Right, this is what Ursa looks like:
I just realized I never posted her picture so... there you go! (Ursa also has a little sister Ursa Minor whom we'll see later in the story.) She sits there like that most of the time.
You don't necessarily don't have to read this as it's not really an important chapter. I figured it'd give you some tantalizing information and a yes it's kind of a filler chapter (no regrets!) And sorry if this chapter is kind of slow and iffy.
It also may be kinda short.
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Nobody POV
It was pretty much accurate to say that Ursa was pissed off at Moon.
Moon had, in fact, decided that they needed more training and took the liberty into brainwashing the schools the zodiacs attended in believing what happened at Scorpio's school was a terrorist attack performed by a highly dangerous individual and as a result, their schools were closed for safety.
She'd even left a note saying 'You're Welcome' on Ursa's throne.
"The nerve of her!" Ursa grumbled, incinerating the note. "Honestly, she's is a mystery to me. She's so quiet and unassuming at sight, especially considering her brother Sun who's 100% flashy, but boy she can be a pain in the neck!" She sighed and leaned back. Well, I guess this will be good for them... Ugh, but I'm not sure if I will survive!
At the end of Moon's note there was also a final note that said, "I'm going to come and check up on you today."
As if on cue, she shimmered into existence.
"You're here already," Ursa noted with some distaste.
Moon was still annoyingly beautiful as usual. She had long, flowing hair and slender features, and bright silver eyes. Her pale pink lips twisted into a smile as she sauntered closer. "That's no way to treat your lover." Leaning over her, she tilted her head up into a gentle kiss. Ursa jolted away soon, though. "We can't do this."
"Who said we couldn't?" Moon murmured, straddling Ursa's lap and taking her lips again. Ursa pulled away. "Any one of the zodiacs could just walk in and see us!"
"Don't care."
"Aquarius and Capricorn already figured it out," Ursa said. "And they interrogated me for days. Well, more like Aquarius figured it out first. That boy is ridiculously observant."
"Ah, yes, how is Aquarius doing these days?" Moon sighed. "Every time I look at him I recall the crisis and my heart breaks all over again."
"I think he's doing okay," Ursa said, snapping her fingers twice to plop Moon into a chair. "It's been five years, after all."
"And that's precisely the reason why I told him that erasing his memories would be much better than pretending he died!" Moon argued. "And what's worse only he thinks that, everyone else had to pretend! Aquarius spent an entire week shut up in his room and I know even without being there that nobody else appreciated that either."
Ursa sighed heavily. "It was his own decision. And besides, there's some hope. His friend has returned as a zodiac."
Moon perked up immediately. "No, really? That's great! But wait-" her face fell. "He won't be able to remember anything. I did a very thorough scrub. AHHHH-" she rubbed her head. "But Aquarius remembers everything so ARGH. This will be so very traumatic for me."
"If it helps he returns every year to his 'grave'," Ursa said.
"That doesn't lessen my guilt," Moon sighed. "I still feel like I was partly responsible for turning him into the cold-hearted prince he is now. And the other boy, he's become so much more stoic and reserved. Nothing like the innocent, bright-eyed boy he was so long ago."
"Apparently Aquarius is trying his hardest not to make him remember," Ursa stated with a dry smile. "But he's also apparently mercilessly teasing him. Should I stop him?"
"No. Maybe that will trigger something. Once I've tampered with those memories that strongly there's no going back," Moon said regretfully.
"Enough about Aquarius's past," Ursa interrupted that topic. "He'll kill us if we keep on talking behind his back like this. What did you come for?"
"To chat and share gossip, obviously. And to seduce you," Moon said unashamedly.
Ursa gave her a wry look. "You're horrible, you know that?"
"I know." Moon got up and climbed into Ursa's lap again. This time, she didn't refuse. "Your soul mark says otherwise." Then she proceded to kiss Ursa again. Ursa sighed into the kiss, and Moon took the opportunity to slip her tongue into her mouth, engaging in a hot and needy dance.
On Ursa's ankle was a small silver crescent moon. That was her soul mark. Only those blessed with zodiac magic could see them, including the ones in the heavens above. Legend said that everyone had a soulmate. The soul marks just pushed them together a little quicker. They said that soulmates were the other half of your soul, motiving you, helping you. Soul marks were basically proof of a soulmate. They get tattoed onto your skin in the shape of something that represented your soulmate or something they liked. It could be anything-books, objects, weapons-but as long as the soulmate liked it enough, it would appear. And they appeared in random places too, and in different colors.
Ursa had pretty much pretended not to like Moon for most of her life, so she was horrified when she discovered the moon on her ankle, shining defiantly. Moon had confronted her a couple of days later and she found out the reason was because she had a large bear tattoed across her back. They kept it secret, nervous at first, hesitant, before slowly falling into the inevitable.
"Speaking of..." Moon detached herself from Ursa. "Have you told the zodiacs about the soulmark dealio yet?"
"Obviously not. We're still one short and until we get the Sagittarius I can't properly let the magic flow. I'll tell them when somebody shows up with one."
"So what are they doing now?"
Ursa thought for a minute. "Um, I'll go in order. Aries is training. Taurus is going through the videos of previous practices and the books on techniques and famous zodiacs-I wouldn't be surprised if that little monster managed to copy a whole buttload of new techniques by the end of the day-Gemini is on social media and flitting from sight to sight. Cancer is playing soccer while training with his hydrokinesis. Leo's also training though I believe he was planning on restocking his arms inventory before that. Virgo is relaxing doing who-knows-what-he was supposed to have a training session with you but you're with me so, no. Libra is most likely sleeping and sleep-learning-girl barely does anything else, but as long as it's effective I'm okay with it. Scorpio is training. Capricorn is in The Workshop building things and practicing his abilities at the same time. Aquarius is training. And Pisces is brewing up the thing that Sun ordered."
(No I'm not telling you what the thing is, sorry. You'll find out later.)
"This generation certainly is an interesting one," Moon mused. "I've never met a Taurus that can copy skills so easily, a Leo so humble, a Libra so sleepy, a Virgo with mind control, an Aquarius that cunning, and a Pisces that informed about assassination and etc."
"Zodiacs are always interesting. Maybe it's just that it's a little more unique this time around because of the past generation which was so. Predictable." Ursa groaned just remembering it. "We could always predict what they were going to do because their personalities literally reflected the sign."
"Ah, that was so insufferable, wasn't it?" Moon sighed, lazily dragging one hand over Ursa's surprisingly curvy body. "That was also the year that Sun decided he wouldn't babysit them anymore and appointed you."
Ursa laughed softly. It was true. Moon's older brother, shining and golden and warm, had given up on his post thirty years ago. Which was probably good. Aside also being ridiculously handsome, Sun also had a bad reputation to be a womanizer and a notorious flirt, hitting on random girls and such. "Maybe that was a good thing."
"Maybe, maybe not," Moon agreed. Sun occupied the rank second only to Universe and Galaxy, higher even than the planets. After leaving his spot as a zodiac trainer, he returned to serve Universe. Moon was lower than the planets but didn't mind. "He's happy where he is right now, at least. Though I believe I still can sense a slight emptiness in his soul."
Ursa hummed. "It makes me glad I met you."
"You should be glad."
"Annnnnnd, that ruins the mood."
Well, arguing was a part of loving.
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I know it was short and there were some pretty interesting things there, but it was fun.
With love,
-awakened-angel-chan