Twelve

ch 5: Awakening

Meg and Ini squealed in delight. "He remembers!"

"Quiet down," Ra barked. "Just because he said a few things doesn't mean he remembers."

"Always a downer ain't ya?"

"Blah blah tell us more tell us more," pressed Sariu.

"Oh. We died. So many times."

"Enough. Give us a substantial answer. Who are you?"

Sci frowned and replied, "Scorpio. But not quite."

"Not quite isn't good enough. Put him back under," Ra ordered.

"Wait. Ra; you are not in charge," Eran calmly reminded.

Sariu's compressed laughter softened the tense mood. Although she was silenced by a smack on the shoulder from Meg and Ini.

"There is no way that we can get anything done if he's not even himself!" Ra cried angrily. "We need answers."

"Ra, you took days to reacclimate. Calm down. Give him the tracer, then go back to your room."

At this, Sariu burst with laughter. In between gasps she said something along the lines of "You got sent to your room."

Ra tossed a rock into Sci's lap. He grunted and lifted Sariu up by her shirt collar. "If I have to go to my room then you're going to yours," he grumbled as he dragged her away from the living room.

Sci turned the rock over in his hands. It was more of a marble really. Smooth and round, it was streaked with maroon and royal blue. When Sci closed his eyes, he was nearly blinded by the light that emanated from it. He winced as a pain went through his head.

When he opened his eyes, he wasn't in the shabby apartment living room, but instead, he was in the library of an old castle. Sci saw himself asleep at a table and realized that he was just rewatching past events.

He saw Eran, Ra, and another one of his brothers arguing. The brother that he didn't recognize stormed out in a fit of rage. Suddenly Sci gasped. That was Leo. Leo the strongest of them all. But Sci knew that the strongest of them all was now trapped.

His mind continued traveling through the ages and decades. The minute human part of him reeled in confusion but the ever-awakening zodiac part of him was bursting with joy. His human side could barely comprehend things like his ever being a girl, or being alive during the Renaissance Era.

The flashback finally came to an end. Sci was not in his body, but instead he was hovering above it. Scorpio decided that it wasn't necessary yet to return, so he traveled to the other rooms. Sci observed his brothers and sisters. In their sleep, their worries and anxieties were obvious. Unlike their wakened selves, fear was etched in all of their sleeping faces.

Something tugged in Sci's chest. How could he just observe them when they were all so tortured by their fears. He should be helping them. Sci knew what as torturing his brothers and sisters for it was starting to torture him as well. There was an impeding feeling of death surrounding them all.