The Forgotten Zodiac

"Wasn't Isslia up there, too?" Diana peered up the chimney, frowning slightly.

"Y-yes, I'm here. Sorry about Welk," Her voice echoed down the brick shaft. "I tried to stop him, but he jumped before I could..." Diana pulled her head back, not really caring. She looked at the mess on the floor, deciding that the soot on the floor had to be taken care of right way. She grabbed the dustpan and started sweeping up the mess.

"Just come back down, sweetheart," Galai called. "I'm sure Welk would've come up for you if he hadn't been-"

But she was wrong.

They suddenly heard Isslia squeal, then there was a thud from outside as Welk landed lightly, still covered in soot and grinning. He had thrown a long towel about her shoulders and grabbed her up like that, so he didn't get her dirty. He headed into the house and set her down, throwing the towel over one shoulder. "My business is done," he chimed, bowing deeply to his girlfriend before heading to the bathroom.

Isslia giggled a bit, shedding the towel. She folded it up so as not to get too much soot on anything else, putting it in the dirty laundry basket.

"Will we have to clean the roof, too?" Diana looked up the chimney again, tilting her head to the side. "He must have made a mess up there..."

"Yeah, a little. I was going to clean it up, but he tackled me." Isslia said, still a little giggly and winded. "I can go back up, if you want..."

"I wouldn't suggest that," Galai chuckled. "He might come out of the shower just to get you down, and I don't think we should allow that." She turned to sweep up the soot leftover from the rambunctious half-cat, still humming happily.

Not too long later, Welk emerged again, wearing just his pants for now, with his shirt slung over one tawny shoulder. "That was refreshing," he said, shaking his wet blond hair. "I had the water turned up at full-blast, the hottest it could get! It felt great!" He ran his fingers lightly over the sinister, X-shaped scar over his chest, then suddenly darted into Werr and Lexi's room, returning shortly.

"And what was that?" Galai asked quizically.

"Said hi to Werr and then hugged him," Welk said with a grin. "Haven't done it in a while and I felt the need."

Galai smiled at once and turned back to cleaning.

Diana blinked at Welk with her dull eyes, then went back to sweeping up the soot Welk had trailed around the house.

"Well...good to see she's doing better," Ophile sighed a bit. "She was screaming her head of earlier...I was really afraid she would start hurting herself..." Diana paused for a long moment at that, as though she wanted to say something, but then went right back to sweeping up the mess.

Welk tilted his head at Diana, then moved to put his shirt on and was distracted by the plate of cookies on the table. "Hey, alright!" he said, the small blue gemstone necklace around his neck bouncing. Werr had the matching one; so long as each wore it, if the charms were taken too far apart, they would start feeding energy into whatever was in contact with them at the time. Namely, Werr and Welk. It was a harmless, handy little thing, and as time has passed, they had discovered something else about them.

If one of them tapped the center of the stone twice, it would make the twin stone start flashing erratically. A sign that the other was needed.

Carlyle, who was muching on a bit of sausage he had found, was sitting at the table as well. He blinked curiously at Welk, watching him chow down on the cookies. "You shouldn't eat so much." He said dully. "You'll give yourself a stomachache. Slow down a bit, and here," He pushed his glass of untouched milk towards the half-cat. "Wash 'em down with that. I'm not thirsty." He stood again, plopping down on a couch instead, knowing that he should probably not move around quite so much; his foot was healing still. Lexi had been able to fix his toes back into place, but the bones and muscle were still shredded. He just needed rest, really...

"Mmf," was Welk's only reply, which Carlyle took for 'thanks'.

Galai watched the young man walk past and sit down, then turned back to Diana and said "I think that's enough. Why don't you go get a cookie before Welk eats them all? No, in fact, I'll get it for you." She put her broom away and retreived a cookie for the little girl, handing it to her and saying "Now, what's something you think you would like to do? Oh, I know! I remember doing this with several of my daughters when they were younger. I'll teach you some very neat braids, alright? I'll even let you work with my hair." Her long, beautiful, shinning golden hair. She then began to braid Diana's hair, just talking on and on to her, asking how she felt and what she wanted to do next, what her favorite book was and if they could find a copy of it to read, or if there was anything else she might want to make for dinner.

Diana was remarkably unresponsive, replying with just 'yes' or 'no' whenever she could. When Galai was done with her hair, she did indeed start trying to braid Galai's long golden locks. Even so, it seemed as though she were entertaining Galai's whims rather than the other way around.

Cern finally emerged, looking well patched up. His spine had been replaced, and he was moving again. He froze at the sight of Galai, though, just standing stock-still and staring.

Galai blinked at him, but merely smiled. "Good day," she said, nodding lightly at him, then she turned and lifted Diana into her lap. "Now," she said. "None of my advances are making you happy, dear miss Diana. What can I give you now to make you happy? You can't say Luen or Forin, as, though I wish it was so, I cannot snap my fingers and make them appear. But I want you to be happy? What can I do?" She pulled Diana close and hugged her so tenderly, running a calming hand over her hair and back.

"A naoidhean bhig, cluinn mo ghuth, mise ri d' thaobh, O mhaighdean bhan, ar righinn oig, fas as faic, do thir, dileas Fein, a ghrian a's a ghealaich, stuir sinn, gu uair ar cliu 's ar gloire, naoidhean bhig, ar righinn go, mhaighdean uashaill bhan."

Her voice, when raised to song, was one of the most stunning things anyone would probably ever hear.

((I'm surprised, I thought she would baby him and be all like, "Aww, Cern, what happened to you...?". xDD))

Cern eventually moved, sitting down in the corner. Diana listened quietly as Galai sang, not reacting much still. The door opened a moment later, and Sylas staggered in, leaning heavily against Leo. They both reeked of alcohol. "Hey," Sylas greeted dully, then set eyes on Galai. "Oh, oh crap," He straightened up and brushed himself off, coughing a bit and immediately taking a drink of the nearest liquid. "U-uh, hi, Galai," He sat down next to her, smiling a bit. "What're you doing here?"

((She'll get him later. xD She didn't want to embarrass him in front of the others.

AlsoDianaisannoyingmebecauseIdon'tknowwhatelsetodo.Galaiistryingherbest.))

"Sylas!" she exclaimed, lifting Diana from her lap and setting her down in a nearby chair, darting over to him. "What happened to you both? You...you're drunk!"

Leo let out a horrible, choked laugh and said "Ya gotat righ'. Hic."

Galai whirled on him, glaring. "How dare you?" she raged. "I know Sylas better than this. I would garuntee that you halfway goaded him into it."

"Hey, I git'im the firs' drink, he took all dem rest," he slurred, clearly much worse off than Sylas.

Galai rounded on Sylas again. "I am dissappointed in you, Sylas Krow," she hissed. "You know how old Leo is getting. Strong drinks like that could stop his heart!"

"I gots ears, ya knoooow. Hic."

Sylas winced a bit, nodding slowly. "He...more or less forced me to drink one...I...I'm not someone who can hold their alcohol very well, Galai," He said, making a small gurgly sound in the back of his throat, apparently trying to clear it. "I kinda...didn't think about that...L-Leo, maybe you should lay down..." He stood, then promptly fell over. "Or me. I'll lay down. That works too."

"Well." Obelisk snorted a bit. "Should I purge their systems of alcohol? It might hurt..."

"Nope! Noooope, I'm okay mentally, just...physically, I can't quite..." Sylas blubbered on the floor.

"Alcohol doesn't affect your mind?"

"Nah, I've got a protective curse...thing." Sylas shrugged.

Galai fumed for a moment longer, then grabbed Leo by the scruff of his neck and said "You need to go lay down, do you hear me? Your heart is already working way overtime!"

"Gerroff me!" Leo protested, wiggling from her hands. He got up and staggered to Sylas, flopping down and curling up around him right there. "I'ma sleep here." He tucked his head under Sylas' arm and was out cold.

Sylas laid there with his dear friend, closing his eyes. "I shouldn't have gone anywhere near that place..." He sighed heavily. "Why did I let you, my friend...?"

"He asked you. If I'm anything like you, you'd do anything for your friends...you didn't think about how it would hurt him, so..." Werr sighed. "Is that where you were last night?"

"No, actually, we were...doing something. Until early in the morning."

"Something? Like what?"

"Like...something. I'll tell you later." Sylas huffed.

"Galai..." Obelisk started to say, but Werr cut him off.

"Dad, what on earth were you doing? Why won't you just tell me?" He demanded.

"Be quiet, Werr, Leo is sleeping." Sylas replied smoothly, not wiling to say a word.

Galai frowned down at them, but finally sighed and just bent, running a hand so softly through Sylas' hair. "How is it that you can be so pig-headed and yet so brilliant the other 50%?" She turned back to Diana, shaking her head.

Welk jumped Werr from behind, grabbing him tightly into a hug. "We'll get 'em later," he said, purring and rubbing his face all over his friend's shoulder. "They'll have to spill their secrets sooner or later. C'mon, let's sit."

Diana, however...was no longer there. Werr stood and followed Welk, not really noticing the missing girl. Sylas started to doze off himself, his body needing the rest. Obelisk spoke up, now that he deemed it possible.

"Galai, Diana fetched a knife and a number of candles from the kitchen, then locked herself in her room." He explained quietly, frowning deeply. "The candles have been used to block my vision in her room, I have absolutely no idea what the ridiculous girl is doing."

Galai's eyes widened, then she turned to Diana's room and knocked on the door. "Young lady, you come out of this room this instant," she said. Upon hearing no answer, the queen bit her lip and called "I'm coming in, Diana. Do you hear me?" She grabbed the door handle and closed her eyes, watching as it promptly unclicked. Forcing her light powers in had been no trouble. She then threw the door open.

Diana was sitting in the middle of the room, blood flowing from a stab wound on her arm. Several. She was crying silently, not wanting to alert anyone of what she was doing. The mark of Tartarus had been painted on the floor with her own blood, but it was spilling everywhere and starting to deform. Which only made Diana miserable. "It's not working..." She murmured as Galai walked in. She didn't seem to notice the queen. "H-he's in Kaislun, I j-just have to summon him again...why don't you work...?" She stabbed her arm again, tears mingling with the blood pooling around her legs and knees as she sat on her legs, crying quietly.

"Diana!" Galai shouted, rushing forward and jerking the knife from her hands. She gave her a swift shake, saying "Young lady, we are going to have a serious talk about this foolhardy behavior, do you understand me? The time for such moping has long passed!" She scooped her up and rushed her out, calling for Seria, who darted forward at once and began healing the wounds.