The Forgotten Zodiac

"What the..." Forin blinked. "This would have been nice to know about earlier!" He shouted back at the blade, but he was quick to dispatch the Things after that. It wasn't hard when their blood fought against them, too. Forin sheathed his blade again, scooped Luen up off the ground, and ran for it. Seria was waiting upstairs, he had to get Luen to her quickly.

Titus was there, glaring at Nate. Inspecting him. He wasn't doing much, just standing there uncomfortably and watching Titus. "His mind has eroded too much for me to salvage it. You're lucky; if he had gotten to the point where Lexi died at his hands, he would be lost to you forever. But the Guantlet can still reverse this damage." Titus felt Nate's skinless chest, curious. "To think that Malice would go to such lengths..."

"Hurts," Nate muttered, pushing Titus' hand away.

"I'm sure it does. But you can walk, you can run, and they hadn't gotten the chance to tear your tongue out yet. You're lucky."

"Not quite," Obelisk growled. "He was eating Lexi. Eating her." Obelisk's bandages whipped out, wrapping around Nate and squeezing him like a vice. Nate hissed and struggled, but could do nothing as he was lifted and thrown across the throne room. "I won't give him the chance to be whole again..."

"No!" two voices shouted at once. One was obviously Tasia, who leapt from the ground and flew to her mate, wrapping her arms around him. "I won't let you hurt him!" she shouted, sobbing.

The other voice had been Lexi herself.

"Please, Obelisk, don't!" she said, clinging to his bandages and ignoring her own dripping blood. "I won't allow Tasia to be mateless and their child to be fatherless. I've already forgiven him!" It was true. She found that she could hold no grudge against the dragonian male. "He was forced to do what he did, and he had fought whenever he had the chance to," she continued. "Please Obelisk, don't hurt him anymore!" She pressed closer to him, sobbing against her dear friend. Obelisk was able to sense her thoughts, feeling that she really did think of him as a close friend. Someone precious to her. And she didn't want him to be persecuted by the others for killing Nate, and she truly didn't want him to kill Nate in the first place.

Obelisk halted his attacked, his bandages returning to their place behind him. He sighed low, then eased himself into a sitting position, where Seria could reach Lexi to heal her. Nate staggered with pain, blood dripping onto the floor from his chest and the arm he had landed on. It slowed to a stop in seconds, but he no longer had skin to keep internal bleeding...internal. Bruises were just bleeding to him.

Regardless, he stood and led Tasia back to the group, walking steady with her help. He broke away from her and approached Obelisk and Lexi, although he kept his eyes on Obelisk. "Thank you." He said simply before turning away, not wanting to be tempted to attack the girl again. Who he was speaking to was obvious enough. Nate pressed what face he had left against Tasia's shoulder. "Tasia...is okay?" He questioned quietly, concerned for her and her child.

"So...wait, what do we do now? We're injured, Nate's turning into...one of them..." Forin frowned.

"Cynyr is waiting for you in the Eternal Garden. If you can get Nate there without letting him attack anyone, he can be fixed. In fact...all of you can be fixed with that Gauntlet. It can push energy into you, similar to how Airlia can. You'll all be back on your feet before sunset." Titus shrugged.

"Galai, wh-where is Galai?" Toroph whimpered. He was in a bad state; he was clinging to Zephyr still, unable to move his legs at all. His lower spine, hips and legs had all been brutally crushed by the rocks that had been thrown on him. Spy had a knife buried deep in his side. Diana and Luen both suffered from bite marks and claw wounds. Out of all of them, Nate seemed the least injured, but he was missing most of his skin and his conscious mind was decaying and turning him into a flesh-eating beast.

Tasia kissed Nate gently, tears racing down her cheeks, then pulled back ever so slightly and whispered "I only am when you're okay. Oh Nate, I love you too much to ever let you go. You changed my whole life and gave me this precious life inside me to nuture. Please, don't let our baby grow up without a father. We need you..." She kissed him again, squeezing her eyes shut tightly as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Galai could not risk coming here, little one," Zephyr said, glancing over his shoulder at the rabbitzen on his back. "She needed to stay with your cousin and Welk, keeping them safe while staying safe herself." He tilted his head around, giving a gentle lick over Toro's body to numb his pain. Then he turned back around, making sure they had everyone.

Seria was working as quickly as she could, but her gaze was still frightfully blank. Her healing had lost its tender, loving touch as well, and those whom she had healed many times in the past felt this difference immediately. As she approached Forin to heal Luen, she heard the constant complaining of Vorpal.

"-you even NEED a girlfriend in the first place? I mean, really. And you should train with me more often; you bumped me against the wall once while fighting! I know I was born to be your trusty weapon, but if you don't learn how to use me, then we'll never get anything done! And for that matter-"

At that point, Seria completely tuned him out, her slender fingers already working on Luen's mangled neck. He was barely breathing from nearly chokeing to death, and then when the Thing had bit him and shook him so hard it had just made everything worse. When Seria's fingers landed on his neck, he gave a short squeak of pain.

Forin frowned. He had never seen anyone endure pain under Seria's gentle, loving touch. He sighed, shaking his head and looking over towards the others, ignoring Vorpal as well. He sighed and looked back down at Luen and Seria, frowning slightly still. Toroph's whimper reached his ear over Vorpal's rambling, although Forin couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy. He looked like they all had, that first attack. Scared. And the way he held his legs...it was wrong, so completely wrong.

Nate didn't reply much, a little surprised at how Tasia hadn't recoiled away from him. Oh well. It didn't matter. His precious Tasia was okay, and that was all that mattered to him. It was the only clinging thread that kept him from going mental at this point.

When Seria finished with Luen, he almost looked worse. He clung to Forin, sobbing into his shirt and whispering "I...I can't...make myself...open my eyes...I can't...F-Forin, I can't do it..." He pressed his face closer to his friend, his sobs giving way to wails of terror and pain.

Seria hesitated, glancing back once at him, then simply turned away and moved on to Spy, the brief moment of emotion dripping back down into nothing but darkness.

Luna walked over to the two, carrying Diana in her arms. "Oh, Luen..." she murmured, sitting down next to Forin and stroking the kirin's hair back. The touch caused him to scream for a split second, as if expecting a Thing instead of her, then he twinned his hand harder into Forin's shirt and wailed.

Even Vorpal had gone silent at his creator's cries. He said nothing, but that alone showed his sorrow over the kirin's pain.

Forin hugged Luen tightly, closing his eyes and letting out a sigh. There was nothing he could do but hold his friend and force himself not to cry with him. Diana, on the other hand, watched with great sadness in her eyes. She wasn't crying either, and she didn't want to make Luen scream more, so she just sat there quietly, feeling the bleeding holes in her hands.

Ophile was sitting over Spy. He looked up at Seria, then back down at the little Chimera. Spy was stiff, struggling to stay awake. Ophile ruffled his fur at the look in Seria's eyes; the dead, unhappy look. "Seria...are you okay?"

She knelt down on the ground next to him, taking Spy into her arms and starting to heal him. She looked over at Ophile, and with a single, small tear running down her cheek, whispered "No, Ophile. I'm not okay." She finished with Spy and held him close, like some sort of teddy bear, then moved her other hand out and touched Ophile's head gently, letting him absorb her memories. He became the next to know of her lost little one, and he took in the utter dark, endless hole in her heart that was her missing child. He took in all her fears and worries, and even her dark thoughts; that something HAD to be wrong with her. That Cynyr didn't deserve a defective mate and that she should leave before she could hurt him worse. She obviously trusted Ophile, or else he knew she would never have shared these memories.

Ophile sighed heavily, looking down. He nosed Seria's cheek once, wiping the tear away. He curled himself around her, settling his head in her lap. He sighed and closed his eyes, deciding to say nothing.

Titus watched for a few minutes. He watched all of them. But eventually, he did turn around and walk back to the throne room. Obelisk was there, after all. They had enough to be safe. Nate, however, pulled Tasia along and made her follow; he wasn't too sure why, but he knew that he needed to say something to someone...and Titus was going in that direction. Might as well be safe.

Once Seria finished healing everyone, she simply walked out, following after the others. Luna was the one that stood up and helped to guide everyone along, making sure nobody was left behind and that they all kept together.

When the initial trio reached the throne room, they saw Galai pacing the floor, looking very worried. Werr was there, with Welk held in his arms as always, sitting on Galai's throne. She had bade him to sit there when she herself was unable to sit still. At Werr's request, the queen had sent for Namanai, for Welk, and the oldest healer had taken away his sickness, finding him healed enough on his own for her to do this. He was laying quietly in Werr's arms at the moment, staring up at Werr and occasionally talking to him.

"Galai, you really should sit down," Titus said quietly as he entered the room. He moved over to where she was, placing a gentle kiss on her lips. Werr stood and hurried over at once, looking up at him expectantly. "They're all okay. No deaths, although..." Titus stepped aside, revealing Nate. Werr stumbled back at once, his initial panic obvious, but he soon realized who he was looking at.

"Nate...what...what did they do to you?!" Werr exclaimed. Nate just blinked slowly at him and moved behind Tasia, blowing out the tiniest puff of flames at the human king. Werr opened and closed his mouth, unsure of what else to say. He really panicked when Nate slid away from Tasia and walked foward, reaching for Welk; Werr stepped backwards so quickly, he stepped on the edge of his own cloak and wound up on his rear on the floor.

"Calm down." Titus snapped, picking Werr up and making him stand again. "Be a little considerate, Werr. Nate doesn't like being like this, and he doesn't like you being afraid of him." Nate just looked from Titus to Werr, his expression matching that of a lost and confused pet's. He just didn't know what was going on.

"Welk," Nate eventually spoke. "Speak with. Words for Welk. I have them."

Welk blinked, then a lock of Werr's black hair a gentle tug before lifting away from him, hovering over to Nate and landing softly in his hand. "Lay 'em on me, Froggy," he said, turning his crimson eyes up at Nate and smiling. He patted Nate's hand, continuing to smile at him.

Tasia took her husband's other hand, watching the two quietly. She flicked her tail, then glanced over at Werr for a moment. She hadn't really liked him ever since the incident where they had been captured together, but...

She extended a twisted little hand in his direction, tilting her head slightly to the side.

"Will you be Welk?" Nate questioned. "Werr puts you back in body. Will you be Welk again, then?" He tilted his head when Werr took Tasia's hand with a small (forced) smile. "After all this, will Werr still be Werr? Welk, Welk? Because if no, then all pain, misery, heartbreak, death and life; all of it garbage. Waste. Needless." He dropped Welk on Werr's head and pried the king's hand away from his wife's, kissing her gently on the cheek and wrapping his wings around her.

She pressed close, nuzzling under his chin.

Welk rolled around on Werr's head for a moment, then sat up and spoke. "Of course I'll still be me," he said firmly. "I can only be me, and I can only keep fighting. That's all I can do. I'm not going to give up and forget who I am. When I'm back in my old body, I'll be able to fight harder. But I'll still be me. We've gone on this long and still kept ourselves, despite all of the hardships we've gone through. And there's bound to be more and more through the years. But we'll do it. We have to." He slid down and nuzzled against Werr's neck, then said "We're all in this together. And by heck, I'm not about to let anything change who I am. Because I'm awesome!"

"Yeah." Werr nodded. "We haven't lost ourselves yet, Nate. Have...have you?"

"Nearly. Very close, so very close." Nate said softly, looking at the two of them with dull eyes. "But I have Tasia. Am okay because of." He slid his arms around her, desperate for her comfort.

At this time, Zephyr made it to them with all the others. Toro was the first to run forward. He sank to his knees beside Galai, his hands clutching the folds of her dress as he sobbed. Now that he knew he was safe, he couldn't hold it back any longer.

She fell to her knees, wrapping her arms around him and pressing his head to her neck. "Toro, oh my little Toro, are you okay?" she said, her voice catching in her throat. She kissed his forehead and hair over and over, tears sliding down her cheeks, then looked up as Zephyr walked over to Nate and Tasia. He gave Nate's arm a soft nudge, then leaned back on his haunches and put his forepaws around them, covering them with his wings. "Come on," he said softly. "Let's go see about getting you fixed up, Nate."

Toro just whimpered, tucking himself into her embrace as much as he possibly could.

"Wait," Nate said, stepping around Zephy'rs paws and slipping under his wing. He walked over to where Diana was; she was holding the unconscious Spy, but she let Nate take him. The mostly skinless Dragonian carried Spy to where Titus was, handing him to the king.

"Don't want him dead." Nate said quietly, returning to the others (and keeping his eyes away from Lexi).

Werr followed him the short distance back, his eyes falling on Obelisk and Lexi. The eternal being had cleaned up most of the blood, but the sight of them, Obelisk holding Lexi close, sent a shiver down his spine. He moved forward, ignoring Obelisk for the moment and looking at Lexi. "Are you okay? What happened?"

She pulled away from Obelisk and looked up at him, then sobbed and jumped up, throwing her arms around him. "Oh Werr, it was horrible! Those…those Th-Things were just…so mean and cruel! They hurt everyone and they t-tried to make Nate kill me and eat me, but he fought so h-hard against them. It was so sad and I was so scared, and…I kept crying out you and Obelisk's names. I wanted you there…to save me a-and comfort me…" She sobbed against his shoulder, feeling sick to her stomach simply by remembering what had happened.

"It's alright..." Werr murmured, holding her tightly. "It's okay. Forget about all that, alright? You're safe now, and I won't let them take you again." He looked up at Obelisk, frowning slightly. "Thank you," He said, kissing Lexi on the forehead.

"Think nothing of it. But while you two get comfortable, it seems you've attracted attention..." Obelisk murmured. Nate was coming their way, his eyes on Lexi as he sauntered over.

Lexi pressed closer to Werr, looking tiny against his side. Welk glided off of Werr's head, giving the boy's arm a small push and basically making him turn Lexi away from Nate, putting Werr between the two. Zephyr was also quick to get in the way, saying calmly, "Nate, aren't we supposed to be heading for the Eternal Garden?" Tasia gave her mate's hand a tug, her eyes pleading as she twinned her tail around his.