The Forgotten Zodiac

"Hm," Lyre regarded the cup with mild intrest before sitting it down. "Once again, I apologize for my past mistakes," she said, picking up a new cup.

"Apology accepted. Just so long as you see the error in your ways. Now then, who would like to visit Scorpio with me?" Borealis stood, smiling a bit again. "You already said yes, though, so let's go, shall we?" He chuckled, already starting to walk off. "Don't bother with shoes, Libra, the floor is clean. As always. You know that, of course."

Lyre stood to follow Borealis. She couldn't wait to see what he had done to little Scorpio... she'd never really gotten along with that Zodiac. Or any of the others, really. She liked Libra, and Rin and Darius she could tolerate, but the others...? Not so much. "Lead the way, Borey," she said.

Libra dropped his feet off the couch, muddied socks hitting the floor. "I'll just remove these then, shall I?" He pulled off his socks one by one, dropping them on one of the clean tiles on the floor, then heading after Borealis. "Borey, if you remember, I don't have shoes with me any more. Your maid destroyed them."

Borealis just smiled again, leading the way through a hallway and then through a heavy metal door. Down a flight of stairs and through another door among several open ones. Inside was a clean white room, mostly empty, aside from a small table with torture devices.

Scorpio was hanging from the ceiling, shackles supporting him from the wrists and neck. He had dark red hair that was braided down to the end of his shoulders, and matching red eyes. He had no shirt on, but at least he was still wearing pants, though his feet were barred. His bare chest revealed various scars, from whip wounds to incisions to messily-stitched lines. Wires led from his chest to a small battery of sorts, which would deliver electric shocks when activated. His mouth had also been sown shut. He could still talk, but it was difficult and painful. He looked up at the others, a small amount of surprise creeping into his pain-filled gaze.

Libra raised an eyebrow. "Hello, Scorpy. Surprised to see me? It's not really that surprising. When you think about it, Borey's way makes more sense. You know, I'll bet he'd accept your help, if you begged and groveled. You know, things that make him feel good about himself."

Lyre smiled. "Scorpio," she said, deadly intent in her eyes. She half wished she had been here to see those wounds inflicted. "Looks like you're having fun," she said darkly.

"How dare you..." Scorpio murmured, as he could do little louder. His given-by-humans name was Sylas, but apparently the others didn't care about that much. "Both of you...h-how could you? Yo-you don't even know...what he's after...d-do you? He's--" He stopped and let out a moan, Borealis having walked in and pushed the button on top of the battery. Sylas jerked again and again, only just managing to keep from screaming, which would tear out the stitches over his mouth. Borealis pushed the button again, turning it off.

"They'll know soon enough." Borealis chuckled, looking at the other two. "Why not have a bit of playtime?"

"Y...you're sick..." Sylas gurgled, shaking visibly.

Libra paused, turning to Borealis. "Planning? What /are/ you planning? You know how much I hate being kept out of the loop." He glared at Borealis and crossed his arms. "Now tell me, or I'll have the mud moved all over your house. Right after mixing it with cement."

Lyre's hands clenched and uncleanched, her fingers itching to be the next to press that button. "What sort of play?" she asked Borealis, ignoring everything that had come out of Sylas's mouth.

"The usual. World domination, so on." Borealis shrugged. "Playtime, Lyre. The sort that makes your playmates scream and suffer, of course. What else?"

Sylas closed his eyes, still shaking. 'Playtime'. Borealis had sown his mouth shut during the last 'playtime', along with causing most of the scars he had now. He had only been captured last week, you see.

"Oh. Okay then. As long as things get more... Balanced. I'm afraid things are quite unbalanced right now. They need to be fixed. As long as you help me do that, I don't care about the rest. Also, once Lyre's done, I want a turn. Not that I'd need any of your fancy toys to play though..."

Lyre exhaled slowly and watched as time froze around her. Borealis and Libra were locked in time, and would be for the next few minutes. She reached up and touched Scorpio's face, 'waking' him up in the frozen time. She smiled and pushed the button on the battery. She let it stay turned on while she went to find a whip.

((She's mean. But now Libra is stuck, so I can't do anything.))

Sylas shrieked, though keeping his teeth clenched so he couldn't open his mouth further. Tears ran from his eyes, streaming down his face. Lyre...he didn't recognize the boy, but...for a Zodiac to be so corrupted to the point where she would harm her own kind...He understood Borealis hurting him, that made sense, but...Lyre? He desperately distracted himself from the pain by trying to think about better things.

Nothing came to mind.

"So, you side with the humans, do you?" Lyre asked, snapping the newly found whip against Sylas's side.

Sylas flinched, blood spilling from his side. The whip was  "Ac-accident or no-not, w-we cre-created them...is it not...then...our jo-job to protect...them?" He shuddered and shook more, the electricity still coursing through his body.

"They destroyed our beautiful world," Lyre hissed, smacking him a few more times with the whip. Then, carefully, she coiled it back up and placed it where she'd found it, then went over and pushed the button again. She resumed the place she'd left as time began to flow again.

To Borealis and Libra, it would appear as though the wounds had just appeared, and Sylas had just started crying and shaking more. "Already done?" Borealis smiled knowingly, looking towards Libra. "If she's done, its your turn. Fancy toys or not, go ahead and use what you want."

Lyre nodded, smirking. "Have fun, Libra," she said.