The Final Cycle: A Zodiac Story

𝕀𝕏

"Oh Leo, are you sure you'll be alright?" Leo's mother, Rosetta, held her youngest son's face, squeezing his cheeks. "We will be gone for a while... at least a month."

"Yes." Felipe, Leo's father, nodded. He gave Leo a stern look, but smiled. Leo smiled back as he took his mother's hands. "It will be quite the business trip. I wish I could take you with us."

"Ah, Dad." Leo playfully sucked his teeth. "I'm 20 years old. I'll behave~"

"We know you will, honey." Rosetta agreed. She wagged a finger in his face. "No parties, understand?"

"Yes ma'am!" Leo saluted as Felipe picked up their suitcases. The two of them blew one last kiss to their special boy, Leo blowing an extravagant one in return. The doors closed, but Leo ran to the nearest window, waving as they were driven off.

For Leo, this was quite normal. He had countless memories of being left at home alone with a maid or two. Now that he was an adult, the maids weren't needed.

He kept his smile up, even as the pangs of bitterness came. That would be the last time his parents would see him as a normal person. Today was supposed to be his reawakening. He was grateful he got to spend the entire day with his parents.

The sun had set long ago, and Leo wanted to question if it would even happen still. Maybe the Gods changed their mind about him, picked another Leo's life to completely change and potentially ruin.

As he left the window and started to clean up the dining room table, he wondered if Aries felt any nervousness. He couldn't possibly have; Aries was never nervous. That made Leo feel better. If Aries can face it, Leo can, too.

He could call them. It had been days since he's talked to either Aries or Sag. They were probably fine, but he wanted to be sure. Leo would have called earlier, but he was spending the entire day spoiling his parents. Leo chuckled to himself again, imaging the conversation unfolding, Sag and Aries making fun of him for being soft again.

With the dining room clean, Leo grabbed a hoodie and made his way to the backyard. Aries and Sag are fine. He had bigger problems, like his reawakening not happening.

"What's taking so long, Gods?" Leo asked up to the sky. "If you're gonna give me powers, might as well do it now!"

He sighed when no response came to him. Now the doubt was really settling in. Maybe Gemini was faking it on campus, just to be held. Leo shook his head at the idea, walking to his fence. She was quite the exaggerator, but she never cried.

"You want to take your time," Leo kept talking, mostly to himself as he jumped his fence. "I get it. The more time it takes, the cooler it will be, right?"

Clicking his tongue in the night, he wandered into the woods. He could get to Aries's place from here. Maybe he could help. Leo didn't want to bother him though. I can face this on my own.

Faster than a rocket, scorching pain shot through Leo's body. He gasped, dropping to his knees. The panic set in, but Leo bit his lip and shook his head. "Relax..." He told himself, his eyes watering from the pain. The forest around him was so suddenly dizzy, Leo couldn't focus.

Then the transformation started. Leo felt himself growing, changing. Into what, he had no idea. He just wanted the burning feeling to stop. At this point he was sobbing, his hands growing into claws.

There was one last brutal surge of pain before Leo passed out.

When Leo comes to, he's suspended in darkness. No longer in the forest, he looks around, then down at himself.

His hands were the same. Patting the rest of his body, Leo confirmed the rest of his body was normal, too. What the hell?

"Hello?" Leo called out, looking for a sign of life anywhere. There was a cold rush that sparked through him suddenly.