Breaking Free: A Zodiac Story

Chapter 5: The Land of Wind

The sky was still dark as they finally decided to take a break. The two boys had regained consciousness and seemed to have recovered from their injuries, thanks to Pisces and Cancer.

"Can you tell me about what happened? Why were they trying to... kill you?" Sagittarius asked the two girls. The boys had fallen asleep, tired from their long battle; Sagittarius couldn't sleep, her mind filled with thoughts about the new area they had discovered.

Pisces whimpered slightly. Cancer wrapped an arm around her and gazed at Sagittarius from across the fire they had created. "Well... It's a bit of a, well, sensitive topic." Cancer began.

Sagittarius nodded. "Oh. I see. Well, maybe... could you tell me a bit about yourselves? You know, about the water-bending thing."

"Oh. Well... if you didn't know, I'm Cancer, and she's Pisces." Cancer said, relaxing slightly. "Well, I assume... you can control fire, right? That's... That doesn't exist back at home - Wateria." She lifted her hand and glanced towards a nearby puddle. "We're all... water elementals. We didn't realise there were... other elementals."

With a serene smile, she flicked her wrist. The puddle jumped into the air, forming into the shape of a dolphin. Cancer closed her eyes and recalled her memories of her childhood; calming her little brother by creating dancing people and leaping creatures with her limited water manipulation.

"Hey, hey... why are you crying?" She was snapped out of her thoughts by Sagittarius' voice. Cancer looked up, blinking away the tears she hadn't realised she had been shedding.

Sagittarius gently ran a finger across Cancer's cheek, wiping away some of her tears. For some strange reason, Cancer and Pisces... they reminded her of someone she had wanted to protect.

"Oh... it's nothing. I'm just... my family... I hope they're okay." Cancer said softly, letting the water fall back to the ground. "I'm... your family will be okay." Sagittarius said, gazing into the fire. "We're going to help everyone... there must be others out there like us. We're going to help everyone."

Sagittarius recalled Leo's 'prophecy'. Yes, she had been ignorant - she'd thought he'd been muttering gibberish. However, when she thought about it; they'd already found a group of water elementals. Why wouldn't there be air or earth elementals out there, too?

Cancer sat quietly, while Pisces slept against her shoulder. "You don't have to... comfort me, you know." Cancer said. "I know... my family's probably already dead. Or soon to be. I... I couldn't protect them."

Sagittarius stood up and walked over to Cancer, crouching next to her. "It's not your fault... we'll find a way." They sat by the fire silently as they took in everything they had said.

"Now... we should sleep, shouldn't we? It's probably not very comfortable sitting and sleeping." Sagittarius said, standing up and scooping up Pisces in her arms. "Come on, Cancer."

---

"Good morning!" Leo announced, shaking Aries and Scorpio. "Breakfast is served!"

Scorpio growled something at Leo, his eyes still closed, and grabbed his wrist. "Hey, wait, whoa!" Leo yelped as he was yanked to the ground.

Scorpio let go of Leo's wrist and stood up. "Don't do that." He snapped. "He was only trying to help." Aries yawned, standing up. Scorpio frowned at the two of them, but said nothing and turned away.

"It's that way." Leo said helpfully, gesturing towards a small fire in the middle of their temporary camp. Scorpio stood there for a few seconds, before muttering something and walking towards it.

"Huh?" Leo asked. "What did he say?"

Aries smiled slightly. "He said thank you." He said, watching Scorpio crouch down by the fire. After the battle... he felt like he understood Scorpio a little better.