The Forgotten Zodiac

"What?" Werr blinked at Welk in confusion. "Not dead? How is that even possible?"

"I didn't think a creature of Tartarus would survive my transportation, but he did," The staff said. "And he really is going to live. Lots of things are possible."

Welk hugged Werr tightly, taking a moment just to assure himself that the voice hadn't been his imagination, then said "A voice spoke to me. It sounded like a girl. She s-said that the dark magic crushed his mind and made a new one for itself, so it's like Cynyr's dead, but really, it's just the dark magic living in his body! She said if we can get his body back and remove all of the dark magic, his mind will be able to repair itself and he'll be himself again!" He was overjoyed but very scared, since he didn't know how in the world they were going to get Cynyr back in the first place, since he was now a dark mage. It would be hard to get close to him, much less take him captive.

"Oh, a possession? I can fix that! It'll take a long time, and it'll probably really hurt, but you know...I can still do it." The staff chirped.

"C-can yo-you not...shut up?" Forin spat in annoyance. Of course, the staff's tinkly voice sounded absolutely terrible to him.

"No! I will not take orders from you!"

"Shut up," Werr snapped. The staff fell silent at once. "A-anyways, Welk, I don't think you should listen..." He shook his head a bit. "I've heard a lot of voices recently...a-and none of them gave very good advice."

"But..." Welk said softly. Werr felt his hand tighten slightly in his shirt. "But isn't it worth a try, if nothing else? What else can we do? I mean, I was willing to do anything to get you back, Werr. And I got you back! Here you are!" He reached up and put a hand on Werr's chest. "You're here and you're safe. And I promised I'd never leave you again. And I mean that. But...but I can't abandon Cynyr either. If there's a chance to save him, I'm going to take it. Even if I have to do it by myself." He sighed, then said "I understand that you don't want to trust this weird voice thing, Werr. And I'm not trusting it all the way either. I'm just using the idea it gave me. So...I'll understand if you don't want to help me. I will. But in a few days, once I'm back up to power, I'm leaving. And if I don't come back, that's my fault. Not yours."

"Welk, that's suicide!" Seria said.

"Cynyr's my brother!" Welk snapped. "He did not have to take care of me for all of my life. He chose to take care of me. That has to mean something, doesn't it? I think I've misunderstood him this entire time. I think we all have. And I'm going to understand him, one way or another! And I'll find out any secrets he has! Including what's under that mask!" Then he was silent, wrapping his arms tightly around Werr and resting his head on the boy's shoulder.

Werr was quiet. "I don't want to go back to that castle..." He said quietly.

"Neither do I. It's stinky." His staff piped up again. "Right then, we'll stick around here, you can just come find us when you're--" She was cut short as Werr smashed the head of the staff into the ground for perhaps the fifth time since she started talking.

"But I'm not going to let my friend run off to die. Not when I can help it." Werr finished, hugging Welk tightly.

Tears fell down Welk's cheeks once again, but now they were not solely from sadness. He pressed his face against Werr's neck, hugging the boy back, then sighed and just leaned against him.

Jag stood up, ruffling his feathers, then said "Come on. We need to get out of sight and rest, and Werr needs to get some food. Is there anywhere that we can go where we'll be safe?"

Welk's eyes lit up. "My house!" he said, carefully standing and helping Werr up. "My house already looks run down, so nobody would think to look there. We can rest for a while until everyone is all better. Then we'll decide who staying and who's going after Cynyr." He took Werr's hand and winced, quickly letting go and looking down at his hand. His wound from biting himself had sealed over, but it still hurt badly. He shrugged it off and took Werr's hand nonetheless, starting to lead him towards the rickety house on the edge of town that he used to live in. He was kind of excited, because he was actually getting to show Werr his house for the first time.

Luen carefully stood up, somehow managing to carry Forin, and looked over at Diana, saying "Come on, Diana." He gently flicked his fluffy white tail around her for to hold, since his hands were full.

Jag took human form and picked up Spy, holding the little chimera in one arm and using his other to guide Lily.

Seria moved over to Nate and carefully took his hand, then looked around for Airlia.

Airlia, who had been watching quietly from the rocking chair in the corner, ran forward and tried to pick up the staff, which Werr had forgotten to grab before Welk had pulled him off. She yelped with pain and withdrew her hand quickly. It was like touching hot steel, even to her. "No, no! No one can touch me besides Werr. Don't hurt yourself anymore, okay? WERR!" The staff yelled, making Werr jump. He looked over his shoulder, then pulled his hand out of Welk's grip, running back.

"S-sorry...are you okay, Airlia?" Werr said, scooping up his staff again.

"I think so..." She said, looking down at her red hands. It stung horribly, but it wasn't too bad. "Why can't I touch it?"

"Because you aren't Werr." The staff chirped. "Werr is mine, and I'm Werr's. He's royalty, and he was in desperate need of me, so I became his and I claimed him. No one else can touch me, otherwise it burns. And while Werr is holding me, no darkness can touch him."

"Why?" Airlia asked as they started to walk. "Who are you?"

"My name is Cici, the light fairy. I have a big mouth, as you probably have already realized, and that kind of got me in trouble with a sorcerer centuries ago. So he turned me into a staff that only royalty-in-need could use. Sad thing was; no royalty wanted me. So I was locked away for a very, very long time, until a bunch of bad men found me. They put me in a box and took me to that castle and I was put under a smelly bed. And then Werr came along and pulled me out, and I realized at once that he was royalty, and he wanted me. Kind of. He was a little loopy then, it was hard to tell, but he was definitely in need of me. So, here we are!"

Welk eyed the staff for a moment, then said "Sheesh. Don't get that crazy thing near Cynyr when we go after him. She'll probably kill him, and the point of this entire mission is to get him back in one piece." He shook his head, then took Werr's free hand and held it tightly, not willing to let go again. "Come on, Werr! You get to see my house now!" he said, pulling the boy along excitedly.

The home he had once shared with Cynyr was exactly as he had described it so long ago; parts of it were falling down and some walls had holes in them, but all together, it was livable. There were stairs leading up to three rooms, one of which was Welk's and the tallest of which was Cynyr's. There was a couch in the living room and enough furniture, though it was all covered in dust. It wasn't like anyone had been living here and had been keeping it clean for a while. The two residents of the home hadn't exactly been around.

"Sorry about the mess." Welk said, opening the door for them once they got there. "And the holes. And the spiders. I've been gone for a while. It didn't always look this bad. Well, it was bad before, but not this bad." He smiled nonetheless and turned, racing off into the house, where they heard things crashing as he dug around through it.

Werr smiled, looking around at the house. It was kind of a mess, but it was better than his house at this point. He dusted off a seat on the couch, plopping down on it tiredly. His stomach rumbled unhappily, but he couldn't do anything about that. He was still happy, though; He was thinking, he was talking...he felt amazing compared to before. Even if he was kind of weak and very hungry now.

Airlia looked petrified at the thought of spiders, however. She sat down next to Werr, picking her feet up off the floor and curling them under herself. Spy decided to run around the house, sniffing around and basically running in circles for no reason.

Jag stepped in and coughed, waving a hand through the air. "Jeez, it's a mess in here." he said. He noticed that Welk had opened some windows, then called "Close your eyes, everyone!" He raised a wing and swung it forward, creating a huge breeze that swept through the living room and scattered the dust into the air. A swipe of his other wing sent the dust flying out the windows. "Better." he said contentedly, twinning his hand down into Lily's.

There was a loud crash from the other room, then Welk shouted "Found it!" They heard a creaking sound, then silence.

Seria curiously walked into the kitchen to see what he was doing and gasped. There was a huge hole in the floor that looked like Welk had opened a trap door. "Welk?" she called down into it, carefully bending down on her hands and knees to peer down.

"Don't fall in! It's quite a drop and there are no stairs." his voice floated out. A few moments later, he jumped up in cat form, a bag in his mouth. He dropped it on the floor, then took human form and sat down, started to untie the bag.

Seria carefully peeked down into the hole, her bright eyes barely able to see anything in the sheer darkness. "What is this?" she asked.

"A safe hole." Welk answered, starting to bite the string holding the bag closed. "Cynyr made it. It's got enough long-lasting supplies to last everyone here at least three solid months, and that's without rationing anything. He was always such a worried person, but I guess it paid off now."

"Thanks," Werr smiled a bit at Jag, peering after Seria. He couldn't quite hear them talking over Cici's chatter.

"Yeah, I tried talking to Werr in his cell. He was really unresponsive. I think he thought I was another hallucination." She was saying. "And I only told him that he should stop being such a lump, really. I tried telling him to eat, but he just thought that food hated him and something about poison. And now he's super hungry. That's what happens when you don't listen to me, you know."

"You're annoying." Jag said, glaring at the staff. He looked up when Welk trotted into the room, holding the bag in his hands. "Okay." he said. "All of this food is still good. I do not, however, have a can opener. I'll go get one!" He put the bag down and ran back into the kitchen, not even pausing to jump down into the hole carefully. He just jumped straight down. Seria heard him riffle around for a minute, then he suddenly leapt back up, dust clinging to his furry ears and short tail. "Got it." he said, trotting back out into the living room. He picked up the bag and walked over to Nate, pushing the bag into one hand and the can opener into the other. "Open some of these, would ya Froggy?" he asked, then moved over to the fireplace and held a hand over it, concentrating. Within seconds, a nice fire was warming up the room.

"I know, I know," Cici agreed. "But hey, I did kind of save your life, you know. You all would have been killed by those guys."

Nate frowned at the name calling, but he started opening the cans. "How is Werr going to eat this stuff without silverware?" He asked, opening a can of peaches while Welk set up the fire.

Welk gave Nate a sidelong look, then said "There's a kitchen right in there. Last time I checked, we had silverware. Just because we can turn into animals doesn't mean we ate like them. I'll go get them!" he said, jumping up and dusting off his hands. He suddenly darted over to Werr and gave the boy a hug, then ran off into the kitchen.

Seria, who had come in to sit by the fire, smiled over at Werr. "He really missed you while you were gone, Werr." she said. "You have no idea. He paced his paw pads raw with worry."

Werr looked away. "I thought he had died...I kept hallucinating, too, he..." He trailed off, knowing that Seria already knew. "If I had known he was still alive, I wouldn't have dropped into that state. It hurt so much, I..." He bit his lip. There was silence for a long moment.

"You gave up on living." Cici said quietly. "It happens. But your buddy is alive! You should be happy about that." She was quiet for a moment. "I can feel your pain, you know. Your heart is aching. What are you so upset about still?" Werr didn't answer.

"Werr?" Seria said, concerned. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" She moved over to him and gently touched his shoulder, which wasn't anything like the rough touch Nelu had had. Seria's was soft and calm. Loving.

Welk trotted back in with the silverware in his hand and paused, noticing Seria. He carefully set down the silverware on the table nearby, then moved over and slid next to Werr on the couch, wrapping his warm arms gently around him. "Werr?" he asked, fear lacing his voice. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm a traitor..." Werr murmured.

"Ohh." Cici puffed in realization.

"Says who?" Nate frowned at them, opening a can of beans.

"He was forced to give up sensitive information. Even if he couldn't avoid it, that's an act of treason, which makes him a traitor." Cici chirped. "He's still an heir to the throne, but mostly because no one knows about it yet."

"No." Welk said, almost ferociously. "No, Werr. No. That wasn't your fault. Besides, we're going to stop all of that! It's our job, after all."

"What?" Jag said, glaring at him. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that once we get Cynyr back, we're going to stop all of the bad guys." Welk said firmly. "We have to. Nobody else is going to do it, so why not us? If we don't do something then those evil people will just keep hurting more and more people. They've hurt us more than enough. We've gotta be the ones to stop them. Some of us are mages, and strong ones at that. We've got Werr's goofy annoying staff. If we just get Cynyr back, we should be set! We started this whole blasted journey to stop the spread of dark magic before it hurt more people. Well, it already got one." He sniffled, but he wouldn't let himself cry. "If we don't stop these idiots, the whole world is going to follow. And since I'm going after Cynyr, one way or another, I'll find a way to stop the bad guys as well." And he went silent, nuzzling against Werr gently.

"Welk..." Werr sighed. "We're probably already too late...if the other council members are assassinated, the second the king dies, I'll be king. Controlled or not. I can't...I can't help you if that happens. I'll have to take care of the country, I..." He looked away unhappily. "If that happens, you'll have to go alone..."

((Which, it already is happening, which shall be revealed the next tiem we run into Gurushi or any of them. :T))

"But we're going to do it in a few days!" Welk said. "There has to be something we can do to prevent that from happening." He looked sad.

"I'm sure we'll think of something, Welk." Seria said. "For now, let's eat something."

"I'm not hungry." Welk said flatly, and Seria looked a little shocked. "Are...are you sure?" she asked. She knew Welk. He was always up for eating.

"Yes." he said, still flatly.

"O-okay then." Seria said, not knowing what else to tell him.

((Yesh, but they can't get to all of them that fast. It would take them a few days to track down all of the people and actually do a good job assassinating them one-by-one. Our group should be able to save a few of them, at the very least.))