Oh emm geez I never thought Id get this far! I finally get to start dis story!
Um, this is the 3rd and final installment (Ohhh... tht was the word for it!) of the Zodiac trilogy. After this, I'll try 2 write lil' mini-adventures~ I hav a few kute ideas tht could get someone killed~
ALritey, enough of my rambling. Yall want 2 read dis story, so u shall~
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN THE TEEN TITANS, JUST THE ZODIAC. I JUST USED RANDOM NAMES, BTW, SO IF YOUR REAL NAME IS IN THIS STORY, JSYK, I DUN KNO U IN R-E-E LIFE, KK?
Prologue:
Eleven children limped into a deserted alley at a time before dawn, a look of defeat on their face.
Though none looked more defeated and worn as the head of the group, who was carrying the body of a young adult female.
There was no need to force blood out of the Zodiacs; they were all bloody and battered. Libra wiped blood off of her cheek and placed it on the bricks. After a second, the bricks opened up, revealing a pathway down into the sewers. Libra lead her team downwards, not even flinching as the dim light behind them faded as the tunnel closed up.
After walking a few steps, she turned to the disgusting, mildewy sewer wall and wiped some more of her blood on its surface. The wall opened up, revealing another corridor. Once again, Libra lead the way, holding the body carefully, so that she didn't brush the stone walls.
The hallway was short, and once again, there was a stone wall. This one appeared to be as disgusting and unappealing as the other walls. As Libra raised a hand to wipe more blood on the surface, a young child placed a hand on her arm, shaking her head. Libra nodded and lowered her hand. Scorpio flicked her blood onto the wall from a bloody cut on her palm, and the wall parted, revealing a sort of clean, well-lit lobby, a stunning contrast to the sewers from where they had just came. The Zodiacs stepped inside, and the wall closed up behind them. There were couches in the corner, and eight children were automatically upon them, falling almost instantly asleep.
The remaining three stood near the entrance, obviously exhausted.
"We had lost..." The realization had finally sunk in. Pisces had felt a tear fall from her face as she said those words.
"We lost more than the battle..." Libra still carried the dead body of her Zodiac comrade, Virgo. The pretty plant-wielder was almost unrecognizable from the many wounds she suffered in keeping the younger Zodiacs alive. Blood still dripped repetively onto the floor from not just Virgo's body, but from the three living Zodiacs as well.
"What shall we do, Libra?" Scorpio's eye were focused on her Leader and Mentor. "If they stay here for a long time, then we can't collect the blood we need. And if we can't collect the blood we need, we'll lose our powers."
"Our first priority at the moment is the vigil for Virgo, followed by the search for another Virgo." Libra said. "As Leader, it is my duty to prepare the body. Get some rest," she added to her Zodiacs, who were weary from battle and pain. "We shall hold vigil tomorrow night."
Pisces and Scorpio nodded before disappearing down a hallway towards their rooms.
"Pisces? Do you think we'll be alright? We've never lost with Libra before." Scorpio was worried. She remembered Libra's Leadership ceremony when Sagittarius died, about a year and a half ago, and how she was named Apprentice, since there were no other chosen Apprentices.
Libra hasn't lost in a year and a half, which is a record. But even though the records' been set, Scorpio's trust wavered.
"We're not perfect. Libra's not perfect." Pisces said. She's been around for two reigns. "We'll win and we'll lose. Simple as that. But," she added, seeing that Scorpio still wasn't convinced, "this was the most difficult battle the Zodiac's ever faced, and we didn't go down without taking some others with us."
Scorpio nodded, pride alight in her eyes as she remembered the two villians she had struck down. True, they were just amateurs, not even worth mentioning, but they were also dangerous.
The two Zodiacs reached their rooms, which were across from each other. Pausing at her doorway, Scorpio looked back at Pisces. "So, we will be okay? We won't lose any more friends?" she asked.
Pisces forced a smile upon her face. "We won't lose any more Zodiacs, Scorpio. I promise."
Reassured, Scorpio walked into her room and shut the door.
Pisces' smile faded. She had lied to calm the young Zodiac down. They've never faced a battle like this. Yes, members come and go, but it's never come to when the entire Zodiac lost so completely. To say Pisces was worried about the Zodiacs' future would be an understatement. She was completely, utterly, entirely concerned with not only her own wellbeing, but all the others as well, especially for their Leader, Libra. Now that Virgo was dead, Pisces was the oldest Zodiac. She needed to help in some way, other than fighting, which she was terrible at. Maybe healing. She was good with that.
Pisces yawned. Save the worrying for the next evening, when they'd have to deal with the new Virgo. It was time to rest.
Libra clasped Virgo's Tiara in her hand, the Virgo Crescent glittering in the sunlight. In her shadow form, she slunk down the crowded streets, flitting between the shadows of the happily chatting people and the cars that crawled along the busy roads.
The Virgo Crescent hadn't glowed in the hours she had spent searching for the new Virgo. She left just after dawn, after preparing Virgo's body for her vigil. Libra hadn't slept for almost twenty-four hours, but she couldn't rest until she has the new Virgo at the hideout.
Was it her imagination, or was the Virgo Crescent glowing?
Yes! It was! Libra was near the park. As she traveled further into the park, the Gem glowed brighter, until she could see, up ahead, the little girl that was to be the new Virgo. Dressed in the same green as the Virgo Crescent, she was sitting down on a park bench, seeming to wait for someone. Her green shirt and pants were tattered and holey, and, as Libra drew closer, she could see that her face was dirty, her brown hair oily and knotted from lack of proper brushing. She was an orphan.
Libra rose up in the bushes and walked up calmly to the girl so as not to alarm her.
"Greetings."
The small girl looked up at Libra. She smiled, and the Zodiac Leader noticed that her teeth were yellow.
"Hi!" the girl greeted her. "Are you here to help me find my mommy?"
Libra looked at the orphan questioningly. "Your 'mommy'?
"Yeah!" The girl stared off into the distance. "She needed to go do something, and she told me to wait here until she came back."
"How long ago was this?"
"A long time! So long, I can't even count that high!"
Libra thought it over. "How old are you?"
"I'll be four soon! On the second of September! That's when my mommy will be back" the girl said cheerfully. "Even though I'm not sure when that is..." Her face fell slightly.
Libra said, "Today is September third." The little girl's face fell even more.
"Oh..." was her only response.
"What did she look like?" Libra asked.
"She had pretty curly hair that was brown, and she liked this green." She indicated to her green outfit. "She dressed in it alot, even her hood! And she was really pretty! When I grow up, I wanna be just like her!" The small girl smiled.
Libra felt realization hit her like a punch to the stomach. The girl had looked familiar, and the Gem's reaction, plus the child's description of her mother confirmed it.
This was Virgo's daughter, who was desined to be the next Virgo.
"Child, I know where you mother is."
Nothing could dim the happy gleams in the child's eyes. "Will you take me to her?" she asked eagerly.
Libra nodded and extended her hand to the girl, who took it eagerly.
"My name is Alicia, by the way," Virgo's daughter introduced herself.
"I'm..." Libra's mind was a blank as they walked out of the park. She had forgotten her name. True, she never had a real name to begin with. It was as if she was born known as Libra.
"I'm known as Libra, Alicia." she said finally.
"Okay, Libra!" Alicia said. "Where are we going? I don't really know this place well."
"It's alright. I know where we are going." Libra turned down a seemingly dead end alley. She opened up a wound on her knuckles and sprayed the blood across the wall. The bricks parted, revealing a hidden pathway down into the sewers. Leadering the way, as Leaders do, Libra walked down the pathway without a moment's hesitation, pulling little Alicia along.
"No!"
Alicia's grief-striken wail pulled all the Zodiacs' attention to her as she tried to hug Virgo's body while it was laying in the coffin. The dead Zodiac had been washed off the blood, save for the blood painted on her forehead in the Virgo symbol. Her hair was now restored to its original state of a deep brown and faint curly wisps. She was dressed in all grey, the color of death in the Zodiac. Her jade-green robes hung nearby, rinsed clean of blood and shining softly in the dim light.
Alicia cried as she stroked her mother's hair, the closest thing she could do besides hug the lifeless corpse.
Libra stood nearby, unable to comfort the small child. Pisces placed a hand on Alicia's shoulder and gently pulled her away from the coffin and to a seat which was placed on stage for the initiation. After the child was seated on stage, Pisces took her seat among her fellow Zodiacs.
Once everyone was seated, Libra began to speak.
"It is with great regret that I announce what is already known: Our great comrade, Virgo, has fallen in battle."
Alicia began to cry.
"Virgo was nineteen years old, considered an elder among us, since we rarely live as long. She always sprouted hope of victory with her thorns. And she will always be remembered by her final act: Protecting all of you from the clutches of Death that she has fallen into herself."
There were sounds of crying in the crowd. Oddly, Libra felt nothing. But to everyone else, it appeared that she was just being a strong, confident Leader.
"Honorable Virgo," she continued, "please rest, for you deserve it. However..."
Libra walked over to Alicia and held out a golden tiara with a glistening green Gem imbedded within.
"In your supreme presence, Virgo, I bestow upon your chosen one your powers of nature. May she always use them to perform our sacred duty."
Libra took a breath.
"In your presence, I hereby dub this child Virgo, the Stubborn Gardener."
A brilliant jade-green light filled the large room, fading as soon as it came. The new Virgo was gone, as well as her mother's body. The Virgo Crescent was resting neatly on the chair, as if set there. Virgo's robes were gone also.
The auditorium-like room was filled with silence, waiting anxiously on the egde of their seats. Only Libra seemed calm, staring intensely at the tiara.
What seemed like hours later, though it was only a few minutes, another burst of the jade-green light was emitted, and Alicia was sitting back in the chair, the Virgo Crescent placed on her head and wearing the jade-green robes of Virgo.
Her tears were gone, and she looked powerful, radiating with a newly-implanted confidence.
"I graciously accept the title." Alicia said in an adult manner.
Libra nodded. The Zodiacs cheered as the Leader said the closing words:
"Welcome, Virgo, to the Zodiacs."