Note: In this chapter, Scorpio becomes a certified bad*ss. Not joking! Why? Well, you'll see...
It had been several days since all the Zodiacs (they decided to call themselves that) had met up in the Emeren's house and gotten their stones. Today was Saturday, and Scorpio hadn't gotten any notifs from said Emerens since the day before. Usually, at least Taurus texted or called him, but no one.
That was until he was called unceremoniously by Virgo when he was trying to read.
Scorpio answered the call, "Uhh... Hello?"
There was an unmistakable note of desperation in Virgo's voice, giving Scorpio the impression something was wrong.
And he was right. Very right, unfortunately.
"Scorpio, thank god! I have little time, but you need to get here, now! There's a guy and he has Taurus and I can't do anything! I've never been so terrified in my life!" The call abruptly cut out. Pisces, who'd been listening to their conversation, stiffened.
"Why... It can't be!" Scorpio looked at Pisces in confusion.
"Can't be what?" He asked. Pisces shook his head and whimpered. Something is wrong, very wrong! Scorpio ran to Cancer's room, where she was drawing... Something, on her notepad. She looked up at him in mild surprise.
"What is it?" Scorpio grabbed Cancer's arm, speaking quickly as he dragged her out of the room.
"Taurus, Virgo, and probably Cap are in trouble! We need to get there, quick!" Cancer, realizing the gravity of the situation, nodded.
Thankfully, Pisces knew how to drive and got them all to the Emeren's house in no time flat. The front door was wide open, and they could hear screaming from inside.
Without thinking, Scorpio burst into the hallway and screamed at his partner's attacker.
"LET GO OF HER!" Taurus was shaking against the wall, an expression of pure terror across her face. Capricorn had collapsed on the floor, Virgo trying to rouse him.
The man grinned maliciously, raising his hand in a gesture of annoyance. Except it stopped right in front of Scorpio, and dark mist began to curl around its fingertips. Taurus wrestled against her attacker's grip, shrieking at Scorpio.
"MOVE!" To everyone's surprise (including his own) Scorpio lunged at the man instead of dodging his attack. He yanked the attacker off Taurus and threw him forcefully to the floor. Of course, the weasel had a plan for this, grabbing Scorpio's arm, which caused him to freeze.
Capricorn was standing now, roused by the crashing of thoughts into his head. He growled at the man- Serpens- taking threatening steps towards him.
"Release him, Serpens, or you're going to regret it!" Serpents laughed coldly.
"And what can you do? You can barely stand!" That was true, it took Capricorn a tremendous effort to walk towards Serpens, stumbling as he did. Thankfully, Cancer caught him, supporting him with her shoulder.
"PATHETIC! Needing your peers to keep you simply alive!" Serpens laughed again, "I have no use for you!"
A wave of rage crashed into Capricorn's thoughts. It was from Scorpio, who's finger was twitching under Serpens' spell. When Capricorn looked at his friend's eyes closely, he realized so etching was different about them.
They were glowing, and their pupils had become sharp slits. Capricorn could tell his friend was fighting hard to break the enchantment and move again. He looked straight at Capricorn and sent out one clear thought.
I... Will... Kill... Him!
Anger burned bright and cold in Scorpio's mind. It seeped into his thoughts and further fueled his effort to fight. Then, a familiar voice came to him.
Your stone! Use your stone!
Cap?
Listen to me! Just use it!
How?
Will it to you! That's what I did!
Scorpio focused on the image of his stone, sea blue with a silver symbol. He centered his thoughts around that one image until a single thought echoed in his head. Come to me.
As if by magic (which it actually was) Scorpio felt the weight if the stone in his hand. It tingled with what he could only describe as power, rushing through him in an instant. Serpens must have noticed this, as he turned back to Scorpio, his eyes locking on the glowing object.
"What is that?" Scorpio grinned at him, able to move now.
"I guess we're both going to find out." He threw it on the ground, shattering it into sparking dust. Then, he shouted a name no one could understand. Well- almost no one. Cap did, of course, he knew Latin.
"Ostium!" As soon as Scorpio spoke, a crack erupted from the ground, and a scorpion the color of midnight emerged from it's depths. Scorpio lowered him hand and it willingly crawled onto his shoulder.
Taurus could see a sea blue aura flickering around Scorpio, the scorpion on his shoulder flicking its tail menacingly. Serpens scowled, grinning once more as he raised his fingers to snap them.
"Not now. Not here." He clicked them together, and all of them were transported to a dip in a meadow, grassy cliffs surrounding them in a circle of stone and moss. Serpens leaped past Scorpio faster than he could react, grabbing Taurus by the throat and slowly squeezing it shut. Taurus wheezed and gasped for breath, spots swimming in her vision as she slowly ran out of air.
Scorpio was a flurry of rage and screams, tackling Serpens again and wrestling him to the ground. When the older man gripped Scorpio's shoulders in an attempt to subdue him, instinct took over and he bit the man's forearm. Hard.
Serpens screamed in pain, violently shaking Scorpio to fling him off, but Scorpio held firm. Fury and newfound power fuel his resistance, and the aura around him began to flare brighter than before. Scorpio could feel himself shifting in and out of reality, the realization of what was occurring hitting him moments before it happened. So this is my power!
After the light faded, Serpens found a long, glossy, murky sea blue snake writhing on his arm. The bite it was causing burned and he tried to snatch it off, only to find the snake staring back at him, familiar eyes flashing with unmistakable rage.
"What!" He screamed, realizing the boy he'd been tackled by was now the snake thrashing from his arm. He could hear the other brats behind him cheering and shouting, though one of them caught his attention.
It was the girl he'd pinned earlier. She was staring at him intensely with a glittering green gem in her hand, not unlike the one the boy had thrown on the ground. Not another one! Great! She tossed at the cliff, it's form breaking and the magic within flowing around her. Serpens felt the earth around him rumble, and slowly turn to a veritable pit trap. Wonderful, now I'm fighting a mind reader, a shapeshifter, an earth bender, and who knows what else! Sh*t!
Scorpio, sensing his form wasn't doing much other than distract Serpens, willed himself to change again. This time, when he could be seen, a large serpent of the same color, though a touch iridescent, was poised to strike. He saw Taurus, her hands waving in the air, mouth muttering words and a small bull standing beside her. Ostium spoke to him.
The female bull's name is Cessabit. It means calm in Latin.
Ah, I see. Like yours means venom.
Exactly, now, focus!
Scorpio coiled his body to strike, wavering to find the best vantage point. As Serpens attempted to free himself from the growing pit of quicksand he was in, the opportunity opened itself. Scorpio shot towards Serpens, fangs outstretched, and hooked Serpens up into the air. The man, now tiny in comparison to Scorpio's size, dangled in the air, screaming pitifully. Taurus shouted loudly at Scorpio, and he barely heard her words.
"Put him down! And become something a bit smaller, okay?" Scorpio nodded his massive head, flicking it to shake the man off his fang and onto the ground with a hard thud. Serpens scrambled to his feet, but before he could even take a step, Scorpio, now as a smaller feathery winged dragon, pinned him to the earth again. Vines further bound him, sprouted by Virgo. Of course, as overkill, Taurus had turned the ground beneath him into quick hardening mud, sealing his body in place. Serpens hissed at the teens, dark mist enveloping his body as he left them with one last message.
"I will return, and I will get you no matter how hard you resist me!" With that, Serpens was completely obscured by the mist and vanished from the canyon.
Scorpio had turned human again and wiped his brow in relief.
"Phew! Glad that's over! Now, how do we get home?" Cessabit and Ostium stepped in front of them. To the humans' surprise, Cessabit spoke so they could all hear.
"We'll take care of that." She turned to Taurus, "be safe, my dear."
Taurus smiled at Cessabit. "I will! Promise!" She hugged the female bull's neck and drew back. Both Guardians began to circle around the teens, a line of light appearing where they tread. The ring glowed brightly, and they all vanished from the canyon.
Back in the Emeren's hallway, each of the teenagers found themselves sitting on the floor. Breaking the silence, Taurus flung herself at Scorpio and hugged his neck tightly.
"I was so worried! He had you and I though you could die! I-mph!" Taurus' worried outburst was cut off by Scorpio kissing her firmly. She signed and relaxed into his arms.
Pulling back, Scorpio huffed and looked at Taurus, slightly amused, "Don't be so worried! I was protecting you, and nothing will stop me from that." He hugged Taurus reassuringly, smiling all the while.
"You okay?" Cancer had turned to Capricorn, her face creased into an expression of worry. He smiled and nodded, letting her lean her head on his shoulder.
"Yeah Cancer, I'm fine."
At this point in time, Pisces and Virgo were also concerning each other.
"Did he hurt you?"
"No, you?"
"No, thankfully!" Virgo laughed. She hugged Pieces, making the gesture longer than needed so she could just hold him. Virgo knew that he was precious to her, and him vice versa.
It was a good feeling, they all knew, to have someone to love you. In some ways, in fact-
It shifted your view if Earth.
Told you! Certified bad*ss! Just wanted to ask, what kind of book should I do next? Maybe a one shots book, or another storyline on the Zodiacs? The characters will change, and it'll most likely be in a world full of magic anyway. Leave your suggestions as comments, and hope this chapter was fun to read! I had a fun time writing it (it's about 1735 words)! Toodles and see you in the next chapter, darlings!