The Forgotten Zodiac

"Why don't you just shut up and lemme be?" Leo hissed, opening and closing his hands into curled, clawed shapes at his sides. He wrapped his arms around himself and dropped his head down onto the table, his rain-soaked black ears leaving puddles on the wood. His tail hung limply at his side, twitching weakly once in a while. He slowly move his hands up onto the table, folding them under his head and sobbing into his arms. He felt like his entire life was over.

Time crawled inside the little pub. Just when the rowdy bunch seemed to be able to go all night, though, a few of them passed out and the others left. About an hour later, no one remained in the pub aside from two. The man in the corner stood then, hiccuping a bit as he moved. "Done for the night?" The bartender questioned. The other just grunted and moved towards the door, but not without stumbling a step and stepping on Leo's tail. His boots were pretty thick, too.

The reaction was instant. Leo screeched and ripped his tail away, turning on the man. "Why don't you freakin' watch where you're going, you useless drunkard!" he shouted, then gave him a prompt kick that sent him reeling into a table. He fell out of his own chair in the process, growling as he quickly got up with his tail lashing. Tears were running down his face, making it hard for him to see straight, but he managed to jump forward and pin the other man to the ground, sitting squarely on his abdomen. "By bloody heck, you're going to pay for stepping on my tail...on THIS day, nonetheless..." he hissed.

"I'd rather you just kill me..." The other man whimpered, his hands over his face.

"Hey, I'm not cleaning up blood in here. Do what you need to outside." The bartender grunted.

"Sorry," The pinned man turned his head to throw his word at the barkeep, then moved his hands to look at his assailant. He seemed to freeze up after that, just staring numbly at Leo.

((You writing? Izzat why you no mumbrez?

Butbutbut... it is a holiday... .3.))

((Yeah, I was. I3))

Leo seemed to sense his sudden stillness. He glared through tear-filled eyes down at him, then moved a hand up and wiped his eyes clear.

None other than Sylas was pinned under the half-cat.

Leo blinked sharply, his mouth opening slightly as he stared down at Sylas. "Y...you," he said quietly. "S-Sylas...? Wh-what are...how did..." He seemed at a loss for words as more tears dripped down his cheeks.

((BUT HOLIDAY.

THAT I WILL ALSO BE WORKING ON LATER TODAY.

HOLIDAY.))

"Leo...?" Sylas stammered, his single word almost slurred beyond recognition. He wiggled out from underneath his friend and immediately wrapped his arms around the panther. "Oh, Leo...you have no idea how good it is to see you," He sobbed, hugging Leo as tightly as he could.

It was Leo's turn to freeze, but it was fleeting. He leaned against Sylas and sobbed onto his shoulder, his ears turned down against his head. The two had remained fairly close after they had last separated. They had written for a while, but when Sylas had suddenly stopped sending Leo anything, the panther had worried. Having lost contact with him for so long, Leo had assumed something bad had happened to him and had left his family to try and find him. Nothing had turned up. But he was here now. And it was like he had never disappeared.

After sitting there and crying for a bit, Sylas stood and led his friend to his house. It was a run-down little building, but it was warm inside. It had three rooms; a washroom, a bedroom and a living room that had a fireplace and cooking equipment thrown into a closet there. The rug in front of the fire was comfortable enough for them to sit on, though. Sylas, even in his drunken state, was able to get a kettle over the fire for some much needed tea.

Leo had curled up on the floor, holding his head in his hands. His tail curled limply around his leg, a small patch still crumpled from Sylas stepping on it. He shuddered and lifted his head, watching Sylas move, then muttered "And I thought I was a hopeless drunk..." He took in a shuddering breath, sounding about to cry again, then said "It's a...n-nice place, S-Sylas..." He sobbed once into his hands, unable to muster the strength to make witty remarks.

"Not really..." Sylas muttered. "Leo...I'm sorry. I should have written to you to tell you what happened..." He pushed a teacup into Leo's hands, then sat down next to his friend. "A year and six months..." He sighed, looking more depressed than Leo had ever seen him. "Two years since we talked last, hasn't it been? You stopped writing, and I...I got worried. And then the fire...skies above..." He sighed heavily, looking down at Leo. "Why were you crying in a public place? That's not like you, friend..."

Leo shuddered, the cup in his hand shaking. "They're d-dead, Sylas," he stammered, slowly setting the cup down to avoid spilling it. "My whole family. Marin...my beautiful wife...Mala and Teela...m-my...d-daughters..." He sobbed again, then stammered "I had left them for a day. Only a d-day. To go and g-get a j-job. And when I came home...they were all dead. Bandits came and killed them! My family is GONE!" He buried his head in his hands, wailing "I held their lifeless bodies in my arms!"

Sylas looked down at his broken friend, then set his tea down and wrapped his arms around Leo again. "I'm so sorry...there's nothing I can say or do to ease your pain, either...I've been a terrible friend. After the fire, I should have gone to you...I could have helped you, I-I could have...done something...but instead I chose to wallow in my own shame and misery, a-and...I'm sorry, Leo, I was selfish..." He murmured, not letting go of his friend this time.

Leo cried himself out, then just leaned against Sylas, weak and exhausted. He was a haunted shell of the former half-cat Sylas knew. Never before had Leodhaius been so willing to accept closeness between them. Letters and words of kindness were fine, but touch was another thing entirely. Living life as a longer had taught him that human hands only brought hurt. But these hands brought comfort, which was something his life had been sorely lacking.

Sylas was content to just sit there in silence after that, but eventually it became evident that he wasn't quite awake anymore. He went limp, although his arms didn't drop, and after an hour or so, he started snoring softly. It wasn't really his fault; he had consumed quite a bit of ale. He slept like a rock, too; Sylas wasn't exactly the lightest of sleepers when drunk. In fact, this was the first time Leo had seen him drunk. Seemed pretty much the same, really.

Leo was exhausted as well, albeit for a few different reasons. He slowly took panther form and curled up around Sylas, tears still dripping down his cheeks. He squeezed his eyes closed, trying not to think about his lost family or the son he had given away. Trying not to think of how bad of a husband and father he had been.

*

The next morning dawned with another rainy day. Leo woke first and slowly looked up at the window, deciding that the sky was crying for what had been lost as well. He curled back up, tears already sliding back down through his fur.

Sylas stirred after awhile longer, groaning as he sat up. "Ugh...why on earth do I keep drinking...these hangovers just get worse and worse..." He crawled on all fours over to the fire, getting the flames up again. He watched it for awhile, then turned around. He stared at Leo for a second, then sighed heavily. "I thought that was a dream...apparently not. I'm glad it wasn't, but I'm not glad at the same time. Doesn't really make too much sense, but...I'm glad to see you, Leo." He said quietly, not sure what else to say.

"Yeah..." Leo said, his voice strained and weak. He dipped his large head and pressed his forehead against the ground, hiding his face from view. "I'm...glad..." He couldn't force himself to speak after saying glad, for he felt like there was no gladness left in his life. He put his paws over his head, trembling hard as he shook with sobs. He finally just went silent, staring at the floor as tears slid from his eyes.

Sylas scratched Leo gently behind the ears, closing his eyes. "It's not over, Leo...you're still here. I'm still here. We...we have places we can go still. What about Amnairus? That one place...we could go there. Track it down. Get away from this world for awhile..." He suggested, not sure what else to say. He didn't know how to help his friend; he knew exactly what Leo was going through, though. The bartender had spoken truth. A year and a half ago, Sylas' entire house burned to the ground. His son had been inside, that he had been certain of. His wife was now in jail, of all places. He didn't have anyone, and now he had Leo again...

Leo took in a quivering gulp of air, his breath hitching and quivering pitifully. He turned and pressed his head against Sylas' leg, still giving faint, trailing off sobs. Finally, once he seemed to calm down a bit more, he weakly rasped "Let's go...I can't stay here...there's nothing left for me..." He wiped his eyes with a heavy paw, determined to stop crying.

"Yes...I know. So let's go. Let's go to a better place. Amnairus..." Sylas said, wondering what it could be like. He had a general idea of where it might be. Within the borders of Alastor, hidden among the western mountains.

Getting a cart ride there would be the easy part.

((Shall we continue on? I kind of want to make it to dialogue with Galai, to be honest. xD))