[completed - under editing]
[last chapter edited - 8 | setting a trap for yourself]
"You're told all your life that you're broken, insane, mentally ill. And then you're told that you are going to repair the world."
᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽᯽
Thirteen...
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Taurus
I catch a glimpse of Sagittaria's shocked face. It burns across my memory even after everything else disappears and tendrils of pain grip my brain, blinding me. I feel my lips parting as if to utter a scream that does not happen.
And then I feel a falling sensation, as if I'm flying, but in a very bad way. I release a muffled scream before something thick and warm wraps around me and slows my descent. Carefully cracking my eyes open, I see Vienna below me, vines curling around her wrists and stretching into the sky to slowly lower me down. A deep graze is already bleeding from her upper arm, maybe from when she hit the ground. I doubt she's noticed yet.
I wrap Vienna in a tight hug as soon as my feet touch the ground, "Holy crap," I murmur, "thank you."
"It's alright," Vienna laughs awkwardly as she steps away. I glance over the surroundings. Thin rock is under my feet, pockmarked with small craters. The air smells putrid, like rotting flesh. Yellowish–white structures protrude from the earth, looking familiar, and yet as if they'd crumble to dust at any moment. And somehow, I know instinctively exactly what they are. Corrupted rib bones. The thought sends shivers down my spine. And now I'm sure that we're in the right place. A river curves around us in an almost perfect circle, the little islet that we stand upon raised relatively high. There is a large steel disk in the center of the islet etched with odd words. Half of them are illegible, the others mashed–up words that I can't decipher. A green stone set into the center mirrors the acid seas of Deleias. It feels ... unnatural.
Peridot tumbles through the portal in a flailing mess of limbs that seems almost theatric. Vienna looks at her in distaste and doesn't even bother lowering her to the ground as blood drips down past her wrist and onto the ground.
Leilani, meanwhile, takes pity and lowers her down using air currents. Peridot safely lands and heavily leans on Ari's shoulder for support, as he's the nearest to her. His face registers surprise for a brief second before he gently pushes away. Peridot's lips curve downwards into a displeased expression and removes her arm from his shoulder, but their shoulders are brushing. Last to be thrown through the portal is Sagittaria, clutching the arrow to her chest. Vienna gladly lowers her down. Sagittaria's eyes flicker to Ari and Peridot before her gaze hardens into solid amber and she resolutely turns her head away. It doesn't take a genius to see the pang of hurt in her expression.
Ah, angst. Funny, because the Deadpools never can recognize it for what it is.
I raise my eyes to the horizon, but there's nothing. Just the bubbling, poisonous–looking river. Also, it's a sickly whitish–green and I'd be willing to bet that the consistency is sticky, just by the way it sluggishly moves. It looks disgusting. And probably carries toxins.
"What's that?" I point at the river and state the obvious, "that isn't water?"
"No shit," states Caprice in a deadpan. My eye catches on the green stone and an uneasy feeling grips my stomach again. I see it then. Two glowing green eyes peering out of the center, and I recognize the oppressing feeling. We're being watched.
