SHOUTOUT to @CampFangirls for being my 1k vote! Thx fam! :)

So after writing both versions of this, I decided this was the better ending of the two, so this is what stays. Hope you likey! See you down below! 👇

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"Who am I....?"

Time seemed to stand still for a second, the wind the only thing moving, blowing through the statuesque people sprawled across the floor. The principal turned, his eyes seemingly glazed over. "Me..." He muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Taurus and Aqua to hear.

"I'm not who you think I am."

He whipped back to look in front, staring at nothingness, a faraway look adorning his face. "I'm not who you think I am. I don't care about what you think I do. I'm not who I'm said to be."

Nobody spoke.

"It's sad, actually, what your kind has done to me. I proposed the idea, and you denied it. But that does not compensate for what you did before.

"What the hell?!" somebody called from afar. Taurus didn't turn to see who it was. "What are you?!"

"You see, this whole thing I'm fighting for isn't something new. I've been working for this almost my whole life!"

And then he did the unthinkable.

Mr. Stern reached under his chin, fingers digging into the skin and pulling up. The sound of skin ripping tore through the air (quite literally) revealing an underneath layer of-

more skin?

Under his plasticy mask lay a familiar face, human in every way, but red from tearing. The man looked slightly familiar, as if they'd seen him somewhere, but they weren't sure where. All it took was one swipe of the glasses the tall principal had adorned against his immaculate suit, a twist of the wrist to balance the spectacles onto the bridge of his nose, and the switches in everyone's minds on the roof clicked.

"Ted Cruz?!" Aquarius said, the corner of her lip twisted up in a humored smirk.

Mr. Stern - Ted Cruz - whoever this man was! - scowled, his lips turned downward. "Oh, that's who they all think I am. But I'm nowhere near as petty and awful as him. I go by..."

"...the Zodiac Killer."

Taurus turned looking at her peers behind her with question. However, her classmates seemed paralyzed with fear, their faces whiter than Mr. Stern's teeth. She crept backwards, crab walking slightly to her friend. "What...." she trailed off. "Who...?"

The man must've seen the confusion on her face, his features contorting into a painful scowl, eyes glazing over as if in deep thought. "It was years ago...." Aqua trailed off.

"The late 60's, to be precise." Mr. Stern said. "Even before that, I had a love for reading. Books, books, books and nothing else. One trip to the library, I discovered Zodiacs. The idea fascinated me, made me hungry for more, until I decided I needed them in my life.

"I don't remember how; it was too long ago, but I know I learned of people. Incarnations of the zodiac signs, they said, with crazy powers that could destroy as well as heal. I think you can guess what happened - I got even more obsessed.

"When a child loves something a lot, they want toys to show it. If you liked the Power Rangers as a kid, your parents bought you action figures. You were into Barbie? You got dolls. Unfortunately, they didn't sell Zodiax dolls. So I decided to do the only thing I could think to do - capture the people."

Taurus turned to see Libra, her eyes wide in shock. "You're f-ing insane. You're a mental, obsessed freak that needs to be put behind bars."

Mr. Stern - The Zodiac Killer - whatever he was! - chuckled softly, his hands behind his back, eerie and chilling. "I prefer the term," he stopped pacing. "Enthusiast."

He resumed his slow walk to and fro.

"By then I was a teenager. Late 60's, you had your hippies, friendly freaks, everyone so open. It was really quite easy. I'd locate the Zodiac People, ask them to be my minions forever, and have a whole collection."

"But that's not what you did." Leo uttered from the back.

The former principal turned away, his features taking on a bitter expression. "I was so naïve back then.

"I pled them, asked them to be mine, my prisoner forever. And when they didn't, I freaked. I threatened them. They must have gotten scared, 'cause when I went back for them, nobody seemed to be home - ever."

Out of genuine curiosity, Taurus slowly questioned, "Why did you go back?"

The Zodiac Killer Guy said, "Why else? When you don't get that Power Ranger or that Barbie and you want it so bad, what do you do?"

"Work for it? Earn money? Beg? Borrow?"

"Steal.

"Which is obviously what I was planning to do. Kidnap them all and never give them back. But things don't always go according to plan. Resistance, yelling, screaming, and awful chaos. When you get what you want, but it doesn't work properly? What do you do? You get mad and rage-break it."

Suddenly finding herself rendered breathless, Taurus muttered, "You killed them," shock and fear drenching her throat and voice.

"When nobody cooperates, what can you do? You plead and get down onto your knees, but they just won't listen!" He shrugged. "Too bad I have a really bad temper."

"Is that why you killed Aries?" A sob escaped from Saggi's mouth, a sole tear trickling down her cheek. Libra squeezed her tight, both turning their attention to the man in front of them.

"Oh no. I never intended to kill him. The boy wasn't even the Aries! I had no business with him. The problem was that he stopped me from getting where I wanted to go, so I had to kill him. It's a pity, now there's two from his family with their blood on my hands! Sorta."

Saggi wiped her cheeks and shot back, "But you seemed so remorseful!"

He rolled his eyes dramatically. "Oh stop. I thought I had killed the actual Aries and that my efforts were screwed over again, that I'd have to wait until the next generation again. But what do you know, little McKenna swooped in and saved the day! Err, at least my day.

"What do you want from us?" Gemini whined.

He laughed, head thrown back. "Oh, it's simple. Be my statues, my pets for the rest of time until one of us reached age, you first, most probably!"

"Never!" Pisces yelled from the back. "Why would we accompany anyone like you ever?"

He shook his head. "See, this is my problem. Nobody is willing to help me, even though I'm willing to help you by giving you an amazing job! Unfortunately, deal's off. I give up, and here's what I'm going to do.

"See this ray here? It's going to go and blast the heck outta that sun over there. And then, boom! We're all dead, and nobody has to be anyone's!"

"You're insane." Libra said.

"Is that all you ever say? Unfortunately for you, here, my answer changes. I'm tired. I'm pissed off at a crappy world that won't let me have what I want. I literally want to pull this lever right now, and give away with everyone. Screw this world, screw it all."

Smirking, Taurus turned back to the principal. "Then why don't you?"

He whitened. "Sorry, what?"

"I think you're scared." Aqua stood up, her arms crossed, her eyes brave and daring.

He shook his head vehemently. "I'll do it."

Taurus and Cancer stood at the same time, waking toward Aquarius. "Prove it," Cancer said.

Libra and Saggi walked to the front. "Pull the lever. Let's see you destroy the world."

Leo sauntered to the front. "All these people who have helped you? Obliterated."

McKenna stood and walked over. "This school? Us? Obliterated."

Gemini skipped over, a smile playing on her lips. "Do you think you can destroy us? Yourself?"

"Your obsession pulls at your soul, never letting you go. The day you let it allow you to murder someone, it became a part of you. It dies with you." Scorpio walked to the line of students, speaking more than Taurus had ever heard him utter.

"Are you ready to give up everything you've worked so hard for?" Pisces questioned, slipping her hand into Scorpio's.

The principal seemed very mad. "What?! You imbeciles! Just watch me!" He strode to the giant ray on the left, not worrying about anything.

"Three...."

The principal stopped in his tracks, swiveling around to face the line of kids. "Wha-"

"Two....."

His forehead scrunched up in confusion and anger. "What are you-"

"One!"

Twelve kids ran into The Zodiac Killer, effectively pinning him to the ground. Libra and Leo ran to the lever and dug their arms under the large ray. The principal fought off the others, trying to break out from the pile. Finally, he broke away, reaching for the ray. He stumbled and fell onto the ray, making it aim downwards at the earth and zap. The wet ground instantly turned to dark black ash, smoke coming from it.

Gemini and McKenna ran for the principal, giving out a 'war cry' before tearing him off the ray. It tilted under the pressure, aiming at a corner of the roof of the school, leaving a steaming hole at the top of the building. People began screaming around them, running to the stairs and rushing out of the school. A fire began to blaze somewhere inside the school.

Aquarius, Cancer, and Sagittarius ran against the wind and rain, charging at the principal. They tugged him off the ground, pulling him off. The man stood up quickly, shook everyone off himself like a dog after a bath, and ran to the ray in an attempt to turn it to the cloudy sky.

And that's when it happened.

Everyone charged at Mr. Stern and the ray, screaming into the rain. That part of the roof collapsed at that moment, and everyone tumbled down. Dirt, rain, and dried-up blood covered Taurus' face as she plummeted to the ground, hitting the moist grass and mud. 

She crawled up, spitting out water and patting off her pants. She squinted through the downpour, and saw it -

The ray.

She trudged through the dirt and dug her hand in the socket on the ray, pulling all the wires at once. "This is for everything you've ever done to anyone!"

And that's when she blacked out.

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So if you're wondering, "What just happened?!" I'll tell you! I totally gave you a stupid, ironic ending which may or may not have done justice to the rest of this book. If you find that you're unhappy, PLEASE, I BEG YOU, let me know, and I'll add that other ending I had in mind (which, again, may or may not [probably not] suffice to sum up this book).

The Zodiac Killer is a real serial killer, but this was my little play on the rumors and secrets about that. Go check it out if you're interested on Wikipedia!

If you have questions in your mind that I haven't answered, they'll get answered in the next part. What? You thought I'm leaving you hanging here?! Gosh no! But DM me if you see something I left hanging that might not get wrapped up.

Seriously. DM me. I get bored easily. 😂

Next part will come up very soon, I ULTRA PROMISE. Pester me to update, or I might forget! 😂😂 jk, I'll get it up!

So I don't actually self-advertise in my stories (although I did that, didn't I?), so I'll tell you about other stories in the after-the-epilogue-part (also to come soon!)

Thanks for reading, voting, and commenting! See you in my DM box!

(Seriously.)

-ThatOneGirl083 😋😊