The Zodiacs: Blood Of Angels

Chapter 52: Gemini

Gemini woke up, ears ringing. He spat out some dirt, then rolled over and rested his forehead on the cold, damp ground. There was a burning pain all of his right arm and he didn’t have the heart to even look at it. What he was more concerned with was his vision seemingly blacking out and returning every few seconds.

He pushed himself onto his knees, and wiped blood of his brow, trying to make out someone – anyone. His vision was blurred and he wasn’t able to concentrate on any one thing; it was still daylight but the grassy field they were on was now a humongous crater with the surrounding trees blown apart.

“Gem ... Gem,” he heard a weak Aries mumble. The ringing still prevalent, he turned his head to where he thought his friend was.

Gemini was surrounded by half-destroyed trees he had been thrown that far away and even with the daylight; he didn’t think he’d find Aries any time soon. His sight was still too weak and there was pile of debris everywhere.

“Down ... look ... down,” the barely audible voice of Aries tried to guide. Gemini looked at the ground and noticed a small ledge overlooking lower ground. Gemini carefully crawled over to in and peered over the edge, seeing Aries laying against a rock.  From what he could tell, Aries was barely conscious and his arm a twisted up horribly with what looked like Pisces and Cap unconscious in a heap next to him.

“Aries ... your arm,” Gemini slowly pointed.

Aries slowly looked up; his eyes as clear as ever to Gemini. “Don’t... worry. Check on... them... two. Tried... shielding them from the blast.” He staggered his words and grimaced his pain as he finished his sentence.

It was only a five-foot drop, but Gemini's entire body was still racked with pain. He didn’t want to risk anything at all. Still, he carefully climbed over the edge and allowed himself to drop on to the ground below. The ground wasn’t as hard as he’d imagined and luckily, he hadn’t fallen on any invisible stones. Within a few seconds, he’d be able to approach the two unconscious Zodiacs.

Before he did, he tried taking a good look at Aries and saw he was right – his left arm was all twisted up horribly and the skin was burned to a deep pink. Aries mouth was swollen and bleeding, with blood dripping down his forehead from a nasty gash.

Gemini began crawling over to Pisces and Cap, the wet ground actually rejuvenating him a little bit. His vision was getting better and there weren’t any black spots obscuring him any more, though everything was still a little blurry. He approached Cap, her head and body resting on Pisces chest. They didn’t look as bad as Aries but both still were bruised and battered.

Gemini checked both their pulses and was relieved to feel them. He nodded back to Aries cried a tear.

“What about you?” Gemini asked.

“I'll be fine,” Aries eyes flickered shut as he shrugged with one shoulder. “Check... for... others.”

“In a couple of minutes,” Gemini replied. He let himself fall backwards on the ground and took a couple of deep breaths. Aries and he had been closer to the explosion than most so with any luck, the others would all be better off...

With a sickening feeling, he remembered what he last saw before the fiery red flash. Libra had been on the chest and Virgo had thrown himself at her. If Aries and he were barely able to move, what had become of them? Gemini erased all thoughts from his mind. It was no good thinking about them, they would just worry him more. Still, he couldn’t shake that feeling that maybe something had gone horribly wrong.

He sat up, one of his legs stretched out, the other with the knee up. If anyone walked past and didn’t take notice of him, they might have assumed he was trying to relax! He saw a lot of his shirt had been burned away, the skin on his arm the same colour as Aries’s. He could feel sweat, grime, blood (not just own) all over his body and was comforted that there was a slight breeze that kissed his forehead as it was a warm summers day. Aqua told him numerous times that was her favourite weather and he felt a pang of pain in his heart.