"Gather round, gather round!" Layla shouted happily, rushing into the cave alongside a floating Aaron. They both beamed with a readable excitement, clutching the two black bags against their chests carefully.
Everybody turned toward the two who had raced back from their visit to the village after Aaron finally healed enough for such a journey. They'd gone on their own, leaving the two with nobody to supervise their lively and child-like behavior in the town market. But Akil hadn't bothered to tag along with the girl, believing that the chance would offer him the much needed break from her lively behavior around him.
"We brought surprises," Aaron smiled, still careful not to lower his foot too far to the ground even though it had fully healed by now. Something about the memory of the torture and pain still made the boy worry that too much weight would reinjure the area.
Zahra's quiet conversation with Akil, Tau, Suma was interrupted by the over-energetic two that began to circle around the separated group. She glanced once toward Tau for an answer to the question she'd just asked, sighing with building worry and guilt when he pressed his lips into a sympathetic smile while he nodded at her.
The Zodiacs had to know.
"We're poor so we couldn't get very much, but there's enough to give everybody two," Layla's hand dove into the bag to begin pulling from the fresh, ripe figs they'd purchased from the town's fruit carts. She winked flirtatiously at Akil while handing him two, then adding a third. "Three for you," she blew him a kiss.
Akil rolled his eyes, reaching out to drop the third one back into the bag before she quickly tore it away from his grasp. "I don't want a third one. I'll take two like the others so give it to somebody else," he grumbled, stepping forward toward the distant bag.
Layla shook her head, tucking it behind her back and turning herself toward him. "Nope," she closed the distance between them teasingly until her chest brushed against his. Akil reacted almost instantly, taking a step back away from her. "If you want to return it, you'll have to wrap your arms around me," she smirked.
"Are you serious?" His eyebrows fell as the top corner of his lips pulled up in a bothered scowl at her words, moving back to once again keep an unintimate air between them.
The girl nodded. "Deadly." Then she pulled away, handing another pair of figs to the nonchalant Suma beside him who watched them in silence, waiting for her share. "If you don't want it, give it to somebody else, but I'm giving it to you," she mumbled on, walking away.
Odion was evidently ecstatic by the large grin on his face to get to taste his favorite fruit after such a long time. He took Akil's third one happily, devouring it in two bites just like he did with his own two.
In a comfortable silence, the twelve Zodiacs and Zahra enjoyed the sweetness that flooded their mouths with the first bite into the ripe fruit. Although few of them made it known just how excited they were by the delicious surprise, it was mutually agreed in silence that the thick syrup gracing their mouths was a much appreciated break from all the worry, boredness, and difficulty that came from living in a desert.
Zahra glanced toward Akil for one last decision of confirmation, still entirely too hesitant to bestow the knowledge on the other signs out of worry regarding their reactions. Looking around now, everybody seemed so content and happy --she didn't want to ruin the single positive moment that had enriched their lives for the first time in an incredibly long time.
"It's something they should be aware of," Tau spoke quietly from behind her, slowly breaking a fig in half with his index finger and thumb. He casually glanced up at her while throwing the first half into his mouth to subtly savor the honey-like taste.
She turned around, looking over the group of relatively calm Zodiacs as they ate their fruit from their places on the ground. Some were sitting along logs on the floor while others found comfort in the short stone benches Tau had created for them a while before.
Gulping the rising lump of guilt in her throat, the ex-solder rose from the log and turned toward the others just as Layla and Aaron finished giving out the last bit of fruit and grabbed their own. "There's something I need to tell everybody," she raised her voice slightly to make sure it carried all around the closed cave.
Everyone turned to her curiously, continuing to eat their fruit while patiently waiting for the girl to announce what she had on her mind.
Lotus, Chione, and Seth were sitting on what used to be Aaron's recovery bed; now, it played the role of a casual lounging sofa of rock. Aaron and Layla were standing near the cave's edge beside each other, while Asarte, Keket, Odion, and Aharon sat on the logs near the extinguished fire pit in the cave's center. The rest, who she'd already spoken to in regard to the news, lingered behind her.
"There's been a new... development with the Zodiac search that went into effect a couple days ago," she remembered when Master Omari had rode over to bestow the sudden news on her. It felt so long ago now. "I tried to deal with it on my own, but it didn't work out, so I thought it would be best that you guys be made aware."
Pulling in a deep breath, Zahra forced the words from her mouth before she could delay the announcement any longer. "The Pharaoh's decided to capture all members of your nuclear family or those you lived with prior to escaping for him."
Layla stopped chewing on her fig, holding it in her mouth as the thought of her grandmother's arrest suddenly overwhelmed her. Keket and Seth's eyebrows furrowed in worry, their gazes unfocusing for a moment just like Asarte's did. The twins glanced at each other as Aharon shot up from his spot beside Asarte. "What the hell? Since when?"
Besides the few she'd already told, it was Chione, Odion, and Lotus who didn't react with as much worry and emotion as the others. When she'd first told her, Suma also seemed unaffected by the possibility of her family being arrested; she never spoke about her family.
"It's been a few days-," Zahra answered his question, but her response didn't formulate enough before he interrupted her again.
"And you decided to tell us just now?" Aharon narrowed his eyes at her with evident displeasure toward her decision.
Zahra nodded, knowing that it probably wasn't the best time. In fact, she should have informed the Zodiacs of such a thing as soon as she knew, but she'd been too enveloped in the idea of killing the Pharaoh off and putting an end to his plan on her own.
"I was trying to solve it on my own so you wouldn't have to worry, but it didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. By what I was told, everyone's family has been arrested except a few of us," she tried to remember what Master Omari had told her days before when he'd informed her of the news. "Asarte, Suma, Chione --clearly --and Lotus. Odion and I as well considering we're both already here."
Aharon snorted, redirecting everybody's attention to his when he turned to glare toward the girl sitting between Chione and Seth: Lotus. "Of course it's the traitor whose family's left completely untouched while the rest of ours are thrown in prison because of what she did," he spat. The momentary compromise they'd silently come to in the palace gone once again.
Lotus turned to face him, narrowing her eyes as the same dislike that he was watching her with built into her own expression. She didn't offer any response, rolling her eyes and moving her attention back onto Zahra. She was getting tired of being victimized by the fire sign.
"Nothing to say?" He tilted his head at her challengingly, glaring toward the silent girl. "The Pharaoh's after us because of what she did anyway, so why don't we just turn her in? From what I heard, the only thing she did was steal and-."
But his words sounded familiar to the girl; her memory immediately circling back to her step-mother. She'd been so unbothered as she turned Lotus in, knowing she would probably be killed the moment they found out what she was. But the lady didn't care; the same person who was supposed to raise and protect her had been entirely open to the idea of ridding herself of the girl the moment her father died.
"-and sit around on that chair like a useless...," her step-mother's words blended into Aharon's. She'd said the exact same thing just days before that royal knight arrived at their house to arrest her.
Lotus didn't even hear the rest of his words or the others who began to interrupt as she dropped off of the stone bed she sat on. She drew her hand back, hurling the ripe fig in her hand toward the boy with all the anger she'd been forcing herself to hold back.
Everyone fell silent with a surprised gasp when the fruit slammed into Aharon's chest, the sticky syrup exploding all over his left arm.
Aharon's words cut off when he took the step back in surprise, looking down at the mess that was now all over the left side of his shirt. He didn't move for a second before slowly turning up to meet the girl's gaze with controlled fury, his jaw working angrily. "You rat!" He barked, closing the distance between them in a few footsteps.
In the corner of her vision, Lotus saw everybody immediately fly up when they noticed his unrestrained aggression.
But she was also angry.
Angry at her step-mother for betraying her. Angry at her father for marrying the woman and dying, leaving her with the evil wench at such a young age. Angry at the world for treating her so terribly that she'd only found an escape in the multiple books she constantly buried her nose in --but, now, she'd lost that too. And angry at the boy stomping toward her for never letting her forget just how hated she was.
"What?!" she shoved him back just before Aharon could step into her space, fuming. "Are you going to blame everything on me just because you can't seem to accept that, maybe, the world is against you too?! I didn't make you a Zodiac," she snapped.
Aharon narrowed his eyes at her with toxic humor. "No, you're just the one who decided to attack a Dauha and get an order put out for all of our heads like an imbecile because you couldn't take responsibility for what you did," he barked, taking a threatening step back toward the girl who refused to shrink away.
She pushed him again, then stepped forward and shoved him again, and again, and again, until Aharon lost the small amount of patience he'd maintained and grabbed her forearms to stop her.
Lotus tore herself out of his grip before his fingers could wrap tightly enough around her arms. "I didn't do anything!" She screamed with all the building frustration because she was tired of feeling guilty for everything after so many years.
"It's not my fault my life's been awful for the past ten years and some of that awfulness just happened to rub off on you and your family. I hate myself just as much as you might, but I wasn't going to die because of it." She glared up at the boy, her chest rising and falling with painfully laboured breaths when her voice dropped to a deadly whisper. "If you've only been in my life for two weeks and you already despise me, imagine how I feel after nineteen years."
Aharon was silent, just as everybody else was. The malice seemed to have faded from his expression at some point during her uncontained rant, but the man's features were still solid while his eyes slipped back and forth between hers.
She lifted her hand, pressing her finger into his chest and forcing the fire sign to take another step back. "Don't blame me...," she spoke through clenched teeth. "...for your own problems."
Then, without another word, Lotus spun around and stomped out of the cave, leaving everybody in silence. Odion and Aaron turned to Aharon, both evidently unhappy with the exchange that just took place in antagonizing the air sign. But Aharon didn't notice as he looked after her with lingering prejudice.
"I'm following her. Lotus shouldn't be alone after that," Chione spared a concentrated glare at the silent boy who'd caused this entire mess while dropping off of the stone.
Akil spoke up then, stopping the girl before she could take a second step toward the cave's exit. "No," he spoke with the same commanding tone that he usually held when he assumed the role of the group's leader. "Aharon's going after her," he looked at the boy who turned to meet his gaze in surprise. "And you're going to apologize and solve whatever problem you seem to have with Lotus."
"What?" Aharon began.
"Akil, I don't think that's the best idea," Aaron spoke up, watching his older twin's reaction closely. He knew Aharon inside out, so he knew exactly what buttons to push. "If Lotus is mad right now because of Aharon, then he's only going to make her even more angry if he doesn't want to go after her. It would be useless if neither of them actually felt for the other and-."
Aharon rolled his eyes with an interrupting huff, running his tongue over the front of his teeth in annoyance. He didn't say anything more before turning around, too, and walking in the direction that Lotus had angrily stomped out in. He was aggressive and rude, yes, but the fire sign knew when he'd taken it too far and, right now, he'd done just that.
Lotus was heading down the mountain's left side when he stepped out of the cave with a bothered sigh and followed the girl. "Don't follow me," she called out soon enough after she realized it was Aharon. "You're a dunce and I don't need a dunce right now."
"Yeah, well I happen to also think you're the exact same so we're not very far off the line," he grumbled to himself, quickly gaining up on her with every stop of his longer legs.
He didn't need to continue rushing for much longer because, at his words, Lotus stopped and twirled around to throw a handful of sand at the boy. He lifted a hand to keep the sediment from flying into his eyes. "You're a jerk, you know that?" She shouted through the blowing wind.
Aharon wiped the sand off of his shirt, accidentally brushing his fingers over the smashed fig stain. "You already said that," he came to a stop in front of her, waving his fingers in disgust.
"No, like you really are," she snapped. "I used to just say it because you didn't like me so it made us equal. I figured that, even if you didn't show it to me, you had a decent side, but now I realize that you don't."
He glanced up at her, meeting the girl's gaze as she continued. "You're rude to everybody for no reason --even your own brother. You locked him in a cupboard for the Pharaoh's sake where it was tight and dark when he was younger than you. You tried to kill me when you first met me in an angry rage," she ranted, pointing out everything she despised about the fire sign in front of her. "You're just a boy who knows he's less than everybody else and hides that behind exaggerated aggressiveness to make himself seem and feel stronger."
Aharon watched her in silence, a subtle danger in his gaze but it was much more controlled than ever before. "You're making it very hard for me to try to understand you."
"I don't need you to understand me."
"Why not?"
"Because you have a nice little brother and a happy family at home --sure they're in prison, or whatever, now --but they're together and they don't dream about getting rid of you every moment of every day, do they?" He shook his head slowly. "Exactly," Lotus breathed. "You'll never understand me, so don't even try. It'll only make us hate each other more than we already do... if that's even possible."
She spun around, beginning to stomp off again like the conversation was over. But Aharon didn't seem like he was done with their discussion. "I didn't know," he slowly followed after her.
"Of course you didn't. You hated me before you knew anything about me," she grumbled, continuing on.
"I still hate you now... after you told me," he spoke casually, bringing the girl to a stop.
She furrowed her eyebrows at the purpose of his statement, rather confused by his words as she turned around to face him once again. "What?' Lotus tilted her head. His words made sense, but their reason and timing made her thoughts blank.
Aharon shrugged. "You said that I hated you before I knew anything about you," he repeated and she nodded. "Well, now I know some things about you and I still hate you. That means that you're just the one that happens to be unlikeable," he stated as a matter-of-factly, stopping a few feet from her once again with his hands casually tucked into the pockets of his loose pants.
Lotus parted her lips as if to speak before she realized that nothing seemed to formulate in her mind in response to the bizarre reasoning of the boy in front of her. What did that have to do with what they were saying at all? "Okay...," she mumbled. "Thanks?"
"You're welcome."
"What...?" She breathed in evident bewilderment.
Aharon took another step forward when he noticed that he should probably get his entire point across rather than only half of it. "I hate you less now though," he continued, pulling her attention once again. "Yes, you're annoying and are still the one who got us into this mess, but you fight pretty well and make good points sometimes. So I don't blame you as much anymore," he grumbled.
Lotus blinked at him, surprised at the sudden change in the normally aggressive fire sign's tone. She'd never heard him speak so calmly before unless it was to quietly threaten her. "Is that your attempt at an apology?" She raised her eyebrow.
"No, I'm not apologizing," he shook his head like his answer was apparent. "I'm just telling you what I think of you."
She narrowed her eyes at him, recognizing the same expression that overcame the boy when he'd caught the attacking soldier's arm to help her during their time in the palace. "But the sincerity in your words, I mean... I'm pretty sure that's what anybody would call an apology."
"It isn't."
"I'll take it as one."
"Don't."
"Too late," the corners of her lips turned up in a satisfied grin that she'd tried to hold back at first, but failed. "I'm taking it as an apology for being a complete doofus to me ever since we met and trying to kill me, but that's just one the side --no big deal." She waved her hands in the air before pressing them together in a flattered gesture.
Aharon snorted, glancing out onto the desert around them to suppress a surprised reaction to her complimented behavior. The simple movement highlighted the sharpness of his jawline and reflective green of the dark-skinned boy's eyes, exposing his hidden allure.
Lotus watched him. "And thank you, by the way."
"For?" He met her gaze.
"For helping me at the palace," she began, noticing the way his lips parted to inform her, once again, that he hadn't intentionally helped her. The girl quickly continued on before he had the chance to interrupt her moment. "I know you said you didn't mean to and all that, but you still did and I appreciate it so I'm thanking you like normal people do."
He pressed his lips together, letting his eyes slide down her oversized jumpsuit with a slow nod. "Okay," Aharon answered quietly, finally bringing his gaze up to meet hers as she slightly tilted her head to the side curiously. Before he noticed, his thoughts were beginning to quickly evolve around the girl standing in front of him just like they had done the night of their visit to the palace --just before Zahra appeared.
Yes, he could definitely see why those two men seemed so taken by the girl standing in front of him now.
_____________
Teaser Line: "Just try to remember that I'm not actually going to kill you."
Akil of Aquarius (23)- Invisibility & Hurricane Creation
Lotus of Libra (19)- Aeroportation & Deflection
Odion of Pisces (18)- State Modification
Keket of Cancer (18)- Motor-Skill Manipulation
Aharon of Aries (20) - Thermal Manipulation
Layla of Leo (19)- Heat & Light Diversion
Asarte of Virgo (17)- Quicksand
Chione of Capricorn (21)- Earth Fabrication
Tau of Taurus (24)- Raising Earth
Aaron of Gemini (20)- Pressure Manipulation & Flying
Suma of Scorpio (22) - Water Depletion
Seth of Sagittarius (21) - Electricity/Lightning
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