Zodiac War

Fox in Sheep's Clothing

A few days later, I met up with up with Edward again.  I found out that he was in graduate school and also that he was a lot older than he looked.  He was 33 already while I was only 22. It wasn’t that much of a problem to me though since I wasn’t looking for a relationship anyway.  We got along very well and spent the next few weeks getting to know each other better. Slowly, I was gaining his trust and once that happened I’d be able to find out more about the EZT.  But he had a surprise in store for me today. I met him at his college campus and he said, “I know I’m too old for you, but I want you to be my girlfriend.” I stared at him in shock since I hadn’t expected this at all.  I didn’t even know how to respond. Should I tell him that I had a girlfriend and stay friends or accept and pretend to be his girlfriend, so that I’d be able to find out the info sooner? He seemed about to apologize for asking so abruptly, when I said, “Yes.  I’ll be your girlfriend. But first you’ll have to tell me about the EZT. I know you work for them.” He looked surprised for a second, but then asked, “You have a mark too, don’t you?” I showed him and he seemed relieved that he wouldn’t get in trouble for spilling their secrets.  But little did he know that I only wanted to know so I could bring them down. Or at least bring down their current way of thinking which involved killing innocent people while hunting down the people in the opposing team.

I slowly found out about a lot of their motivations and the inner workings of the EZT.  He tried convincing me to join the company, so that I could be trained, but I was adamant in staying away.  I knew that they’d recognize me regardless of my disguise if I ventured in there. I had started my training with them in the past, so there was no way I could go back.  He slowly seemed to get suspicious of the fact that I didn’t want to meet any of his friends from the EZT and that he could never get any information from me on how I had gotten my mark, nor much else from my past.  It seemed like it was time to dump him. I asked to meet him in the woods, so we could have a peaceful talk, but he seemed to know what was coming. He walked into the clearing and said, “Let’s make this quick. You want to break up with me since I’m getting too close to the truth, right Hestia?”  I had been about to tell him a half lie, but hearing him say my real name made me quickly scan the woods around me in case this had been a trap. He laughed and said, “So I was right. You were only using me for information. There’s no one else here. Don’t worry.” I looked at him suspiciously, but concluded that he was right since I hadn’t been captured yet.  Before he had a chance to leave or bring me in danger though, I created a wall of fire all around him. I knew he’d be stuck. His fire element would only increase my power and my fire cage would slowly consume all of his air. Once he fainted, I’d be able to bring him back to the others, so they’d be able to help me figure out what to do with him.

He looked all around him for a way out and then seemed to realize that up was the only way out.  I didn’t know if he’d be able to get out that way, but before he had a chance to try, I closed off his only chance of escape.  He then looked at me and said, “Why?” “I can’t let you find me and get me captured before this is all over,” I replied. I just sat down on the ground and waited.  He slowly got more desperate to get out, but only succeeded in burning himself any time he tried using his air powers. It didn’t take much longer before he fainted.  I was about to extinguish the flames when I thought he might be faking, so I decided to throw a rock at him first. He didn’t flinch, so I guessed he was really out cold.  I extinguished the flames and started figuring out a way to drag him back to where the others had last been. Just in case, he came to before I got there, I tied his hands behind his back, tied his legs together, and put a hood over his head.  I couldn’t think of an easy way to get him there, so I just started dragging him along the ground by his arms. Luckily, our meeting point had been quite close where the others had last been. I got there and Adrian immediately threw his arms around me.  He seemed to have been worried about me and was happy to see that I was safe. And then, he saw the person I had left lying on the ground not too far away. He slowly backed away and said, “It’s not dead, is it? You wouldn’t be any better than them if that was the case.”  Before I got a chance to reply, we heard a groan from Adrian and he started squirming along the ground. I was about to knock him out again, when Adrian rushed over to him and helped him sit up and removed his hood. Meanwhile, Talise rushed out of the car to see what the commotion was.  She also hurried over to Edward and started untying his hands. I was about to warn them that we didn’t know what he’d do, but it all happened too quickly.

The moment his hands were free, he grabbed Talise around her throat with one arm and around the waist with the other and then shot up into the air.  Adrian and me could only look on in shock as we saw them quickly disappearing in the distance. We hadn’t even known that air powers could manipulate the air around them in a way that would allow them to fly.  Adrian turned to me, and said, “Do you mind explaining who that was?” I replied, “No time, we have to get Talise back before he gets to the EZT.” “You do realize he’s not from the EZT if he has air powers though, do you?  And charging after him isn’t a smart thing to do. That’s probably exactly what he’d expect,” Adrian said while grabbing my wrist and preventing me from charging back the way I’d come.