Cancer had accepted her fate long before she volunteered her opinion. She snuck a glance at Scorpio who watched her with absolute shock. She knew the consequences in Flammae. She did it anyways, because Libra is her friend and she deserves to be happy. She was more afraid that she risked Scorpio more than anything else.

Aries also went peacefully. What life could he live without Pisces? Before Pisces, it was Gemini and Jaden. But Gemini was going down too, and Jaden was in good hands back home... he hoped. It just wasn't fair to him that he couldn't love someone because they were forced into something they shouldn't have been in. Pisces caught his eye, and was on the brink of tears as he watched his best friend be taken. Aries whipped his head to look at Gemini, who put up a solid fight.

Virgo wouldn't stop shouting as he was taken. He cried out for Libra, for Gemini, and for Aquarius. Someone had to take care of Jack. Someone had to. He left him and Jaden alone at the book shop. There was every chance they'd be dead before they could go back. He struggled under a guards grip.

Capricorn squealed as Gemini big him. What type of person bites someone? It's unethical. But Gemini did it. It was so stupid. Why would she risk her life like that? She had a bakery and a kid to get back to. And a boyfriend, whom she loved. Aquarius would get her out of this, she was sure.

They were all thrown into a jail cell. One big one. Cancer and Aries were lightly set down, while Virgo and Gemini were roughly thrown in.

"You bit me!" Capricorn squealed as Leo locked the door. "I can't believe you bit me!"

"You don't taste good," Gemini said with a scowl. Capricorn looked more offended by that.

"Don't be such a baby," Leo said, a smile playing on her lips.

"Are you two dating?" Aries asked. "I've heard the rumors around the castle, but I've never known for sure."

Leo's smile immediately turned into a frown. "No. Who told you that?"

"Sagittarius," Aries said simply.

Cancer gasped, as if remembering something. "Sagittarius! You need to let me out! I need to talk to Sag!"

"Listen, I cannot lose my job," Capricorn told her. "My sister depends on it."

"I can't bring shame to the family name," Leo replied. "I'm sorry. Gemini and Cancer, If you're lucky you'll get a pardon."

"Why them?" Virgo wondered aloud.

"We're dating royalty," Cancer mumbled. "We have an advantage."

"Use it, too," said Capricorn, eyeing them. "You both have families to get back to."

Leo whipped her head around as they heard noises in the halls. "We shouldn't have said anything. We have to leave now. Good luck."

Leo grabbed Capricorn by the arm and dragged him down the hallway, giving him enough time to wink at Cancer. Confused, she looked around a bit. A paper clip. He dropped a paper clip on the ground. She hurriedly grabbed it before the next rotation of guards cane around.

"What took you so long?" A fellow general asked Capricorn and Leo as they snuck off.

"We were trying to think of someplace... private," Leo lied quickly. Capricorn nodded, unknowing of what she would do next.

"Private for what?" The general asked, raising a brow.

"This."

Leo grabbed Capricorn by the shirt and pressed her lips against his. Capricorn was shocked, especially after being shot down so many times, but melted into it. Leo pulled away seconds after.

"We just got off the clock, so it's in our rights," Leo continued, leaving Capricorn breathless. "Anymore questions? Or may we continue finding somewhere nice?"

The general looked awkward and stunned. "You May continue."

Leo nodded happily, and grabbed Capricorn's hand. "C'mon, babe."

Absolutely dumbfounded, Capricorn allowed himself to be led away. Until he was harshly pulled into a broom closet. Capricorn stared at Leo with absolute awe. He gave her a dopey smile.

"What?" Leo asked him, wiggling around.

"You're a good kisser," Capricorn said dumbly.

"So are you," Leo said, ignoring his obvious crush. "We need to find Sagittarius. He'll have some answers."

Capricorn blinked himself back to reality and nodded. "Yeah. Why did Cancer need to talk to him?"

"I'm not sure," Leo said. "But something tells me he knows more about this situation than he let on."

"It is funny how he stood up Taurus when all he wanted to do was go with her," said Capricorn, furrowing his brows. "It's a setup."

"What?" Leo asked, raising a brow. "What do you mean?"

"Libra's got it planned out. She doesn't want to marry Pisces, so she's figuring a way out of it," Capricorn rambled. "I've got two theories: One, Libra thinks her dad is up to something and asked Sag to spy..."

"And two?" Leo asked, giving herself some room in the small closet.

"Sag is gonna assassinate Pisces," Capricorn said. "Which doesn't make sense, as Pisces and Libra are great friends."

"In that case, let's find Sag and get some dirt on that bastard king." Leo nodded and opened the door.

"Where would he be?" Capricorn said as they exited the closet. He glanced suspiciously at each passing guard.

"I'd guess Cepheus' quarters," Leo relied, looking around. "I've heard that's where he hides everything."

The two broke out into a run down the hallway, took a left, went up the servants stairs, took a right, and arrived at Cepheus' quarters. The doors were large. No guards were in sight. Most had been in the prison or at the wedding, which was awfully convenient. The door was open just a crack, in case it locked behind a certain Flammae General.

"Open it," Leo urged Capricorn. "Go on."

"Why can't you do it? You're the badass," Capricorn whined.

"You've got a friendlier face than I do," Leo said with a groan. "Do it."

Capricorn sighed and tentatively opened the door. The moment he was exposed a knife was at his neck.

"Don't move," said a deep voice that Capricorn instantly recognized.

"Sag, it's me and Leo," Capricorn said slowly. "We're here to help."

"You can't arrest me," said Sagittarius. His hand was shaking with the knife in it. "It's your word against mine."

"We're not gonna arrest you, dumbass," Leo complained. "Now let my moron go, or else."

"Your moron?" Capricorn and Sagittarius chorused.

"What are you talking about?" Leo deflected. She dragged the two of them back into the King's quarters. "What dirt did you find?"

"Well, you see," Sagittarius said. "A lot."

"Anything relevant to the wedding?" Capricorn asked.

"He has a plan in place. After Libra and Pisces get married, he's hired someone to impersonate a Solin and assassinate Pisces," revealed Sagittarius. "Which means we've got to call off this wedding and fast."

"He's throwing us into another pointless war," Capricorn pointed out. "He'll put us against each other."

"I'll kill him," Sagittarius decided. "I can do it."

"We can run away," Leo mentioned. "The three of us. Taurus, your families, bring whoever. We can start a new life."

"Where would we do that?" Capricorn asked her, with a scowl on his face. "There's not a lot of unclaimed land."

"There's ruins just east of Solis," Leo remembered. "A conquered and forgotten kingdom. Nobody's been there in ages."

"Since when do you run away from fights?" Sagittarius asked suspiciously.

Leo wouldn't meet his eyes. "Since they put me against people I love."

Capricorn's eyes lit up. "You love me?"

"Us." Sagittarius corrected.

"Yeah, them too."

"Don't look too much into it," Leo reminded them. "Besides, we can consider it later. Right now, I believe we have a wedding to crash."

——————-

"Eighty-eight bottles of beer on the wall, eighty-eight bottles of beer, take one down, pass it around, eighty-seven bottles of beer on the wall," Aries and Cancer sang horribly.

"Jesus fucking Christ I am going to die down here," Gemini groaned.

"You can't die, You've got to take care of Jaden," Virgo reminded her. "And Jack, while you're at it."

"Can't Aries do it?" Gemini complained. "Raising a kid is hard."

"No shit," Aries said, stopping his singing. "At least you missed the diaper stage. Make Aqua do it."

"Aqua couldn't raise a kid for shit," Gemini snorted. "Not yet, anyways."

"You always take in strays, Gem," Cancer commented as she attempted to pick the lock. "Why? First you had Aries and Jaden, and then Jack, And now Aqua. Where does it end?"

"I didn't take Aqua in," Gemini said with an eye roll. "Aries brought him to my doorstep like he was a lost puppy. We were roommates."

"Oh my gawd they were roommates," Virgo snickered.  Everyone looked at him weirdly. Virgo furrowed his brows. "It's a book reference. It's called Vine and it's a compilation of Jokes. Unfortunately, the publisher is dead so you won't find it around very often."

Everyone sighed in unison as Cancer continued working. It got eerily quiet until Cancer squealed.  Everyone immediately looked at her.

"I heard a click!" Cancer shrieked. "I've almost done it!"

"Great," Aries said. "Say it louder, I don't think the guards have heard you."

Cancer rolled her eyes and listened as the next click was heard. She easily slid off the lock and stood up, the lock proudly in her hand.

"Ye of little faith," Cancer said smugly.

"What now?" Virgo asked. "We need a distraction. Something big."

"A full out jailbreak," Cancer said. "We'll need the keys. Gem, help me out. We have some guards to seduce."

"You are not letting my sister do this," grumbled Aries, But Cancer was already ignoring him.

Cancer had managed to call the guards over, give Gemini acting lessons, and make herself look desperate in less than five minutes.

The guard came over. He was young, cute, with messy blonde hair and deep brown eyes. He had a stupid grin. "May I help you ladies?"

"We were just wondering if you'd help us out a bit," said Gemini, biting her lip. "See, you're real cute. We like real cuties."

The guard raised an eyebrow. Cancer continued. "We were just wondering if you liked us back? Are cute?"

Cancer had her arms on his shoulders at this point.  The guard looked around the cell, his eyes finally landing on Aries.

"You're gay, right? The one who has a crush on the prince?" The guard said, pointing to him.

Aries gulped, knowing how gays were regarded in Flammae. "That's me, alright."

The guard nodded. "My brothers gay. Just thought you'd like to know."

"That's awesome for him," Aries said awkwardly.

"That's my reason," the guard said.

"What?" Aries asked. He was getting more confused as this day went on.

"For giving you the keys," the guard replied. "Get my brother his rights."

Aries nodded and stood up. The guard hauled the door open. Aries gave him a hug. "I will. And while I'm at it, I'll save my boyfriend."

"I'll keep the guards at bay," said the guard. "Good luck, Zodiacs."

"Zodiacs, hmm?" Gemini mused as they ran off to open cages. "I like the sound of that."

The distraction worked perfectly, as there were way more prisoners than gods. They did encounter the occasional serial killer, but Bob was nice enough and wanted to help. Just in the midst of their escape, they literally ran into three of their friends.

"Ow!" Capricorn hissed in pain. "First you bite me, then you run into me."

"It's your fault," Gemini retorted. "You're always capturing me. If you wanted a date, you could've asked."

"I'm probably not even your type," Capricorn replied. "You'd say no."

"You're right about that. My type is exclusively dumbasses," Gemini proudly stated.

"Guys, you can finish whatever the hell that was later," Leo urged. "We gotta get out of here."

"Why? What's happening?" Virgo asked as they ran away from the chaos.

"Let's just say we have a wedding to crash and a prince to save," Sagittarius said simply, as they ran.

——————

Haha whoops. Hope you liked it. See y'all on the flip side!