The Forgotten Zodiac

((Diana's frailer. xDD))

Werr slowly relaxed, though he laid awake for several long minutes before slipping into an uncomfortable, troubled sleep.

Diana fell asleep too, curled up in Forin's lap. He glanced at Luen, quietly informing him that he too could sleep if he wanted to. Nate and Zephyr returned a few minutes later, just as the storm outside started to pick up.

It was as bad as Forin thought it might be. The temperatures dropped dangerously quickly. They were lucky that Nate had thought to get so much firewood; it was going to be a very long night.

((Oops?))

Luen dozed off, leaning against the cave wall and Forin's shoulder.

Zephyr sat down a huge load of logs he had been carrying in his mouth, then shook himself and glanced over his shoulder at the storm. "It's cold out there." he said. "Even I, with my internal fire that constantly warms my entire body, would be at risk out in that." He breathed out a sharp puff of smoke, then watched as Nate set up the fire. Zephyr then lit the logs ablaze, a single small breath of fire instantly lighting the logs. Zephyr snorted softly, then grew in size and curled up nearby, warm smoke emitting from his nose.

Seria moved over and leaned against his belly, finding it soothingly warm. She looked up at Nate and smiled at him, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.

((S'alright. :T))

"Of course it's cold," Forin sighed, shaking his head. "It always has to be cold..." He shivered a bit, looking unhappy, though it had little to do with him being cold. Diana and Luen were both right there, keeping him nice and warm. But not too far away, Forin could sense the death of an unfortunate traveler. Unfortunate, indeed.

Zephyr flicked his long ears once, then fell asleep, his breath rumbling in and out of his lungs. Seria smiled and patted his flank, then curled up against Nate when he sat down next to her. "Nate?" she asked quietly. "Can I ask you a question? I'm...confused by it and I don't really know what to do." She flicked her tail, curling it around her legs.

"Yes, go right ahead." Nate nodded. "You know me. I won't tell any of the others if you don't want me to. Although you might have to make Forin swear not to tell. Which, I doubt he will." He looked over at the Tartaran.

"My lips are sealed." Forin rolled his eyes, not particularly caring.

"There you have it, then. What did you want to ask?" Nate looked at her, smiling.

"Well..." Seria said. "Let's say that you used to love someone a lot. A lot. Then they did something and you thought one thing about them, but then later, they explained it and you realized that you were the wrong one the whole time. That you had the wrong idea about the person's intentions when they left you and that your ideas about them weren't true at all." She looked up sadly at Nate, her blue eyes sad.

"I can see where this is going," Nate nodded. It was pretty obvious. "That's not really a question, though. Go on." He tilted his head slightly one way, smiling still. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her gently.

Seria bit her lip, then said "I don't know what to think of Cynyr anymore. I thought…I thought so many things about him and came to so many conclusions about why he had left me, but as it turns out…none of them were right. He thought he couldn't be with me because he thought he wasn't good enough. I don't care what he looks like. He doesn't seem to understand that, though. And…I don't know how to talk to him again." She leaned against the dragonian and sighed.

Nate sighed. He had never been much of a relationship person. He tried to put himself in Seria's shoes, and found himself thinking in circles. He really didn't know what to say. After all, what if he was wrong, and Cynyr reacted badly to whatever Seria tried in regards to his advice? After a long moment of thinking, he smiled again. "There isn't much I can think of to say," He admitted quietly. "But maybe you don't have to talk to him much. Just...let him talk to you. Just be there for him."

Seria watched him as he spoke, then nodded once. "Yeah…" she murmured, resting her head against his chest. She closed her eyes softly, laying gently against him.

Cynyr was still awake, obviously. He hadn't been listening to their conversation, low as it was, but he had been watching them somewhat. He blinked softly, his eyes betraying his longing, but he no longer held any of the malice he had before when Seria had been near Nate. He looked resigned. He slowly looked away, telling himself inside that it was better that Nate was there instead of himself.

It was hard for him to lie to himself like that.

Nate nodded, putting a hand on her back before leaning back against Zephyr, falling asleep quickly in his usual sitting-up position.

The storm passed overnight. The snow and ice rose up to knee-high at this point. Waist-high, for little Diana. It was still cold, but not a deadly cold like last night's temperatures had been. Fortunately, all of them seemed to have made it through the night alive.

Werr still seemed to be a little out of it, but he was recovering. Diana still wasn't talking though, and Forin doubted she would for awhile yet. Nate busied himself over the dying flames, prodding at them with a stick. "Is anyone else hungry? Maybe we should go try to find some frozen birds or something..."

Welk didn't want to wake up on this morning. He pressed closer to Werr, murmuring something sleepily. He had wrapped his front paws around the boy in a hug in the night, his feline head resting against the boy's shoulder. Cynyr watched him sleep for a moment, then sighed and shook his head. He let him sleep. The blonde half-cat was tired.

Zephyr lifted his head from its resting place and said "I'll get something for us to eat. I'll last better in the snow than any of you, plus I'll be able to smell if anything edible is out there." He rose up, making Seria scramble away, then turned and headed outside, brushing snow away from the entrance as he walked.

Cynyr watched him go, then turned his head away and licked Werr's arm gently with his rough tongue.

"Alright then," Nate put the last two logs over the fire. "We'll have something to eat in no time."

Werr laid still in Welk's grip. He hadn't really moved since waking up, but he didn't have that distant look in his eyes that he had before he fell asleep. He still looked weary and slightly depressed, though. Diana watched him quietly, a sad look in her young, round eyes.

Cynyr watched him closely, then moved his head around and rubbed his muzzle against the boy's arm. "Hey." he said softly. "It's okay." He could sense the boy's sadness since they were right next to each other. "I have nothing to say to comfort you." he said. "I'm not that kind of person. I don't comfort people. I can't." He turned his head away. "I don't have the power to make everything okay. If I did, I wouldn't have let any of this happen to you. If I would've known, I would've taken Welk and walked away the second we met you. I would've sacrificed this whole journey and everything I've learned on it...so you could be happy. I honestly don't know how you feel. If happiness is just some misguided illusion that constantly eludes us. But it doesn't matter. We're here and there's nothing we can do to change it. I know better than anyone how hard it is to come to terms with something." He rubbed a paw over his face. "It took me eleven years to come to terms with these scars. You're lucky. You have Welk, a real friend, with you. And you didn't have any parts of your body burned off. So...lucky you." He lowered his head to the ground, closing his eyes softly. "I'm not telling you to get over your sadness." he said. "I'm just saying that sooner or later, you're going to have to accept the fact that you'll never change what happened to you. I never thought I could be happy again after my whole family was killed. Bad times are bad for a reason. But I know now...that there could still be good things ahead. You just have to withstand the bad things." He flicked his long tail once, then was silent. In his opinion, everything he had just said was terrible and stupid and he already wished he could've taken it back or just kept his mouth shut.

Werr was quiet for a long moment. "You're right," He said quietly, closing his eyes again. "I know. I know you're right. I can't stop feeling it, though...even if it was only for a second, his arm was inside me. It was the most horrifying and painful thing I've ever felt. I don't...I don't blame you for what happened, and I would probably be dead if I hadn't met you all. I have a feeling that mother would have attacked me eventually, and I wouldn't have survived it...it's all because of that stupid Dark Magic..." He opened his eyes, looking at Cynyr. "Obelisk brought up memories again. I'm so tired of that...I want to put the past behind me, but...I fear the things in the past, and he knows that..."

"We're going to end Obelisk." Cynyr said. "When he's gone, we can start making good memories that outlast the bad ones." He lifted his head again, turning and licking Werr's arm softly several times. "I said I wouldn't let anyone hurt you again." he said. "I mean it. You...you're...the first person in a long, long time...that I feel like I can trust. Frankly, I still have my doubts about almost everyone else here." He was quiet for a moment, then looked at Welk. The blonde cat was still asleep. "I..." Cynyr said. "...still have nightmares sometimes about my days at the organization that hurt me. I know what it's like to fear the past. I know. I understand." He tilted his ears back, closing his eyes for a moment. "All you can do is last. I did, if not for myself." He bent his head and brushed his muzzle against Welk, who purred in his sleep at his brother's touch. "We're both here whenever you'll need us." the panther said. "Always."

"Nightmares..." Werr sighed. "I don't know why, but ever since this whole thing started, I've been having those constantly. I can't sleep without having one. I don't think you can save me from those...I'm grateful, but...I'm worn out by all of this. I don't think I can go on for much longer. I can't help but think that...if...if I don't go on, if I just go into hiding or something, I'll be okay. It's not like the rest of you need my help...I can't do anything. I'm too weak to even try..."

Werr suddenly found himself looking right into the eyes of an angry panther. "You would give up?" Cynyr growled. "You would crawl away and fade into nothing, letting Obelisk win? I'm surprised by you, Grehi. I thought you were stronger than that." He flicked his tail to silence the boy when he tried to protest. "You are strong. You think of yourself as weak, but I know better. I've seen many people in my life and you have one of the strongest souls I've ever seen. If you chose to give up now, after all that's happened to you, then I will have been wrong about you. You'll just be a weak little human like all of the others I've met. It would've been wrong of me to trust you, because I thought I was trusting 'the boy who writes everything down'. Not 'the boy who hides from his troubles like a wimp'." His words stung, but they were true. "You are not pysically strong." the panther said. "True. But here," He placed a heavy paw over the boy's head. "is your strength. You've kept this entire group together for a long time now. If not for you, many of us would never have met. If not for you, nobody would have ever stood up to protect this dying land. We're the only ones trying to save these lands from destruction. We've come this far. If you're going to give up, so be it. But I'm going to keep going, despite what's happened to me. And I can tell you this; Welk will come with me too. Not as a threat, but in knowing. He knows what we have to do. He's smart. Like you." He stood up, letting Werr fall back slightly against the cave wall, then said "I'm going out. I'll be back." He stalked off, looking over his shoulder once at the boy. "I'm sick and tired of hearing about how weak you think you are. I'm completely honest when I say that you are not a weak person. If you were weak, you would've died on day one. But you didn't." His voice lowered slightly, taking on a much more gentle tone. "You're here." he said softly, his eyes growing a bit warmer. Then he turned and walked off, disappearing out into the snow.

Werr sat back against the cave wall, looking a little fearful, but mostly bewildered. He looked down, but raised his eyes again to see Forin staring at him.

"Why did you start this journey in the first place, Werr?" The Tartaran inquired. For once, there was no mocking or sarcasm in his tone when he spoke to Werr. But there was definitely hatred. Forin couldn't hide that. "I thought you were going to save the world. To keep others from suffering the same fate your parents had. Were those not your intentions?" He didn't give Werr a chance to answer. "Humans," Forin snorted, looking away. "All they think about is 'me, me, me'."

"Don't be so hard on him," Nate frowned. "But if you're going to leave, Werr, you might as well do it now while the sun is out."

"B-but..." Werr stammered, then shook his head. "I..."

"Leave, then! Good riddance." Forin tutted.

"No!" Werr snapped. "I'm not going anywhere! A-at least, not until the rest of you are ready to come with me, because so help me, w-we're going to do this! I could very well be leading us all into a death trap...but if you lot don't care, then I don't either!" He sat back again, sighing through his nose, looking upset.

Nate smiled again. Forin didn't, nor did the hatred in his eyes and tone change, but he did say, "Good." He didn't like Werr at all (obviously), but he knew as well as everyone else that without the human boy, things would fall to pieces rather quickly.

Welk had woken up instantly when Werr had snapped 'No'. He blinked woozily and listened as he spoke, taking human form and rubbing his eyes. He didn't need to ask to figure out most of what had happened, though he knew nothing of Cynyr's involvement in it. He reached out and touched Werr's shoulder gently, smiling at him. For once, he said nothing. Just the touch, which carried his love and understanding. He wrapped his arms around Werr, one around his torso and the other up over his shoulders, pressing his forehead against the boy's neck. He purred softly, his crimson eyes staring up gently at the boy. He thought about what Werr had said and his purring grew louder. He suddenly moved his arm from around Werr's body and took one of his hands, holding it up. "Watch this." he said. "I've figured out something neat I can do with my powers." He started up his fire powers at his own shoulder, extending it down to Werr's hand. The flames crept nearer and nearer, until they were literally burning over Werr's skin.

But there was no pain or burns left behind.

There wasn't even heat. Just the flames, dancing over his skin. "See?" Welk said happily. "I can take all of the heat out of the fire and just have the flames! Isn't that neat?" The flames twirled around Werr's hand. He felt the fire touching him, but it didn't hurt him in any way.