Museum of Stars- A Zodiac Story

Chapter 18: A Time to be Gone With the Wind

In Libra's Point of View

Gone with the wind sounds pretty good right now.

Don't get me wrong, Aries is a great guy, but I didn't really want to be stuck with him for a whole day of sightseeing. He was always rude to me and everyone else, and I didn't' feel like getting along with him today. I didn't think he wanted to put up with me either.

He kept frowning the whole day, and I couldn't bring myself up to ask him why. I felt like a puppy being dragged around from store to store; Aries chose every place we went and I didn't get to see the one place I wanted to go to.

"A-Aries..." I tried to say once, but he didn't hear me. He just went on walking.

But he did choose really nice places.

We watched people come and go in Teatro Real while sipping mango shakes, and when Sun rose a little too high this time and it was too bright, we stood under the trees' shade and watched a painter finish an artwork.

Aries nudged me to go over to him, and I paid the painter for a painting of something I instructed. The painter looked happy while his brush touched the canvas, and everything nonsense I seemed to say to him made sense in his mind. Aries watched it all, tapping his feet. Was he getting impatient? I got worried and whispered the instructions a little quicker.

People started staring and I felt nailed to the ground with all the attention. I kept muttering things even I didn't understand. I started saying the things I've read from Moon's developed language, which the painter didn't understand. The next second I was in my elementary classroom, reciting a poem I memorized for days, which words I couldn't remember.

And then suddenly, I saw Capricorn beside me, his hand on my shoulder and whispering the instructions to the painter for me. Through the canvas, I pictured what I wanted to see. I saw the exact image I wanted to portray. The painter's eyes gleamed and continued painting, but when he finished, Capricorn disappeared into the crowd. His image flickered until I could see Aries instead of him. I wasn't sure what happened.

Was it all an illusion?

The sun was about to go down, and we went to the Sorolla Museum. I thought Aries really wanted to get this over with- trying to find my fellow Air Signs' items in the museums instead of waiting around all day. But I was wrong.

He was actually doing this for me.

"I've heard you were the type of person who drew a lot. I bet you knew Sorolla, then?" he asked me when he finished his mango shake and we left the museum.

I was a little shocked, but I always perked up when I heard an artist. "Joaquin Sorolla, yes. He's a great painter. Oh, but I can't remember his longer name, though..."

Aries laughed. The first time I ever heard that. He looked at me and stopped walking. "So... can we go somewhere I want now?"

I didn't even consider if he wanted to go to the places we went to, or if he even enjoyed. "Were you bored?" I blurted out.

He shook his head. "Well... a bit. Only a bit. I actually liked watching that old stranger paint. You bought it, right?"

"Oh, yes." I was still holding it in my hands, in fact. All of the bags were with Virgo, Capricorn, Cancer, and Pisces- who were at the hut unpacking for all of us. "Do you want to look at it?"

He took it from my hands. I wanted to scold him, but I guess he had a long day of having to tolerate me. He stared at it for a long time. I wondered if he had seen the place on the painting before. After, he looked at me with longing eyes.

"Do you... Do you miss it?" I asked him. The painting was my childhood playground.

The playground was built by my father for me before he started to serve the palace and hardly ever returned. My mom wasn't any less generous after that though, she let me invite anyone over. Soon, it became the playground of every kid my age. And I remember Aries appearing there too. Often.

"No," he told me. It sounded more like a decision than an answer, though. Then he walked away, and all I could do was follow.

~~~

We reached the hut, and I looked at Aries confused.

"We didn't get to go where you wanted," I insisted. "We still have a little time. The sun is only about to set-"

"No," he said, the same way he said it earlier. "I'll live."

Maybe going to the place he wanted... Maybe he just doesn't want to be with me when he goes there. I think I'm overreacting here uh... well I wouldn't be so happy if I was questioned something personal. I shouldn't have done that...

A hand grabbed my shoulder.

I jumped. "Gah!"

"Hey."

It was Capricorn. He smiled at me. I didn't know what to do except squeak. Yes, squeak. Even my brain could be indecisive...

"I asked everyone but you," he hesitated. "And Aries. But I'll get to him later. Have you seen Scorpio?"

"Uh... no." My palms got sweaty. "Why- is he lost? Oh, no..." I paced back and forth. "What about Taurus?"

"None of us know either. But you have some sort of relationship with Scorpio, right?" he asked me.

I froze. "Uh... well, yes, I think."

We were friends once. When I was in elementary, he stood up for me. He even pretended he liked me so that people would stay away.

"Can you reach out to him?" Capricorn requested. "Then we can know his location."

Leo approached the two of us with a panicked expression. "We can't reach Taurus, and she's the only one other than you who has a close relationship with him. S'il te plait, Libra. Can you do the thing to reach Scorpio?"

There was this thing Master granted us. It was something in our minds that made us different from humans. We could see other people through their eyes, experience what they do, if we know them well enough. And as long as they're a different gender. I guess it just made this whole mission a little harder?

I concentrated and felt... like I was inside a sandcastle. I saw a huge sandstorm in front of me, and people were running around. Then it felt real. I was with Scorpio, who looked as if he fainted. He looked paler than he already was.

I shook him gently. He woke up in an instant, but seeing the sandstorm put a flame in his eyes. He waved it, and it was dismissed. Taurus fell from inside, the houses almost crushing her. The rocks fell on her head, but her power of strength kept her alive. She was scarred and bruised, as if she just went home from battle. Then I realized it.

She was battling Scorpio, helping him control his newfound power.

The both of them looked distressed, and I assisted them to the hut without a word. The people around looked at us, and it was official.

We were outlaws in Madrid.

~~~

The ten thanked me for saving Scorpio, and Taurus hugged me. She was really banged up, so she had to stay in her room for three days of cleansing her body from human wounds. Scorpio looked as if he just woke up from a nightmare, and wanted to see Taurus immediately, but the others explained everything to him. Capricorn pulled me aside.

"I knew you could do it," he smiled.

Deep inside, I knew it too.