Read the author's note at the end after you've read the story, please. It would be a big help.
The land of Aria was entering its second month of night and it had yet to see a hero. Feliciano suspected that the other lands were experiencing the same situation—fatigue, illness, and the loss of their respective guardians. (Then again, he could only speculate since the High Priestess locked Zodiac Gates and forbade anyone from going near them.)
Feliciano was a priest of the Aries—more of a priest in training, really—and had direct contact to his guardian on a regular basis. Ever since the night had taken over, the Aries suddenly disappeared deep into the Shrine. After that, constant thunderous noises could be heard from the top and minor quakes in the earth were felt.
None of the senior priest had understood what was happening. The Aries would never leave His people in such a challenging time, causing mass confusion and chaos. Had the Aries abandoned His people? That was one thing Feliciano refused to believe.
The Aries, Mathias as He liked to be called to further connect with His people, may be headstrong and impulsive, but He was a caring man and wouldn't do such a thing. Feliciano made daily trips to the Shrine, even if he wasn't allowed to enter, and did his prayers to their guardian. He prayed that Mathias would return to normal soon and come back to aid His people. Feliciano prayed that Mathias was unharmed and would be able to solve the mystery of the night's invasion.
"Feliciano, you're still out here?" asked one of the senior priests. "Son, it's nearly dinner time."
Feliciano looked up from his bowed position on the floor. This was the first time they were having dinner this week. He gave the older priest a small smile. "I wanted to keep the Aries company while he is…away."
The priest chuckled. "You will no doubt live up to your grandfather's legacy, Feliciano. I think you've serviced the Aries enough for tonight, son. Come, dinner is waiting."
"You may go along without me—I would like to finish."
"Of course. See you at dinner, Feliciano."
Feliciano nodded and turned back to the Shrine doors. They weren't locked, so that wasn't what stopped priests from entering. What stopped them was the dark energy coming from the hill the Shrine was apart of. It screamed anger and hatred and pain. Access to the Shrine had been cut off to the public weeks ago, allowing only priests to step in its direction.
Feliciano ignored the tugging in his gut telling him to leave (as he always did) and bowed back down to continue his prayers. He prayed that the lands would be united again. He prayed that the other guardians were well. He even snuck in a prayer about his older brother, Lovino, hoping that he was safe wherever he was and was having more fortune than they were.
'Feliciano…'
Feliciano's head snapped up at the call of his name in Guardian-speak. He knew whom the voice belonged to. 'Mathias!'
'I don't have much time, so I'll make this quick. When night trumps over day, one will fall from the sky to avenge the corrupt land. Can you remember that?'
Feliciano furrowed his eyebrows. 'Yes, I think so.'
'Good, I must get going. Tak.'
While the use of the Aries's own language made him smile, Feliciano tried to rush all his questions out. 'Wait, are you all right? What's happening? Why aren't the Gates open?'
'The fallen one will answer all the questions.'
'Mathias!' but it was too late. Feliciano could no longer feel the Aries's presence.
He leaned back, rubbing his forehead to ease the pain away. Guardian-speak was a highly advanced priest skill, one that took power. Feliciano had been able to speak it since he was thirteen.
"I hope you're all right, ve," Feliciano muttered to the Shrine doors. "We need you."
As if a response, a loud cracking noise sounded from the top of the hill where the Shrine ended, causing the ground beneath Feliciano to shake. A response filled with pain and longing.
Feliciano was taking his evening walk when it happened. At first, Feliciano thought it was a bird diving, but as it got closer to the ground its shape became more defined. It was a human. Feliciano could only watch in horror as the body hit the ground a hill away. He looked around frantically, hoping to catch the eye of someone who had wandered out of the eating hall. When he caught a group of thin, younger boys—thirteen, fourteen at the most; some of the Aries's orphans—he motioned them to come over. "Someone fell on the hill over there! Come help me check on them."
While the boys were slightly scared, they followed Feliciano. The young man ran as fast as he could, making it to the top of the hill in an inhuman time. The boys, once caught up, nearly collapsed out of breathlessness.
"Boys," Feliciano said softly, walking over to the person on the ground. "Come here and help me pick him up."
The person on the floor was a young man, probably around Feliciano's age. His hair was as dark as the Taurus's hide in his beast form, and almost as small as the Pisces in her human form. His chest rose with gentle breaths, almost as if he hadn't fallen from the sky. Feliciano knelt by the man's side, the boys surrounding him.
"How did he get here?" one asked.
"How did you see him?" asked another
"Is he drunk?" asked the last.
Feliciano looked up at the last one. "Ve?"
He shrugged. "Drunk people pass out, right?"
Feliciano eyed him a while longer before turning back to the man. How are we going to do this? I'm not strong enough to carry anything other than my body weight… "Boys, can you run and get some medics for me? Be quick."
The teenagers nodded, running back down the hill. Feliciano sighed and turned back to the man passed out on the hill.
"'One will fall from the sky to avenge the corrupt land,'" Feliciano repeated. "I hope you are the answers to our prayers, mister."
Day 1 - Arien Hospital
"Hey, you're awake!"
The back haired man looked to the door of his room, seeing the young priest holding a tray of food.
"I was thinking I'd have to wake you up, but this is much more convenient, ve!"
The black-haired man didn't respond. Feliciano was used to it.
"I was thinking that today after breakfast that we could try walking again! I know the first time you ended up collapsing, but you didn't have someone helping you."
The black-haired man simply nodded, taking a bite of bread.
"Are you sure you don't remember your name?" Feliciano asked.
The black-haired man nodded slowly.
"That's a shame. I bet you'd have a lovely name. Most people who look like you do."
The man looked at the young priest weirdly.
Feliciano blushed darkly, embarrassed. "I meant that in the greatest honor! You resemble the people of the Sagittarius, and his people usually have very flowing and beautiful names. Even the Sagittarius's own name, Yao Wang, sounds so beautiful. Feliciano Vargas is an all right name, but the Sagittarius people always have the best names. It's a known fact among the Zodiacs. I apologize if I offended you."
The man shook his head and turned back to his food.
"Um, ve, some of the older priests are considering having you sworn into the name of the Aries. If you want to, I can tell them you'd like to. The ceremonies are held at the end of every week. You'd receive a name, like the youth does."
The man looked back at Feliciano before nodding slowly.
"So you want to go through with it?"
He nodded again.
"Great! I'll tell the Namer he has someone else joining him this week." Feliciano thought of the other news he needed to tell the man. He came up blank. "I don't think there's much else to tell you. Would you like to try walking now?"
The man nodded again, already trying to pull himself up.
Feliciano let out an airy laugh. "Slow down, ve; let me help you."
The man allowed Feliciano to grasp his forearm wrap a hand around his back. He slowly stood up on wobbly legs, trying his best not to lean on Feliciano. Once he gained his balance, he stepped forward to test his legs. They wobbled slightly, but he still managed to stay up right. He took a few more steps, getting encouragement from Feliciano.
"I'm going to let go now," Feliciano warned before slowly removing his hands from the man.
The man stayed up right, walking more on his own.
Feliciano felt his heart warm at the sight. Our hero learning to walk again—I feel so happy, ve!
The man wandered around the room, albeit slowly, looking at every aspect he could.
Feliciano smiled softly when he saw the man play with the cherry blossoms that had been recently picked. "You like those?"
The man nodded, pulling one of the long stems out of the vase. He inspected it further, dark eye full of fascination. "Pretty…"
Feliciano jumped at his soft voice, the sound coming out of nowhere. "Excuse me?"
"The…cherry blossoms, yes? They are pretty," the man said.
"You can speak?" the young priest asked.
The man nodded.
"You know how to speak, but you do not know your name?"
"Yes."
"That's very peculiar, ve." Feliciano narrowed his eyes in thought for a moment. How could one know how to speak, but not know his name? Maybe it was amnesia. The man did fall from the sky. Feliciano let his expression soften again, smiling at the man. "I unfortunately have some errands to run so you are welcome to wander around the clinic. Return to your room when you wish to rest again. If you can't make it, just ask for assistance and anyone will help you. Be careful and don't get yourself into trouble, ve."
The man nodded curtly, putting the cherry blossom stem back into the vase.
Once Feliciano left, the man waited a few moments before walking towards the large wooden door. He opened it slowly, looking out into the hallway. It bustled with people: priest, nuns, children, and other patients. The man noticed they all shared one feature—a necklace that held a strange symbol resembling a "V". Whether it be wooden or metal, they all wore one around their neck.
He held a hand up to his own chest, not knowing exactly why he did.
"Hi!"
He looked down, noticing a small girl.
"My name is Britta. What's yours?"
He blinked, not sure how to answer. "I do not…have one."
Britta pouted. "That's not good. Are you going to get a name from Father Ansgar? Mama says he gave me mine."
He nodded.
"Yay! I'll go to the ceremony so I can learn your name, too. Well, bye, mister. I hope you get your name soon!"
The little girl skipped off down the hall, leaving him on his own. He walked out, closing the door behind him. He started down the hall, following the way Britta had gone. He nodded to the various people he passed, having small talk with some of the priests that asked about his condition. (It slightly worried him that all of them knew about his situation when he barely understood what was happening.)
The Clinic was a large building filled with patient rooms, a cafeteria, and a recreational center filled with unfamiliar games. (One such game was called "Ring of the Arien," in which one would toss a ring painted with fire and signs of the Aries about the width of a wrist onto a hanging hook. Children played on teams of three and each time the ring landed on the hook, a younger child would draw a line on the ground, symbolizing the point made. He thought it looked very tedious, but the children seemed to enjoy running around.) He saw many sick people brought in; all passed out and skin so tight it looked like the bones were popping out of their skin.
(He heard someone murmur about the "damn famine". He assumed that's why they looked so horrible.)
When his legs started to ache, he was walking down one of the recovery hallways. Recovery hallways were for people who were recovering from whatever they were admitted for and no longer needed nurses checking on them so often. He was current housed in the East Recovery hallway.
He found a bench to sit on and pulled his legs up to his side, rubbing his ankles. He hissed a little when he touched them, noticing that they were slightly swollen. Feliciano told him to ask for help if he needed it…
No, you can do this, he thought. His eyes narrowed in determination as he forced himself up. He was only able to take two steps before he collapsed on the ground.
Come on…
His legs refused to function with him and he couldn't pull himself onto his feet again. He let out an irritated grunt and let his head thump against the armrest of the bench. He figured he'd just sit there until someone walked by or the swelling went down. He waited for what felt like forever before he heard a door crack open. He lifted his head and looked up to see a young blonde man smoking a pipe while leaning against the door. His torso was wrapped in clean white bandages, like they had just been changed.
"What are you doing?" he asked in a gruff voice around his pipe.
The black-haired man looked around and shrugged. "Sitting?"
The smoking man looked at him weirdly. "Can you do that in your own room? You can grunt and bang your head all you want there."
"I would, but my legs don't work."
He looked at the black-haired man's legs. "They're swollen."
"Which is why I can't walk."
The blonde fell silent, taking a moment to smoke his pipe some more. "Where's your room?"
"The South Recovery hall," he replied.
The blonde smoked so more before answering, "I can carry you there."
He contemplated for a moment. That may be his only way back to his room. "I guess that's my only option now."
The blonde grunted before crouching down, his back facing the black-haired man. He noticed scared running up and down the blonde's back, some looking fresher than others.
"What are you waiting for?"
"N-nothing. I apologize," he stuttered out. He wrapped his arms around the blonde's neck and was hoisted up.
Large hands grabbed under his knees and pulled him closer. "Great Libra, you're light. Small, too, like the Pisces."
He didn't understand a word that was said to him. "What?"
"What?"
"'Great Libra'? 'Small like the Pisces'? What does that mean?"
The man looked over his shoulder at the black-haired man, his pipe still in the corner of his mouth. "Like the Zodiac Guardians? The Aries, the Taurus, the Gemini, the Cancer, the Leo, the Virgo, the Libra, the Scorpio, the Sagittarius, the Capricorn, the Aquarius, the Pisces? Any ring a bell?"
He shook his head.
The blonde let out a long sigh, smoke coming out with it. "Let's keep it simple then. The Pisces is the smallest of the Guardians, so it's a common expression for someone to say 'as small as the Pisces' or 'short like the Pisces'. 'Great Libra' is a personal habit because I'm from the land of the Libra. It's a common expression there. Here it would probably be 'Great Aries' or something akin to that because we're in the land of the Aries."
The black-haired man nodded his head in understanding. "Thank you for explaining that."
"No problem. Which room is yours?"
He looked around, noticing they were in the South Recovery hall. "The fifth one on the left."
The blonde walked up to the door, lifting his leg so he could open it with his foot. "Where do you want me to put you?"
"The bed is fine."
He walked over to the bed and leaned down to let the black-haired man fall onto the bed.
"Thank you, um…"
"Abel." Abel took a drag from his pipe. "See you later…"
"I don't have a name. I am told I am being named this week," he answered.
"Then you'll probably get some weird name that means volcano. The Ariens prefer tough sounding, ridiculous names. Half the people here have names that mean simple things like 'stone' or 'mountain'. Let's hope you don't get one of those names, yeah?"
Once Abel left, the black-haired man looked down at his lap. That was an…interesting first impression.
Hi, beautiful person. You might want to read this WHOLE author's note. I promise you cookies and booties if you read it all.
This is what I've had cooking on my laptop for the past weeks. Yeah, it took that long because I'm really putting thought into this. And it scares me. Here's the dealio-I have a tendency to stop in the middle of a story and refuse to ever work on it again. I don't want this to happen with this story. This is the dream video game I want to make, the TV series I would kill to write, the Webcomic I'd love to co-create. (I can't draw, hence "co-create".) But since I don't have the power to do any of that, I made it a fanfiction so at least other people could enjoy it like I do. But I digress.
What I'm asking for are betas and consultants. I don't care how many betas I get; the more the merrier. You could work out how the multi-Beta'ing would work; I'd give you full power of that. I also need video game fans. Huge fans of the Legend and Zelda franchise (which is what this story is heavily influenced by, especially Twilight Princess) are EXACTLY what I'm looking for. They'd be the consultants to parts that I won't name because it might give the rest of this arc away.
In order to be a beta, you must have:
-Written at least five stories that have comments OR prove that you have beta'd a decent story before
-Be friendly because you'll probably have to interact with other betas.
-Knowledge on how to write active sentences. I SUCK at those and consider them to be my major weakness.
In order to be a consultant, you must have:
-A sufficient amount of knowledge on Dungeon games (ex. The Legend of Zelda).
-Creativity and imagination
-The ability to withstand my ignorance when it comes to these kinds of games. I'll be asking questions.
That's the gist of it. Extra: you have to be able to do all the requirements. Not just one of the three, or even two of the three. I'm trusting you to help me through it all. I can make an estimated chapter index for you: about 60 chapters (hopefully). There are 12 zodiac signs, and I'm hoping I can give them each 3-5 chapters each.
Oh, and I don't want all of you being betas/consultants. I probably won't go over three or something.
PM me what you'd like to be and show me you credentials for that position.
By the way, this story will probably be HolPan, but not in dirty, sexy, copious amounts. You could probably look at it as a very deep friendship. (With kissing. Maybe.) But, hey, if my fingers slip, you were warned. If you are not a fan of this rare pair, have no fear! Fan favorites like Spamano, RoChu, SuFin, and USUK if you squint will appear eventually. Maybe PruHun if I'm up to it. (Don't count on it, though.)
Another thing to note: if this story doesn't get enough recognition, I'm afraid I won't continue it. I'm not doing this because I have low self-esteem and I'm begging for reviews; I'm doing this because I put so much effort into it and if it isn't liked then I don't want to exhaust myself writing it for two people. (Even though I'd love those two people dearly and cherish their booties.) So, tell your friends, your siblings, you parents, that hobo on the street if he has access to an Internet cafe, to prove they're enjoying this! I would be forever grateful.
There. That's the end. Start demanding your cookies and booties now.
P.S. This story won't be updated until I've got the whole positions thing worked out, so don't expect this to be updated next week or tomorrow or something. SO PM ME FOR POSITIONS AND SHOW ME YOUR LOVE IF THIS STORY IS TO BE UPDATED. WHOOP.
/actual end of me being a poopy.