how we saved the world •a zodiac story•

orion

Foot prints followed out of the cave near the Spring. She replayed footage of the Zodiacs entering and exiting. She saw two of them were badly injured. It was good news, but hardly what her goal was.

Orion scowled.

So they found in the spring and received help and instruction from the Keeper. Which only meant the hell-beasts she sent hadn't done their job. Furthermore, poisoning Aquarius didn't do much either. So far, every measure she took to sabotage the Zodiacs had failed.

The question lies, how do you kill a superhero? More importantly, how do you kill twelve of them? Especially if they're protected by the Keeper herself.

She turned to her accomplice, Eris. Eris was a standard height, they wore a raven eyepatch on their right eye and etched in their skin was swirling black tattoos. Their ebony, long sleeved shirt tightly hugged their torso while a cotton ivory cardigan hung loosely on their frame. Eris was a smart, almost cunning young person. Unfortunately, their strict moral compass often restricted them from using their artifice skills to their full potential.

"We don't have to kill them," Eris laughed, "All you think is kill, kill, kill."

Orion furrowed her brow, "Well, do you have a better plan? We have to stop them from restoring the Heart somehow!"

Eris looked down, "I'm saying you're looking at this from the wrong perspective."

"Elaborate."

"Our cause is a noble one. We don't want the world to continue for a reason, a good reason might I add."

"I'm not following..." Orion confessed.

"We just have to make them see our point of view." Eris crossed their arms with pride.

Orion's begin to spark, "So I manipulate them..."

Eris looked shocked, "No! That's not what I'm saying!"

Orion rolled her eyes, "Oh Eris, you're too morally... conventional."

Eris shot her a look of disgust, "You are a villain."

  Orion shook her head and gently caressed the bottom of Eris' chin, "Then what does that make you, huh?"

Eris looked away, the difference between Orion and them was that Eris believed people could be persuaded that saving the world was wrong. Eris only teamed up with her because they had the same end goal. Orion's objective was still unclear to Eris.

"Look," Orion disclosed, "I'll take your advice, I'm already pretty close to one of the filthy universe lovers as it is... I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to get her on our side."

That eased Eris's nerves. Suppose she gets one on their side, then it might be easy to get the others. Honestly, they didn't understand why they trusted Orion so much. Perhaps she just had a gift for making them feel understood. Yeah... that's what that was.

When Eris began to trust her, it was because of how she made them feel. If only they weren't so desperate for safety.

"I was close to Cancer, once," Orion spoke solemnly.

"The Zodiac?" They asked.

She nodded, she wanted to laugh but it came out only as a pathetic scoff, "I actually liked him, too."

A loud sigh escaped her mouth. Eris attentively listened, "But that got in the way, and... you know me."

"You ignored it?"

She shook her head and with a pained expression said, "No, actually. I used it to my advantage. We got subtlety involved."

"How is that to your advantage," they asked.

"I led him on... I made him feel special- safe... seen. Ironically. The boy felt invisible, I reversed that."

"That's terrible," they said, a bit outraged.

"It's what needed to be done. He was insecure and I exploited it. And I'm going to do again."

"With who?"

"Aquarius... the other zodiacs aren't particularly fond of her, it will be easy to utilize her position."

"Sure," Eris said, "but will she fall for it? I doubt she's the same as Cancer."

"Oh, I'm sure she will, I've done my research."

Eris nodded, "So..." they found themselves curious, "Cancer, huh?"

"I did like Cancer." she glanced down in embarrassment, "It's tragic, you know? In another world, if we were people... without goals to destroy each other, I would've done it."

"Done what?" Eris said curiously.

"Made him feel special. Seen." she reminisced about how his face flushed red when she complimented his insecurities. Or how his soft eyes seemed eternally charmed with her.

It hurt that the rest of her life would consist of chronic awareness that he would hate her until the world withers from existence. It set fire to her chest, it burned like a vicious inferno. It wasn't fair, things like that, are why she is dead-set on demolishing the universe. Who was she kidding, though?

If it were another life, Cancer wouldn't bather an eye. He probably only used her for validation anyway. As her heartbeat against her ribs, she couldn't help but wonder what Cancer's true feelings were. It didn't matter, though. She had a world to destroy. 

Eris took a deep breath and looked at Orion in the eyes, "What do you think will happen when we end the world."

She smiled weakly, " Honestly? I don't care. Anything is better than this."

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to be continued