Mental Case - A Zodiac Story

The Silver Sickles

Leo

Leo could feel himself spinning in an imaginary darkness. He could hear faint voices, but they were not loud enough for him to process properly. He let the folds of gloom envelop his spirit as he allowed himself to drift away. If this is what sleeping feels like, I should get knocked out more often, he thought to himself. But part of him wondered what was going on in the conscious realm.

As he worried for the safety of his friends, he said goodbye to the rest he could have had and forced himself to open his eyes. He felt the throbbing in his head immediately, as if a hundred  horses were having a chariot race inside his brain.

"Leo!" A familiar voice called to him.

It took him a moment to focus on the person speaking. "Pisces?" He asked.

"Thank God you're awake." Pisces seemed relieved, but his face was pretty beaten up. Leo had no doubt that he was in the same state. "Do you remember where we are?" Pisces questioned.

Leo nodded. "Yeah... Where are Taurus and Gem-- I mean Leto?"

"Just over there." Pisces chin pointed to the right. "They dealt with the woman who attacked us."

"Oh. Her." Leo said sourly as he rubbed his sore cheek. He looked over to where Pisces had pointed. Effectively, the woman was hanging limp with a rock needle skewered in her chest.

He glanced at Taurus, who was being half-carried, half-supported by Leto. His legs were shaking visibly and his eyes were trained on the floor as if he didn't have the energy to look where he was going.

Pisces got to his feet and offered Leo a hand, which he took and pulled himself up. He blinked to try and get the dizziness under control.

By mere coincidence, Leo stole a glance back at the woman's corpse. But instead of blood, a brown mud-resembling substance oozed from her wound. He instinctively pulled Taurus and Leto away, and stepped back. 

"What are you doing?" Leto asked, her guard raised.

Leo didn't have to say anything.

"To think you'd find a way to hit me..." The woman's voice was slurred, but it sounded entertained, maybe even satisfied.

Leo watched in horror as she melted away from Taurus' spike, and reformed completely unharmed. She brushed herself off as if nothing happened.

"You're one of us!" Pisces blurted out. Leo looked at him, not understanding how a monster like her was anything like them.

The woman smirked. "Sounds like sweet little Doctor Orion lied again."

"You know him?!" Leo cried out.

The woman shook her head. "No, but I've heard stories. I come from another... institution."

It took Leo a couple of seconds to figure out what she was saying, but Pisces replied instantly. "So there are other hospitals like our one that do the same thing... And you got powers because of it. Why didn't they keep you? Your experiment was obviously a success."

"I'm glad you think so." She smiled a genuine smile, but it was sad too. "It manifested late so they disposed of me before my body had the chance to react to the drugs."

"Looks like we're having a fun little story time here." A cheerful voice came from the shadows, which Leo didn't recognise. But it sent a somewhat nostalgic shiver down his spine. "Have you explained everything, Lyra?" A short man walked calmly into the light, closely followed by Sagittarius' group.