The Forgotten Zodiac

Werr was silent for a very long moment, staring down at the spot they had just dug up and closed again. Rainwater dripped steadily from his hair; it had stopped raining while they had been digging, though the clouds showed no signs of clearing up. "She was nice to everyone...I don't know what changed..." Werr sighed. "Like I said, it wasn't your fault...but...now I need someone, too..." He thought for a little while longer, then said, "Welk, can I ask another favor of you? I mean, not really favor...it's a bit bigger than that..." He shuffled his foot, not sure how Welk would react to what he was about to ask him. "L-like I said, she didn't used to be this way. That black stuff...it sounded like something my father described in one of his letters. I have to get to the bottom of this." He looked up at Welk. "I was going to ask...well...there's no other way to put it other than bluntly, I guess...

"Will you come with me?" He finally said, looking down again, still afraid of Welk's reaction.

Welk blinked and finally looked up at Werr, staring at him almost fearfully. "You...you would really want me to come with you?" he asked quietly. "Even after what I said? About us not being friends?" He sniffled a bit and ran a hand over his wet hair, fluffing it out a bit. "Because...I do want...to be friends with you. C-Cynyr didn't have to stay and try to protect you, and...I'm glad he did." He finally smiled a little bit and put his hands into his pockets. "Well, me and Cynyr can't stay here anymore, since those soldiers'll just keep coming back until they catch Cynyr. We're not safe here anymore." He turned his gaze down to the ground, then looked back up at Werr and said "I guess that means we're sticking together for a while." He smiled softly, pulling his tail around in front of himself to wring it out.

"It's not like I can stay here, my house is a wreck..." Werr said, looking at his house unhappily. "And if those soldiers come back, they'll probably drag me away for questioning..." He looked down again, then looked up at Welk again, smiling a little bit. "You'll really come with me? Really?" He smiled a little wider, then shook it off quickly. "Come on, let's get your brother. We've gotta get out of here. But...where should we go?" He asked, frowning slightly.

Welk smiled again, saying "Yes, I'll come with you." then frowned. "I'm...not sure where we should go. But we have to go somewhere. For now, I think our best bet is the woods, at least long enough for Cynyr to recover. Once he's better, we can figure out where to go from there. Who knows, maybe Cynyr knows somewhere that we can go and hide out for a while." He stood there for a few more seconds, then quickly walked forward and hugged Werr tightly, pressing his face into Werr's shoulder. He didn't say anything, just hugged him. He sighed softly, feeling a weight lift from his shoulders when it finally sunk in that Werr was still his friend and didn't hate him or his brother.

"Alright. I know where we should head towards, if we want to get to the bottom of what happened to mother. We should move towards the war zone, where my father died. It'll be dangerous...I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to come, but...that's my best bet, right now. But yes, I'll stay with you two until Cynyr..." He stopped as Welk hugged him. Werr smiled and hugged Welk back, silent as well.

Yes, mother was dead, and he would probably remember this as the worst day of his life, but Werr felt his happiest now, knowing that Welk was still his friend and they would be together for at least a little while longer.

Welk pulled back after a short while, all tension between him and Werr gone. "That sounds like a plan to me!" he said, walking with Werr back towards where Cynyr waited. He went back to wringing out his fur and clothes, trying to get some of the water out. He flicked his ears rapidly a few times, knocking water off of them, then stopped when they came into sight of Cynyr. "We're back." Welk said, trotting over to him.

Cynyr, who had been starting to doze off from his injuries, woke with a start when he heard Welk's voice. "Oh. That's good." he said. He glanced at Werr, just managing to keep a glare off of his face. He was still mad at him for making Welk cry. "We leaving now?" he asked, glancing around.

"Yeah." Welk answered, bending down to help his brother up. Once Cynyr was standing next to him, his arm wrapped around Welk's shoulders and Welk's arm tucked around Cynyr's middle, Welk said "Werr's going to stay with us, though."

Cynyr immediately glared at Welk, and the blonde half-cat quickly had to reassure him. "No no, it's okay! We made up, and we're good now. I'm sorry and he's sorry, with no hard feelings between us. It's okay."

Cynyr glared over at Werr, making no attempt to hide his angry look this time. He thought it over for several long seconds, frowning at the other teenager, before finally speaking. "...Fine." he said flatly. "I'm in too much pain to care at this moment."

Welk smiled, happy that breaking the news to Cynyr had gone so well. "Good!" he said, smiling at him and Werr both. "We're going back to the waterfall place in the forest. Sound good?"

"Whatever." Cynyr answered, which was the closest thing they would get to a yes from him.

Werr smiled a little bit in an attempt to show that there really was no hard feelings, but it didn't seem to work much. "I guess it's on to the forest, then. We did say we were going in there after school, didn't we, Welk?" He laughed a bit as they started moving.

"Yep!" Welk said, chuckling. After a while of walking, they made it to the hidden waterfall, deep in the forest where no one would find them. "Ahh, we made it." Welk said. He helped Cynyr over to the wide dry spot under the waterfall, then turned to Werr and said "You stay here with him for a little while. I'm going to run back to town and gather up some of our stuff, then I'll come back." He smiled at Werr, then leaned in and whispered "If you survive staying here with Cynyr, I'll be super impressed. You'll be lucky if he doesn't snap at you more than three times." He patted Werr on the shoulder, laughing, then transformed into his cat form and ran off, leaving Werr alone with a mad and injured Cynyr.

"Be careful!" Werr called after him, a bit worried. After Welk's talk, Werr decided that he just wouldn't talk. He crossed his legs and sat down, delving into his thoughts.

After a few moments, though, he felt compelled to say at least something. "Um...thank you, for...defending me, I guess. That's twice now. I guess that means I owe you..." Not that he had anything to give in return. He literally had nothing besides the notebooks and the single change of clothes in his bag.

For several moments, all that could be heard was the rushing of the waterfall. Cynyr pointedly kept his head turned away from Werr, the tip of his tail twitching slightly. Finally, he spoke. "I wasn't just going to let you die, much as I wanted to." he said, his ears down against his head. "You might have Welk fooled by your little 'friends' scam, but I'm not buying it. All humans are the same. Shallow creatures that think they're better than all other species, that'll use you until you're no further use to them and then slit your throat and leave you to die." He turned to glare at Werr, but there was a distant look in his yellow eyes. "Humans are all the same. Liars. Liars and backstabbing traitors." He let out a growl, which rumbled deep in his throat. "If you make Welk cry like that again, I'll cut your throat wide open and leave you to bleed." He promptly transformed into his panther form and stood up, exiting the spot under the waterfall to climb up on top of it, where Werr couldn't see him.

Werr was slightly taken aback by this, but he pushed back the minor irritation that rose in his throat at Cynyr's words. "Well, I hope that in time, I'll be able to prove you wrong, Cynyr." He sighed as the half-cat left, believing what Cynyr said about the throat-cutting.

Werr silenced his thoughts about the conversation and went back to thinking of how he should go about getting to where he needed to go. He really didn't think that Cynyr and Welk would follow him into a war-zone, just so he could gather more information about how his father died. He had to go anyways...although, leaving Welk might make him cry...Werr doubted that Cynyr would slit his throat for leaving. It seemed like Cynyr wanted him to leave anyways.

Werr thought for a little while longer, considering the facts. Mother had lost any semblance of control and whatever that thing was had taken over her. Werr assumed that it had been living (if it was a living thing) inside her this entire time; after all, people didn't just change so drastically for no reason. He thought back on his mother's final words. 'I hate you. Why did you do this to me?' A lump rose in his throat. Could he have been the cause? No, that was impossible, this thing would have gotten to him too, if that had been the case.

'I hate you.' Werr forced back tears at the very thought of his mother saying that to him. It wasn't her, he decided. That wasn't her. Something else was controlling her. It has to be that. Werr curled his knees up to his chest, scratching at the stone floor subconsciously. It had to be.

Cynyr remained up on top of the rock formation, laying next to the waterfall at one of its calmer spots. He sighed, closing his eyes tightly for a moment, then turned back into a human. He leaned over the water and stared at his reflection for several moments, looking at the mask on his face. He slowly reached a hand up and touched the fabric, running his clawed fingers lightly over the black material, then carefully tucked two fingers under the top of the mask, up near his hairline, and slowly pulled it down. He stared at the reflection that looked back at him in the water and shuddered. He dug his other hand into the ground, clenching his claws deep into the dirt. His body started to quiver, and he quickly put a hand over his face, hiding it from view. He didn't want to look at himself anymore. Nobody would ever want to look at him like this. A few droplets of water dripped out from under his hand, but they quickly stopped. He yanked his mask back up over his face, once again hiding behind a thin sheet of black fabric. No, he wasn't crying, he told himself. It was just some water leftover from the rain. He never cried. He couldn't be that weak. He sighed deeply, then just sat there, staring up at the cloudy sky.

A short while later, Welk came back, bouncing into the clearing energetically. He had two bags strapped to his body. "Hey, Werr!" he called, spotting his friend. "You're not dead or missing any body parts! That means you survived staying here with Cynyr! Good job."

Werr jumped slightly and looked up at his returning friend. "Oh, well...I didn't talk to him much. I was thinking. I only thanked Cynyr for helping, and he went to the top of the waterfall and stayed up there." He shrugged smiled a little. "What did you get?" He asked, curious as to what was in the bags. "Not that you have to tell me." He added quickly.

"Pfft. That jerk." Welk said when he heard about Cynyr's attitude. "Well," he said, shifting around a bit under the weight of the bags. "if you could be so kind as to help me get these things off, I'd be more inclined to tell you what was inside." He grinned. "You have no idea how hard it was to get these on in cat form." He flicked his tail around happily, and Werr could hear him purring loudly.

"It's alright," Werr shook his head. He took a step forward and untied the ropes, smiling at the fact that Welk was purring so much. "You're right, I have no idea. I don't have a cat form, myself." He gently set the bags down, in case there was any glass, as he didn't know yet. "There you go, safe and sound. Now, what's in them?" He asked again, just so Welk couldn't change the subject, as the half-cat had a tendency to do.

"Ahh, much better." Welk said once the bags were off. He rolled around on the ground for a bit, scratching his back to get rid of the feeling of the straps that had been on his body, then transformed back into his human form, still laying on the ground. "Well, in my bag, I have some of my clothes and my most favorite items. In Cynyr's bag, I got some of his clothes and his school books. That was really all of his stuff, actually. We don't have much." He rolled around on the ground a bit more, in his human form, then stood up and grabbed Cynyr's bag. He trotted over to the rock formation and called "Cynyr! I got your bag!"

"Great." came the reply. "Throw it up here."

Welk shrugged, then tossed the bag up over the edge as high as he could get it to go. A thudding sound was heard, followed by a loud "Ouch!"

Cynyr's head appeared over the edge of the formation, glared ferociously at his friend. He was rubbing his head with one gloved hand. "Welk!"

"Oops!" Welk said. "You said to throw it up to you!"

"Yeah, but not to hit me with it!" Cynyr answered, growling.

"Sorry!" Welk answered, quickly running away from the rock formation incase Cynyr decided to throw something back at him.

Cynyr scowled, then disappeared back on top of the waterfall rocks.

"Ah," Werr blinked, wishing he had thought to grab more of his things. As it was, he had only his change of clothes and his notebooks. Of course, he had several ink bottles and quills with him; there wasn't much he could do with the notebooks if he didn't have those. He thought about the maps he could have brought along, a roll of bedding that was in the guest room, and maybe the small survival kit (that included flint and steel, medical supplies and jerky) that was under his bed at home. Oh well, Werr pushed away the thoughts. Not much to do about it now. Those soldiers are probably already all over my house...

"Well...what now?" He asked, glancing up at the place where Cynyr was seated.

"Don't ask me." Cynyr's voice answered. "I could care less what we do, unless it involves something that would threaten me or Welk's lives."

Welk rolled his eyes, then said "I'm going back for one last trip into town. None of the soldiers had shown up yet. If I hurry, I can be back before they even get there." His eyes lit up. "Werr! You should come with me!" he said, turning back into a cat and prancing over to his friend. The muscles beneath his golden coat rippled slightly as he shook himself. The cat was at least the size of a really big lion. "You can ride on my back!" Welk said, bouncing around in circles. "I can carry a full grown man easily, so you should be no problem!"

"E-eh?" Werr blinked. "And you're sure there were no soldiers there when you were returning?" He asked, wondering how on earth he could ride Welk. He needed to go back to town to get his things, that was true, but he was fairly certain that mounting the half-cat like a horse was the wrong way to go about it. He climbed on regardless, adjusting his center of balance uncomfortably. "Can we stop by my house, if there are no soldiers there?" He asked, wrapping his arms around Welk's neck, not sure where else he could put them.

"Sure! In fact, we'll go there first." Welk said, then heard laughter burst out over them, making his fur bristle.

Cynyr had looked back over the edge and had spotted them, then had burst out laughing. "You both look ridiculous!" he shouted, laughing his head off.

"Shut up!" Welk snarled, then took off, leaving his friend behind. Werr found that the cat's pace was similar to that of a horse. A steady, rolling canter that was actually easy to ride to. Welk's anger at having Cynyr laugh at him quickly evaporated, leaving him once again happy. "Boy, you're not really heavy at all!" he said to Werr as they moved rapidly along through the forest.