Horoscopic

a q u a r i u s

"And so it begins, the Council and their story... well, more like Aquarius and Capricorn just having a little disagreement. However, our little chapter doesn't end there..."
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Ophiucus High's swimming pool was actually pretty nice, for school property. The walls were tiled in different shades of grey, polished and seemingly brand new. The floors weren't much different, only the tiles were a variety of other colors. The pool itself was about half the size of an olympic-sized pool, the water glistening with light from the solar panels on the ceiling as well as other windows on the sides. Typical for a rich kid's school, of course. Ophiucus was one of the top academies in the state.
In one of the pool's lanes was a young man doing laps, around his late teens. A respected member of the swim team, Jason was often surrounded by friends and other girls who seemed to take a liking to him. With pale skin, bright blue eyes, and a well-toned and fit build, he was very popular with his peers. His blonde hair was a little too long for his liking, but it didn't affect his popularity the slightest.
Jason swam one last lap before helping himself back up to ground level, out of the pool. "Man, that was a great session," he said cheerfully as he dried his hair. "I think I would've broken my record..."

But his good mood only lasted that moment.

Footsteps echoed on the polished floor as the blonde spoke. Jason looked up, noticing a familiar face walking toward him in the school's female uniform of a navy blazer over a white shirt with a red tie on it. Her matching navy skirt ruffled around as she took each step. She was a Spanish transfer student a couple years younger than him who happened to have a coral red hair color from her dad's side of the family. The girl was only an average student in both academic and social matters, but she was kind of cute. At least, to Jason, especially with those bright, amethyst eyes of hers. Two braids dangled from the sides of her face, with one having a clip with a star fastened by it's base, and her short hair was neatly curled like usual. However, she clearly wasn't happy today. Her stride, the way she crossed her arms, the look in her eyes and her facial expression, it was plain obvious.
"What is it now, Rose?" Jason sighed as he stood up. "Lucky for you, I just finished up."
"I can see that," the red-head scoffed. "And you know what this is about."
Jason raised his eyebrows. Rosalinda was the Council's Capricorn representative, and one of the more serious representatives. If she came to talk to someone about something alone, she meant business.
"You know we can't talk about the Council business in public," she began. "And yet you and your little pal decide to mention her at lunch. You're going to scare people with that kind of thing, you know?"
"I can't really help it...I'm just worried about her. And there's still the debate over whether we should find a replacement or not-"
"I'm just saying, you have to be careful about what you might spill is all.."
Jason tensed. Says the one who's talking about it, he thought. "But what about it?" Jason asked. "The Council's current state isn't very stable without her. Besides, there's no one here. And now that one of our most important representative is dead-"
"Dead?" Rose said, her expression turning more serious. "You can't just say that Erin's dead, she's not stupid enough to get herself killed out there. I say we just give her time to return. In the meantime, we'll get the other side of the Council back to their senses."
The blonde just stood there like an idiot, stunned. Libra was gone, and Rose still managed to stay calm and have some kind of backup plan? Then again, it wasn't very surprising-

"Are you even listening to me?"

He quickly snapped out of his daze, looking up to the gleaming, violet eyes of the goat-representative and her stern expression. Rose was normally tolerant and all, but her patience was clearly getting thinner.
"Yeah, yeah, just let me get dressed first and you can rant all you want on the way home," he scorned, and turned away in the direction of the guys' locker room, earning him a thousand more protestant screams from his fellow representative.
Jason sighed as he made his way through the locker room. The Council's been pretty uneasy lately, so I can't exactly blame her for being more impatient than usual...
Changing quickly and tying his hair into a low pony-tail (which he was not very fond of doing), the blue-eyed male left the room through the other exit. Normally, he'd glance at the pool a few times before leaving, but he didn't need any more stupid questions from Rose. The redhead would only interrogate him some more, and he didn't need that right now.
He slowly walked through the empty halls. "It'd be nice if I got a break for once," he murmured to himself. "All this Council stuff is giving me a headache...
As Jason reached the front entrance, he was just about to reach for the doorknob-

"Jason?"

Jason looked behind him to find that Rose had caught up to him. She'd always wait for him by the entrance anyway, and she never complained about it. All he had to do was give her an excuse to leave her behind and Rose would buy it.
"Ah, sorry," he explained. "I've just got a lot on my mind today... will you be okay by yourself?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine," she replied. "Stay safe, okay?"
He nodded, opening the door and walking down the steps onto the streets of town.
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The walk back home wasn't as pleasant as he had hoped. If you could call it walking home.
Jason looked both ways before crossing the busy streets. Even with the loud blaring of honking horns and the noisy chatter from the civilians surrounding him, his mind was distracted, wandering somewhere else. Taking a few glances at the nearby shops and cafes, as well as the gleam of newly-bought cars racing their way down town, the blonde seemed to be stuck in another world entirely.
Rose had a point back there, he thought. As much as I hate to admit it, the fact that someone can just randomly disappear could scare anyone. That is, if they actually witnessed it.
The Council's obviously stressed out... at least, the barely half of us that aren't corrupted. But as for the rest of us... who knows what's going to happen?
"Hey!" he heard a voice behind him call out.
He had already gotten on the other side of the street when he heard this. In other circumstances, he'd think it was directed at someone else, but Jason could recognize that voice from a mile away, belonging to one of his closest friends.
Marcus was a few inches shorter than his fellow Aquarius representative, with jet black hair spiked in the back and thin, hazel eyes. People wouldn't really notice his eye color at all though, since they was covered by his silver-rimmed glasses. His body frame wasn't exact one from the magazines, but it was average enough to be considered healthy. Wearing a red hoodie, jeans, and a new pair of grey and red Jordans, Marcus caught up with his blonde friend, but screeched loudly as a navy blue convertible almost hit him in the spine as he quickly jumped out of harm's way.
"You should really be more careful," Jason warned as he sighed in relief.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Not the first time I've almost been hit, but so far, so good!" Marcus yelled as he gave a thumbs up, rubbing the back of his head.
The blonde gave his friend a weird look, that at the same time gave a message that he was used to Marcus getting reckless. "Seriously, man, we don't need you getting into a hospital. Not after what happened to Erin..."
Marcus' smile faded, his eyes shadowed over. "I know." he said, his confident expression returning. "But we're going to find her! And I'm not gonna stop until we do!"
Jason grinned. Typical for Marcus to be all pumped up like this, since he was an Aries representative and all. Even if he was reckless sometimes. It reminded Jason of the times before now, when he would go out to sporting events and arcades with Marcus and Leo. Leo would always be ready like I'll get that high score today, and Aries replying with No way, you can't even get on the score list and the two getting all competitive with each other, challenging each other and chucking popcorn at each other and asking Jason which one of them is more likely to win and whatnot. The three would be smiling and laughing and fooling around like the world wasn't watching, like the night would always stay young and they'd have moments like this every day of their lives.
Leo...
The name rung in Jason's head about a million times, if not a billion. It had been months since he heard from the fierce, energetic representative that used to be one of his homies. To think Leo would be the one to leave first...
Marcus seemed to catch on with his friend's thoughts. Jason could hide his feelings when he threw words around, but his true emotions lied in his eyes if you looked hard enough.
"I miss him too, Jason," he began. "We'll get him back somehow."
Jason sighed. "I hope so... well, I better be getting home."
"I'll tag along if you don't mind. We live across from each other, after all."
As the duo walked the rest of the way to their homes, silence remained unbroken between them. Neither of them said another word, due to the mention of Leo and Erin. Leaves blew around in the wind, their warm colors dull and their parts slightly ripped to shreds.
What broke the silence wasn't a conversation, but a slight pinch in Jason's neck that made him turn pale.
"Are you okay?" Marcus asked. "You don't look-"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine. It's probably just a stiff neck or some....thing..."
The world around Jason seemed to freeze in time.
"Jason?"
Jason's entire body felt numb, his weight seeming twice as heavy, his knees trembling and falling to the ground on their own. Pain coursed through his veins, making every part of his body burn. He fell to the ground, motionless, his head making a "thud" on the concrete-
"JASON!"
And the blonde's vision turned pitch black.
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"An interesting fate lies in store for Aquarius and Aries when they write the next chapter of their story... who knows what'll happen?"