Aries

After the mall trip, our hall was divided into three groups and led off by different adults.

My group consisted of just Sagittarius, Virgo, and me. Walking in front of us was Orion.

"Hey, it's perfectly fine to have varying emotions at some point. Joy, anger, sadness, jealousy- that's what makes us human. So, it's okay if we all don't get along in the group. But acting on that aggression?" Orion asked us. 

"A great outlet?" I suggested.

"Acting on that aggression means you have no impulse control." Orion chided, raising an eyebrow and turning around to look at us.

I glanced away from his scrutinizing gaze, even though I knew it wasn't just aimed at me. 

Finally, we stopped in front of a door and the four of us filed in. Orion shut the door behind us as I looked around. It was an extremely plain room, on the smaller end, with whitewashed walls and a few clunky-looking chairs set against one wall. 

"Go on, take a seat." Orion urged, motioning towards the chairs I just mentioned while walking up to the front of the room.

"Are we in trouble?" Sagittarius finally blurted out, seemingly unable to take it anymore. 

Orion blinked, before answering the question hesitantly. "No, of course not. We just need to go over some things."

I sighed. Why couldn't they just give us a straight answer for once? If they're gonna sugarcoat it so hard, why tell us in the first place?

"Now, I'm sure you recalled what happened on the mall trip we just went on." Orion started after a pause just long enough to make us feel uncomfortable.

How could we not? It happened a few hours ago, idiot.

"That probably wasn't the brightest moment for any of you, and I jus-" 

"Please, just get on with it." Virgo sighed. "We get it, we're in trouble. We acted out. We're not your perfect little patients, unlike all the others, okay? Just tell us our punishment."

Even I blinked in shock at that, and I felt Sagittarius stiffen besides me as we both turned to look at him. 

"Virgo, Virgo, the purpose of this hospital is not to make you our "perfect little patients", as you say. Our goal is to help you feel better so when you eventually go back out, you can fit into the world as feel safe and secure without us there guiding you.

"So is that why you had two people tailing Leo and Pisces the whole time?" Sagittarius cut in. I glanced over at her. She was sitting up straight, eyes intense and focused. I'd never seen her this concentrated before.

"That was for the benefit of both of them. Leo is prone to pick-pocketing, as you all probably know, and it would've been a terrible hassle if security had gotten involved. They were merely there to prevent that from happening." Orion explained. "And as for Pisces, his schizophrenia has been getting worse lately. We needed to keep an eye on him in case he has one of his... fits, in public." He finished. 

"So this whole thing was a setup made by you guys to test how good we are with "normal" people?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, it was a small examination on our parts, but it was still fun for you guys, wasn't it?" Orion countered. 

"And we're the kids who flunked the exam." Virgo sneered, throwing his hands into the air. White gauze was neatly bandaged around each of them. "So? Spit it out Orion, what do you want from us?"

"We want nothing except to help you adapt better to the outside world." Orion answered smoothly. "You will not be punished, we merely took you here to explain what we thought you could've handled a bit better."

"I screamed at and tackled a kid. I know perfectly well what I did wrong." Sagittarius huffed.

 "You found me with my hands bleeding red all over in the bathroom." Virgo added crossly.

There was a moment of silence as all eyes landed on me, and I sighed. 

"I punched some guy because he cut me in line... what? It was for Chick-fil-A, I love Chick-fil-A."

Orion blinked, before regaining composure. "Okay, so you all know your mistakes. What do you suggest you do about them?"

"I'll try keeping my temper in check." I said, starting it off this time.

"Maybe be less of a perfectionist?" Virgo spoke, almost shyly.

"I don't know, think things over before I do them? Yeah." Sagittarius finished.

Orion just looked over us all, before dropping his head slightly. But all of us could see the thin smile lingering on his lips.

"You kids are really something. Well, learn from your mistakes, okay? We truly are here to make you the best self you can be, and please try to accept your help. That's all I really needed to tell and hear from you, you're free to go back to your rooms now."

There was an unspeakable tension as we entered the room, but as we left, it had faded away, replaced by something close to hope.

And for some reason, there was this nagging voice at the back of my head insisting I could myself be friends with these people.

------

Capricorn

"Do you guys want the good news or the bad news first?" Ophiuchus asked us. We were all gathered in a loose circle, sitting atop beanbags in our recreation room. 

No one answered him, so Ophiuchus just shrugged. 

"I guess I'll give you the bad news first, since it actually makes more since. The mall trip you guys went on was a test." 

I sighed. Of course it would be. We were in a freaking mental hospital- no way they would let their oh-so crazy patients out into public with just the purpose to entertain them. I looked around me and saw that the other four around me were exchanging nervous glances.

"But, the good news is, you guys all passed with flying colors!" Ophiuchus exclaimed happily. 

Nervous glances turned into relieved smiles, and I felt the tension in the room visibly decrease. 

"So, your reward, you could call it, is a small break time that you guys will spend in here." Orion explained. "There's several games and such for you to enjoy yourselves, isn't this nice?"

"What about the others?" Aquarius asked cautiously. Smart girl. If the ones who passed got a reward, what about the ones who failed? I thought, nodding in approval.

Ophiuchus gave her a smile. "Ah, don't worry about them. "They're just in the other room getting some check-ups."

Bullshit.

"Are you going to stay with us?" I piped up, voice as innocent as I could make it.

Ophiuchus nodded. "Yes, I'm here to oversee you guys. But other than that, have fun!" 

With that dismissal, our circle broke and we all headed over to what we wanted to do. However, as I picked up a half-solved rubiks cube, a tentative hand landed on my shoulder.

"Capricorn." I heard my name hissed softly a second later, and I dropped the cube back into its box. 

"What do you want?" I gritted out, startled and annoyed by the surprise greeting.

"Look, you're probably the only one here I can tell this to. You don't believe that they're just running check-ups in that room, do you?" Aquarius asked, eyes flickering nervously at my angry expression.

"Why should I care? Do you have a boyfriend in there or something?" I shrugged her off. 

Aquarius' eyes clouded over with hurt, and I couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt.

"No, I don't suppose you would've. Sorry for bothering you." She said, turning around slowly. 

I sighed as I watched her go sit back down on one of her beanbags. Then I felt angry at sighing, because why was I sighing in the first place? I was at this place to supposedly "get better", not make friends! 

Whatever. I'm really starting to grow soft.

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I don't know what to say here for once, lol. 

But uh we actually hit 5k reads on this thing, and I never even announced it lol. If you guys want, I'd be willing to write a one-shot or a short story about something that you can request. I'm just really bored right now, so, uh, it doesn't have to be zodiac-related but um yeah. Feel free to ask, I'll probably put it in my tags/other stuff book, I'll tag you if you requested it.