The Secrets of Zodiac Academy ✔

17 - The Ending

SHOUTOUT to @CampFangirls for being my 1k vote! Thx fam! :)

So after writing both versions of this, I decided this was the better ending of the two, so this is what stays. Hope you likey! See you down below! 👇

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"Who am I....?"

Time seemed to stand still for a second, the wind the only thing moving, blowing through the statuesque people sprawled across the floor. The principal turned, his eyes seemingly glazed over. "Me..." He muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Taurus and Aqua to hear.

"I'm not who you think I am."

He whipped back to look in front, staring at nothingness, a faraway look adorning his face. "I'm not who you think I am. I don't care about what you think I do. I'm not who I'm said to be."

Nobody spoke.

"It's sad, actually, what your kind has done to me. I proposed the idea, and you denied it. But that does not compensate for what you did before.

"What the hell?!" somebody called from afar. Taurus didn't turn to see who it was. "What are you?!"

"You see, this whole thing I'm fighting for isn't something new. I've been working for this almost my whole life!"

And then he did the unthinkable.

Mr. Stern reached under his chin, fingers digging into the skin and pulling up. The sound of skin ripping tore through the air (quite literally) revealing an underneath layer of-

more skin?

Under his plasticy mask lay a familiar face, human in every way, but red from tearing. The man looked slightly familiar, as if they'd seen him somewhere, but they weren't sure where. All it took was one swipe of the glasses the tall principal had adorned against his immaculate suit, a twist of the wrist to balance the spectacles onto the bridge of his nose, and the switches in everyone's minds on the roof clicked.

"Ted Cruz?!" Aquarius said, the corner of her lip twisted up in a humored smirk.

Mr. Stern - Ted Cruz - whoever this man was! - scowled, his lips turned downward. "Oh, that's who they all think I am. But I'm nowhere near as petty and awful as him. I go by..."

"...the Zodiac Killer."

Taurus turned looking at her peers behind her with question. However, her classmates seemed paralyzed with fear, their faces whiter than Mr. Stern's teeth. She crept backwards, crab walking slightly to her friend. "What...." she trailed off. "Who...?"

The man must've seen the confusion on her face, his features contorting into a painful scowl, eyes glazing over as if in deep thought. "It was years ago...." Aqua trailed off.

"The late 60's, to be precise." Mr. Stern said. "Even before that, I had a love for reading. Books, books, books and nothing else. One trip to the library, I discovered Zodiacs. The idea fascinated me, made me hungry for more, until I decided I needed them in my life.

"I don't remember how; it was too long ago, but I know I learned of people. Incarnations of the zodiac signs, they said, with crazy powers that could destroy as well as heal. I think you can guess what happened - I got even more obsessed.

"When a child loves something a lot, they want toys to show it. If you liked the Power Rangers as a kid, your parents bought you action figures. You were into Barbie? You got dolls. Unfortunately, they didn't sell Zodiax dolls. So I decided to do the only thing I could think to do - capture the people."