Sagittarius's POV

Thanks to Aries, he made sure I could sneak out from the window upstairs since everyone stayed downstairs after eating breakfast. I just know that whatever I'm doing right now, I have to make it quick. Three hours tops.

I was at the library now researching about Ophiuchus. It was super boring. None of the books about him say how I can destroy him. I know he's immortal, but there's always a loophole, right? I groaned and slammed the book shut, leaving a loud sound to fill through the quiet library. I didn't care though. This was so boring. I just need to remember why I'm still here.

I got up and placed the book back on the shelf it was before. There weren't even a lot of people here. I can't blame them. Libraries are boring!

Ugh! Why do I have to be in this situation?

I started growing impatient looking at stupid books. I didn't even enjoy reading. I just wanted to know! It's not like I could ask Ophiuchus myself. Well, I could, but he wouldn't give me the answer. Who the hell would ask anyone, "hey, how can I destroy you forever so that you can finally be dead and not destroy my friends?" I sigh at my frustration and started to leave the library.

When I left, I could see that Lupus woman walking on the street on her phone. She was texting somebody, but I didn't care. I'm more important, and she knows about Ophiuchus! Maybe she can help!

"Lupus!" I yell, waving a hand.

She looks up at me, smiles, and puts her phone in her purse that she was carrying. I ran across the street to catch up with her. "Hey, Sagittarius. Where are the others?" she asks me.

I was panting. "U-um, I was just at the library. Everybody's celebrating Scorpio's birthday. We don't get along, obviously, so I decided to just take a walk around here," I lied. Well, kind of. I wasn't completely lying, but I'm sure she believed me anyway.

She nodded her head in understand. "Ahh, okay. Well, I was just headed home-"

"Is there a way to kill Ophiuchus?" I ask, interrupting her statement.

Her eyes widened, and I could see her flinch at his name. "W-why? Has he been here?" she asks me.

I shake my head. "Oh, no! It's just that you got us a mansion to keep track of each other in case he does come. It's been making me wonder if there was a way to kill him since he's immortal, right?" I say. I was seriously patting myself on the back on the inside. The whole con-artist and lying side of me really paid off. I sound more convincing than I would if I told the truth.

She was thrown back for a quick second. "W-well..." she began to say. She was hesitating just a bit and closing her eyes trying to think. "There... isn't," she finally says.

My whole expression changed quickly, and I could see that she noticed it. "A-are you sure?" I ask. "Is there not some loophole? Not even with immortality?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm afraid there is not. If I do find out, I will let you and everyone else know. I want him dead more than anything and more than anyone else does," she says, twittling with the handles on her purse.

I look up and sighed. I wasn't frustrated at Lupus but at this whole fate thing. This means Ophiuchus will get each of us. I almost shivvered at the thought, but I didn't want to seem too concerned. I was never like that. I had to act normal.

"Hey," she says, putting a hand on my shoulder, "there isn't a way to kill Ophiuchus, but there is a way to prevent him to take any of you away."

I shook my head. "But how?"

She still had her hand on my shoulder which was kind of weird. It was like she was talking to me like my mother. Or how a mother should be. "The twelve of you have to get better at your powers. I'll start training each of you in a few more days. But I have to warn you, it won't be easy."

I smirked. "I like not easy. I can handle that," I said.

She gave me a worried look. "I sure hope you can," she says.

She was rubbing my shoulder with her thumb now which was really comforting. I haven't let anyone comfort me except for two people. My dad and someone I promised myself never to mention again.

"The whole process is going to take a lot of time, Sagittarius," she says.

I widen my eyes. "How long will it take for us to actually be prepared?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. It could be months. Maybe a whole year," she says.

"Fuck," I mumble under my breath. My heart started to beat rapidly as I thought if we had enough time before Ophi really is ready to take us all.

Lupus giggled just a little bit. "But don't be frightened yet, Sagittarius," she says, "he's not here. I doubt he'll be here until another year or two."

I nodded my head in agreement. "Yeah... yeah, you're right," I said.

If only she knew.

We were both smiling now. Suddenly, her phone started to ring. We both looked at her purse, and she took her hand off my shoulder to raise a finger up, telling me to wait a quick second.

She picked up her phone, and I could barely hear, but I could tell it was a male's voice.

"Hello?" she says.

I waited patiently for Lupus to finish getting off the phone. I just stood there with my hands in my sweatshirt pockets and bounced on my tiptoes.

"I know. I'll be there later. I'm talking to somebody right now," she says.

I wanted to eavesdrop, but it was really no use to it anyway. I still couldn't clearly hear the male voice that she was talking to.

"Sagittarius," she sighed.

I looked at her when she said my name, but her back was still faced to me. The guy on the phone probably asked her who it was that she was talking to. She's probably having those overprotective boyfriend issues. I laughed thinking about that.

"I know, I know," she sighs again. "I know. I'll be there later. I just need to finish talking to her. It's kind of important," she says. She then hangs up the phone and turns back to me.

I was looking at the ground during that time and looked back up to her and smiled as she focused back on me.

"Sorry," she says, rolling her eyes while smiling and waving her phone in her hand. "This was kind of the reason why I couldn't go to the party yesterday," she says, chuckling, almost sounding a bit embarassed.

I wave my hand at her. "Ahh, it's fine. Did you have to leave right now?" I ask, not even noticing I was still smiling at her.

She shook her head. "No, he can wait. This seems to be more important," she says, letting the cold, autumn wind blow through her hair. She looked like a fucking model this way. It kind of made me jealous.

"Okay, well," I began, looking at the blue morning sky then back at her, "what will our powers even do to him since he's immortal?"

She pulled a strand of her black hair behind her ear. Her hair length was only a few inches passed her shoulders. "All of your powers together can create a new hell for Ophiuchus," she says.

My eyes widened. "But is this one temporary like the other?" I ask.

She shook her head. "I-I really don't know. But I do know that the twelve of you together are far more powerful than the sorceress or socerer who trapped Ophiuchus in the first place," she says. "It'll include your element power and individual."

I nodded my head in understandment. I think I actually understand it. "Will it be the same hell he went to before?" I ask. She gave me a weird look. I didn't notice that made me sound suspicious thinking I know what his hell was like. I had to keep my cover on that one. "And what was his hell anyway? What was it like?" I ask, trying to sound clueless about the fact I already knew.

Lupus was biting her upper lip. "The hell that Ophiuchus will go to again may be the same he once were or maybe even different. That depends," she says, ignoring my last questions.

"And what his hell was like?" I ask, impatiently.

"I don't know his hell personally, Sagittarius. But I do know hell isn't only about fire or the devil or whatever you learned. The sorceress or sorcerer who trapped him in hell didn't even know what his hell was like. But I do know that whatever hell he had was the biggest fear he had," she explained to me.

"Okay," I began, trying to wrap my head around things, "so whatever Ophiuchus' hell was like, was about his fear?"

She nodded.

Lupus' eyes were kind and genuine when she talked to me. When she talked to my friends too. I liked that. I know she's older than me, much older than me, but she was kind of like a mother figure. The complete model of what a mother should've been. Although she still looked a few years younger than me and was completely super hot.

Just thinking about my own mom made me mad though. I swear I've hated her for about the longest. And then I ran away at 15. Then I found happiness again. Then I was broken. I started getting angry again. I made sure I didn't show it in front of Lupus. She was still standing in front of me. Thinking about my real mom and the stupid incident after I was finally happy reminded me not to trust anybody.

Don't get me wrong, I believe Lupus and every word she's saying. But I know better than to trust people that easily. It took a while for me to even trust Aries and Leo. I managed to trust theose two after I found out they were just like me. Fire elements.

Lupus was still standing there, probably waiting for me to say something, but I never did. "Sagittarius, I'm about to go now. Is that okay?" she asks.

I snap out of my horrid thoughts and nodded my head and gave her a smile. "Y-yeah, of course. Thanks for everything, Lupus."

She gave me a smile and placed her hand on my shoulder again. She then started to continue walking the direction she was going to before I ran up to her. I let out an exhausting breath as she left.

I was taking a long walk now without even realizing. I was just so caught up in my thoughts about the whole Ophiuchus thing.

Most people fear snakes, some spiders, clowns, dying all over again. But Ophiuchus told me what his hell was like. He told me there was nobody there except for the remakes of our world. I couldn't imagine that. Being alone for one thousand years. I could barely tolerate feeling neglected for 15.

Wait.

Being alone.

Ophiuchus was alone.

That made perfect sense. Ophiuchus' fear was the thought of being alone. That made me shivver. I actually feel kind of bad. But it does make sense, right?

He finds ways to contact me, knowing I want nothing to do with him. He considers me as his friend. He wants me to come and see him almost every day too. At first, I thought it was because he wanted to make sure I haven't told anybody about his arrival, but now I see the true reason. He's just lonely.

My heart dropped at that. He even wanted to meet my friends. I don't want to risk my friends' lives. They're still in danger. I know Ophiuchus still wants his revenge on whatever reason, but despite that, he's actually just lonely.

I stop walking to whichever direction I was headed to. I never sympathize people, but right now, I see what he meant. He was completely right.

We were the same.

I took out my phone and started dialing then put it to my ear. The phone only rang twice which was pretty quick. I couldn't blame him. It's not like he had anything better to do.

"Hello?" the voice said.

I exhaled a breath, not even believing I'm actually doing this. "Hey, are you home?" I ask. I facepalmed. That was a stupid question. It's not like he could go anywhere else in the open.

"Um, yeah. Why?"

I smiled. "Good! I'm coming over, so unlock the door."

°°°

When I arrived at Ophi's house, I walked up the creaky stairs, of course. I already knew he'd be in his room watching those stupid cartoons. I walk up to his open door, and I was right!

"Hey, Sag," Ophi says, not looking up from the TV screen.

I walk in and sat beside him on the bed with my legs criss crossed like a pretzel. "Hey-"

"What are you doing here?" he interrupted.

My eyes widened. "Well, um, I just thought you needed some company or whatever," I say, forcing a huge grin on my face.

His head was still turned to the TV, but he glanced at me then back at it. "Did you tell anybody about my arrival?" he asks, clenching his jaw.

"What? No, no, no! I'm smarter than that," I exclaimed.

He glanced at me again. "I sure would hope so," he joked.

I rolled my eyes. I forget he's a douche too.

"Wait, so you actually believe me that I didn't tell anybody?" I ask, tilting my head in confusion. I could probably lie, and he would still believe me.

He shrugged his shoulders and didn't say anything with his words.

It was silent for a second. Except for the cartoons playing in the background. I decided to speak up. "Hey, Ophi," I start saying.

He groaned and muted his television to turn to me now. He looked irritated that I was here.

"Um, when you first asked me if I would tell anybody, and I told you no, why didn't you use that potion on me?" I finally asked, sounding like my regular, confident self.

His eyes squinted to look at mine. Then he shrugged and turned back to the muted TV. "Cause I believe you."

I was thrown back a bit. "So if I told you a lie, you would actually risk believing me?" I ask.

He clicked his tounge and thought for a bit. "I know I haven't been around people for a thousand years, so I shouldn't be able to trust you too quickly. Except I can though," he says.

My eyes widened. I didn't know if this was awkward or sweet to be honest. "So you just knew I was telling the truth?"

He shook his head and laughed. "Oh, God, no. I knew better than to put that spell on you, though. Even if you did lie, it would still take a while to even approach me in the battle," he says, giving me that signature evil, annoying smirk.

I nodded my head in understandment. "Okay, so basically you didn't use it on me because you trust me."

He scowled. "Yeah, don't be too happy about it. Trust dies quickly, Sagittarius," he tells me.

Boy, do I know.

He turns the volume back on his cartoons and continued watching them. I pull my knees to my chest and wrap my arms around my legs, watching it too. You don't see that everyday. A grown man watching cartoons over any other show.

"Why do you always watch this?" I ask.

He shrugged, not bothering to turn my direction. "Easy way to waste time."

I started to feel bad again. He probably used to watch these all the time back when he was in hell. To waste time. The thought of being alone for one thousand years and not being able to do anything or be comforted by anyone is worse than hell. And the worst thing about it was that he's immortal, so he literally couldn't do anything about it.

"What did you do that was so bad to keep you in that hell?" I ask, obviously annoying him for ruining his cartoon time.

He muted it again and slammed the remote on the bed. He then started to think for a while. He took a long time just thinking. Maybe a couple of long and full seconds. He then hung his head down. "Y'know, I want to say I did something, but I really do not know," he says.

I furrowed my brows in confusion. "What do you mean? What even happened?"

He looked straight up at the ceiling fan and started thinking again. "I-I'll tell you that story later," he says.

I slump my shoulders down. "But I want to know now."

He looked at me now with a frustrated face. "How about... no," he says, then giving me a smile.

"Please!"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

"What the bloody hell," he says, almost laughing.

"I'll keep annoying you until you tell me," I say, crossing my arms.

He looked at me again. "What are you? Nine?"

I stared daggers. "Nineteen. Now tell me!"

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. So a thousand years ago," he began.

I started to become amused with the story he was about to tell. My eyes literlly lit up.

"...No," he says, then patting me on the head like a dog.

I frown. "Asshole."

He shrugged. "Just because I consider you as my friend, doesn't mean that I'm going to tell you everything. You still haven't told anyone in your zodiac everything, have you?" he asks me, giving me that evil smirk.

He was right. There were still things I didn't tell anybody in the zodiac. Not because they shouldn't know, but more like because I just hate talking about it.

"Exactly," he says, british accent sounding pretty low now.

I scoffed. "It's not because I don't want them to know. I just don't focus on the past is all," I lied on the last part.

He rose his eyebrows and smirked. "Mhm."

I furrowed my brows again and let go of my legs and laid them out in front of me. "What? I don't!"

He shrugged. "Sagittarius, I know more about you than you think," he says.

I cross my arms. "Yeah, I highly doubt that."

"Oh, do you?" he asks, muting the TV again. "Tell me, when we first transported worlds here, why weren't you, y'know, surprised?"

I squinted my eyes at him. "I-I was surprised. There was just nothing I can do about it, so why panic?"

"Because this is a new world you were in. You don't know what could've been happening here. Not even as adventurous you Sagittarians are, you wouldn't act completely normal."

I flinched at the sudden realization. I was going to try to defend myself, but he already started talking again.

"Unless that's because you knew this world existed all along," he finally says.

I shivver. For someone who doesn't know people, he sure does know a lot about me. It was pretty creepy and cool at the same time. In this case, the creepy weighs down more.

"Hm?" he asks, smirking at me.

I swallowed whatever lump was down in my throat. It wasn't because he knew that information. It was how he already knew way too much. This information he's reminding me just makes it all... doubtful of winning whatever war the zodiacs might have with Ophi.

"W-well, yeah, but-"

"I told you," he says, turning back to the TV and unmuting it, "I know."