pleading for it, so no matter."

The demon decided an explosion was his cue to go after Libra, which, apparently, Libra had decided as well. The two immediately charged each other fingers jabbing various pressure points on the body as they injected pain into each other. For the beginning, they were equally matched, though the demon would gain the upper hand eventually. He'd spent years preparing for this. Libra had spent years establishing himself with Borealis' dictatorship.

Everyone in the clearing was now clearly visible, except for Libra and the demon who were glowing so brightly they could barely be seen, though the glow didn't hurt the fighters' eyes. Isabella stepped around them and sized Franz up quickly. He seemed to be their mutual enemy, judging by the way the red-headed swordsman had leaped backward with a blade ready. "Did fashion and intelligent dressing just die when Borealis took over? You are almost enough to make me change sides. Isabella, for those of you who don't know. For those of you who do, specifically Libra and Saggitarius, you can refrain from sarcastic comments, unless they are about the blinding atrocity who just threatened us all."

Kazue looked the man up and down, deciding wether or not he did impose a threat. He clenched his fists, moving protectively in front of Quint and Quinn (mostly for Quinn's benefit). "Dead? In case you haven't noticed, you're greatly outnumbered. Do you even know who you're dealing with?"

Igneous had leapt to his feet as well, pulling out a small dagger and trying to look intimidating.

Franz made a face at Isabella's comments. "Excuse me? Is that any way to treat your soon-to-be murderer? Your opinion doesn't matter one bit, little girl, and you should know that I dress like this for a reason." He scoffed. "And of course I know who you are, Kazue. You and I are not so different. You're just more popular."

"What are you talking about? What reason?" Quint asked warily, crouching down to take Quinn's hand. If he had to, he could convince his twin to make a Living Illusion for them. A sword, maybe, or a shield.

"You don't remember at all. Stupid Zodiacs, only concerned for yourselves and forgetting everything else. Franz is my simple name, humans comprehend simpler names much easier. My given name is Serpens. Ring any bells? No? Maybe this will." He held out his hands, and his eyes flashed dangerously behind his shades before hissing sounded. A sizable red snake rose out of the legwarmer that was on his arm, followed by a blue snake that was perhaps even larger. The blue snake dropped to the ground, while the red snake draped itself over and wrapped around Franz's other hand. Several more snakes started poking their way out of the sleeve, variously colored, though most of them had blue or red somewhere on them.

One last snake ripped its way out of Franz's sleeve, and Quint had no idea how this one even fit down there, much less any of the others; it was a massive bloodred cobra, large enough for Franz to climb up onto it and stand on its head. And then, it opened its mouth and actually spoke.

"The ssssserpent bids you farewell," The cobra hissed.

"And I hope you have some money on you. You can't get into paradise without some form of currency ready, you know." Serpens laughed, a wild grin on his face. A Demiac pitted against more than half of the Zodiacs at once. This was going to be fun.