The Forgotten Zodiac

((Okay, makes sense.
...Pairing?))

Michael hit the ground hard, and splintered wood shoved itself into his outstretched palms. Wincing, he turned to Lotus, barely able to process and avoid the gun in time. He held out a hand again and directed his powers at the gun, hoping that it was metal and would melt. If it was shadow, he was just dead.

((As in partnership. Unless you wanted the institute leader to be female. In which case, that's a bit weird. .3. I ONLY MEANT PAIRING AS IN PARTNERS))

Michael very well could have been dead, but a dark shape jumped out from behind Lotus. A flash of metal, and Lotus' arm came away from his torso. The Iyoui let out a scream of sheer agony, stumbling away and clutching his stump.

"Back!" Aurora hissed. She tossed a glare at Michael. "You should have told me what was going on! If I hadn't caught up to you in time..."

((We could though. If you wanted to. It might be interesting.))

Michael met Aurora's glare for a brief moment before redirecting his attention to Lotus. As he started to explode the stump the Iyouis had fallen on, a wind picked up between the Iyouis and the two humans. Kyle was back with Timothy, which meant Michael didn't have to worry about stray splinters.

((I dunno, that's a little weird. I mean, the Iyoui are ALIENS.

Also, the 'stump' was referring to the bleeding lack-of-limb he now has. Not a tree stump, silly.))

Lotus was furious now. He threw Sylas' limp frame away, advancing on the wind wall. Blood leaked from the corners of his mouth as he snatched up his shadow gun again. Using his powers, he started to push through the wind, his powers building as his fury did.

((Yes. I was referencing a tree stump, that Lotus, now off-balance, fell over. Also, how is Lotus supposed to die?))

Kyle focused the wind directly on Lotus, picking up branches and splinters and hurling them at the Iyouis. Michael was focusing on adding more dangerous, sharper items to Kyle's vortex. Neither of them were really sure what Aurora was doing. They'd never fought with her before or hunted Iyouis, so this was not their area of expertise.

((Silver. Aurora's sword. How is Michael dying?))

"What the heck are you two doing, playing with it?" Aurora scoffed. "Silver! You have to use silver!" She snapped, frowning. "Here!" She shoved her sword into Kyle's hands. "Hit him with that, square in the chest! He'll go down faster than you can blink."

((I'll have him die when I move his replacement in. I won't kill him till I have a replacement ready.))

Kyle glanced at Aurora and took the sword, tossing it in the air twice to feel out its weight. Without hesitating, he threw the blade toward the Iyoius' chest. His air Gift allowed him to adjust his aim and increase the power of the throw, and it hurtled toward Lotus' chest at an impressive speed.

((Oh, okay.))

Lotus threw up a sheild at once, but the sword had been honed from many fights with Iyouis. It only took a few seconds of pushing for it to slice through the shadows. It slammed into Lotus powerfully, peircing his chest and slamming into the ground. He was pinned immedately; he gurgled, staring at the blade in his chest. Then he went limp and didn't move again.

Kyle looked at Aurora and gestured at Lotus. "He dead or pretending? You've done this before." Now that the sword was in, there wasn't much he could do to move it without getting much closer. It was easy enough to speed something up once it was already in the wind stream. Pulling it out of a dead man's chest and redropping it was more like impossible.

"He's half dead. With proper treatment, he can be brought back, but...we best burn the body." Aurora nodded. "Do what you can to cut off the head and bury it. He'll never eat another child again..." She sighed, shaking her head. "Goodness, my arm hurts." It was still nastily bruised and hard to move, but it was getting better, at least.

"O-ow...owie owie ow..." Sylas stirred, moaning. "M-my head..."

"And your friend has a little shadow bullet lodged in his brain now. It shouldn't affect anything, all considering, but he'll have a nasty headache until the hole heals." Aurora shrugged.

Michael approached Lotus body and quickly pulled the silver sword from his chest. He used that to sever the head, sneering slightly in disgust as he tried to avoid coating his clothes in blood. Once he'd finished the process, he kicked the head across the field and set to work burning the body.

Kyle began clearing trees branched and roots for a place to bury the head. "Will you go help Sylas wake up, then? Unless you think he'll kill you. I heard he was crazy."

"Certainly. He's seen me before. If he's as peaceful as the others claim..." Aurora walked over to Sylas, helping him sit up. "That was a nasty fight..." She murmured.

"Timothy? Where's Timothy?" Sylas questioned at once, looking around wildly. "Timothy!" He called, seeming rather desperate all of the sudden.

From the border of the still-standing trees came a streak of golden hair. Timothy ran surprisingly smoothly on the rough ground until he reached Sylas. He wrapped his arms around Sylas' neck and pulled the Iyouis fully upright. "I th-thought you were d-d-dead, S-Sylas."

Sylas was quick to hug Timothy. "I would have died seven times over if it would ensure your safety. I was worried..." He sighed. "You're okay...I am glad." He pulled back a little, smiling at the boy. "I'm okay now." He looked up at Michael and Kyle. "Is...is he gone? Lotus?"

Timothy shook his head, hugging Sylas more tightly. "D-Don't do that, Sylas. I don't w-w-want you to d-die." He pressed closer to the Iyouis at the mention of Lotus. Even though the creature was now dead, the name still terrified him.
Michael looked up and nodded, gesturing to what remained of the monster's body. The Gifted's powers made him quite effective at removing the bodies, but Lotus' shadow-flesh made it burn slower. Kyle, however, had the hole dug quite deep and was already refilling it. "He's as gone as we can make him. Or, Aurora can. You still crazy, Sylas?"

"I won't. I won't die today." Sylas hugged Timothy tighter. He looked up at Michael. "Crazy? I don't feel crazy. I was angry for awhile, I remember..."

"Why were you angry?" Aurora frowned.

"There's a painting in Kyle's house with a silver frame, and a lot of the silverware is actual silver." Sylas frowned. "I don't want to go back there. I don't like being mad."

"Prolonged exposures to silver affects you, even if you aren't touching it?"

"Yes."

Michael stood up, frowning, but not without interest. "So just being around silver makes you angry? Why? Does it irritate you, or does it just mess with your head?" He'd finished with Lotus' body, and was now ready to address the other issues. "Where should we go, then? Or can we just throw away all of Kyle's silver?"

"It's like...dermititus." Sylas tilted his head to the side. "It messes with the head a lot."

"Dermititus is allergies, basically," Aurora nodded thoughtfully. "It makes you irritable...understandable. That's good to know." She smiled, sheathing her sword. Sylas seemed to relax a bit at that. "If we throw out or cover the silver, he should be fine."

Kyle nodded as he straightened up, finished with the hole. "We can just put it all in a room upstairs, if you can help me find all the pieces that are bothering you. It would be okay if I left it all in a room, right?" He really didn't want to throw everything silver away, especially when there were perfectly good empty rooms.

"Sure. So long as the door stays shut..." Sylas nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah. I can help you find the stuff."

"You'll have to let us know next time," Aurora shook her head. "You can't just run around and...oh, forget it. If these are your friends, you have to let them know if something offends you in any way. You can't just sit on the bad things. They won't go away like that."

"Oh...okay..." Sylas blinked.