The Forgotten Zodiac

"Yes...Luen, Diana will understand why I don't look for her. Would you please go in my stead?" He asked quietly, not seeming happy about it. I...trust you. Maybe a little too trusting, other Guardians would say...but I need you to do this." Forin leaned against his friend, smiling a bit. "You...you need a haircut, my friend. Why? Your fur has never grown like this, not in the summer..."

Luen frowned, then reached up and brushed his hair aside, saying "I know. I don't know what's been going on with me lately, and it seems nobody around here will look me in the eye. And they give me pitying looks..." He shrugged it off, saying "Of course I'll go. I don't know why I didn't before. I guess...I just hoped she was with you. But now that I know you're here and can watch the others and Luna, I can go look for Diana myself. I promise I'll bring her back to you. To us." He pressed his forehead to Forin's, sighing, then winced and rubbed the bite wound on his arm, running his metal limb delicately over the sore spot. "I don't get why Seria can't heal this..." he muttered. "Oh well. It just seems to be getting more and more painful..."

Forin immediately looked disgusted. "They...didn't tell you? Why would they do such a thing? That's horrible..." He examined the bite, frowning.

"Knowing only makes it go faster," Ophile said quietly. "Fear speeds up the heartbeat, allowing it to spread further much quicker..."

"He's already been bitten. He deserves to know." Forin glared at the wolf. "You may be intelligent, Ophile, but sometimes I question whether you have real friends in this group. Close friends. You'd tell a close friend, no matter what."

Ophile's ears drooped, at that, but he said nothing and turned away. Forin hugged Luen again, then spit it out rather blatantly.

"Luen...you were bitten by a Werewolf. You...are a werewolf. Turning into one, at least..."

The kirin froze, blinking his eyes a few times in shock. "What?" he said, giving a light chuckle. "...No. N-no. You must be joking!" He shook his head, causing his hair to fall in front of his eyes again. He froze again at that, slowly pushing his hair out of the way. When again he turned his eyes to Forin, there was only fear. "No," he said quickly, as if trying to convince himself that it wasn't true. "No! I-I...werewolves kill people! Werewolves...go through horrible urges, wh-where they...where they...lust for blood! I-I can't...I won't..." He broke off, shaking badly and clutching the bite wound close to his chest.

Forin sighed heavily, nodding quietly. "I know, Luen. I know. We'll...fix it. Somehow." He paused for a moment, thinking. "Did you ever read much about Herrace? I know more about the enemy than I do our...'allies'. Apparently there's a woman there. A healer, who can heal any sickness. She's cured Vampirism before...maybe she can fix you."

"So that's why you're not freaking out? You remembered that you read in a book that it might be fixed?" Ophile snorted.

"We've gone on 'might' before. Luen will be fine. What...what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. Right?" Forin nodded, mostly to reassure himself. "It'll be okay. Just...find Diana. It'll be even better once you do that."

((If we get to that woman (before you initiate your fix for all this), we'll find that she does indeed cure sickness; but she hires people to kill vampires, and hires actors to dress like the person before, then rejoice in the streets and leave a few days later.))

((A'right.))

Luen held Forin's hand tightly with his metal hand, seemingly on the verge of freaking out. Forin could tell; the kirin was starting to squeeze the Tartaran's hand tightly. Too tight, in fact. Because that hand was metal, Luen couldn't feel pain in it; therefore, he had no idea that he was practically crushing Forin's hand. But he noticed quickly and let go, backing away. "I..." he started, looking so very afraid. "Forin..." The way he said his friend's name, so timidly and full of fear, was nearly as crushing as his metal hand was. He shook his head, then shifted to deer form and pressed close, exhaling quietly against the Tartaran's neck.

Then he turned and ran off, following some unknown instinct, one that he prayed would lead him to Diana.

"You shouldn't have told him," Ophile said quietly.

"I make my own decisions." Forin snorted. "Didn't you say a month ago that you were thinking about going back to Tartarus? Now you want to be the big boss who tells people what to do and say? Make up your mind."

"That's not--" Ophile started, looking offended.

"Go sit with the other dogs or something. My girlfriend needs me." Forin turned away, heading back to the carriage.

Ophile whimpered. He hadn't meant anything like that. He had just been trying to warn Forin...Werewolves were strong, when they could control themselves. And when they were afraid of themselves...it became impossible to even think of such a thing. "It's okay, doggy," Cyprus sat down next to Ophile, his words lost over the humming of his magic. He pet the wolf, smiling. "I still like you." Ophile recieved no memories; the Demigod was just that, after all. Part god. Just as Ophile couldn't take memories from the Divine, or even Titus and Galai, Cyprus' were locked far beyond his magic's reach. So he sat still and let Cyprus pet him, grateful for the comfort.

Seria followed Cyprus over, sitting down on Ophile's other side and stroking his fur. "Ophile," she said softly. "No matter what, I want you to know that you are loved and accepted in this group. If not to everyone, then just me and Cyprus. But Luna likes you too, and Diana and Lexi." She looked down, then said "You were a huge comfort to me when I lost my baby... If you went back to Tartarus, I would respect your choice, but...I would really miss having you around." She kissed his furry forehead, scratching gently behind his ears.

Ophile snorted a bit out of his nose. "I only suggested it because...well, it's no secret that I'm getting along in years. Forin is much older than me, sure, but...we weren't built the same way. Forin will last as long as he's determined to live on. As long as he's willing to fight Death, he can't die naturally. He gets deathly sick when he's depressed though, I've seen it. Me...Titus said I'd have to come back eventually. Maybe he can...recharge me, or something. I'm just...tired. I shouldn't really say old...but it certainly feels that way." He pushed up against Seria, sighing heavily. "I came with you all because I didn't think it would be like this. I knew Werr was going to evacuate people. That was all...if I had known this would have happened, I wouldn't have come along. I'm scared, Seria...I'm scared of being knocked down in battle, and...what if this body, strong as it is, just...gives up?"

((It took all of my willpower not to type, "What if I fall, and cannot get up?" xDDD))

((Aw. xD))

Seria frowned, but hugged him nonetheless, saying "If you need to return to Tartarus, then we won't stop you. I just...wish you didn't have to go." She said it simply, with quiet, heartfelt emotion. She stroked between his ears, saying "I'll miss having you around, Ophile." She kissed his cheek, then right between his eyes, sighing softly.

Then she realized that there was silence from the carriage. None of Luna's crying and wailing that had been there all day. Nothing. The reason why was simple; Luen wasn't around. For some reason, the combination of his werewolf-infected blood mixed with the bite from Nate had created a strange dual-reaction in Luna; she couldn't be near Luen now, or any werewolf, lest she risked going completely insane.

Ophile nodded, flicking his ears as Cyprus got back in on the petting. He liked soft, fluffy things, and Ophile had a lot of fur. "Smart wolfie," The Demigod chirped happily. "Ophile is a good name for him. It means 'wisdom' in the first language. That fits rather--"

"No, Nate! Go away!" Forin was yelling.

"I'm just trying to--"

"NO!" There was a slam as the carriage door was forcefully closed. Nate backed away, wondering what on earth had gotten into Forin lately. He seemed angrier than normal. By a lot.

"First Ophile, now Nate..." Werr was the first to realize this, as he had been watching, naturally. "Something's up with Forin." There wasn't much they could do, though. Werr just knew that they were going to wait one more night. One more. Dawn tomorrow, they were heading out. Naybrin hadn't returned yet. That was Werr's main concern...

Welk tilted his head up at Werr, then pushed close, wiggling onto his friend's lap. He rested only his front half on the boy's lap, knowing he was quite heavy in lion form, and gently nuzzled under the boy's chin. "It's okay, Werr," he said. "Everything will be fine. I'm sure Naybrin will come back soon." He shrugged, then found his gaze looking over to Isslia. He sighed, tilting his head slightly to the side, then looked to Werr and said "Werr...I...I think...I think I love her. But I don't really know what to do...she's scared of me."

Werr sighed. Girls were complicated, and...well, Isslia hadn't had the greatest of times around boys. "Well, you could try and get her to make friends with others in the group," Werr suggested. "Girls, mostly. She should warm up to them quickly. Surely Lexi can help her be less afraid of you." He murmured thoughtfully, scratching his friend behind the ears. "Or maybe she just needs time. I don't think she told us everything...I checked the records before we were nabbed. The school put her through a one-year course. Informants normally learn that kind of stuff for years and years, up to twenty. And she's about your age...reel back one year, before the school, where was she? She said she had been taken when she was younger...that's a lot of time she hasn't told us about. I...hope she just forgot. Because the other options aren't that great."

Welk winced, then growled "I'll kill anyone that ever hurt her." He snarled quietly, lips curling back to reveal his sharp white teeth. He sighed and relaxed, then watched Isslia closely again before suddenly standing up. "I'll be right back," he said, then ran out of the cave and disappeared for a while. When he returned, he was panting heavily and sweat made his fur clump together in places, but he seemed happy. Especially at the pretty pink flowers he was holding in his mouth. He walked over to Isslia and bent his head, getting her attention. "Um...hi," he said, still panting. "I, um...I got these for you. Um...flowers."

Isslia, who was in human form right now, carefully took the flowers. "How did these...survive the fire?" She blinked, then peered at the bottom of the flowers, which were...well, roots. And dirt, if one wanted to be technical. She took the flowers anyways, smelling them before looking back up at Welk. "Um...thanks, I guess," She said, obviously wary. Her tail flicked once or twice, but she was quick to make it hold still.

He panted for a moment longer, then said "I flew...reeeeeaaaaaally far out...where the fire hadn't touched. I found them for you." He smiled, then noticed the root-clump ends of the flowers and his mouth dropped open in horror. "Th-that...I didn't mean to leave those there!" he said, then took human form and delicately broke the ends off, leaving a nice little bouque behind. "There," he said, sighing. "Much better." He stared at her for a moment, then plucked one of the smallest flowers from the bunch and tucked it behind her ear. "Where it belongs," he said softly.

Isslia held the flowers carefully, afraid to smother them. She left the flower in her hair, and looked up at Welk with a strange look in her eyes. She shook it off and awkwardly reached out and patted Welk on the arm. "Um...thanks." She looked away, turning a bit pink.

He smiled his unique, handsome smile and said "You're welcome! I...liked giving them to you." He hesitated, clearly wanting to say more, then shook his head and stood, running back to Werr and burrowing under the boy, which resulted in Werr leaning against the cave wall and having his legs draped gently over Welk's back. The lion stretched out under his friend, sighing with a soft purr.

Welk flicked his stumped tail and smiled at Nate, then said "Kind of like me. I need my people around before I can be happy. Especially those closest to me." He tilted his head back and rubbed his mane all over Werr's side, purring loudly. "I'm still upset over Cynyr, though," he said quietly, his smile fading. "He hasn't found us yet..."

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Seria said from where she was sitting. "He's tough. We all know that."

Welk chuckled and said "Some more than others." He moved a paw out and put it on Nate's knee, saying "You and Forin will both feel better faster than you know it, Froggy."