- Zodiac - [Inactive]


???


| ??? |


| LIMBO |


Date: September 21, 2014

​



Dominic wasn't expecting his attack to land with a clean hit. His mind was instantly flooded with thoughts Why didn't he move? Why didn't he block? Why is he smiling like that? So many thoughts in a time-span of a second or two. His mind was so bogged, that he didn't see the first two spikes slash down his shoulder. The suit's material ripped open, exposing two deep cuts to go along with Dominic's yelp of pain. Pain - it was something Dominic didn't like one bit, probably more than the average person.


The third hit never landed. Just as it was coming down from Damian's other side, Dominic's form was gone. He simply vanished, leaving behind a cloud of crimson smoke and a 'Foosh' sound. The smoke quickly swooned back towards Dominic's original position before his body reformed using the substance. On his knees, he grasped his wounded shoulder. It wasn't paralyzing, but the pain of it was enough to bother his movements with his right side. His other hand was soaked in the liquid. All he could do is rebuild the suit to cover the wound like it was brand new once again. The smoke helped rebuild the tears and Dominic was on his feet again; the pain still there. So that's how you want to do it..


Dominic lowered himself again, this time thrusting his hands into the ground when they shifted into smoke once more. The rest of his body shifted after that, and the smoke itself traveled between the cracks in the floor, until it all erupted underneath Damian. Dodged or not, the pillar of smoke came up to break apart of the top of the castle's roof, letting in a ray of moonlight.





The access dust and smoke that had accumulated in the room recollected to form Dominic's body once more. Now all that was left was regaining a visual on Damian.
 
Damian took note of Dominic's shift into a gaseous form, this was highly unexpected, then again he didn't know what to expect exactly. As Dominic reverted back to his solid form he again vanished into smoke, traveling through the cracks in the floorboards and erupting underneath him. The eruption was sudden, so Damian didn't dodge all of it. But the heat of the smoke burned off his left pants leg. His shoes survived the torrent of heat but was still singed as you can see burn marks left behind. Damian emerged in the shadow in the corner of the room. The darkness of the shadow was intense, as was the interior itself. Damian felt he could use this darkness to his advantage. Taking a brief moment to admire the moonlight, Damian took a breath to regain his composure. He placed his fingers and spread them around the floorboards of the castle. From the tips of his fingers, dark trails slithered from the shadow and jumped out revealing to be the large eyeless, leech-like creatures that Lance usually conjures. Four of them zeroed in towards Dominic with their thousand toothed mouths agape.
 

The Hermit and the Butterfly: Part 3

​



"Probably not the safest position to be in."





Shun's words were sarcastic yet concerned as he spoke to the girl resting atop the roof's ledge while gazing onto the barely visible horizon that stretched across the outskirts of the city. A gentle sigh would be heard in the silence, but no act of removing herself from the ledge would be attempted. Rather, a solemn tone questioning his presence would be Shun's only reply.


"How did you know I was here?"


A small smile came to Shun's face as he crossed the distance of the roof and settled his arms against the support of the ledge whilst sharing the vast view of the city below.


"I watched you walk up the stairs after storming out of the classroom."


The sound of the girl's chuckles echoed across the wind as she descended from the ledge and began resting in a position much similar to the boy at her side.


"Once again, such a simple reply."





Sighing in defeat, Ashlei fell to the ground where she seated herself against the ledge and began resting her head against her knees. Turning to gaze upon Shun, she noticed his relatively calm demeanor in the face of what had just occurred, and her calmed emotions once more exploded from her repressed frustration.


"How?! You're given an unbelievable gift! You're given so much innate talent! Yet you still think you have to right to question the heart in my work when you haven't cared or even done shit in your own life!"


With tears welling in her eyes, Ashlei quickly stuffed her face into her arms to muffle the sounds of her inevitable sobs. Unsure of how to comfort the girl at his side, Shun would continue to patiently gaze forward in enjoyment of the crimson stained sky resulting from the slowly setting sun. As the sun faded from view and the sky began to darken, the sounds of Ashlei stirring would trigger Shun's attention as he turned to watch the girl rise to his side once more.


"Sorry, I let my emotions get the best of me."


Wiping the leftover tears off her face, Ashlei met Shun's gaze with an apologetic smile for the outburst he had endured on her behalf. Taking a deep breath, the girl closed her eyes before beginning the story that would explain the reason behind her actions.


"As a child, I never really stood out among the crowd. So when my parents discovered my talent as a painter, they became quite overjoyed at the news of my potential. Even my younger self was ecstatic to know she had a sudden chance of becoming popular in school."


A warm smile came to Ashlei's face as she laughed in response to the innocent memories of her childhood.


"As the years passed by, my works became quite the popular showcases in junior galleries and competitions, so naturally I began to receive quite a bit of interest from critics and the like. I think it was at the end of middle school that I received my first official review from a named agency, so you can imagine I was overjoyed.


'Your paintings, although promising, are nothing more than art drawn for art's sake. You lack the representation of your heart and soul that would bring your non-existent emotions to life.'


Those words highlighted their review, and for the ignorant child who thought she was reaching a pinnacle in her life, they were quite crushing. They made me realize how I had never truly poured my emotions into a work of art, and even to this day, I am stuck painting simply because it allows the world to recognize my existence."


Shifting her gaze away from Shun's attentive gaze, Ashlei began to sigh in response to the embarrassment she felt from the words she had spoken to another. Although telling her story released a burden from her chest, she had intended to keep the contents of her past a secret from others in an attempt to protect her fragile reputation.


"I know I'm pitiful, but--"


The sounds of her stomach loudly interrupted her words, and the once serious atmosphere slowly reduced to giggles as both Shun and Ashlei burst into a fit of laughter from the voice of her hunger. A sharp gust of wind blew across the roof, causing Ashlei to shiver as she gave Shun a warm smile once her laughter had ceased.


"You were never forced to live the life that you did. You choose to paint out of your own free will, and that alone puts an unbelievable amount of heart into your paintings."


Removing his coat, Shun walked over and placed the warm material over the shivering girl's back. After ruffling her hair as an act of humor, Shun gave Ashlei a reassuring smile before turning to depart from the roof.


"Come on, its getting cold and your starving. Let's go get something to eat, my treat."
 
Looking over at the three girls, Alice stared at the strange woman that stood by Hotaru who happened to have blood writing over her head that said "Hello" and Nikky with Farra by her side who didn't have any Zodiac by their side. Alice wasn't at all surprised by this but she was curious when they would get their Zodiac since it seemed that Hotaru, Shun, and that other girl who she think was named Adonna or something like that had a Zodiac, adding on Dom and Dam.


"What are you all even doing here?"


Turning to Nikky, she sighed, not wanting to explain since she also didn't know why she was here. She didn't want to be here honestly but she accidently fell into the weird hole and found herself here. It seemed something wanted her to go in because that wind was quite strong to make her lose her balance and fall into this world,"To be honest, I'm not sure. I just wanted to find them but find myself falling into that dang hole and land here." She said not pleased that she was in this strange world where they were stuck in a tower over a freaking cliff that only led to their death into the who knows what is down there black water of unknown but at least she find some of her friends... well only about 3, the others were somewhere else.


Sorry if my post sucks
 

???


| ??? |


| LIMBO |


Date: September 21, 2014

​



It was hard enough that shadows made no sounds. He had only known of the creatures because of his broad scanning. Tracking shadows in the dark was impossible, but when said shadows start donning teeth, that's when it earns the proper attention. A surge of pain shot through Dominic once again when a shadowling clamped down on his bad shoulder. That was the second time a creature bit him in that shoulder.


His pain was enough of a reaction to change into his smoke form once more. The trapped arm switched and expanded within that one changeling, causing it to explode. The rest of the smoke trailed upwards through the hole in the ceiling and his body reformed on the roof. The bleeding was much worse now, as those teeth made quite deep wounds in his shoulder. I can't fight feeling like this..


At the very least, he could see the remaining tower. It was still intact, unlike the collapsed one. A wave of worry flowed through him, as he wished nobody was in that broken tower previously.


---

​



Looking the entire group over, Tyrik silently shook her head at what her own guess was at why everyone was in Limbo. "Don't tell me that everyone here played the role of the curious cat?" Nonetheless, they had to regroup. Without waiting for an answer, Tyrik had already discarded people like Marabel and was headed down the spiral staircase, completely unaware of Adonna who was probably heading mach 5 up those same set of stairs.
 
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Damian watched the waft of smoke escape up through the hole in the ceiling. As enraged as he was towards his friend he couldn't help but feel a bitter guilt plague his already anxiety ridden heart. He never wanted it to come to this but what choice did he have? It seemed that everyone wanted him dead or alive. This whole situation was confusing and Damian had no idea who to believe or what to make of it. All he knows for certain is that he's some sort of corrupted monster now... This Limbo might be the only respite he can have now. "Someone like him doesn't deserve to be here." Damian muttered. Damian couldn't travel up through the hole with any sort of flight, nor could he jump up there. Even with his halved weight. He looked at his clawed arm and then back up to the hole. He had an idea, but it was a stretch. Literally. Damian had loosened his arm and swung it upward, his black arm stretching like elastic up to the hole. Black fingers had gripped the edge of the hole and the retracting shadows pulled Damian up, slinging him into the air and over the roof of the castle. When he gained his footing on the opposite side of Dominic he took note that there wasn't as many shadows close by as there was inside. A terrain disadvantage, but Damian felt a little more at ease. Less to punish with. Damian's back was turned, he was slightly hunched over from the landing. He turned his head around to face Dominic over his shoulder. You could only see a single red, beady eye peering into Dominic's eyes. Damian had taken the darkness already surrounding his hand and refined it to a blade-like point around his fingers. Quickly, Damian turned his body around and swung his hand across horizontally. The "blade" in his hand has extended outward closing in towards Dominic's side.
 
"GET OFF ME! AHH!" James screamed as the leech-like things wrapped itself around his arm, trying to take a good luck suck of his life force. He eventually pulled it off, swinging it round and round, and smashing its head onto the floor. It dissipated into wisps of shadow as it died, and the shadow returning to Damian, who had now sprouted spider legs. Delightful, he thought.


Before another leech could latch onto him, he stamped straight onto its head equivalent, and it died almost immediately. However, he realised sooner or later, one would avoid such a stamp, so he would need a better weapon. He looked around, and sitting there like it was meant for him, was a good-sized plank of wood, long enough to give him enough reach, short enough to be fairly light. And it was made of sturdy oak, as well.


He heard a leech screech behind him, as it leapt towards him, and he swung round, plank in hand, smashing it sideways into the wall, where it dissipated like several of its friends.


Suddenly, Dominic and Damian both jumped through a hole in the ceiling to the roof, and James was just lucky enough for there to be a staircase nearby, how silly of them not to use it rather than jump through a very jagged and awkward hole. The moonlight helped him see a bit better, certainly better than the room they were just in.


Plank in hand, he got behind a fallen stone, and watched the battle scene unfold, regretting being unable to help.
 
Ulysses flew off, following Shun's fluffy feathered creation. Adonna was left at the bottom of the stairs. Alight. Fly up, get Hotaru out, and whoever else, Adonna remembered Ulysses mentioning another back when Adonna had been focused on her own usefulness. Alright... no problem... Now just... To fly. S


eeing Ulysses do it had given Adonna an idea of what to do... How do I... start? Imagining it worked the same way as the fire, she focused, but unlike when she had tried to use the fire, she felt the energy flow through and around her almost immediately. "Woah!" Adonna's feet touched off the ground, just barely, "Woah, woah, okay..." now just have to move forward... forward... alright, this isn't too bad, this is working... At this pace, she would get there sometime by next year. She had to pick up speed.


"Woah!" Just as she had the thought, the energy about her concentrated itself. She indeed propelled forward.





"Ack!"


THUD!


"Oomph!"


Adonna smacked face first into the grey castle stone. Ow... Yeah. That hurt. But hey, it was working. She slowly pushed off the wall, her feet still hovering marginally off the ground. Controlling the energy that was allowing her to fly, she speed her way up the stairs. And almost collided into a girl wearing armor. "Crap!"


If she hadn't already, she was gaining a large amount of respect for the armored Zodiac who so masterfully used all these powers. Throwing up her hands instinctively, the invisible energy reacted to her sudden dynamic motion, forming a 'wall' in front of her, stopping Adonna effectively. Who...? Though she didn't recognize the armored girl she'd almost bowled over, behind her were Adonna's classmates. "Hotaru!" Adonna felt palpable relief. There was Hotaru's blonde friend too, and that girl from behind the box, and another girl with glasses and sharp eyes. Along with these four, there was the armored girl and another girl holding Hotaru's hand. If Adonna hadn't known better, she'd have thought they were students unfortunately pulled into the world whilst in the middle of some cosplay convention. But, no, they were Zodiacs, they had about them the offsetting energy, which for some reason Adonna was able to feel a lot more clearly. It must have been her connection with Ulysses.


"You're safe," thank god, "All of you." Adonna looked over her shoulder to the spiraling staircase. "Ul-" they don't know him, "My Zodiac should be with Shun, let's regroup with them..." If Adonna concentrated on that specific feeling... yes... She was pretty sure she could vaguely feel where Ulysses was. Adonna bit her lip. Were Ulysses and Shun safe? There was no way to know until they got there.
 

???


| ??? |


| LIMBO |


Date: September 21, 2014

​



Damian's demeanor suggested he wasn't even close to being tired. As the hooked blade came around, Dominic barely had any time to drop his body to the ground and roll under it. All the while, the pain nagging at him. Dominic got back up onto his feet after his roll, his mind deciding to rethink his strategy.


This isn't going anywhere. I need to knock him out somehow. A strong attack to the head? That had better chances of killing him than actually rendering him unconscious. Another idea was to lead him towards the others, in hope that they would lend a hand in grounding Damian. I have a feeling they won't hesitate to kill him. His next idea was foolish, but he knew it was possible. A quick chop to the neck could paralyze a target, but it had to be precise, and Dominic hadn't a clue where the bullseye even was.


Still, it was worth a shot.


Shifting to smoke the moment he decided to go through with it, the trails maneuvered around Damian before recollecting behind him. Now reformed, Dominic threw all of his strength into a quick diagonal karate chop aimed directly for the neck. Yes, it was stupid, but it was all he had. Dominic obviously wasn't at the same skill level as Damian when it came to their own powers. The only option was to try.
 
Nikky rolled her eyes at the mention of curious cats, but that was pretty much the summary of why she was there so she said nothing in reply. She examined the hallway, the carvings along the bottom of the walls was intricate and carefully made, now that she thought about it everything appeared brand new and clean. Excluding the pieces of the doors scatter on the ground, of course. She crossed out the idea this was an old castle thus the crumbling tower; something had caused it, maybe one of the spirits? The floor was wooden and nicely polished with dark wallpaper along the walls. They approached the stairwell to be greeted by a a blur of a girl clumsily charging her way past the group nearly knocking into the armored girl. But she was able to stop herself before she went crashing into more walls; she was tall, with long black hair. Nikky didn't try to hide her surprise, she had to admit, that was pretty frickin, cool.


Nikky tilted her head with a smile on her face, "Now that's an entrance." she realized this was one of the people that had fought off Red, she also realized she never got a proper chance to thank them and she recalled all the dessert ingredients sitting in her mini fridge back home. Ugh.


"You're safe, All of you. Ul- My Zodiac should be with Shun, let's regroup with them..."


There that word was again, Zodiac. She mumbled it under her breath, "Zodiacs, huh?"


Realization in process...


There was something about the girl that Nikky trusted, call it a hunch. So she was on board.


"Alright, let's go then!" She decided to skip the questions and figure out what was happening herself. First order of business was to start moving.


#I'm sorry, I can only post from my phone.


Love, Tapatalk
 
Hotaru squeezed Marabel's hand in an attempt to be more reassuring. She drew the thick blood away so only the letter H and the letter E stood. She shifted the letters into words for the group to read. She had a different set for Marabel to read. Visible to the group Hotaru wrote out the words. In time with the words, the cat in her hands spoke with meows and purrs. The girl kept her gaze at Marabel as the blood swirled in the air like leaves falling in Fall. The blood hid behind Hotaru's back, the said girl pressed her lips into a line. Her eyebrows were curved inward to give an impression of slight disappointment, her eyes however were giving off an effect of pure curious. The red liquid was pulled slightly upwards to bring attention to the scarlet wearing Zodiac, "Do you still want to? We could.....or we could go play hide and seek in the castle." She rearranged the blood to create more words, "Are you scared of Alice's Zodiac? I'll do my best to keep you safe. I don't think she wants to attack us." She glanced at Alice, "Alice should be keeping her Zodiac in check." Hotaru squeezed her hand again, the corners of her mouth turned upwards.


Facing back to her friends, she could feel the ground vibrate as she walked past her friends. Nikky was right, they should reach the lower levels as soon as possible. Hotaru realized more and more of her friends were joining the group. Hotaru's newer message was loud and clear for the group to read, "Ironic, isn't?" The cat in her hands sneezed, Hotaru could feel his body shake a bit. Closing her eyes, she wiped the blood from behind and made it dance in the air before joining the rest of the words. Taking her first step down, she could hear the footsteps of the others. Feeling the vibrations of the footsteps was difficult due to the castle falling apart. As Hotaru headed down she could hear someone going up the stairs, she was tense at first, thinking it might be an enemy or something. Enemy. Who was she considering an enemy now? As far as she knew, Hotaru was still friends with everyone. Did she consider Damian as the enemy? Just because he killed a person did not make him a terrible person, Hotaru once met a convict.....he was a nice person! A black blur ran past Hotaru and straight into a wall. Hotaru blinked a bit and turned her head back as her name was called from behind. Adonna! Hotaru waved at her as liquid bounced over to Adonna with a greeting message, "Hi Adonna!"


Hotaru was about go on impulse and run down the stairs to meet up with the rest of the group. She held herself back and waited for the group to follow along with her. Taking the words away, Hotaru began to play with the blood with her fingers. It kept her busy as she headed down the stairs. She was anxious as she heard yells from the lower floors. If she closed her eyes and if everyone stayed quiet, she could hear everything that was going on. Focusing on her breathing Hotaru closed her eyes as she headed down the stairs. Hotaru held Marabel's hand with her burned right, with her feet the girl managed to get down the stairs.


//I wrote a shitload of stuff, but then RPN happened and I had to kind of cut it short//
 
Alice looked to Hotaru and nodded, assuring she had control of Tyrik and will keep her down if she tries to attack her friends but Tyrik wouldn't do that. Alice was sure of that unless her friends attacked her, Tyrik won't hesitate to use the Eliminator to chop their bodies up just like those dogs.


Turning to Tyrik as she left out the door, the girl from before appeared at the door and came to Hotaru. It seemed Hotaru knew the girl, named Adonna, and were friends so it meant Alice could befriend the girl as well but it seemed Tyrik disliked the girl, feeling Tyrik's anger flowing in her veins,"You must hate everyone Tyrik." She thought and rolled her eyes. Going over to the girls, she followed them as they went out the room and down the stairway that Tyrik went down to.


Yelling could be heard throughout the tower, it seemed something was going on and Alice was ready to bring it down, speeding up her pace to catch up to Tyrik and leaving the group behind,"I'm gonna go with my Zodiac, if anything happen you got Hotaru and Adonna with you." She said and went off down the stairs carefully not wanting to trip and fall.
 
Ukime had gotten up from her bed and grabbed herself some cold ice coffee from the fridge. She decided to go for a stroll so she pulled up some shorts and got a big sweater to put on. She opened up her door and started to walk toward the entrance of the dorms. A strong wind began to pull her from the front and something from the back gave her a nudge. She stumbled forward a little before looking behind her. Giving a raised brow she continued to walk until something tripped her. Falling forward the wind had grabbed a hold of her and started to pull her from the hallway and outside. She tried to break free of the wind but she was doing nothing but wiggling around in the air. She looked down near her feet and saw a hole that had appeared. Trying to break free even more she was pulled into the weird void and landed on top of a tower.


She thought that would at least be settling but instead she started to roll into a door way then down some stairs. Hitting every parts of her body as she tumbled down.
 
Ulysses was punched back, his metal body sent airborne with Heriophant's heavy fist. He recovered with his telekinesis and flipped back onto his feet skidding on the dirt before halting to a stop. Hierophant was seen with some swolen spots around his body. It looked like Ulysses got a few good attacks in himself, but alas Hierophant didn't even seem phased by it. The Zodiac's endurance and stamina was formidable, it was beginning to outmatch Ulysses by a long shot. This is when Ulysses noticed that the wound from his flaming beam had been completely healed. "Your.. When did you heal that? And how? I know you have some sort of spacial manipulation or.. Something like that. But healing?" Hierophant teasingly laughed. Seeing Ulysses baffled gave him a stroke to his ego, and found his helplessness more than just amusing. "I can manipulate anything synthetic or non-synthetic. Blood. A non-synthetic liquid. I used it to repair damaged cells and tissue, then closed the exits. Simple. Now you can't do that can you? You're just a metal husk. You never would've fell to this fate if you stayed from outside my Plane." Ulysses took to some offense on being called a "metal husk." Being a soul in a suit of armor is something he truly did not enjoy... Feeling a personal demon beginning to plague him, his metal fists had tightened. You could hear the fingers scrape against the palm of his gauntlet. No longer feeling the mood to make reason with the Zodiac, Ulysses charged Hierophant at his top speed and speared the behemoth in his abdomen! The froce of impact was enough to phase even his sizable form. Pushed against the ground, Hierophant was a little shocked by that impact. Before he could even react Ulysses was already in his face, a flaming fist cocked back and ready to swing at his face. Hierophant had tried his fasted to block the flaming fist with his own palm but wasn't fast enough. Ulysses' flaming wrath had connected with Hierophant's jaw! Soon the Zodiac was engulfed in flames and shot into the thicket of trees behind him. Like a meteor, Hierophant had bore into the ground and fell any bark that had come in contact with him. Anything that did had caught on fire as well. Hierophant was incapacitated again, but for how long? Ulysses didn't want to waste any time. He had made his mad dash back to Adonna and company...


...Meanwhile in the ball of fire that is Hierophant. His body lie still, burning away in Ulysses' brilliant blaze. A low groan could be heard bellowing from the body. Bested again by a single attack of Ulysses. Hierophant had been clearly underestimating Ulysses' combat ability and relying too much on his own splendor than his own "true skill." Now fully aware of his mistake, the fires of Ulysses had been blown off with a harsh gust of wind. So hard that it obliterated the thicket of trees around him. Leaving splinters in the air. Eyes a flare, Hierophant had kept his sights on Ulysses as he made his way back to the tower. Hierophant too was now in a silent fury.





~




​



"Yes... I very much am. We don't get along at all..." Marabel whispered. She didn't really know why Tyrik sported such a bad attitude towards her. Marabel was indeed being what she considered friendly. She's tried all sorts of approaches in the past. Even mimicked Tyrik's personality! ...That obviously didn't end well for the poor girl. She has a scar to prove it. Marabel saw that Hotaru was bending sentences with her blood. Not too long ago she was outwardly speaking... This was a odd change of pace. But Marabel chose to leave it alone. She figured Hotaru wanted to be super sneaky and she sort of found it amusing. She saw Hotaru answer her question, leaving the choice up to her. She was going to answer until she saw another girl fly clumsily into a wall, triggering a series of giggles from Marabel. Though she tried desperately to stop it, being in Tyrik's presence. With the arrival of the new girl, she had a plan of her own. Looks like she was actually here as the cavalry! Hopefully with her here Tyrik would choose to bully someone else. With eyes on Adonna, Marabel felt a gentle squeeze around her hand. She looked up at Hotaru who was sporting a reassuring smile. "I'll do my best to keep you safe." Those words alone was enough to set Marabel at ease.





~




​



Dominic had managed to evade the blade, for the most part. While crouched down he dissipated into smoke once more and traveled behind Damian. Damian had followed the smoke trail and spotted Dominic attempted to land a chop on his neck. When Dominic had retained his physical form, Damian had threw his elbow back at Dominic's jaw with all the force he could muster. Dominic's full power chop had landed directly on Damian's shoulder. With his decreased weight, the blow was enough to knock him down. Damian had hit the roof with a hard thud. Dominic's size had triumphed over Damian's smaller frame and put him down.
 

???


| ??? |


| LIMBO |


Date: September 21, 2014

​



Even with Adonna blasting her way up the staircase like an A.I controlled rocket, Tyrik didn't lose her way. Upon seeing the purple hue light up the twisting hall, she stood aside and watched as Adonna flew by. No thoughts came to mind on that subject. Things were odd enough as it was with all the hosts appearing in the castle. The Zodiac felt threatened - not only for her life, but for her hosts and their friends as well. She had to admit, though, Alice did have an entertaining bunch of friends.


Alice quickly rejoined her, for Tyrik was only halfway down the tower. She took her sweet time gathering and organizing her thoughts about why they were there. All she could do was give her host a welcoming nod before continuing on. That's when a random body - assumingly a student's - came rolling down the stairs from behind them. Ukime's barrelling body kicked Tyrik's feet from under her, and soon both of them were falling. While Alice's fate of the rolling terror was unknown, every bump on the stairs pushed out an unintelligible swear from Tyrik's helmet, all the way down until she landed over top the afro girl's limp body.


"B**ch, do you not know how to us-" Once the Zodiac had actually sat up to glance at who it was, she was instantly at a lost. "Another student..?" Her well being was of no concern, so she hasted in grabbing the Eliminator (which dangerously landed close to her own head) and walked out of the tower. At least they were at the bottom.





That's when Ulysses, a fierce competitor of hers, ran past. "Ugh, what the hell's going on here?!" She huffed. Outside, the place was a mess. There were clear signs of a fight between Uly and another Zodiac. The amount of ethereal power was staggering, to say the least. "I'm just late to everything, aren't I?" The words muttered out of her mouth like a whisper.


That's when she spotted two figures upon the roof of the main castle building, one with darkness as an ability and another with smoke. Was this actually a battle in progress? If it could be seen, Tyrik grinned devilishly.







---




​



Both the attack by Dominic and the counterattack by Damian landed at the same time. Damian's elbow did well to easily break Dominic's nose, while his karate chop did equal amounts of damage in taking him down. Dominic staggered back, struggling to keep upward before he looked down to see Damian on the roof, laid out. With his left hand covering his bloody nose, Dominic approached and stared down at him. "You need to wake up, Damian." Dominic's voice was breathy and strung out, although muffled by his cupped hand. "We all threw ourselves into harms way in order to get you back with us, where you belong." He glanced off towards the tower for a moment. "Honestly?" His eyes trailed back to him. "I don't believe you're a murderer. I can't. Your stepdad was an asshole, and from what I heard, he deserved what was coming. I would have done the same thing. But blaming those unfortunate events on me? The only one who bothered to hear you out, when everyone else wouldn't even give you the light of day?" Dominic dropped his hand, sniffing hard enough to control the blood that seeped out of his nose.





"We can fight all we want, Damian. But my intentions will always stay the same. Powers or not, you're still my best friend, and you're coming back with us."
 
Ulysses had forced himself to a hard stop with a psych powered palm, forcing him back against his own staggering run cycle. His battle with Hierophant was taking a lot more out of him than he imagined it would. Ulysses caught a glimpse of Tyrik staring off into space with a devilish grin on her face, captivated by something. Ulysses decided to turn his attention towards her attraction and saw that the one leading this party was up upon the castle roof locked in combat with the Host of Lance. Ulysses knew that that was a battle that needed to be fought between only those two, so he decided to ignore it out of his own sense of "honor." Ulysses snapped his head back to Tyrik, who was still gazing off into space like a distracted kitten. "Tyrik! Eyes forward. We have something more important to set our sights on!" Even yelling had winded Ulysses. You could see his shoulder dramatically jump up and down from his heavy "breathing." Ulysses faced back at to the crater he slammed Hierophant into and saw that the forest had been completely wiped out! The land around it as nothing but ruptured soil. Ulysses' spheres had glowed brighter emphasizing his astonishment. "He's still not down after that!? This mans endurance. Completely ludicrous." Ulysses had tried to stand tall, fighting off his exhaustion. Despite his pride, he knew this wasn't an enemy he could handle alone. "Tyrik, Marabel. I need you to help me fend off Hierophant. You kids go aid your friend up on the roof. It looks like their battle has ceased. I'm certain Kenshi will make us a circle out." Marabel had crept from behind Hotaru and joined Ulysses' side. Even though she had no idea who Hierophant was, she could sense the urgency in his voice. With her already established respect for Ulysses she couldn't help but at least stand by his side. "U-umm.. Hotaru. Please, go help your friends. We got this! I dunno' who Hiroelephant is but I'm sure we can stop him!" Marabel said confidently.





~




​



Damian had rose himself up from the cracked tile that had pricked into his back. He glared at his darkness tainted hand. The black bog cast around it began to lift, revealing his original, pale arm. Seeing this, he knew the battle was over. On top of that he exhausted all of his stamina in that battle with Dominic. Damian let his arms fall beside him. As they fell the rest of the cloak had lifted off his torso and head, reverting him back to his human appearance. "Dominic. Then why? Why have I been targeted to be killed? Twice now? Red called me a murderer. That kid said the same. They're blaming Lance but that's impossible as he's been with me this whole time. Why am I taking blame for all of this?" Damian asked sullenly, keeping his face to the floor.
 

???


| ??? |


| LIMBO |


Date: September 21, 2014

​



"Tyrik! Eyes forward. We have something more important to set our sights on!"


"Eh? Wha-" The Zodiac followed Uly's gaze to the crater back in the woods where the 'rescue team' had come from. She had nothing but a clue as to what was more important. A crater, and no body. "He's still not down after that!? This mans endurance. Completely ludicrous. Tyrik, Marabel. I need you to help me fend off Hierophant. You kids go aid your friend up on the roof. It looks like their battle has ceased. I'm certain Kenshi will make us a circle out." Although she disliked being ordered around, she really had nothing else better to do. If the true culprit behind this mess was coming, she didn't want to miss out on the ass whooping.





---




​



"Dominic. Then why? Why have I been targeted to be killed? Twice now? Red called me a murderer. That kid said the same. They're blaming Lance but that's impossible as he's been with me this whole time. Why am I taking blame for all of this?" Dominic blinked a few times before breaking out into an injured chuckling fit. "Ahah~, did you forget? Life's shitty!" After taking a few good deep breaths, he was talking normally again. "With our luck, I'm surprised we weren't captured and tested on. You were lucky to only have two attackers. Regardless, we're all in this together now." Dominic couldn't make no real theory on why the situation had been what it was, other than simply 'luck'. A dark cloud that had hovered over their lives ever since they got out of the womb.


Dominic stretched out his hand for Damian so that he could rise to his feet. If and when he was up, Dom glanced back down at the hole. "We've got to regroup with the others and make sure they're safe. I can already see them at the base of that tower. Wait here-.." Backing away, Dominic phased into smoke and seeped down through the hole once more. His smoke trail reformed him in front of a worried James. "Hey, everything's fine now. We're all going to get out of here." He smiled warmly to James. His entire spirit had been lifted seeing Damian with a change of heart.


"I-..I'm going to try something. Don't freak out, alright?" Hesitantly, Dominic grasped James' arm, and shifted into smoke again. Luckily, James too, turned into smoke as one large collective cloud. That's when they both headed back up to the roof and reformed. Grinning with a bloody face, Dominic felt victorious.





..That was until he realized that James' clothes hadn't come with them. Looking over to the red-haired trickster, Dominic yelped in surprise at the fact that his clothes hadn't come with. It explained the suit and why he wore it. "S-shit, sorry! Hold on.." Trying his best not to look down, Dominic gripped James' shoulder where a similarly designed suit materialized over his form. The only difference being that his tie matched the color of his hair. Dominic sighed of relief before looking over to Damian. "It seems I can transport others with me, though your clothes don't stay. I'll apologize later." Doing the same with Damian,his suit formed over his existing, battered clothing. The difference now was that Damian's vest was a pure white while the tie was black.


Now with both of them in his grasp, Dominic 'teleported' them off of the roof and toward the base tower. At their arrival, they formed in front of the Zodiacs Uly and Tyrik, along with anyone else that would have been standing outside of the tower. Their appearance was clean - professional, as if they hadn't even been in a fight, and knew what they were doing. Releasing his hold on the two, Dominic stooped a little. The move had taken quite a chunk out of his energy pool. Nevertheless, he looked up to Ulysses and down to Tyrik. "Is.. everyone okay?"


"They'd better be. Not sure about the human barrel over there, though." Tyrik nodded towards Ukime. "So you're the mutt's host?"


"'Mutt'?"


"The dog! You're his host, correct?!" Now she was shouting and pointing fingers, which made Dominic back away intimidated. "Y-yes..!"


"He may see you being worthy, but I have yet to see you prov- Guh.." Suddenly, a wave of pressure clamped down inside of Tyrik's chest. Her, along with all of the other Zodiacs present, began to fade. "..This again..?!" Like the battle with Reese, the forms of the Zodiacs began to fade from existence, but in their own world? "W-what's happening?!"
 
Alice took off down the stairs after, what Nikky assumed to be, her zodiac. Nikky looked at the group, Hotaru held the ghost girl's hand making the two appear like two little kids. A fond smile formed on the Nikky's face before looking over at the black haired girl, whose name she learned was Adonna from Hotaru's cool, but creepy, signs. She made mental notes about all three of the girls. This'll all make a good story for the newspaper.


As Nikky was making her way down the stairwell she was tripped up by a body bulldozing its way down the stairs. knocking her backwards, she let out a small yelp in surprise. But luckily she was able to grab the railing before tumbling down with the person; she held her glasses onto her face with her free hand. She didn't have another spare and couldn't afford ruining the one she had. She stood up, correcting her posture then listened for a second to hear voices shouting unrecognizable words, words which made Nikky grin childishly at the thought, further down the staircase. She then heard a thunk as they hit the bottom. She walked as fast as she could down the stairs trying not to trip up while skipping down the steps. She did it all the time as a kid, and mastered the useless skill to the point of impeccable skips down stairs. When she reached the bottom she was glad to see everyone was okay, she turned her attention to the fallen girl immediately recognizing her as Ukime, from the fro. She kneeled next to the girl, no doubt she would be pretty beat up from rolling down all those stairs. She poked and prodded the afro girl to see if she was concious or not. Nikky looked up at the group just in front of her, an Armored man spoke to the armored girl and she tried to catch as much of the conversation as possible. "Heirophant bad guy, help fight." That was the gist of it.


And then out of nowhere Dominic, Damian and... huh? She wasn't familiar with the red headed one. Nikky felt her face flush as she noticed their attire, obviously Nikky didn't have many kinks, but guys in suits was the worst one. The snazzy-ness just melted her heart! She let out a low audible sigh, her accursed brain started running a million miles a minute as all sorts of things ran through her mind, and then somehow, she started thinking about what tofu was made of.


Nikky tilted her head curiously, at her brain's question.What WAS tofu made of?


Good old brain, she wasn't even paying attention to the fact the Zodiacs were disappearing, or even the fact a fight was going to happen. Because, food.


Love, Tapatalk
 
Everyone was on board, well then again, it seemed the lot of them had been heading down the flight of stairs to begin with. Hotaru's friend followed after her Zodiac. That didn't worry Adonna too much, she had a high offensive ability with that axe of hers, she'd seen that in motion during the fight with the dream world's spider. Then all of a sudden, another body appeared and began hurtling down the stairs. Adonna quickened her pace to catch up with the rest of them, but made sure not to leave any one person by themselves. Keep the numbers even, that was how to do it. Finally at the bottom of the stairs, she took note of the newcomer. A girl she recognized, yes, from school? And elsewhere, but couldn't quite put her finger on it.


At that moment, the dark armored Zodiac reappeared. Ulysses! He was worse for the wear. Adonna grimaced. He could heal, yes? And there was something more, another thought below that... It had been her order that had caused this... She snapped suddenly out of her guilt. Shun... Where was he? She felt a pit form in which her stomach dropped into. No. There was no need to jump into conclusions. If Shun was not with Ulysses, then perhaps Ulysses had stashed the boy somewhere safe. Or perhaps it had been a false alarm and Shun had been in no danger at all. There were more possibilities available than the worst outcome. She just had to ask-





"Tyrik, Marabel. I need you to help me fend off Hierophant. You kids go aid your friend up on the roof. It looks like their battle has ceased. I'm certain Kenshi will make us a circle out."


Adonna held her own question, nodding to her Zodiac in understanding. The questions could- no, had to wait. More than that, she trusted Ulysses' sense of priorities, besides... Shun had to be alright... Someone like that, he couldn't get himself killed so easily... Yeah... she firmly and stubbornly held onto that thought.


Before anyone could go anywhere, the ones from the roof appeared in front of them, all three wearing oddly well-tailored clothing. A Zodiac's power, then? What an interesting power for a spirit to have.... She recognized the three of them, one from behind the box, the other the owner of the white wolf Zodiac. The third... familiar, she'd seen him around. Was this the friend that Dominic and the wolf had been arguing about? Then, the whole thing was successful? Was it over?


The Zodiac who had been yelling at Dominic suddenly stopped, her once solid form fading. Alarmed, Adonna looked at once to Ulysses.Yes, him too, he was fading! Just like in the battle with the spider and its master. This could not be good... Adonna steeled herself. If their objective had been accomplished, if that was indeed the friend Dominic had come here to save, then the next thing to do was to get back home. She placed her focus onto the new goal, mentally preparing herself for the task up ahead.


 
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"Very nice, Dominic. I have to say, you've got some good taste in clothing. I suppose my old suit was getting a little battered.."


There were now a fair few people looking at them. There was one girl... was she drooling? Maybe very slightly. She had a thoughtful look on her face, as if she.. fancied them? It'd been a while since someone last fancied him. A small grin spread out on his face.


"So, uh, what do you guys do with your zodiacs, those that have them?" He asked to those there.
 
"Well, I have no Zodiac, or whatever, so...I'm pretty much useless. Too bad," Farra grumbled. This new boy seemed like a classic preppy rich-boy, boys Farra had no interest in. "Let me guess; I'm the only one without a Zodiac. Great."
 
"Farra, we've met, remember? James? We... snuck up on everyone else, hiding behind a crate? I guess I've got a new suit since then" Said James, nodding to Dominic as he said " thanks to Dominic here. But seriously, surely you remember me?"
 
Farra scanned the boy's face quickly. "Ah, yes, James. Cute suit. We didn't really sneak up on anyone, that Shun kid called us out. But yeah. My memory isn't that bad." She sighed and stretched her arms. "So, guys.." she said, glancing over at the Zodiac-paired group. "What now?"
 
Popping up like carrot ready to be picked she stood up as fast as she could with wide eyes. Brushing herself off as she looked around toward others who she tried to muster out but couldn't , her brain made her turn toward her demise. She hissed as the stairs and kicked the steps as she crossed her arms and started stomping on it before pulling herself back together. Her brain was finally regerstring things around her so she w as able to pick out a few of the students that where here. Practically the whole class if she wasn't mistaken. The loud mouth girl wasn't there she knew for sure or she thought, she'd probably notice her if she was yelling but she was the last important thing on her mind. and she couldn't find Dareck anywhere. Rubbing the back of her head she gave off a cheesy smile.


"Good thing I have a fro or that would have been fatal...damn that stairs fall was ....extreme. I think I dropped my guts, brains and my drink back at the top. "


She felt a cold chill before letting out a sneeze. Leaning back in pain as she could feel the aches in her sides and back. That was a much harder fall than she thought it would be. She felt nothing going down, probably thinking about what grabbed her then where she was going. She realized she dripped her drink though, giving a small frown and a small tear. She played the smallest violion for herself in the end until her hands got smacked by the cold all. Painfully it truly was.


"Well...so greetings."
 
Alice gasped, falling down the stairs and went rolling down the stairs, luckily she was able to catch herself before she fell flat on the ground. Rubbing her bum as she looked to see a lifeless Ukime on the floor,"U-ukime? What are you doing here?" She exclaimed as she got up, her Afro kind of messy from the fall. Along the way, some of the girls also fell from the stairs and were with them on the floor but looking over at Tyrik and Dominic, she tried to calm Tyrik down until suddenly Tyrik started to fade away just like before,"Eh? Tyrik? Oh no...please don't go now!" She said and watched as Tyrik was out of sight once more, leaving Alice to be with Dominic and the others,"Dom, what the hell is going on?!" She exclaimed almost shaking him, her hands on his shoulder. She needed answers and Domnic was the only person she knew would know what the hell is happening.


Looking up at Damien and some other guy next to him, she glared at the weird looking person but then heard Nikky saying the name "Heirophant? Or did she said Elephant?" She thought but shrugged not really caring and only wanting her answers from Dominic, though she was disturbing the fight between the two boys.
 
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