The Forgotten Zodiac

"The Phantom tried to blow us all sky-high," Sylas sighed through his nose. "Eltanin...you don't have to explain yourself right now, but please...please tell us there was a good reason for what you did. Tell me that somehow, however crappy of an excuse you may have, your actions were justified. Please say you aren't a traitor just for tratior's sake."

"I did not want to betray you," Eltanin replied, his voice soft. "The Phantom was here. He was going to..." the selkie's voice trailed off.

"...you don't need to say anything more. We get the picture," said L'arc. "It's all right, Eltanin."

"He still has the others," Sylas sighed. "Rush, Eve, Manny and Byrne. We saved Israel and Verdi, they're safe with us. But...if there's any information you can offer us..."

"Sensitive information over Sending Stones is a bad idea." Bershee's voice cut in. "This interruption being a fine example. There are other ways of communicating."

"Bershee? You're alive?"

"I didn't go to Rasalhogue. I thought you knew that the Selkies have a serious dislike for me. I left about halfway there. Can't say I'm proud of ditching you, but I'm happy I did, now. That Phantom..." She tutted. "I'll set up a different form of communication for you two. One that can't be tapped."

L'arc nodded, but then realized that, of course, the others couldn't see him do this. "Right, okay. Thanks, Bershee. I'm glad you're all right," he said quickly. "I trust you'll get into contact with us?" he asked.

"Naturally. Now get off the line before you get us all killed. See you later, Eltanin." Bershee tutted, then fell silent.

"Right...we'll talk to you in whatever way Bershee has planned, Eltanin. We may need your help saving the rest of our friends..." Sylas sighed. He didn't know how right he was.

"Rise and shine, my little pets," The Phantom opened the door, holding the saw again. The same saw he had used to cut off Manny's first hand. "What'll it be today, Manny? Hand or foot?"

Manny swallowed hard, but he knew the conditions. Give up pieces of himself, or Eve would be killed. "Hand," He said after a moment of thought. He wanted to still be capable of running, at the very least...

"Very good. This is a bit different; I don't need an extraction, you can keep the majority of the dark matter..."

"What are you doing, then?" Manny questioned quietly.

"...I suppose you could call it a transplant."

Eve watched the Phantom through a slightly narrowed gaze as he came in, and let out a low, serpantine hiss as he went over to Manny. She, however, did nothing more than that, and said nothing at all.

The amputation was relatively quick. Manny bled slightly, but the wound cauterized itself. The Phantom allowed Manny to absorb the dark magic in the hand, then stuck the dismembered object into a small bag and patted Manny on the head. "Good boy. You've done well to delay the inevitable..." He chuckled a bit, then turned to leave. Rush tried to go in, but the Phantom stopped him. "Ah, no. Bad pet, sit," He had to order. Rush had to obey, and looked back sadly at Eve and Manny before the door was shut.

"Ow..." Manny whimpered. He hadn't made much of a fuss during the procedure, which helped it go faster. But it hurt...it hurt so much.

"Come here, Manny," Eve said quietly, reaching for the stump where his hand hand once been. "Let me see what I can do..."

Manny moved his hand to where she could reach it. Tears dripped down his face. "I'm scared, Eve...I don't want to fight Rush..."

"You won't have to," Eve said, wrapping her hands around his wrist and trying to convert the Dark Matter into a pulse of healing - something that she was not so skilled at but could still manage at times. "I'll look after you. It'll be fine," she assured.

Manny cried and cried. "I...I need to take care of YOU, Eve...you're my mommy. I can't let you die..." He sniffed and whimpered, very unhappy. If that wasn't obvious. "What are we going to do? How are we going to get out of this place?"

"I'll think of something, don't you worry, my dear," she said quickly to reassure him. "Just give mommy some time. She will make sure we both get out of here alive."

Manny slowly nodded, then sighed. "I'm still scared...so very scared..." He pushed up against the bars of his cage, closing his eyes.

Without warning, he literally melted through the bars, turning into just a mass of Dark Matter. He slid into Eve's cage, where he reformed. He held Eve tight in his arms, burying his face against her shoulder.

Eve looked a bit stunned at Manny's quick shift of form and position, but wrapped her arms around him in return, thinking hard. "Manny," she said quietly. "How did you  just do that? I've never seen you do that before," she said.

Manny blinked at her. "This body is made out of Dark Magic, not cloth...I guess that has something to do with it. I tore myself away from that body. I feel...freer. As for how...I dunno. I just know that I wanted to hug you...I needed to hug you. So...here I am."

Eve smiled at him, stroking the back of his head gently. "Perhaps, now, I can try and form a new hand for you?" she offered, reaching for his wrist. "I did not realize you were so... malleable. If I may try... I'm not garunteing that this won't hurt, but it will not hurt badly, I promise," she said.

Manny slowly nodded. "Yes, you can try." He let her take his wrist, trusting her completely. "It will probably make my arm weaker, though...for one of my hands, at any rate..."

"Do you want me to?" Eve asked, hesitating a bit. "I mean, I don't have to," she said.

Manny paused, then nodded. "Please, do it. I'll collect more for myself later, I guess. Right now, I need hands. I think...I think I might be able to get us out of here. If I was able to do that with the melting, maybe I can reform on the other side and find a key..."

"Exactly my thoughts," Eve said, nodding at Manny's reasoning. She gripped tightly to his wrists with both hands, closing her eyes as she focused on the Dark Matter in her palms. She grit her teeth slightly, trying to cause as little pain to Manny as possible as she began to reform his hand.