cosmic chaos ➣ a zodiac story

v - the traitor

✦✧✦

"HELL! IT'S ALL gone to hell!"

Kaede angrily shoved his desk chair in and threw a bunch of scrolls and pens onto the floor. His study that was once sparkling clean was now cluttered with stationary sprawled on the floor, with papers spread out on his desk, and ink spilled on the floor.

From the doorway, Via watched unamused. "You're so sensitive, that's going to be the end of you if you don't grow up and realize that throwing a tantrum will not help anything."

"I'm not throwing a tantrum!" Kaede seethed, anger burning in his eyes. He stomped on the ground, turning a part of his floor into hard metal. "It's just that all the pressure is on me to appeal to one side of the conflict, wait, no. There are three sides to the conflict, and I have to choose the one I think is most reasonable. Yet, none of the sides are reasonable! All of them are so brash and impulsive and are not taking any proper chances. How am I so supposed to work with that?! Especially now that we're facing hunger problems because of the spread of Eikonoha's ice into our agricultural territories, and our water source comes from the freshwater seas of Heinami! How am I supposed to appeal to both nations if they'll require some sort of treaty that will bias my choice?!"

Well, he has a point. Still! He can't get so angry about these problems! Via's eye twitched. "Stop being so childish!" She retaliated by lightly tapping the tip of her boot onto the floor, disintegrating the metal into its original, raw materialized form of minerals.

"What — how did you do that?!" Kaede asked, astonished at his younger sister's new technique.

Via hummed in disinterest. She lifted her cream-colored sheath dress and shook her booted leg in the air. "Oh, that? It's a really hard sahara mana technique. I came up with it last month, but I haven't seemed to master it. I suppose it's because my connection with terra mana has always been weak."

"Woah — "

"Don't get off subject here!" Via warned her older brother. She sent him a piercing glare causing him to slightly stiffen up and fix his posture. Via then patted his dark hair as if he were a pet. "You need to suck up the fact that a mini-war is going on. If we don't make a decision soon, it'll become a real war!"

"But, Via, I can't — "

The Crown Prince of Choseki was interrupted by his sister pulling his ear. "Come on, idiot! You're the heir! The future king! What type of leader do you want to be? Well, prove that you are capable of leading by making a decision. Right now. Fix this mess and look over the scrolls. Analyze the situation. Make out of it whose right and wrong." Via's words were true and full of passion. And for a second, Kaede felt like she was leading a battalion into battle and giving them a pep-talk.

Kaede blinked before nodding sternly. "Fine . . . just give me a few minutes."

Via nodded with a soft smile. "Understood, bye, idiot." The middle sibling grabbed a few scrolls off of Kaede's messy desk and walked out, shutting the mahogany door behind her.

As soon as Kaede heard the door close, he sighed.

"All of this is such a mess! Why are they even siding? What conflict? Where is the solid proof!" Kaede cried as he picked up his utensils and scrolls of the ground after he swept the sand up. He brushed away all of the fan-mail and love letters, trying to find something important. "This is all ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!"