The Forgotten Zodiac

"I-I don't know...a wh-white and red pill. Small, circle shaped...I had a bottle with me, but I ran out...they never told me what it was, either." Subject groaned unhappily, propping himself up against the wall. "I tried rationing myself...I had enough to last a month, but the pain just kept getting worse...so I took more, a-and now they're gone..."

"Huh." Kyle sat back on the counter and looked over at Tyler. "Can you take him back to a bathroom? I don't really see any reason for him to stay here. There's nothing I can do, and he's annoying."

Tyler looked over at Sylas, then nodded. "Sure. I can pull him all the way back. As long as he doesn't throw up on me. I wouldn't like that."

"How very...hospitable," Subject groaned. "Just get me back to the bathroom fa-fast, and...I wo-won't have time to th-throw up on anyone." He spluttered weakly.

"Shouldn't we...oh, nevermind," Quinn sighed, shaking her head. "I guess there's not much point in throwing him in the bath, if he's just going to be throwing up again...we'll make him take a bath when he's over this...withdrawl thing. Do people get over withdrawl?"

"I'm not the host." Kyle protested. "I never asked you to come; you intruded." He glanced over at Sylas nervously, then quickly added something else to his statement. "N-not that I have a problem with your being here. Just that I didn't request it."

Tyler shrugged, then grabbed Subject's arm again and dragged him back toward the bathroom. "C'mon, Subject. Just throw up in your mouth, then swallow it. I don't feel like cleaning anything up."

Subject just went limp and let Tyler drag him, crawling up to the toilet the second they were in the bathroom. "Thanks," He mumbled, waving Tyler off.

"Jeez...is he going to be okay?" Quinn asked with a small frown.

"He should be. I do not know much about human medications, but I do know about these addiction problems..." Sylas said, only blinking once or twice at Kyle.

Tyler let go off him instantly and hopped over to the sink. After washing his hands, he ran back to the kitchen and climbed on the counter again. "Okay, everybody! What're we doing today? Because I don't want to be bored or driving around like yesterday. That was so boring."

Sylas blinked at the boy. "I thought we were going to wait for Werr and Michael to be friendly towards each other. I do not know what else we can do."

"It still hurts..." Quinn grumbled, still pressing the ice pack against her goose-egg of a bruise.

"But that's not fun!" Tyler poked Kyle in the ribs and sighed. "I don't want to wait. Waiting is super-boring. Can't you think of something else to do?" He looked over at Sylas, sheer longing etched in every bit of his expression.

"Well...maybe we could find an arcade. Don't humans have fun in arcades?" Sylas asked, frowning slightly. "Or maybe the movies. Or a park. I don't know, what do you want to do, Tyler?"

Kyle shook his head. "No luck; no good. We have movies here, but none playing at the theater that are appropriate for him, and I think our last arcade exploded when I gave someone my last formula. Sorry."

Tyler deflated slightly and sighed. "I don't know. I want to do something interesting."

"I don't know..." Sylas sighed. "How about some training? I guess I could find some things to use and fight you with, Tyler. I would not hurt you, though, do not worry; it's just practice, yes? I believe we both could use it."

"Nobody gets hurt?" Tyler asked, just to make sure it was perfectly clear. "As long as nobody gets hurt, then okay." He looked over at Kyle. "Where should we go? Because, fighting in the kitchen is not a good idea. Too many knives."

Kyle pulled out a napkin and drew a short map on it, circling a room. "Use this room. It's large enough, and it's fairly unbreakable."

"I would not dare to hurt you, Tyler. You are a nice boy." Sylas shrugged, taking the map. "Thank you, Kyle. Come along, Tyler, let's go have some fun." He smiled down at the boy, starting off down the hall towards the 'unbreakable' room.

"I know!" Tyler shouted, for the simple reason that he hadn't been loud recently. "I can make a rock-person; and you can make a shadow-person, and then nobody gets hurt even a little!" He giggled and grabbed Sylas' arm, quickly climbing to the Iyouis' back.

"Not even a little," Sylas nodded with a smile. They arrived in the room after a moment or two, and Sylas was quick to set up his own person. It looked a little like Lotus, standing in the same way and having the same form. It was just all black, made out of shadows.

Tyler slid to the ground, needing contact with the concrete to make it work easier. What Michael had referred to as Gift-resistant concrete moved easily for Tyler, sliding up and forming the shape, roughly, of a young child, face completely blank.

"Any time you're ready, Tyler." Sylas stood back, settling in a corner and creating a shadow barrier between himself and the fight; he made one for Tyler, too, just because it was transparent and wouldn't interfere with the fight at all. "You can attack first."

The stone child swung at Sylas, and the fight began. The boy watched the fight carefully, looking for ways to get the shadow against the wall so he could crush him with that rock.

Sylas' shadow was sneaky and hard to hit, sliding easily around the stone boy's efforts. It swung out with claws, tearing off a chunk of rock from its opponent and avoiding the counter-attack. It lunged forward suddenly, attempting to force the rock-child back into the ground where he came from.

The rock-child suddenly slid into the ground and the wall, sliding up and around so he came up behind the shadow. It lunged forward, arms lengthening and sharpening. It was a good thing they weren't truly fighting each other. These blows could kill.