They rushed through the dark forest, swerving past trees, not caring whether or not a branch came into contact with their faces. Cancer frowned slightly, he felt weird about the situation. He couldn't sense any tension in Sagittarius's mind. He brushed it off, his worry for Aquarius consuming him. Libra reached first, thanks to her practice on the track team. She came to a halt abruptly, causing Aries, who was close behind to bump into her. "Why did you stop?" Aries hissed. Everyone caught up shortly afterward, panting for breath. Libra pointed a quivering finger. They followed it to see a figure lying lifelessly a little way in front of them. Capricorn caught a glimpse of blue in the tree behind the figure, but it was gone as she blinked.

"Aquarius," Sagittarius whimpered and sprinted over. Again, Cancer still couldn't sense anything, in fact, he could almost sense a hint of joy in her mind.

"Wait! It could be a trap!" Leo yelled after her, but she was already kneeling down next to the body. They paused for a moment, however, when nothing happened they all joined her. Scorpio gently turned the body and furrowed his brows in frustration as he shot up.

"A DUMMY!?" He bellowed in surprise and anger. Out of the blue, there came the snapping of twigs behind the huddled group. They spun around just as a masked figure emerged. It jumped at them,

"BOO!" It shouted. They all screamed in unison. As their squealing died down, they noticed an eruption of giggles from behind them. They turned to see Sagittarius laying on the ground, her eyes were squeezed shut tightly and tears pricked at the corner of her eyes, tears of laughter. Her hysterical laughter was soon joined by the man in the mask. They stared at her as though she was mad when the man decided to take off the mask. It was Aquarius.

They turned back to Sagittarius, who lay on the ground. Aquarius held his stomach as though in pain and was laughing his ass off. It took a second for the rest to realize what was going on. It had been a prank. "That was not funny." Taurus finally said. "We actually got so scared for a second."

"Y-you should have seen your faces!" Aquarius spoke in between his bouts of laughter. Pisces pouted adorably,

"You scared us." He whimpered. Aquarius wiped away a few tears and advanced towards Pisces with his arms outstretched.

"Aww, don't cry Piscy," Aquarius wrapped his arms around him as Pisces rolled his eyes.

"Awe! Group hug!" Taurus exclaimed as he joined them. Soon they were all wrapped around each other, all apart from Scorpio and Leo.

"I hate hugs," Leo said,

"I hate affection." Scorpio agreed.

"Come on!" Gemini extended a hand to them, but they both shook their heads simultaneously. However, they weren't going to get away that easily. Before they could protest, Capricorn and Aries had gripped their arms and pulled them. Unfortunately, they had pulled a little to harshly and the two boys stumbled into the hug, resulting in everybody, the two boys included, falling down. As they lay in a pile on the floor, they caught each other's eye and they all burst into fits of laughter.

• • •

  Back at the campsite, they began to pack in for the night. "One more song!" Virgo shouted as Pisces sat down with the ukelele in his lap. "How about... Budapest?"

"Hmm, interesting choice, let's do it," Libra replied, plopping herself down on the bench next to him. A few of them exchanged confused glances, but as Pisces began to strum with his skilled fingers, recognition dawned on their face. They sang their hearts out, as though it was the last time they were going to sing. Their laughter echoed through the quiet woods.

  As they finished up and Sagittarius put out the fire. They all crawled into their separate tents, the thin fabric separating them from the harsh wind that had picked up suddenly. Aries shivered, she suddenly felt something being draped around her shoulders and saw that Leo had given her his jacket. He winked at her and walked off. She sighed and walked to her tent, she didn't have the energy to shrug it off. Desperately trying to hide the small smile and blush that was forming on her face, she ducked quickly into the tent, mumbling a quick goodnight to the others. "You saw that right?" Pisces whispered to Taurus, who was standing next to him. She looked at him,

"Saw what?"

"Aries blushed when Leo gave her his jacket," He smiled, he had always liked to see a bit of romance, he thought it was cute. He turned to see Taurus still looking at him. He ducked his head, realizing that she probably thought that he was meddling in other people's business. "It's not that I was eavesdropping or anything, I just happened to see that he did that and I thought it was quite cute. Of course, they're probably just friend-" Taurus placed a hand on his shoulder and stopped his rambling. She hid a smile as he stopped his nervous chattering.

"Yeah, I saw it too." He visibly relaxed and smiled sweetly at her.

"Well, goodnight then!" He said as they neared his tent. Taurus smiled,

"Goodnight." Before she could establish what was happening, he had pecked her cheek softly and rushed into his tent. Her eyes doubled in size and she placed a hand on her cheek where he had kissed her. She shrugged it off, telling herself that it was just a friendly gesture, however, she couldn't stop thinking about it. Meanwhile, in his tent, Pisces's eyes suddenly widened. Had he just kissed Taurus?

  Cancer stood up as everyone went to their tents. He and Gemini were the only ones left and she didn't seem like she was going to move anytime soon. He was about to get up and go to his tent when he saw a tear fall from her eye. He silently moved and sat next to her. She jumped and quickly wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. She had thought everyone had already gone. Cancer jumped up with her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!" He said frantically, holding his arms out as though he was taming a wild beast. She calmed down, as did he, she realized that her fright had been transferred to him too. She hated her power.

"No, I just thought I was alone. It wasn't you." She sighed and sat down again, her head in her hands. He sat down next to her again and placed a hand on her knee. She looked at it and sighed, "I don't like how we're separated from our lives. Everything I thought I knew is not true. I don't like having powers. I want to be normal!" Cancer nodded during this. She appreciated that he wasn't talking during this. She just needed to get it out. "I don't like my power, especially because people can always know how I'm feeling. Usually, Emotional Manipulation is to make another person feel someway. But I don't know how to control it and everyone ends up feeling how I am and usually, it is fear. It makes me feel vulnerable, and I don't want the same thing that happened to Taurus to happen to me. I can't push away my demons." There was a short silence. Cancer seemed to be thinking about his answer.

"I understand how you feel, not because you are making me feel the way you are by the way," Gemini let out a small chuckle, "It's because I felt the same as you before. You need to understand that your feelings don't show vulnerability. They show who you are. They determine that you are human. Everybody has feelings, and you don't have to be ashamed of them." he finished his answer with a comforting smile. He was secretly quite proud of his answer. Gemini looked at him and took his hand. She squeezed it lightly and smiled at him. It was a real genuine smile,

"Thank you." With that, they parted and headed off to their tents. Gemini's spirits had been lifted and Cancer felt satisfied with himself. Soon, everyone was asleep, and the only sound in the still night was the sound of the rustling leaves and the occasional snore from one of the tents.

~~~~~~~~~~

A/N I thought that that was quite a sweet ending. I really want to point out there the moral of this chapter near the end.

Fear isn't a weakness. I have a lot of friends who don't like to show when they are sad or scared because they think that it makes them seem weak. No. You are human, all humans have feelings, whether it is happiness, sadness, fear. To be scared does not mean that you are weak. It simply means that you have limitations, and you should always strive to push those limitations.

Anywho,

Don't forget to vote and comment!

Yours truly,

Zodiac Lover No.1,

Leslie