Yeah in a super writing mood right now :)


Mala pushed the door into Arran's now-ready restaurant and held it open for Remy, who slowly crept in while still clutching his side. "You ok?" she asked.

"Yeah, docs said I just have to take it easy," Remy replied, putting his hand on the counter for support as he settled in one of the bar stools.

"So why'd you call us in?" Liam asked.

"Have any of you seen the news lately?" Arran asked.

"Pffft, who watches the news?" Mavis laughed.

"Ignore her," Tim said. "What's this about?"

Arran turned around and pointed to the TV that was situated right above the bar. He rewound the feed until he hit the beginning of the news. "Authorities are still baffled at the recent string of break ins all across Europe. Several museums have been broken into but what is most surprising is that nothing has been stolen! Museum staff conducted a full inventory of their priceless works of art and found that nothing was missing. Who could be behind these mysterious break ins?" When the report finished, Arran paused the TV and turned back to the six teens that simply looked at him blankly.

"Aaaannnd?" Drago asked.

"Several breaks ins, but not a single thing is stolen? Doesn't that strike you as a bit odd?" Arran asked.

"Absolutely, but why break in some place when you're not even going to steal anything?" Liam asked.

"Ah, but I believe something was stolen. How many of the Signs do we still have to find?" Arran asked.

"Um, don't tell me! I know this!" Mavis insisted.

"Virgo, Gemini and Scorpio," Tim listed off.

"You think one of the Signs has to do with this?" Remy asked.

"I do, particularly Gemini," said Arran.

"Oh! I know what's going on now! I gotcha," Mavis winked, tapping her nose with her index finger twice.

"Explain," Drago said.

"Oh my god, do I have to spell it out for you? Obviously we're dealing with some no good thief who's got a hold of the Gemini Sign. He breaks in to steal famous paintings and sculptures and uses the Gemini Sign to create exact copies of what he stole, which he leaves behind and no one's the wiser! As far as everyone's concerned, nothing was stolen but what they really have are just cheap copies while the thief has all the real stuff which he then sells for thousands and thousands of dollars! Am I right?" she asked Arran.

"That's exactly what I was thinking," he said.

"So where are we going to find this thief?" Tim asked.

"Well, I marked out all the places that have been broken into but had nothing stolen and my guess is, he'll be heading to France next. Plus I've picked up the Sign somewhere in Paris," he explained.

"He's probably going to the Louvre then. Do you know how many famous masterpieces are there alone?" Tim said.

"Oh this is exciting! Paris, the city of love!" Mala swooned.

"What makes it the city of love?" Drago huffed.

"Because it… because the sights and the language and…" Mala stammered before sighing in defeat. "Nevermind."

"All right, then. Let's go," Remy said, painfully pushing himself out of the stool.

"Whoa, whoa, you're not going anywhere," Arran stopped him. "You took a nasty hit from the Cancer Sign's armor and you're still not healed. If a fight breaks out and you get hit, you might make the injury worse."

"He's right, you should sit this one out," Mala added.

"Oh don't worry, I'll stay behind and make sure he doesn't do anything to hurt himself," Mavis said, moving over to Remy. She put her arm around his shoulders, but quickly withdrew it when he groaned in pain a bit. "What?" she asked, looking at the dumbfounded looks on their faces.

"You… sit this one out? You, Mavis 'always looking for a thrill' Callahan is willingly volunteering to not come with us to Paris to catch a master thief using a magical artifact to steal and possibly run into demons?" Tim asked, not believing what he was hearing.

"Uh, you guys are going to an art gallery. Major snorefest right there," Mavis said with a fake yawn of boredom.

"I'm sorry but did I somehow accidentally stumble into a rift in the space-time continuum and end up in an alternate dimension?" Mala asked.

"Please, I'd rather sit at home and babysit our little demon hunter than sit around in a boring art museum. Besides, I've been part of a good number of fights with the Shadow Legion already. Not gonna lie, kinda hit the quota when they attacked my house and tried to kill me and my brothers."

They all exchanged looks of confusion, still not believing that Mavis was volunteering to stay behind. "Well, if you're sure, Mavis," Liam said.

"I am, now shoo!" she said, ushering for them to leave. Just as Liam turned away, Mavis grabbed him by his scarf and pulled him back towards her. "Tell me every detail!" she whispered intensely with wide eyes and a serious look.

"Um… ok," Liam replied, prying Mavis' vice grip off his scarf.

Once the five of them disappeared into one of Arran's light portals, Mavis moved over to Remy and quickly took his arm. "Ok, you come with me!"

"Wait what? Ow, slow down!" Remy protested as Mavis pulled him out of the restaurant and to her house. She loosened her grip and didn't pull as hard when Remy protested in pain. "Ok, what's the big deal? You're seriously ok with sitting this one out?"

"Are you kidding? It's killing me inside that I'm missing the action!" she cried, digging her fingers into her hair. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to pass up on the action?"

"Ok so then what is this about?" Remy asked, sitting on her bed.

"Ok, this is a bit difficult for me to say. I mean, I've never really done anything like this before," she said, pacing back and forth in her room.

"I could really use some context right about now," Remy muttered.

"Ok, ok! I want you to train me," she said, sitting in front of him on her bed.

"Wh-what?" he asked, thinking he heard her wrong.

"I want you to train me," she repeated.

"Train you to what?"

"What do you think? Train me to fight!"

"Mavis, where is this coming from?"

"Ok, so ever since Hou Yi attacked my family, I've been feeling kinda… useless."

"Useless? Mavis you're not-"

"I know, I know. But if there's one thing I've learned from cartoons and movies, it's that the hero can only depend on their magic and gadgets for so long! Sure, I have the Coins with me all the time and I know how to use them. But what if, one day, I just don't have them? How am I going to defend myself in a fight? I mean, Liam, Mala and Drago all have their demon magic and killer fighting skills, Tim's a Chi Wizard and you've been trained to fight demons since you were a baby!"

"Technically since I was four," Remy corrected.

"Whatever. The point is, all of you guys can take care of yourselves in a fight. Me without the Coins? What hope do I have? So I'm asking, begging you to train me or at the very least, show me some moves!" she pleaded.

"Learning to fight is serious business, Mavis. I'm not sure if you have the discipline for it," he said.

"I do so have the discipline!" she argued.

"The Ryder Clan doesn't take on apprentices lightly, Mavis. Even my parents were strict with me. It's serious business."

"I can do serious! Come on, Remy just give me a chance! I'm not asking to become a Ryder hunter or anything, I just want to learn a few moves so I can defend myself in a fight!"

Remy sighed and stood up from the bed. He kept his back turned to Mavis as he thought about her request. "All right, fine!" he said, as Mavis happily squealed. She jumped off the bed and prepared to hug him but she stopped her. "But, I have a few conditions. One: you have to do everything I say."

"Yes sir!"

"Two: at no point can you make jokes about or mock me, the Ryder Clan or our traditions and customs."

"Aw, man you're really killing me here," she whined, but Remy gave her a serious glare and she conceded. "Fine fine, no jokes. Everyone's a critic," she muttered.

"And three: I expect one hundred percent dedication and effort. Do you agree to my terms?"

"Yes, but I have one condition of my own! I don't want the others to know about this. At least, not right now. Let's just keep this a secret between us ok?"

"Very well. We'll start with some basic forms."


"Tim, are you in yet?" Liam asked, hovering over Tim, who was busy typing away at his laptop. They were outside the Louvre in Paris in the middle of the night. If that thief was going to show up, it would be tonight.

"Liam, I'm smart and I'm good with computers. I can hack into the school's system and get any student's private information. But this is the Lourve! State of the art video surveillance and monitoring security system! I'm good, but I'm not that good!" Tim cried, closing his laptop.

"How do we even know he'll show up?" Drago asked, pacing back and forth impatiently. "And how do we even know he'll come here?"

"Drago, the Louvre is filled with some of the most famous paintings in the world! They'd be worth a fortune on the black market! I mean, the Mona Lisa is in there! Do you know how many people line up just to see that painting?" Mala cried.

"Why line up to see a painting when you can just look at it on the computer? I really don't get what the big hype is about," he replied.

"Drago does have a point though. We don't know that thief will even show up tonight," Arran added.

"Let me try something," Mala said. She reached for the orb around her neck as it expanded in her hands. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes and returned the orb in its smaller form to its place around her neck. "Ok, so I'm still having some issues with the accuracy of my readings, but I'm… seventy eight percent sure that thief will show up tonight."

"Well until then, we might as well wait around," Arran said, sitting down on the bench next to Tim.

Mala sighed, "You know, I always wanted to come to Paris, but I didn't think it would be to catch a master thief." At her comment, Arran, Tim and Liam all looked at Drago, who simply returned their looks with a confused one of his own and a shrug.

"Hang on, I hear something," Liam said, stepping forward. He held up his hand to quiet his friends as he focused his hearing. Someone was here and moving fast.

"How do we know it's our thief?" Tim asked.

"Gimme a sec," said Liam. He closed his eyes and opened them again, activating his new sight power. He had gotten the hang of turning it on and off since the power suddenly manifested when they were in Ireland. "We've got five figures inside."

"Security guards," Arran said.

"Yeah. Hang on, there's someone else moving on the inside," Liam explained, watching as one of the figures moved up to the other. Whoever it was, they were crouching, as if they were sneaking around and trying not to be seen. It came up behind one of the other figures, which was seated, and struck him over the head. "I think our guy might already be inside. One of the people inside just knocked another guy out. Let's go." Liam switched into his demon form and wrapped his wings around his friends, submerging them into the shadows below and transporting them into the Louvre. They were in the security room where the wall was covered in tons of monitors on the wall showing sections of the museum. Slouched in the chair was a security guard and he wasn't moving.

Arran pressed his fingers against the guard's neck and sighed in relief, "He's just knocked out."

"I don't see him anywhere on the cameras," Drago said, looking at the monitors.

"He probably hacked into the system and is looping previous footage. That's what I'd do," said Tim.

They left the security room and carefully made their way through the Louvre as quickly as they could without making too much noise. Any guards they encountered, Linos knocked out and moved them aside. Linos slowly peeked his head around a corner and saw someone dressed head to toe in black crouched near by the glass case that held the Mona Lisa.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to take things that don't belong to you?" Mala asked. The thief gasped and sharply turned around to see the five of them staring at him with their arms crossed.

"Also, you have something that doesn't belong to you," Arran said, holding out his hand. He spotted the Gemini Sign in the thief's hand and narrowed his eyes in a serious glare. He took one step forward and the thief suddenly bolted to his right and made a run down the hall.

"Did he really just do that?" Drago asked.

"I think he thinks he can outrun us," Mala laughed.

"Man, no offense, but sometimes your kind can be a bit stupid," Linos said, spreading his wings and taking off down the hallway after the thief. Linos easily caught up to the thief and landed on him, pinning him to the ground. "Oh quit struggling; you're not gonna shake me off." The thief turned his head to look at Linos, only to shriek loudly and desperately trying to claw his way out from under Linos. "Hehe, look at this guy. You'd think he'd never seen a demon before."

"All right, Linos stop playing around with the thief already," Mala chastised.

"Oh, all right, all right," Linos stepped off but before the thief could take off, Drago grabbed him roughly by the arms and pushed him up against the way.

"Yeah, that's perfect. We can leave him here and let the authorities catch him. Then I'm sure once they search your place, they'll find everything you stole," Mala said. She placed her hand against the wall. Crystals spread from her hand and across the wall, encasing the thief's torso and keeping the thief pinned in place. Arran moved further down the hall where the Gemini Sign had slid after Linos tackled the thief and picked it up.

"All right, get us out of here," Arran said, turning to Linos, who nodded and teleported them back outside with his shadow powers.

"You know, if Mavis was here, she'd say how remarkably easy that was," Tim commented.

"Well, what did you expect? The guy who had the Sign was just some regular thief and it's not like he could have taken us on even with the Sign," Drago pointed out.

"You do have a point. I guess we're just used to fighting either the Shadow Legion or spirits that haven't passed. It's honestly nice to have an easy one for once," Mala added.

"I'm just glad we got it back. Actually, I should probably dispel all those duplicates that thief made," Arran said. He pulled out the Gemini Sign and gave it a tight squeeze, causing the golden emblem of two women to light up before it dimmed.

"Nothing happened," Drago noted.

"Well nothing here happened. But every copy that thief ever made with this is gone. Once the authorities find him inside and search his place, he'll be going away for quite some time."

"Still can't believe it was that easy," Tim said.

"Oh, was it too easy for you? Allow me to make it a bit harder for you." All five of them looked ahead to see Hou Yi, Jun and Hei and An.

"Ok, if Mavis was here, she definitely would have said something to that," remarked Tim.

Jun took a few seconds to look around, puzzled at the absence of a certain individual. "Where is Remington?" he asked.

"Sorry to disappoint, but he couldn't make it today," Linos answered.

"Too bad," Jun remarked, pulling out his star sword.

Without another word, the two groups leapt forward into battle. Hou Yi immediately singled Arran out while Jun and the dogs fought everyone else. "Give me the Sign, Light-Bringer!" she declared, drawing her bow.

"You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands!" Arran shouted back, transforming into his demon form and drawing an arrow in response. The two archers began running around each other, each firing an arrow while dodging shots from the other. Arran summoned his light wings and took to the skies, firing down on Hou Yi. She dashed and rolled out of the way, but one of the arrows caught her cloak and pinned her to the ground. She looked up as more light arrows came down on her, but she blasted them away with a gust of her shadow wind. With another wave of her hand, she sent a gust of wind to knock Arran aside in mid-air. He struggled to regain his balance as the wind pushed him back. When he finally stabilized himself, he was too late to notice the three arrows flying right up to him. He quickly raised his arms to shield himself as the arrows pierced his arms. Arran cried out and fell to the ground and the Gemini Sign rolled out of his hand. Hou Yi smirked and thrust her hand out, commanding the wind to bring her the Sign. "It may not be from your cold, dead hands, but it'll have to do," she smirked confidently.

"No!" Arran shouted for her to stop.

She looked down at the Sign and squeezed it in the palm of her hand tightly. The sigil lit up and all of a sudden, five identical copies of Hou Yi manifested beside her. "Now this one, I like." On her mark, she and her five copies drew their bows. Arran opened a light portal and stepped through, appearing behind them before the arrows could hit him. He generated a small orb of light in his hand and threw it out in front of the army of Hou Yis. The orb exploded, unleashing a blinding, white light. The light didn't bother Arran and he looked to the ground, but frowned when he saw all six Hou Yis casting shadows.

"Dammit, I should've known that wouldn't work. They're physical duplicates not holographic projections," Arran muttered to himself.

"Haha, nice try," said one.

"But can you figure out..."

"...which one of us…"

"...is real?"

Arran looked all around him as the Hou Yi duplicates danced around him. As soon as he caught sight of one, it would disappear and another would take its place, only to disappear again and be replaced by another. He was trying to focus, trying to think of a way around this. Sure, the Signs belonged to him. Nobody knew their powers better than he did, well except for his mother at least. But even so, there were still some things he didn't know about the Signs. Gemini could create perfect duplicates of anything! There was no way to tell the difference between them unless you had the Gemini Sign in hand to dispel the duplicate!

"Catch us…"

"...if you can!" they taunted, disappearing into separate directions.

Arran glared angrily at the Hou Yis. If he couldn't dispel them now, but there was one other way to tell the real Hou Yi from the fakes. He quickly drew his bow and shot three arrows, each hitting one of the Hou Yi clones in the back. They all froze for a minute before turning white and disappearing in an instant. He turned around to the other three, who were already far away from him. He took off into the air and fired at another, destroying it as well. He caught sight of the last one running through an alley and shot Hou Yi in the shoulder from behind. The force of the shot knocked her down and the Gemini Sign rolled out of her hand into the street on the sidewalk. Arran quickly landed and took the Sign in his hand and smiled.

"Hehe." Arran's head shot up when he heard Hou Yi laughing. "It's not that easy," she sang. Arran gasped as the Hou Yi that crouched before him disappeared. He looked down at the Sign in his hand only to see it disappear as well.

"No!" Arran cried, desperately looking around for the sixth Hou Yi that was nowhere to be found.

Down the street a couple blocks away, Hou Yi peeked around the corner and grinned widely at the sight of Arran fretting over falling for her ruse. "Hm… You're quite useful. Maybe I'll keep you to myself!" She tucked the Sign into her armor and dashed off back to Jun, ordering them all to retreat.

"Did they get away?" Arran cried, landing in front of everyone.

"Yeah, did you get the Sign?" Tim asked.

"No, Hou Yi tricked me with my own Sign. I can't believe I fell for it! I'm such a fool!" Arran yelled at himself.

"It's ok, Arran. We'll get Gemini back along with Aries and Aquarius," Mala said, placing a reassuring hand on Arran's shoulder.

"Yeah, don't worry. And before you know it, we'll all be enjoying a victory party at your restaurant!" Linos added.

Mala's expression instantly fell, recalling the grim vision that she kept seeing over and over again… where Linos dies. She still hadn't been able to see anything different from that and she still hadn't told Linos anything about her visions or his impending doom. Her mother never said a word about the vision she saw of Mala dying! Was it because you weren't supposed to tell someone about their future? Sure that was an established rule in fiction, but this was real life! If she knew something bad was going to happen to Linos, she should tell him, shouldn't she? Unless telling him is what causes that vision to come true… Mala never wished more than now for her mother to be here because she didn't know what to do.


"Ok, that's enough for today," Remy said. He sat up and held out his hand, signalling for Mavis to stop. "I didn't expect this, but you're actually getting the hang of these forms pretty quickly."

"Well, nice to know you had faith in me, sensei," Mavis remarked with her eyebrow cocked and hands on her hips.

"You know I didn't mean it like that! And stop calling me sensei; I'm Chinese, not Japanese," he protested.

"Fine, fine. Sifu?" she asked.

"It's really not necessary," he insisted. "I'm just showing a few forms and moves as a friend. I'm not actually training you to be a Ryder slayer."

"Fine," Mavis whined, "So what's next?"

"Well, keep practicing those forms and make sure your posture is proper. I know what you're thinking and no, we are not starting with weapons."

"Awwww, why not?"

"No offense, Mavis, but my gut is telling me that I shouldn't give you a sword, at least not until I know you know how to use it properly."

"Well then when do I get a sword?" she asked.

"When I know you're ready. For now, we're learning the basics of hand-to-hand combat. That's where we started."

"We?" Mavis asked, confused.

"Me and my brother."

"You didn't tell us you have a brother!" she shouted.

"Yeah, well, we're not exactly close. We haven't seen or spoken to each other since our parents died."


Tzan Ren's punishment was gruelling. He was most displeased that his Commanders had failed yet again to acquire one of the Signs. He was getting desperate, which only made Tzan Ren more frustrated. When he finally finished unleashing his shadow lightning on them, Jun noticed Hou Yi sneak off on her own. Suspicious, he followed her.

Hou Yi looked around to make sure she was alone before pulling out the Gemini Sign. She smirked as she brushed her fingers over the face of the Sign. "I'll put you to good use," she grinned.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hou Yi turned around sharply and hid the Sign behind her back as she turned to face Jun.

"What do you want?" she hissed at him.

Jun said nothing as he advanced towards her and roughly pulled her arm from behind her back, revealing the Gemini Sign tightly in her grasp. "You lied to the master," he realized.

"Oh don't be all high and mighty with me, Jun! I will put this Sign to better use than master will. He has Aries and Aquarius and what has he done with them? Nothing!" she shouted, pulling her hand from his grip. "So, what are you going to do now? Go and tell master so that I'll be demoted again?"

"No," he said.

"No?" Hou Yi was taken aback. "W-why not?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"I'll keep your secret, Hou Yi. It makes little difference to me in whose hands the Signs end up."

"And why would you agree to help me?"

"Because I want you to help me with something. Do this, and I won't breathe a word to master about your… deception."

Hou Yi glared at him, but considered his offer. If Tzan Ren found out that she lied and was hiding the Sign from him, he would do so much more than punish and demote her. She hated Jun and she hated having to work with him, but she didn't have much of a choice if she needed to save her own skin. Begrudgingly, she asked him, "What do you want me to do?"


Now the next chapter is one that I've been super excited about. I literally wrote it all today after I finished up this chapter. But alas, I will have to wait a bit before I post so y'all can leave your comments :)

Next chapter: Remy deals with someone he hasn't spoken to in eight years.