The Forgotten Zodiac

Tyler stood up and grabbed Sylas' hand, skipping through the store. "Hey, Sylas? What's your favorite thing? I'll bet I like it too!" The Gifted looked around, smiling happily at the other customers, then gazed up at Sylas, waiting for a response.

Timothy whimpered at the news report, especially as it discussed strange pale strangers at the playgrounds before the disappearance. Pale strangers dressed in suits. However, now that Quinn had made Subject stop fighting with people, the boy slowly crept out from under her chair.

"My favorite thing?" Sylas blinked. "Hm...I can't be certain. I like sweet things," He shrugged, looking down at Tyler. "You pick. Go on."

"It's alright, Timothy," Quinn sighed and shook her head. "You won't be playing on any playgrounds, much less unsupervised." She smiled at him.

((Now I need ideas. Hmm... What does Tyler want?

I just realized, Sylas left. That means Lotus can get into Timothy's head from a distance, if you want.))

"Okay," Tyler continued skipping along, and he navigated his way to the candy aisle with a compass ingrained in all children. "What kind of sweet things do you like? There's a lot here..." The little boy glanced at Sylas, then looked at the candy very seriously. "I hope the weasels didn't know we were coming here."

Timothy nodded, but he scooted closer to Quinn anyway. Since she was one of the calmer people around, he liked her more than most of the others. Werr would be good too, but he was always fighting with Michael or Subject. Fights were scary.

((Too predictable. With Sylas in the mood he's in, though, it won't take much prodding from James to get him to side with the wrong people.))

"They don't. I was very sneaky on our way here." Sylas reassured him, then picked up a pack of sour gummy worms. "Why did they put the worms in a bag? Poor creatures..." He frowned at the package in his hand.

Quinn just smiled and wrapped her arms around poor little Timothy. "You're scared so easily, aren't you? Here, we can watch cartoons or something." She flipped the channel, smiling away.

((So you think James should show up and talk to Sylas and Tyler? It's possible they could convince Tyler as well. He's pretty paranoid.))

"Okay. I guess so." Tyler took the bag of gummy worms from Sylas and held it up. "We could try them. They aren't real worms; they're fake and delicious. Do you wanna try some?"

Timothy leaned back against Quinn and watched whatever cartoon she'd switched to. He preferred animal planet, since Tyler and Sylas watched it; but he was willing to watch whatever she wanted. "Th-Things hurt m-m-me," he whispered, pressing against Quinn.

((That'd be fun.))

"Delicious worms..." Sylas tilted his head to the side, then nodded. "Sure, why not." He took the bag, then picked out a snack of his own choosing. A large muffin, wrapped in the usual plastic wrappings. Sylas knew what a muffin was, and he adored the concept. It was practically a mini, uniced cake with sweet things inside. It was absolutely genius. He carried both objects to the counter and paid, walking out with the bag in one hand, Tyler's hand in the other.

"Aww, don't worry." Quinn smiled at him, stopping at the Regular Show. "It's quite alright. I won't let anything hurt you right now. I'm not the toughest here, and I have a bit of a temper...but I care about you, see. You're really cute, and so helpless...I can't imagine what might happen to you if you were out there in the big world, all alone."

She sighed heavily. "I had a little brother...he was about your age. He could control the wind. They took him at the same time they took me...that day was the last time I ever saw him. I told him I'd find him...I swore that I would make it better, that I would save him. I haven't forgotten about that. I just...don't know where he could be..." She hugged Timothy again, tighter than before as she fought back tears. She gave a little laugh. "Oh, why am I telling you this? Let's watch the show,"

((Alright. He'll be outside the store.))

Tyler skipped along next to Sylas. After watching them check out, he turned toward the door and bounced around. "So, Sylas, you like muffins? I think muffins are funny. Just say it! Muh-fin. Muffin. Muffin-muffin-muffmuff-in."

Timothy hugged Quinn back, despite how shy he typically was. "I... S-Sorry, Quinn." He leaned against her and rubbed his head against her shoulder. He was perfectly content to be her personal teddy bear. He liked being hugged; it made him feel safe.

When Sylas and Tyler were about half a block from the store, James walked up next to them, hands nonchalantly in his pockets. "Hello, guys. Out for a walk?" Despite the way their last few interactions had ended, he seemed completely unconcerned. Apparently, they weren't worrying.

"No, we bought snacks. 'Out for a walk' implies that we're mindlessly strolling, which I find to be nothing but a novelty act. We left with a purpose, and now we're returning with a purpose." Sylas replied smoothly. Either he didn't realize who he was talking to, or he just didn't care. The doubts were cast out with his next sentence; "Although I believe we might as well be out for a walk now, as I don't feel like leading you to the others right now."

Right, then. He didn't care. "Where might Lotus be? I want to...show him something. I figured something out, see. Silver...it kills us. Normally. But I know...how to be silver." He suddenly stopped walking, moving to hit James with his arm. Which was no longer an arm, but a thick, gleaming silver sword.

James sidestepped Sylas' attack on him and continued walking. "Lotus? He went somewhere else. Where's Timothy? You sure it's safe to leave him with them? I mean, that's two former agents, a Gifted on the run, and whatever other strays you've picked up."

"T-Timothy...is with Quinn," Sylas hissed, his arm returning to normal. "And nothing will be done to hurt him, or so help me..." He pointed at James, eyes narrowed. "You should leave, James. I have not the tempermence to deal with you at the moment."

"Oh, I wasn't threatening him!" James stepped awe from Sylas, in case the Iyouis went after him, but continued to try and convince him. "I'm on his side too. I'm just saying, I've seen what he does to people. My brother couldn't possibly be safe with them." He was quite adapt at deceiving others; and, to Tyler at least, he seemed genuinely convincing.

"Seen what who does to people? Lotus?" Sylas clenched his fist and dropped it. "Yes...Lotus is...bad. Evil. I do not like him." He said bluntly, glaring at James. "What do you mean, you're on his side? Timothy's side? You're not on his side...you tried to kill us several times now." He frowned, thinking hard. "Were you...trying to save him from us? We're protecting him!"

James shook his head, looking apalled. "Lotus' motivations are questionable, but I'm talking about Michael. Has he told any of you he's a former agent? He blew up several buildings when he left." James met Sylas' gaze, looking as innocent as he could. "Why wouldn't I try to rescue my little brother from that? I know you two might not be bad, but Michael and Werr..."

"Werr...Werr is not bad. Stubborn and unhappy most of the time, perhaps, but...he's good. He would never hurt someone who did not ask for it..." Sylas looked down, thinking back. Hadn't Werr been in a...what was it called...a Snakehead? The woman who died, and the doctor...they had called him a hitman or something. What did that mean...?

"Not bad?!" James exclaimed violently. "Werr's a killer. He was never any better, even as an agent. We're supposed to try to help people, but none of those people you left Timothy with would understand that."

Tyler gasped suddenly, as some of what James had said clicked into place. "You mean Michael's a weasel? He- But that's terrible! He knows where Dunkin is! We have go rescue Timothy, Sylas. We have to rescue him now!"

Sylas glared at James a moment more, then grabbed the boy by the collar and heaved him up. "Let me get something straight right here, right now. I am not on your side. I am not going to listen to anything else you have to say. I will do anything and everything I need to in order to protect Tyler and Timothy from harm. And that includes keeping you away." He threw James across the street, which drew several eyes in his direction; but by the time anyone thought to look towards the spot James was thrown at, Sylas and Timothy were already gone.

Quinn found herself dozing. She wasn't interested in cartoons, really, but she didn't have the heart to change the channel. Timothy was doing fine, watching the little kid cartoons on the television.

But of course, she was wide awake when the door was slammed open, Sylas marching in with Timothy again. "You're back," Quinn smiled and stood. "Welcome home, Sylas." She spotted the bag of candies in his other hand. "Oh, you went to the store. You should have said something, rather than storming off like that..."

"Quinn," Sylas said, sounding more angry, hateful, and annoyed than Quinn had ever heard. "Shut up."

She immediately did so, sitting down again, not too sure what to make of all this.

Timothy jumped up, slammed his head on the chair, then staggered to Sylas, whimpering. Tyler gently patted Timothy's head, laughing slightly when Timothy pushed himself behind Tyler, hugging his back. "Wh-What's wrong, Sylas? T-Tyler?" He hadn't been scared before, but Sylas was so upset he thought it must've been because of Lotus.

Tyler took unwrapped Timothy from around him, then immediately wrapped an our around him. "C'mon, Timothy. It's time to go somewhere else. Sylas, should we bring Quinn too? She's not a bad person; we don't want the other ones to get her..."

Sylas thought for a long moment, then nodded. "Come with us, Quinn."

"What...? Why?" She blinked in confusion at him. "Where are you going...?"

"Somewhere safe." Sylas insisted. "Please, come. Michael and Werr...are not good people." He looked more sad than angry all of the sudden. Especially when Quinn shook her head

"They're not bad people. Sure, they aren't the greatest, but..."

"Come with us, Quinn!"

"No." She shook her head again. Sylas made a move like he was going to grab her, then suddenly wrapped his arms around her in a hug.

"Then...goodbye. It's your choice, but...I wish you would have come with us."

"I'll come!" Subject poked his head out of the kitchen. "I wanted to leave anyways. This is perfect."

Sylas blinked at him, then looked at Timothy and Tyler. "Do you...like Subject? Should he come?"

Tyler sighed and let go of Timothy. Transferring the boy to Sylas, he hugged Quinn as well. "You're sure you don't want to come? It's be great! We'd take good care of you, not like Michael and Werr..." Before Quinn answered, he turned around and went back to Sylas and Timothy. The little boy grabbed Sylas' hand, then stared at Subject. "I guess Subject can come, but only if he agrees that you and I and even Timothy are the boss of him. And he has to eat what we say."

Subject pouted a bit at that, but he nodded. "Yeah, I can manage." He straightened up, looking over at Quinn. "Are you sure you don't want to come?"

"I'm sure...Sylas?" She looked up at the Iyoui. "Where...where will you go?"

"I...am not certain. But we will go, and we will not be returning." Sylas said quietly.

"Oh...we-well, good luck." Quinn sighed.

"Thank you." Sylas nodded, then took Tyler's hand (still holding Timothy with his other arm) and walked out, Subject trotting after them happily.