The Forgotten Zodiac

L'arc shakily stood up and touched Aries' shoulder, reaffirming that she was real. "You're... oh, thank goodness," he said, sitting down on Sylas' bed. He glanced up as Gabe stepped further into the room. The druid blinked a couple times, then asked, "What happened to him?"

"Magical growth spurt or something. I dunno." Aries shrugged. "I was hoping Rush would be able to tell me more. Rush?" She wandered over, and only recieved a muffled growl. Manny pushed her back.

"No. He's not friendly right now." He shook his head. "Something happened to his mind...we have to take him to be fixed."

"Ah, I see..."

"Israel! Israel, come back, Aries is alive!" Sylas ran to the balcony, calling up at the roof. "Come on, you've gotta see her!"

Israel peeked over the roof, still holding Verdi close. "She's not dead?" the siren asked, hesitantly. "I thought she was dead. You guys made me think she was dead," he said.

"We thought she was dead, Israel, but she's not! The Phantom didn't kill her, he lied to us!" Sylas grinned. "And look, Aries brought this potion that makes injuries go away! I can run around again, it's brilliant!"

"You can?" Israel perked up quite a bit, then jumped down to the balcony. "That's good. It's really good that Aries is alive!" he said, grinning.

"I know it is. How's Verdi doing?" Sylas questioned.

The little moot squirmed out of Israel's grip and ran to Aries' arms.

"Why, Verdi! It's good to see you again, little moot," She smiled happily.

((Dinnertime nao.))

"I think he's a little better," Israel commented, watching the Moot run for a moment before following to give Aries a hug. Gabe smiled happily and joined in, too.

"I'm really happy to see you all again!" the young warlock chirped.

"Gabe, you're okay, too...Eltanin said you were dead!" Sylas exclaimed. "Oh...no, he said you were with Aries...so we thought you were dead. Good grief, what a mess that turned out to be...but you're okay!"

"Of course I'm okay!" Gabe said, going over to Sylas and hugging him as well. "I'm glad you're okay, too!" he said.

Sylas grinned, ruffling Gabe's hair. Manny scooted over, picking Gabe up and hugging him tightly. "I'm glad you're all okay." He put the kid down and hugged Aries, then went back to Eve. "What all happened?"

"It's just as I said. A shark took my ear off, and the Selkies took that to the Phantom, declaring me dead. After he left, they treated my wounds and we lingered there for awhile while we waited to be picked up." Aries shrugged. "What happened to you guys?"

Sylas looked down. "A lot of crap. Rush isn't himself anymore, Byrne isn't waking up, Manny's hand got turned into a bomb and put in my chest..."

"It's not still there, is it?" Aries tensed.

"No, no. We got it out okay, but my heart is definitely weaker now. The Dark Matter literally attacked it. I'm still not sure if it's completely okay. But...Byrne's entire hand is dark matter now. We're not sure if he'll be okay or not...and Rush's problem is another matter entirely. We're a mess...but we have you back, at least." He smiled a bit.

Gabe, after being put down and having heard mention of Byrne's hand, went over to investigate. He slowly reached out and touched the human's hand, watching as it twitched slightly in response. He pushed back Byrne's sleeve, then grimaced. "Check out his arm!"

((http://ugrgaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/elza-1-2.jpg?w=250 this.))

((BEHOLD, THE RIGHT HAND OF DARKNESS

THE ARK OF JUSTICE

THE HARBRINGER OF TRUTH

THE SCALE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

THE CURSED BLESS, THE BLESSED CURSE

THE CURE FOR HUMANITY'S CORRUPTION))

"Holy--" Aries slid over Sylas' bed to investigate. "What the heck happened...?"

Silence.

"Darn it, we need Rush back," Aries snorted. She looked up as the human twitched while she inspected his arm. "Byrne? Are you...awake?"

((What?))

Byrne shifted slightly, his eye opening in mere slits. "I'm... up..." he murmured, trying to pull his arm away from Aries. "Wha...t are you doing? Hu-hurts..." he moaned.

((I dunno. My first thoughts upon glancing at that picture. xD))

Aries immediately set his arm down. "I imagine so. It's definitely changed..."

"His body is adjusting to the Dark Matter," Manny blinked at the black flesh and blue lines. "It could still reverse it and start attacking him, b-but...this is a good sign. Much better than what happened to Sylas."

"What'd it do to me?" Sylas frowned.

"You already know. It didn't see you as fit to mingle with, so it decided to weaken you. It probably would have merged, if it hadn't tried to kill you." Manny shrugged. "Dark Matter is unpredictable like this..."

"But you've got a whole wad of it, Manny, you--"

"I am Dark Matter, silly," Manny smiled a little. "There's not a part of me that isn't. Even my hair and fingernails."

"Huh...I guess that makes sense," Sylas shrugged. "But is Byrne gonna be okay?"

"He better be. Because amputation can't help him now. It's in his bloodstream..."

Byrne shifted slightly to look at his arm. "What's... going on?" he asked quietly.

((Okay sorry essay tiem.))

"Don't talk about him like he's not in the room," Aries chided. "Byrne, how are you feeling? Everything okay?"

"Yeah, what's going on? You don't feel feverish, right?" Sylas questioned.

"No I... I feel okay, I think," he said, trying to sit up and managing to prop himself on his elbows. "What's happened to my arm? I don't... remember anything but... Rush?" Byrne looked around for the chimera, frowning until he found him. "What's going on?"

"Rush's mind was wounded." Aries explained quietly.

"We're going to go fix him soon. We're waiting for Reetah to wake up, first." Verolen sighed. "You were found chained to him. What happened?"

Byrne thought for a long moment, then shook his head slowly. "I don't... remember much," he said. "Just... being strapped to a table, and bright lights, and pain..."

Aries sighed. "It's okay. Don't strain yourself trying to remember. Rush will be able to tell us, when he's better." She smiled a bit.

"Yeah, you just focus on getting yourself better, alright?" Sylas nodded. "Manny, is there anything he can do to help the whole merging thing along? To keep it from backfiring."

Manny thought for a moment, then nodded. "Meditation. A calm heart and soul will bend more freely to the Dark Matter's wishes."

"Wishes?"

"It wants to connect itself with Byrne's soul and nervous system. It wants to learn who Byrne is, from his words, actions, and thoughts. But to do that means pain...do you remember the pain, Sylas?" Manny sighed.

"Yeah. It hurt...a lot." The human rubbed his chest, wincing from the mere thought of it.

"And you recoiled from the pain. You didn't handle it well. The Dark Matter didn't like you, so it tried to destroy you."

"You said that already," Sylas shook his head with a sigh. "Well, you heard him, Byrne. Meditation will help it."