The Forgotten Zodiac

"I guess I am." Rush blinked, looking at his hands. "I'm fine, thanks to you, Bermuda..." He smiled a bit, nodding. "You healed me, didn't you? Twice. Thanks for that..."

"Alright." Arachne nodded, standing up. "Go on then, I'll count to fifty-five-point-five!"

Gabe giggled. "Yeah!" he yelled, running off.

Bermuda smiled. "You're welcome," he said. "I'm just glad I could help." Quay, this whole time, had been standing at the door, watching.

Arachne started to count quietly, smiling a bit.

Rush blinked, looking around and spotting Quay. He frowned a bit, but looked back at Bermuda. "Where's Minori? I have to tell him...and Apathy, too..."

"The throne room, I think. Jarod and Reetah went that way, too," he said. "Do you need help walking? OR do you want me to go get them or something?" he asked.

"I think I can walk," Rush nodded, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and standing up, but he was a bit shaky. He shook it off and walked forward, towards the door. Verolen, curious about all this, stood and followed. He didn't know anything about this...at least, he was pretty sure he didn't know. Perhaps it was among the list of things he had been forced to forget.

Arachne counted, then bolted out the door after Gabe, grinning widely.

Gabe was hiding behind one of the tapestries in the hallway.

Minori was still sitting on the throne. "So, that's it then. We're keeping this quiet. I'll bring it up with the others, too." He stood. "Uh, good talk," he said. "That's all. You can go now."

"Very well." Reetah and Jarod bowed, then left, passing Rush and Verolen as they did.

"Minori! We're back, as you're probably already aware of, and I...uh...have news." Rush blinked, realizing that he hadn't thought out any of what he was going to say.

Apathy headed out of the room as well, presumably to find Aton, but stopped at Rush's words. Any news concerning her brother, she thought, concerned her as well. She looked over his shoulder, listening in on the conversation.

Minori stood. "Uh, right, welcome back. Oh, go on, then," he said, wondering what Rush might have to say.

"Um...well...you know about the Library of the Abyss, right? The thing that's inside me and stuff, that...uh...absorbed Kazue? Well, I went inside it because I felt something was up, and it turns out that the Library was corrupted by Lydia, and the Knowledge Operator and the Wisdom Operator would have killed me, but...Kazue stepped in and saved me." Rush rambled a bit, without particularly realizing it. "Well, skipping ahead a bit, he...uh...told me who I was, I guess. He told me that before the Phantom kidnapped me and stuff, I was a Manakete, and...a Manakete Prince. I'm your brother, he said, and Apathy's twin."

Minori just stared for a moment, taking this all in. He looked to Apathy, who was looking Rush up and down for some sort of family resemblence. Minori finally spoke up. "R...really?" he asked. He seemed unable to say anything else. Apathy finished looking him over, and nodded. "I think he's telling the truth," she said. "He kinda looks like mom."

Rush nodded. "I have a hard time believing it, myself. Kazue said that I didn't even have to have my dragonstone to survive, that's how badly I've been altered..." He looked down at himself, wondering distantly if the stone could be somewhere inside his body. He wouldn't put it past the Phantom; there was a scar on Rush's palm from when the Phantom had tried to stuff a magical amplifier into his hand. It had been too big, thankfully. Those things were known for backfiring rather easily.

"A-anyways," Rush said, shaking off his thoughts. "I guess that makes us brothers, Minori..." He smiled a bit, his thoughts wandering yet again. How was an older brother supposed to act, anyways? He had no idea.

Minori nodded dully. "I... guess it does," he said. He looked up to Rush and smiled. He grabbed his brother in a hug suddenly. "I guess it does," he repeated. Apathy had a faint smile on her face as well.

The uncertainty in Rush's eyes vanished quickly, and he hugged Minori in return, smiling widely.

Arachne had walked up to stand next to Verolen, who was watching from near the door. "Beautiful thing, isn't it? Families are so easily shredded apart...but when they come back together again, even if it's only a small part, it's a very happy occasion."

"Arachne..." Verolen frowned, not looking down at her.

"Hmm?"

"How happy will it be if dad brings mom to life again?" Verolen said, but then turned and walked away without waiting for an answer. Arachne watched him go, letting out a sigh.

"That wouldn't be happy at all, I don't think..."

Minori pulled back after a while, then smiled up at Rush. "So, Apathy's twin?" he asked. "That means you're older than me. And that means that this," he pointed to the Royal Dragonstone around his neck, "Should be yours," he nodded. He looked up to Rush. "You're supposed to be King, not me."

Rush stopped. He hadn't thought about that. "W-what? No, Minori, you were crowned king. I'm hardly a Manakete anymore anyways, would the kingdom really accept a king that can't even transform? I seriously doubt it! You're doing a great job anyways, I would probably just mess things up..."

Minori nodded. "Yes, yes, you're right," he said. "Except for the thing about me doing a great job..." he murmured under his breath.

"It doesn't matter. I can't be king. It's enough that we're together, isn't it?" Rush smiled, shaking his head. "Besides, it's probably best if I stay with the others. Verolen would probably get them all killed if I wasn't there to help...that demon is too reckless, in my opinion..."

Apathy cleared her throat from behind Rush. Verolen was standing nearby. Minori nodded faintly in agreement with Rush, but stopped as he realized that Verolen was nearby. He then nodded again. "I'm glad to welcome you back to the family," he said.

Rush looked over his shoulder, realizing that Verolen was indeed standing nearby. "Oops...uh..."

"Don't worry about it." Verolen growled. "You're probably right anways. Not that I care about your opinion."

"Right." Rush blinked, then looked back at Minori. "I'm glad to be back. Sort of. I've been here before," He laughed a bit, then smiled. "But now I'm back as family, so I suppose it makes sense."

Minori nodded and embraced his brother quickly once again. "Yeah, that makes sense," he said, smiling faintly. Apathy excused herself from the room to go find Aton.