It's a Long Story

Chapter Thirteen - Aries

I felt a hand wrap around my neck harshly as my body collided against the wall, I let out a yelp in surprise and in the corner of my eye I watched the lid to the freezer slam shut. My pale hand grabbed the person's arm that was wrapped securely around my neck, trying to gather as much force as I could to pull them away. 

My auburn eyes pierced into the mysterious person's dull grey eyes. My eyes widened to see it was the sports teacher himself, with his grey hair cut to a slick buzz cut and thin dry lips, his dull eyes narrowed in a scowl, "I'm pretty...sure this...this is child abuse." I spoke, my pitch growing higher and squeakier as his grip hardened around my neck to the fact I was breathing through my mouth. 

He let an animalistic growl gargle from his throat before he pulled his hand away and my numb body fell to the floor, my back sliding against the cool wall, I panted for breath, my fingertips lacing against the now red mark on my sore skin, "W-What was that for?" I questioned, looking up from off the ground. 

"For sneaking into my office with Chi and looking in places you shouldn't." he replied, jerking his body to his desk, "And before you ask, I sent Chi home, I'll have a word with them on Monday." 

"B-But sir, why is Molly's body in your freezer?!" I ask. He clicked his tongue, "It's for me to know and you to never, now please, leave my office and never speak of this again." 

I shook my head frantically in refusal, "No!" I yelled, "Molly was my classmate and I want to know why she's in your freezer!" I demanded, slamming my hands onto the desk, the impact caused my palms to sting a little but I disregarded the small whining pain in my palms and maintained an frustrated attitude, tone and composure. 

He didn't say anything but turned from facing the window, staring at me, I felt fear grow at the pit of my stomach when he sent me a harsh death glare, then a small crooked smirk appeared onto his face, "I find it rather unusual why you are not questioning why Molly is dead, you're instead questioning about the freezer."

I felt my face drop and a quiet gasp escaped my throat, the colour on my face drained as my eyes carefully studied his actions, "You're one of them aren't you?" he asked. My mind flooded through of panic, I decided it was best on playing dumb, "W-What are you talking about?" I asked, my bottom lip quivering as I stepped backwards, edging towards the locked door. 

"I'm talking about the zodiacs." he simply replied. Wait...is he here to kill me?! 

I let out a shriek as I jerked my body fully around and ran towards the locked door, banging my fists furiously against the door, "Let me out!" I cried out, "Someone help me!" I hit my fists harder and harder against the door, screaming frantically for my life. 

The teacher ran up to me, grabbing me on the shoulder forcing me to turn around, "Will you just be quiet!" he snapped, "I'm not here to kill you, I've had enough of that."

"T-Then h-how did you-" I began to speak, my uneven breathing calmed down and he slowly stepped away to talking distance, "If you're not going to believe me, I might as well just show you." he spoke. 

I watched as he walked to his desk, within curiosity I followed behind him, but maintained a distance, as he grabbed a pen off his desk and laid his hand firmly on the desk, "Hey, what are you doing?!" I asked in surprise, running to the table as he slammed the pen into his hand, and black liquid oozed out. I yelped out in horror, covering my mouth and averting my eyes away, "Ah, that's gonna leave a mark." he muttered, pulling the pen out of his hand. 

Cautiously, I turned my attention to his hand, my eyes widened in shock, "T-That's...ink..." I muttered in shock, "That's right." he replied, "I was the previous Aries who combined all the 12 zodiacs and spread it amongst the new group of elites, and unfortunately for you, you were one of them." he explained, "As soon as I set foot into the detention room, I knew the 13 of you where perfect for the roles, it was just left up to fait of which student got which." 

I guess it does make sense now. Through what I've seen I was told that Aries lived to pass on the power to the next generation and seeing the ink pouring out of his hand and after what he's explained, there's no doubt in my mind he was the previous Aries who lost the war. 

"You need to be stitched up, a loss of ink can cause in passing out of loss, right?" I questioned. He shook his head, "Nah, an Aries still contains the blood of an ordinary human it's just layered underneath the ink, so after the ink is emptied is when the blood will start to appear, and that's when I need to worry, that's why people have found it rather difficult to kill Aries unless they had a gun for instant kill." he explained, gesturing towards the still open wound, I peered down at it too. 

"Say Blair, if you don't mind me asking, what's your power?" he asked, I looked into his steel grey eyes, tilting my head lightly to a side, "The power of an Aries." I replied. 

He lightly chuckled, "Wow I'm sorry about that," he spoke, though through his laughing he seemed rather sympathetic, "Huh? Why?" I questioned confused. After his fits of chuckling he spoke up once again, "You won't achieve your full potential as an Aries until your time is up, as I still possess some of Aries' power, meanwhile the others are perfectly capable of their own potential, it just leaves you, I guess you could say you'll be the runt of the litter for a while." 

I looked down to his wound, "I guess I'm alright with that." I replied with a light shrug, he seemed unamused by my reply, "Very well then, you do you I suppose."

"This may sound annoying, but do you know anything about a supposed traitor?" I questioned just before the atmosphere faded into silence, he nodded, "Yeah only before all of the zodiac's died in grave battle of course." he said, "Really? What was it?" I spoke with curiosity. 

"It was a bright and shining blue glimpse in their right eye." he replied, using his none injured hand to point to his right eye and afterwards he grabbed the first aid kid that hung off the wall and opened the box up by the lid, "I have no idea what it meant but it's probably something you should look out for." he advised grabbing a bandage and wrapping it tightly around the wound, "And also, a word of advice, don't let anyone damage your hands or else you won't be able to access your powers, including changing your fate, that's an Aries' great weakness." 

I smiled, giving a determined nod, "I'll keep that in mind." 

After he did his best to tie the knot of the bandage with his free hand and mouth, he began to usher me towards the door, unlocking it as he did so, "Say, despite tomorrow being a Saturday, bring yourself and the others to the school grounds," he invited, "I could maybe teach you guys one thing or two." he said, he unfinished unlocking the door and I stepped out willingly. "Yeah, sure! I'll let them know!" I told him cheerfully. 

Just as he was about to close the door, most likely to do the work he applied to do when taking this job, I tried to hold the door open, "W-Wait, I-I can't keep calling you sir all the time, what's your name?" I questioned. 

He hummed about it in thought for a second, before drifting his steel grey eyes to meet my brown ones, "Just call me..."

"Aries."