The Forgotten Zodiac

"No," Luen said, suddenly gaining a bit more strength in his voice. He swallowed, then said "I...I saw those memories. I saw them, though I don't think I wanted to at the time. I never would've lived through the things that you went through. You're not weak." His voice dropped a bit lower and he murmured "You're not weak...like me." He slowly stood up, his tail tucked down between his legs in a wolfish display of submission, then timidly moved over and said on the edge of Forin's bed, emerald eyes meeting silver ones.

Forin blinked slowly at Luen. "You...you aren't weak either, then. You've been through a lot that I would never understand. I don't have a family...I can't begin to comprehend what losing family members is like. You may not be strong physically. Or even emotionally. But your heart and spirit are stronger than mine will ever be."

He was quiet for a moment, then said, "You wanted me to laugh..." He stated, closing his eyes as he spoke even softer than before. "But I don't remember how to. I barely remember anything about feeling emotions anymore. I steeled myself for so long, forced away most emotion, only to have them replaced by hatred. Happiness and love are like a far off memory, or a dream. The harder I try to remember it, the less I remember. Even though I'm free...I want to remain locked up in this stupid box I made myself. This box of forgetfulness, and...and anger..."

A single tear slid out from under his closed eyes. "I want to laugh for you. I want to give Diana the loving care that she needs so much of. But I can't...I can't..."

Slowly, pale fingers reached out, gently encircling Forin's hand. Luen reached up and brushed away the tears sliding down his narrow cheeks, then said "Please...don't lock yourself away again. Now that I've heard you speak and thought over a few things, I realize that you really didn't mean to hurt me. It was...something else, speaking through you." He swallowed lightly, then said "Let me and Diana help you. You can't recover lost emotions on your own. It's impossible to do without someone there to help you feel those emotions. Sayings kind words to yourself is meaningless, but hearing those same words from someone else, someone who cares about you, is just so different." He carefully lifted Forin's hand, holding it tightly in both of his, then said "I've seen you cry before. I know you have the emotion in there. You even told me that you had wanted to laugh, back when I went running with you. The emotion is there..." He slowly shifted to wolf form, and the slowness caused him to, for a moment, take on an almost werewolf like appearance. He made it to wolf form, however, and gently rested his head against Forin's hip. He didn't dare move his head further in, not wanting to risk hurting him. "...We just have to find it." he finished, starting to delicately use just the tip of his wolf tongue to lick near Forin's wound, washing away bits of blood he found.

Forin allowed his own fingers to curl around Luen's paw, opening his eyes again. "Okay." He said simply. "I trust you. I trust you to help me." He spoke with no hesitation. No second thoughts.

Diana pushed his bangs back for him, smiling happily, although she still looked a little worried. Forin gave a small smile to her in return, though it remained forced. "I'm going to give you good memories. So many, that you'll forget the bad ones. I'll relieve you of pain so that you can run and laugh and smile and play like any other human child."

Diana blinked in confusion at this. "But I don't want to be any other human child. I want to be Diana. I want to be your summoner."

Forin shook his head ever so slightly. "That will never change. Don't worry about that." He closed his eyes again, his breathing slowing down. "Luen...watch over Diana, please...my body can't take anymore stress until I have a chance to rest, so...I'm kind of...passing out." He stated, then he did indeed pass out.

Luen closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and simply said "Okay." He licked Forin delicately a few more times, then pulled back and took human form, sighing quietly. It was still sort of hard for him to shift between the different forms, what with him being so delicate, but it had gotten easier since that very first time he had done it, so long ago, when he had first encountered the group. He stood up and turned to Diana, smiling thinly. "We can stay in here if we're quiet," he said. "Do you want to play a game? Well, I personally don't know any, but..." He sheepishly scratched behind his ear lightly, then took wolf form and jumped up onto the other bed so he could lay on his side.

Diana climbed up after him, then started suggesting quiet games they could play.

Werr was listening as Seria finished explaining what she knew about what had happened. "I see..." He nodded, letting out a sigh. "So we can assume that neither Luen nor Forin will be coming with us? It's fine, I'm sure, but...I still would have liked to have their company. No matter, we need to proceed as normal despite this...mishap. Are you coming to Tartarus with us, Seria?"

Seria tilted her head at him, then said "Are you crazy? Do you even have to ask? Of course I'm coming with you. What, and you think I would let you all just run off willy-nilly into the Realm of Shadows without a healer?" She patted him on the head and said "Maybe you've still got some screws loose up there."

Welk, standing near Werr as usual, glared at her.

"You know I'm just joking, Welk," the healer said, reaching out to ruffle his short little mane.

He closed one eyes as she spoke, unable to stop the purr from creeping up in his throat. Especially when her hand moved up behind his ear, though he preferred Werr's scratches to Seria's. Werr knew how to do it how the lion liked it, since they had known each other longer.

Cynyr was standing stoically nearby, leaning against a wall and watching everything clearly through his bright sun-yellow eyes.

Werr rolled his eyes. "I still need to ask Jag if he wanted to come along. I'm pretty sure we can count Cici and Luna out, though..."

He turned away and headed back upstairs, knocking on the door of Jag and Lily's room. "I need to ask something of you, Jag," He called, not wanting to just walk in. That could end badly.

He heard a sigh in the room, then hushed voices speak for a moment. The sound of a bed creaking lightly and feet hitting the ground, then footsteps as someone approached the door. Jag opened the door, his hair ruffled and his clothes a bit disheveled. "What?" he snapped irritably, glaring at the boy. "Did you just come to interrupt or do you have a serious question?" One hand was firmly sunk into his pants pocket, seemingly holding something tightly.

Werr recoiled a little bit, but he shook it off quickly. "We already got Galai to hide the gate from magical detection, but we need to convince Titus, the king of Tartarus, to hide it from physical view. I was wondering if you wanted to come with us. The more people we have, the better, but...I understand if you want to stay behind with Lily."

Jag's sky blue eyes flickered back into the room, where he knew Lily was waiting for him to come back, then said "I would rather stay, but...I do know we have to protect the gates for the world to be safe. And the world includes Lily. So I'll come, if only to provide her with a safe future. Now go away; I have buisness to finish before I go anywhere," And he shut the door in Werr's face.

"W-well, we're getting ready to leave now! We'll wait for you by the gate," Werr called before turning away.

Inside the room, Lily was smiling happily. "What business? Just go on, I can wait here. I'll be safe, really." She moved forward and gave him a hug anyways, holding him tightly.

Jag snorted and ran a hand through his blue hair, glaring at the door. He sighed and turned back to Lily, allowing himself to smile as she hugged him. "Oh, some pretty important business," he said. "It can't wait until I get back. Really it can't." He held her close, reaching a hand up to brush her hair back. "Lily," he said softly. "There's something I want to ask you." His hand found its way back into his pocket, where he fingered the tiny object waiting there. "I've known you for a long time now," he said, moving his free hand up to put his fingers under her chin and tilt her head back slightly. "I love you...so much," he said. "You're my love, love. The only person I could ever dream of being with. And I want to do this now, before anything else goes wrong." He pulled the item out of his pocket, gulping nervously, then slowly slid down to one knee in front of her. "Lily..." he said, staring up at her, then gently held up the pretty silver ring he had. "...will you marry me?"

Lily stared at him for a very long time, her mind screeching to a sudden halt. She hardly even glanced at the ring, her eyes locked on Jag as her mouth opened and closed while she tried to find words to say. She suddenly hugged him again, pressing her cheek against his as she started to cry with tears of joy. "Yes, yes, a hundred times, yes!"

Spy, who was watching quietly from the corner, couldn't conceal an excited grin. He remained quiet, though his tail flicked around wildly.

A rush of relief went through the gryphon when Lily answered, then he quickly stood up and hugged her tightly. He slid his hands up and tilted her head back to kiss her gently, flicking his long tail lowly. He pulled back from the kiss, his eyes full of pride and happiness, then took her right hand and slid the ring onto her appropriate finger. "There," he murmured, moving to hold her close again. "Where it was always meant to be."

He decided not to tell her that he had went out and got that ring the moment they had started dating, because he had known she would be the only one for him.

She hugged for a long while before pulling away slightly, kissing Jag once more. When she was done with that, she pulled away entirely and just smiled at him before speaking. "You should go catch up with the others. As much as I want you to stay now...you said you would go, so they'll be waiting for you." She stroked his hair lightly. "Just...be careful. Don't come back hurt, please..."

He let out a soft, ruffled bird-call as she pulled back, not wanting to leave yet. "Fine," he said. "Okay. I don't want to, but I probably should go. I did say I would go." He moved one hand up and touched her face gently, his blue eyes bright, then said "I'll try to come back in one piece. It wouldn't do for me to get hurt before we have a chance to get married," He slowly moved his hand, taking steps backwards, then turned and opened the door. "I love you," he said over his shoulder, smiling at her in the way that only she saw. He threw Spy a wave, saying "See ya around, snack." Then he headed out, closing the door behind him, his footsteps fading away into silence as he headed off to find the others.

Spy joyously jumped into Lily's arms after she was gone, squeaking happily. "Congratulations!" He yipped, nuzzling up to her. "You two are so cute together~!"

"Aww, thanks," Lily grinned and giggled, sitting down on the bed to chat with Spy about what the marriage might be like.

The others were waiting at the gate to the world between worlds. Cici was waiting with them, ready to wave them off. "Be careful," She was saying as Jag approached. "Don't let Titus fool you into giving something up. If you let your guard down, you could very well let him take a limb in return for his service to you." She pouted unhappily.

"I understand." Werr nodded. "We'll be back before dinner. Then we can strategize and whatnot. Don't worry, Cici, I'll be back before you know it."

"Don't forget that I have presents for you all after dinner, so don't die! I don't want extras." Cici giggled before flying off.

Jag ruffled his crest feathers as the fairy flew off, already looking irritated as usual. "Come on," he said. "Let's get going already."

Cynyr growled at him and said "Shut up. Personally, I wanted to leave you here."

They glared at each other, then Welk walked over and grabbed Cynyr's arm, saying "Hey, come see this thing over here!" Once the panther was away from the gryphon, Welk looked up at him and said "Don't get into any fights so soon, Cynyr. We've gotta save strength for Tartarus. It's dangerous there."

"Bah," the mage answered. "Fine. Whatever." His hand was starting to shake uncontrollably again, but Welk let go of the panther before he could notice his brother's problem. Cynyr sighed quietly and shoved his hand into his pocket, telling himself it was nothing and that he would be fine. As usual.

Werr led the way until they reached the stairs. Then he dropped back and allowed Cynyr to take the lead; the panther was the only one of them that had been to Tartarus before. Werr couldn't hold back his wonder and awe as he stared up at the glowing red sky, then down at the silver gravel beneath their feet, then at the iron gates.

The bat-boy from before approached again. "Oh, it's you." He took one sniff in their direction and hopped away, covering his nose, glaring particularly at Werr. "Galai's touched you. Bad, bad, bad. Nasty-smelling people, why are you here?"