Zodiac Girls

The Failed Attempt

Footsteps ran across the soil. Small pants were heard breathing out of a small mouth. Leaves rustled as a small figure came rushing by, all to head to one certain spot.

Clara's eyes widened when she saw a certain group of people right in front of her and picked up the pace, wanting to catch up to them before they go any farther than they already are.

"Wait up!" she called out, causing the figures to stop and turn to her. "I want to come with you! Take me with you to the island!"

The beasties all turned to Tigress, she who was the only one who can get this child to listen. Most of the time, at least.

Tigress knelt down to the child's eye level and placed a hand on her head. "I'm sorry, Clara. But you can't come along," she told her.

Clara's eyes widened at those words. "Why?! I'm a beastie, too! I should go with you!"

"You may be a beastie like us, but you're still too young to join us on this mission," Tigress reasoned. "This journey could be dangerous. I don't want anything to happen to you. That is why, we are going first. To scout out the island and see if it really will be a safe haven for us."

"But I want to go with you!" Clara exclaimed, clearly not taking the news well.

"Clara, I am not fighting with you about this. We're saying this for your sake."

"Except you're just leaving me behind! Take me with you!"

That time, Tigress let out a roar, one powerful enough to blow Clara's hair back, and strong enough to make the girl cower in fear, though she did try to hide such fear. "This decision is final, Clara," the tiger beastie then said. "Now stay here, until we come back." Without another word, the woman and the other eleven beasties made their leave, away from the child.

Shaken, Clara hardened herself to get over the nerves that came from Tigress's roar, and took a step forward. The one step was followed by another, then another, then another... and gradually turned into a run. However, no matter how fast she ran, she wasn't catching up to any of the older beasties at all. If anything, with each step she took, she was getting farther and farther away from them all. The sight of this saddened her more and more, especially as she was getting farther away from the one person she wanted to be with most. Not only that, but her body started to get heavier, causing her to slow down, while the older beasties kept at their neutral pace. None even bothered to look back to see if Clara was still following her, which hurt the child even more

"Wait!" she cried out, desperately reaching a hand out to them.

*****

Rain woke up with a start from that dream. Taking a few moments to breathe and reassess herself, the girl slowly got up from the bed she was lying on and laid her head on her hands, replaying the last part of the dream she had ever so sadly.

The girl had seen that dream plenty of times. And each time, it just was not easy to not feel anything from it.

That one especially confuses Rain most. Why was she so affected by these dreams? It was not as though they were memories of her past. These dreams are all just made up, with people that never existed in the past- beings that may as well be from some fantasy world. And yet… why does she feel so connected to them? The cat one especially. What is it about her that made Rain want to emphasize with her?

After finally calming down, Rain was about to climb off the bed to get ready for a new day, when she realized something. Well, two things actually.

One: her arms and legs were strapped to the bed she was on. Two: she was not in her room, nor was she in the nurse’s office. The room she was in was white, with a nightstand and a desk of medical equipment nearby.

‘Where the hell am I?!’ she wondered, trying to remember what happened that brought her here. She was trying to sneak out of the academy, had an encounter with Rabbit for her escape, and…

‘Sherry…’ Rain still couldn’t believe it. Her best friend… A murderer? Even if she did have good intention in the kills, murder is still murder. And yet… for Sherry to still resort to this… Furthermore, she has powers, like she does. Rain had thought she was the only one who was born different, born a monster, trying to fit in to the world. Sherry? Not only was she born like her, she knew they were similar in that aspect. And yet, instead of reaching out to her about it, Sherry kept it a secret. More than that, unlike Rain, who tried so hard to keep away from this power that was forbidding her from having a normal life, Sherry gave in to hers, practically accepting herself as a monster the world see them as.

Rain shook her head from these thoughts. Now was not the time to think and wonder about her; she had to focus on getting out of here. 

Her inhuman senses picked up on something approaching the room right out the door, prompting her to hastily lie back down in bed, setting the blanket back in place.

As she closed her eyes, Rain heard the sound of the door opening and closing, followed by footsteps walking into the room, approaching her. The girl calmly breathed as the presence drew closer to her, eventually stopping by her bedside. She recalled from when she woke earlier how long the straps were, and as she felt a hand touch her neck, most likely to check her pulse, instantly reached out to the owner’s shirt and pulled them down, meeting their face with another harsh headbutt.

At least… That was what Rain had planned out in her head, when she got a faceful of something large and soft.

“Oh! Oh my…” she then heard, causing her to snap her eyes open in confusion at the familiar voice. When she did, she realized she had planted her face on a pair of large breasts.

“Wah!” she gasped out in surprise, releasing her grip, as a giggle was heard from the owner of the large breasts.

“Well, someone certainly slept well. Or is it another bad dream?” At those words, Rain tilted her head upwards and saw, to her increasing surprise, Lucy standing there. Rather than wearing a plain blue shirt and black shirt with a doctor’s coat over it, as she was more accustomed to seeing her in, the woman was in a nurse’s outfit. Moreover, the outfit was hugging her body quite tightly, showing off a figure Rain never thought the woman had under such plain clothes. "How are you feeling?"

The body out of the way, for Lucy to be here, in this strange room, especially with what happened before she blacked out, Rain knew she could not be trusted either, and remained silent. 

Lucy tilted her head at the silence. "Oh? What's the matter? Are you thirsty? I think I know just the thing for that~" Next Rain knew, Lucy started to unbutton her shirt, which was more than enough to set off alarms in the teen's head.

'Oh, hell no! I do not swing that way!' she mentally shouted, unconsciously resorting to using her powers, as her nails turned into claws. With a tight grip on the straps binding her, Rain's claws tore through the leather chains, and freed her from her shackle, much to Lucy's surprise.

Not giving the woman time to do anything, Rain grabbed her by the top of her shirt and pulled her down, this time successfully delivering the headbutt. However... rather than knocking the older woman out, Rain was the one who got knocked out instead.

"Oh..." Lucy could only breathe out. "... She will definitely need painkillers when she wakes."