The Rise Of The Signs/ a zodiac story

Chapter 5 (fluff but plot)

        The following morning of the party was a mess of hungover toddlers throwing chunks. The ones that weren't that sick helped those who were by keeping their hair up and giving them towels. Leo helped Taurus and Aquarius while Pisces helped Virgo and Libra. Scorpio was trying to get Aries to eat something that would help her to feel more awake and Cancer was scolding Gemini for not drinking wisely. Sagittarius was laughing at everything that happened before her.
         "That was a horrible idea Scorpio!" Pisces shouted from where he sat with his two patients. Scorpio just shrugged and muttered, "I thought they could take it...". He felt genuinely bad for the other members, although he could guarantee they had a blast the night before.
          Virgo finally stopped throwing up so he could lay down, his hands searched for something soft to lay on. They soon landed on the soft fabric of Pisces tee. He pulled himself over to the taller man and cuddled close to him trying to fall asleep. Pisces didn't dare move anymore than he had to so he could help Libra. When she too stopped throwing up he pulled her in to lay next to Virgo on his chest. From next to him Leo smirked and whispered to him, "And you say you don't have favorites!". Pisces frowned but didn't say anything as he shifted so Libra and Virgo's heads were on his upper chest and they were sitting on his legs. "I don't." He finally spoke as he reached over and snagged Leo's sleeve. Even with the thrashing adults pleads to be let go, Pisces dragged him closer to his body and sat him in his lap. He proceeded to clamp his arms around the annoyed man child to prevent him from leaving, "Go to sleep!". All the other signs got the memo and snuggled around Pisces to take a nap.

         It was around 2 o'clock when Aquarius woke up, she gently pulled herself from the pile of limp bodies. She smiled at the group, they were really one big group of siblings, they all loved each other(even if some won't admit it). She chuckled lightly as she made her way to her hiking pack, she rummaged through the largest pocket before pulling out a bag of trail mix. Aqua ate by herself for a while until Cancer woke up and drowsily stumbled over to the wall where her friend sat. "Mornin' sunshine, did you get your beauty sleep?" Aquarius teased. "Shove a sock in it!" Cancer retorted. She reached into the bag that Aqua had cradled in her arms, her hand retreated with a miniature mountain of MnM's and assorted nuts.

         "Whatcha thinking about?" Cancer asked Aquarius who seemed mildly tense next to the sharp shooter. "Oh, just wondering if the group, ya know, might split up..." The blue head answered fidgeting with the seal of the plastic bag of trail mix.  "Trust me we're not going to 'split up', we'll all be hobos together!" The crab chuckled light heartedly. Aquarius smiled and stood up, she set the bag of trail mix down on the floor and dusted herself off. She made her way to the pile of limbs and gingerly peeled Gemini from the stack, his head rolled over and his body slumped onto Aquarius' back as she carried him piggy back style. She reached for Cancer's hand and beckoned them to come outside along with her and the sleepy male. "Come on, we should go see if our rain bowls are full, I swear I heard rain last night.", Cancer smiled and walked beside Aquarius on the way to the front of the large building. She leaned over and rubbed circles on Gemini's back, "Hey, it's time to get up bud, do you want something to drink?" Cancer questioned the older gang member. Honestly the he acted like a little kid sometimes, but the others didn't complain, it was fun to annoy him when he came back to his senses after a good rest.
        Gemini never really knew what a loving family looked like, he ran from his at a young age. So he welcomed the warm greeting he got from the gang. He lifted his head ever so slightly and yawned, "Do I really need to get up at this hour?". Aquarius rolled her eyes, "Dude it's around 10 we should be up and running around at this point!". 

         The small group made it to were the gang kept there rain bowls in case of an unexpected storm. The dishes were made of clay they had dug up and baked in the sun, some of the pottery even had small doodles of flowers from when Sagittarius said that they were too dull and boring to be in her presence. Each bowl was filled to the brim with semi-clear water and they sat in pools of water that reflected the clouds above. Cancer rounded a wall that hid a makeshift plywood wagon, she pulled it out by its bent golf club handle and set it down by the clay bowls. Aquarius set down Gemini who grabbed the jugs that sat on the wagon and started filling them up with H2O, "We'll have to drain these through a shirt and boil the water.". Cancer shrugged and capped off two jugs she'd finished filling.

          When the wagon was loaded the three started their job back to the others, Aquarius was dragging a little behind with the water jugs in her tow. "So what do you think about the whole Washington Park thing?" Cancer asked as she nudged Gemini in the arm. "I don't know, don't you think it's a little strange how we found those letters in a hospital, an abandoned one at that.". Cancer furrowed her eyebrows and after a few seconds looked up at him again from where she kept her eyes trained on the ground, "It's almost as if we were meant to find them, or at least they were laid there for someone to find just maybe not us.". She huffed and shook her head, "I mean how would this guy know that we were going to look for some money and a first aid for Leo in the first place, Scorpio only told us why we were there when we got there. The envelope had to be for somebody else...". 

         "We should go look at the hospital tonight, just you me and Aqua. We may be able to get the cameras set up in a way to alert us if someone else enters the building." Gemini suggested. "Yeah and then we can see who the letter was really meant for!" Cancer stated, "We may just figure out who KING is!".

          "Okay so, Aqua, you up for the plan? We need you to set up the surveillance, but don't tell Scorpio or anyone else what we ar-, Aqua?" Gemini stared ion shock at the empty sidewalk behind them, "Aqua!". Cancer started to calmly retrace their steps, "She probably just went back to get a jug we forgot or something, she must be fine.".

           The two called Aquarius' name on the way back to the alley, when nobody responded they broke out into a sprint and rounded the corner to where they kept the rain bowls.

            "She's gone."

Author's note- okay so I know short chap but I really felt like I needed to put something out there, so here ya go. I have no clue when I'll have the motivation to write the next chapter, but I will try to get it done before Christmas!

Love you peaches!