The hideout was small but rather cozy. A wooden table sat nearby, covered with papers and sketches. Several wooden drawers were overflowing with papers and there were papers pinned to a wooden board on the wall. A couch and table sat nearby - both were covered with half-eaten snacks.
"Way too much writing." Leo muttered, sweeping away several papers on the floor to sit down.
"Please, sit down. We owe you an explanation - well, they'll be doing the explaining." Taurus said cheerfully, sweeping the bags and baskets of snacks off the couch.
Virgo dived to catch them. "I'm not cleaning that up!" she snapped, putting them down on top of all the papers. Taurus chuckled and gestured at the couch. "Come on guys, sit down."
Cancer perched herself awkwardly on the edge of the couch. "Um, thanks." she mumbled. Pisces sat down next to her. "Thanks!" she said cheerfully. "I'm Pisces!"
Taurus's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, yeah! Introductions! I'm Taurus, and this is Virgo and Capricorn!"
"Pleasure to meet you." Capricorn said, nodding at the other nine elementals. "Honoured to meet you." Virgo added, picking up several papers from her desk. "Now, explanations, explanations..."
The nine elementals seated themselves on the couch and the floor as the earth elementals quickly swept up their papers.
"Um, how did you -" Gemini began, but she was interrupted by Capricorn. "Questions later." he said, unfolding a large sheet of paper.
"Alright. I assume you all must be extremely confused. Now, yes, we know you're... other elementals. Fire, water, and air... if I'm correct?"
"Yep." Sagittarius said. "How do you know?"
Capricorn turned the sheet around to reveal a large, full map of Zodiax. "We copied down the original map from the king's quarters and we... overheard some conversations."
"Bluntly speaking, I spied on them." Taurus added.
"We've always knew something was up." Virgo said, pacing back and forth. "But we didn't actually... know what it was until we overhea - spied on them."
Pisces opened her mouth to speak, but she was shushed by Taurus. "Let them explain." Taurus lowered his voice and whispered, "They get cranky when they're interrupted, especially with their... research stuff."
Capricorn frowned at Taurus. "We do not."
"You do."
"Hmph." Capricorn turned back to the nine elementals and unfolded another sheet of paper. "Anyways, we heard about the other lands the first time we spied on them and pieced everything together after several... after spying on them some more."
"Turns out Earthia and Airia have been... contacting each other rather frequently. That explains the lack of a magic barrier at the wall." Virgo picked up a sheet of paper. "We scribbled down some of their... conversations. Of course, they could only communicate with letters, so we've never actually seen an actual air elemental until you came." Virgo stopped pacing and sat down on the edge of the desk. "Just today, before you arrived, the ruler of Airia sent an urgent message to King Terrest asking for help. His daughter, apparently, had overexerted her powers and she fell into a coma."
"Oh." Libra said sheepishly. "That... might've been us."
"Hmm. Interesting. You will have to tell me more later." Virgo said, scribbling something on a sheet of paper.
"Anyways, as we were saying... a few minutes after we heard of this message, Virgo immediately sensed your presence. She has an ability that allows her to do so." Capricorn said.
"Speaking of which... your presences were extremely... how do I phrase this? Different... unique? For example, I can tell what elementals you nine are from your... auras."
Taurus nodded. "That's what she told us. Anyways, we immediately went out searching for you, but the guards found you first. Then, well, you know what happens after that."
Virgo sighed. "So we believe that Earthia and Airia may make... bigger moves soon. As well as the other two. You nine really have been causing a lot of chaos... we've heard about it from the letters."
"Death of the ruler of Wateria - that threw the entire kingdom into mayhem, according to the messenger, and you put the princess of Airia into a coma. The royal family of Airia are running around everywhere trying to cure their daughter. And your escape from Firea... they can't do much about it, but they've sent messages out to capture and... kill you. We're not sure why this separation wall thing is so important that it requires the death penalty, but you nine are pretty famous. Only within the royal families and so, though - nobody else knows about you." Capricorn recited.
"Anyways... let's hear from you nine." Taurus announced after a few seconds. "You two are done, right?" he asked Virgo and Capricorn. The two earth elementals glanced at each other. "Well... we haven't explained -" Virgo began, but she was interrupted by Leo.
"Alright! So, let me tell you, we've had a lot going on..."
---
"A prophecy." Virgo repeated incredulously. "You could've been... hallucinating but you decided to go anyways? What kind of logic is that?!"
"Prophecy or not, at least we met each other!" Gemini pointed out.
"But you decided to break the law and earn a death penalty in the process." Virgo countered. "If they find you, you're done for. Do you plan on being escapees for the rest of your life?"
Aquarius frowned at her. "Well, you took us in, so you broke the law too?"
"But I didn't cross the wall and -"
Taurus decided to step up. "Now, girls, guys... let's just... try to solve this without yelling!" he said, raising his arms in the air.
Virgo was about to speak, then she saw Taurus's expression and crossed her arms. "Well... Alright, then. I won't say anything about your... prophecy. You can believe what you want, but first, we need to figure out what to do with you."
"Look, Virgo. I told you - I had a vision! Or something, anyways. They gave me a prophecy. It wasn't coincidence that brought us together." Leo stood up on the couch and dramatically gestured with his hands.
"Well, even if we hadn't left Wateria, we still would've been executed." Scorpio snapped. "We only happened to look outside for a brief moment, then they tried to kill us! They must be hiding something."
The room burst into chaos. Everyone started talking at once.
"Who knew she would try to kill us for it! She even tried to play with our fears!"
"I wonder if they're searching for us now."
"Wait a second -"
"GUYS!" Capricorn yelled. "Quieten down!" He attempted to get the attention of the eleven other elementals by waving his arms in the air.
Leo jumped on the couch and announced, "Guys, guys! I know what we need to do. The prophecy... it told us to find three of each element. Then, it told us to 'pierce the wall'. We need to shatter the wall with all our powers combined!"
The room fell into silence.
"Leo... you know what happened when the two of us combined powers. We could've lost control." Aries ground out.
"But we need to give it a shot! They can't hide it anymore." Leo insisted. "It's the prophecy. It must come true!"
"The prophecy doesn't exist!" Virgo insisted. "Besides, you expect twelve teenagers to shatter the magic barrier and the wall?!"
"With our elemental powers combined, it's possible!" Leo replied. "You saw - well, most of us - saw how powerful we were when two or three of us combined our powers. We can do it, guys!"
Everyone was silent as they comprehended what Leo had just said.
"I think we can do it." Pisces announced. "If Leo says the prophecy's true, it must be true! And everyone deserves to know the truth."
"Too late to back out now." Sagittarius added. "We came so far... what's stopping us now?"
One by one, the other elementals murmured their agreements. The earth elementals looked at each other, as if waiting for one of them to give a reply.
"Come on!" Leo pleaded. "We need you to fulfil the prophecy."
"We hardly know you." Capricorn muttered.
"Is the prophecy even true?" Taurus added. Virgo stood nearby, deep in thought.
Leo closed his eyes. If... the prophecy is true, can you give me a sign? Whoever you are... please.
"What are you doing?" Virgo asked him.
Please... if you want Zodiax to be saved... show us all that the prophecy is true.
Leo felt a chill run through his body and he opened his eyes with a shudder. His eyes widened as he saw a glowing figure behind the earth elementals.
"It's you again..." he whispered, lifting a shaky finger to point at it. "What's your name...?"
The earth elementals turned around. "Who are you pointing at?" Taurus asked. "Are you okay, Leo?"
Leo felt words tumbling out of his mouth that weren't his own.
"Fulfil the prophecy... Shatter the wall... you must -"
Leo gasped sharply. "Now... now you believe me?"
The earth elementals looked at each other hesitantly, until Virgo finally replied. "I suppose... we -"
She was interrupted by a quiet whistling noise and a thud. Virgo's eyes widened and became glassy, then she toppled forwards.
"Sleeping darts! One of the Royal Guard's tactics -" Capricorn slumped to the floor too.
"Run!" Taurus yelled, hurling up a rock wall at the entrance. The rock wall crumbled almost immediately as Taurus lost consciousness.
Before the other elementals could react, several sleeping darts seemingly appeared from nowhere and knocked them all out cold.