Gem watched the news from her tv. A half empty can of Mountain Dew sat on the coffee table beside her, her feet kicked up on the armrest.

Gina walked into the room, still in her pyjamas. "What's going on?"

Gem shrugged. "The people in the poorer parts of this country are still starving, there's still a war between half the elemental countries, people are dying. Nothing new."

It's been a few weeks since the war started. Gem heard from Gemini that Scorpio's people started attacking Aries' people for no reason, over their government debate. Aries' people attacked back, and now all the countries were on one side of the other.

Scorpio refused to admit that her people attacked without reason, stating that Aries' people attacked her first.

The suspicions Gemini had of some undercover rats progressing the war to turn everyone against each other stuck in Gem's head.

"We're lucky Gemini keeps us fed even though the rest of the country is starving," frowned Gem.

Gemini had his own garden outside his floating castle, which permitted him to feed everyone within the castle without taking food from the people in his country below. Most people stocked up on food as soon as the crops mysteriously started getting destroyed, but the people with less money were getting close to starvation. Gemini regularly visited the poorer areas with any extra food he could spare, but more and more people were going hungry. It'll soon be too much for him to keep up with.

Gem picked up her can of Mountain Dew and swirled it. Feeling that the can was almost empty, she sighed. "We're almost out of Mountain Dew. I don't know what I'll do when we're out."

"Isn't it suspicious though, how the farmers haven't been able to grow crops?"

Since the country was one big canyon, the environment was almost too dry to grow crops. It was only for special farming plots made from imported soil, and nearby water sources that they could grow food. With everyone at war, there wasn't enough people or money to import food from other countries, or to keep people employed to make food other than fruits or vegetables, such as cans of Mountain Dew.

A while ago, the crops were all destroyed due to extreme causes. Some fields were infested with bugs and parasites, others caught fire, or a sudden flood wiped out all the crops in areas where floods shouldn't have occurred. It was commonly believed that people from other countries snuck into Geminus to sabotage their crops on purpose, but Gem did her research. This happened in a few other countries as well.

The group of traitors that Gemini suggested was indeed worth considering.

"So many people are dying." Gem turned off the tv. "My biggest worry used to be taking off all my make up and telling my brother that we're related. I even thought about taking out my coloured contact lenses, making the resemblance more obvious. Now I don't even know what to do with this war."

"I don't think he'd appreciate your reveal as his secret twin in times like this. He's probably very stressed."

"I know. I wish I could do something to help."

"We can visit the castle and see how he's doing," suggested Gina. "He might be too busy to let us in, but he also might want to hear our feedback."

Gemini developed a close friendship with Gem and Gina. He still didn't see the resemblance between him and his secret twin sister. Her fake tan and coloured contact lenses played a big part, on top of the rest of the make up that she hated wearing just to hide her identity. Gina questioned why Gem even hid her identity in the first place, but Gem still never felt like it was the right time to tell him.

Being friends with the king meant they were updated on everything that happened, and he even vented out his frustrations to them.

That's why Gem sat up from the couch, and got ready to visit her brother.

***

Gem and Gina were led into Gemini's private office after he told the guards it was alright. They walked in the room and sat in their usual chairs in front of his desk.

Gemini appeared to be rather stressed. His hair was messy from constantly running his hands through it, his chin had little bits of stubble from where he didn't bother to shave. If he didn't start shaving again soon, he'd start to grow a moustache. Gem secretly hoped that happened so she could make fun of his moustache.

Gina eyed the mess of papers on his desk. One of the ones closest to her being some kind of report. "You really don't look alright."

"My country is at war. My friends keep fighting each other with no reason. There's no reason behind this war other than a government debate."

"There must be something keeping it going if nobody knows why they're fighting anymore," suggested Gem.

Gemini nodded. "Taurus' underground country collapsed yesterday."

Gina gasped. "Do you know what happened?"

Gemini shook his head. "Explosions went off, causing some cities to cave in on themselves. Taurus is alright, along with everyone near her capital city. The poorer cities weren't as lucky. They don't know how many are dead yet, but there aren't a lot of survivors."

Gem let the information sink in her head. "But who would kill so many innocent citizens?"

"I don't think any of my friends would sabotage Taurus' country like that."

The unspoken words hung in the air. It must have been done by Gemini's theorized rebel group that were manipulating everyone into attacking each other, keeping the war going on much longer than it should have.

Gemini received a message on his phone. He quickly turned on the flatscreen mounted onto his wall.

The scene on tv showed an army in red armour that was designed with orange and yellow, representing flames and an army of soldiers with thin iron armour, strong enough to save them from fatal attacks, but not heavy enough to weigh them down.

Despite being as technologically advanced as the neutral continent, the elemental countries had armies of knights and warriors rather than tanks and soldiers. They didn't invest in tanks, or guns, thinking they'd never have to go to war, but they still had a trained army in case something were to happen.

Each zodiac's army was distinguishable by their armour. The red armour that resembled flames belong to Aries, while the thin armour belonged to Virgo. The only army that didn't wear any armour was Scorpio's army of assassin-like warriors. They didn't need armour to weigh them down, since they were quick and trained well enough to dodge attacks. They were they most lethal army, and the most stealthy.

"Which armies are those?" asked Gina.

"Aries and Virgo," replied Gemini. "Looks like they're in Aspectu, Leo's country."

Some soldiers with shiny, polished armour were seen blending in the army amongst Aries' and Virgo's soldiers. That would be Leo's soldiers.

"Is this on the news?" asked Gem.

"No. One of my spies are recording this live. My tv is synced to their special cameras, making me able to see the live footage."

"Why are your spies with the other armies?" asked Gina.

"I sent some to every other army, to feed me updates. Scorpio has no doubt done the same. That's why they don't get important information. Everyone is so afraid of spies that they only trust a small group of people with their plans."

The scene in the tv changed as Virgo walked to the front of his army. Some soldiers positioned themselves around him, protecting him from archers or elemental powers.

Aries also marched to the front of her army, wearing her battle armour, like Virgo.

"I came to stop you from invading Aspectu," announced Virgo. He kept an expressionless face as he spoke.

The camera turned to show another army marching up to Aries, Virgo, and Leo's combined armies. The soldiers were a mix of Scorpio's assassins, Pisces' army who wore armour with shells carved in, and Aquarius' army of archers and cavaliers.

A figure who's face was covered in armour walked of the front, standing in front of the invading army. "Surrender or this will become harder than it has to be."

"Who sent you?" demanded Aries.

The enemy leader shook her head. "That's confidential."

"We're not going to surrender. Leo's country is already damaged, leave her alone!" Virgo drew his sword.

A cloaked figure with curly blonde hair that almost reached her waist stepped forward. She stood beside Virgo, not taking her eyes off the enemy commander. There was something unsettling about this.

The enemy commander wrapped a cloak around her body, similar to the one Aries wore. "Then watch as we conquer it anyway!" She signalled for her army to attack.

Aries and Virgo's army attacked back.

"Why do you watch these battles?" asked Gem. "Isn't it hard seeing your friends fight?"

Gemini watched the tv. "I could just wait for a report, but I'm trying to find evidence of traitors in each army."

"He's really skilled!" Gina pointed to a warrior in red flame armour who knocked his opponents out, not wanting to kill them. Several unconscious bodies were lying around him as he moved from enemy to enemy, his red hair already damp with sweat.

"I wish I could stop this." Gemini rested his head on his desk. "There's nothing I can do."

"When does it end?" Gem watched the fighting on the tv. "When does everyone realize they're being manipulated and stop fighting?"

"I hope they'll listen to me and realize it soon." Gemini looked away from the tv, already sick of watching people fight. "So far there's not as many armies to fight. Taurus is too focused on her own country to worry about others, my army was instructed to defend only, there was a recent tsunami in Luna, making Cancer focus on his people, a lot of buildings were destroyed in Aspectu, but Leo's still sending some of her army to fight, Libra's people are more focused on healing injured soldiers than fighting, and Aquarius is trying to stay out of the war as much as he can."

"So it's mostly Aries, Virgo, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn and Pisces doing the fighting? With a bit of Leo's army." Gina processed this. "At least there's less armies involved now. It'll be easier to get them to stop as more of them stop fighting."

"But the water and air armies are listening to that commander." Gem frowned. "I don't see Scorpio, Pisces, or Aquarius anywhere nearby. Almost as if there guys were sent without their knowledge."

Gemini nodded. "I'll find out from them later if they knew about their soldiers trying to take over Leo's country, while it's already damaged."

"Everything is a mess." Gina sighed. "You can barely tell who's who at this point. It's just a mix of bodies on the screen."

"I need some fresh air." Gemini stood up, turned off the tv, and walked out of his office. Gem and Gina followed.

***

Gemini walked along the gardens behind his castle. Being on a cloud with air currents holding it up, there wasn't too much room around the castle. There was one little path that looped around the castle with flowers and plants growing around it. A railing prevented visitors from falling off the cloud.

After a while of walking around, Gemini walked to the railing and looked down. "You can barely see anything from here."

Gem and Gina also looked over the railing on either side of Gemini.

"I don't think I'd like to live on a cloud like this." Gina looked away from the ground. "I like having my feet on the ground."

Gemini backed away from the railing, sitting on a nearby bench.

Gem and Gina followed, sitting on either side of him.

Gemini chuckled. "Why do I always have to be in the middle?"

"That way we don't have to fight over who gets to sit by you." Gina smiled.

"This war needs to end soon." Gem glanced at that plants. "The crops are starting to grow again, but we need to invest money back where it belongs, instead of using it to pay for armour and weapons."

"War is expensive," sighed Gina.

"I don't like spending lots of money on armour or weapons, but protecting my people from outside threats is more important that threats within." Gemini sighed. "I'm trying to put more and more money back into producing food and stuff, but we don't have that much money to spend. Balancing all of this is a lot harder when you actually have to do it. One mistake and suddenly your people are starving because too much money went into the army."

"When the war ends, the other countries will help loan money and resources to help Geminus along with the other countries in trouble, right?" asked Gina.

"I hope so." Gem turned towards the castle. "There's someone coming."

Gemini stepped away from the bench to greet a messenger. His eyes widened at whatever the messenger said.

When Gemini returned, his hands were shaking.

"What happened?" asked Gem and Gina in unison.

"Virgo just put Aries into a coma, then Leo showed up and nearly killed Virgo as a consequence."

Gina gasped. "Is she going to be okay?"

"She's being sent to Sanus where Libra will try her best to heal her."

"But Virgo and Aries are on the same side." Gem frowned. "Why would he hurt his ally?"

"Something must have happened. Maybe it was an accident?" suggested Gina.

Gemini received a notification on his phone. He checked it.

"What's going on?" asked Gina.

Gemini showed them an update he received from one of his spies. "Since Aries can no longer rule her country, Ophiuchus stepped in as temporary ruler. Aries' army is split between those who are going with her to protect her in Sanus, since she's still technically at war with that country, those going home to protect the country since their queen is gone, and others joined Leo's army. Some soldiers in Virgo's army are leaving him, believing him to be a traitor since he put his own ally in a coma."

"How will that affect the war?" asked Gem. "Since Aries is no longer leading her army, does that mean Fortis is no longer in the war?"

"Fortis joined the list of countries with too many of their own problems to focus on the war," replied Gemini. "Virgo won't have a big influence anymore either since half his army left to join Leo's army. The only influential countries left in this war are Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn and Pisces' countries. Despite being three times larger than before, there's still too much going on in Aspectu for Leo's army to do much in the war."

Another messenger ran from the back doors of the castle. He stopped mid-bow, remembering that Gemini didn't want his people to bow to him.

Gemini met him half way, leaning in to hear what the messenger whispered. When he came back, his face was white.

"Did something else happen?" asked Gina.

Gemini stared at them blankly. "After hearing about Aries being out in a coma, every other country surrendered. I have to go make an announcement that we'll surrender as well."

"If everyone surrenders to each other, who wins the war?" asked Gina.

"Nobody." Gemini walked back towards the castle. "Nobody ever truly wins when war is involved."

***

Gem woke up. Somehow her memories of what happened before meating the others were kind of fuzzy, but she did remember bits and pieces.

She remembered the terror and uncertainty that almost everyone felt during the days where everyone was at war. The incident that tore everyone apart.

It's all over now. Everyone is alright.

Gem climbed down from her bed, deciding to crawl in bed with her favourite cuddle buddy instead.

"Bad dream?" Sagittarius wrapped her arms around Gem to comfort her.

"Yeah."

"You're safe here. Nothing can hurt you now."

If she was truly safe, then why were so many bad things happening to all her friends? She could wake up tomorrow morning missing a limb, or blind or whatever the curse decided to do to her.

Even knowing that, she still felt safe around her friends. Whatever the curse does to her, she knew her friends would be there to help her get through it.