“Are you okay? Can you hear me? Scorpio!”

Scorpio opened her eyes and groaned as the cold light of the hospital hit her face. She blinked and saw Cancer next to her. A patch was on her neck and scrapes that had clearly been treated with anti-infection oil lined her arms and legs. Probably from getting thrown into the hedges and elbowed in the neck, Scorpio thought and felt her muscles tense. She hated Leo even more now. How dare he treat Cancer like a ragdoll.

Scorpio glanced to her other side and saw Capricorn lying in a bed with her arm wrapped up. She saw Scorpio looking at her and grinned sadly.

“My shoulder’s been popped out,” she explained. “I have to take it easy for a few months.”

Scorpio gritted her teeth. How dare he. She tried to sit up but immediately cried out and flopped back down. Cancer grabbed her arm and rubbed it reassuringly.

“Just rest, Scorpio,” she said. “You have a broken rib and a bit of internal bleeding.”

Scorpio winced. “I do?”

Cancer nodded. “I’m so sorry, Scorpio.” Tears started welling up in those pretty eyes of hers. “If…if only I had tried to draw the attention away, Leo wouldn’t have stomped on you so hard.”

“Don’t blame yourself, Cancer,” Capricorn said. “We all know Leo would’ve done the same thing either way. You did what you could.”

Cancer shuddered and wiped tears off her cheek. Scorpio looked away, unable to see her friend crying. Memories of the fight came flooding into her head. Leo had approached them in the dark and beaten them up, not holding back—or so Scorpio thought. Maybe that was him holding back, and the true brute strength he had was lying dormant.

That made the series of events even scarier.

Scorpio’s eyes widened as she remembered hearing Virgo’s voice as she faded in and out of consciousness. She turned back to Cancer.

“Where’s Virgo…where is he?”

Cancer shook her head. “He told me and Capricorn to run and call for help, so we just left him with Leo. We carried you for a while before Capricorn collapsed and I phoned the hospital. I also called for the police. Hopefully, they came to assist Virgo.”

“Okay.” Scorpio closed her eyes and exhaled deeply. “That’s good.”

“I hope Virgo will be okay,” Capricorn remarked. “But maybe I should be praying for Leo.”

Cancer and Scorpio looked at her strangely.

“When I saw the look in his eyes, I can’t lie—I got scared,” Capricorn continued. “I’ve never seen Virgo look so mad. He was absolutely pissed.”

“You think Virgo can beat Leo?” Cancer asked with wide eyes.

“Virgo is the type of guy to gain strength through emotions,” Capricorn said matter-of-factly. “And there’s not a doubt in my mind that he wasn’t numb after seeing us.”

*

Indeed, Virgo had been the farthest from numb or emotionless that he’d ever been.

He’d tried his best to hold back…but after hearing the sounds of screaming and blows landing from a distance, he knew what he’d be walking into. His quick wits told him it was Leo because Taurus wasn’t the type to get as physical. And then, after he approached the scene and his predictions were confirmed, a blind rage took over.

The fight had been a blur of adrenaline and viciousness. One moment, Leo had lunged at Virgo, the next, a whirlwind of punches and kicks flew from the both of them…and the next, Leo was on the ground, unconscious, and Virgo was staring down at him with blood-stained knuckles.

Virgo was strong. That was a fact—and he was aware of it. Over the years, he’d done multiple sports including martial arts and other self-defense activities. That, combined with his high IQ and knowledge of every weak point of the human body made for a concoction of danger…and the fight had been over within a few minutes.

But Leo had it coming. Virgo had never felt angrier at a human being (if you could call him that) than he did at that moment. What kind of heartless muscle-brained barbarian attacked innocent women, who were minding their business, for reasons they shouldn’t have been brought into? Virgo couldn't contain his disgust. Leo was the type of person he despised the most. Taurus, too. Virgo couldn’t help but wonder how his rival would react to this. He’d treated Cancer brutally in the past, and he was a complete monster. Virgo cursed himself mentally for being physically attracted to him, especially when he was worse than Leo. He did make others do his dirty work, after all.

When I see that bastard again, I’m going to lay into him, Virgo had thought, gritting his teeth. He’d then heard sirens and remained by Taurus’s body until the police arrived. The story he had told the cops was that Leo was assaulting his friends for no reason and that he’d shown up at the last moment and beat him down. It was the truth, but Virgo did leave out details about Leo’s connection to Taurus. He didn't know the details of how deep Taurus’s influence ran.

The medics eventually loaded the injured girls and Leo into the ambulance and sped off, and Virgo was taken down to the station for further questioning since Leo was so badly injured.

Virgo should’ve been nervous, but he wasn’t the least bit. He knew that Capricorn, Scorpio, and Cancer would support his statement. And Leo…Leo probably wouldn’t be saying anything for a while.

*

A broken jaw. A fracture in his arm. Bruises lining his body.

Though Leo was probably fortunate it wasn’t worse.

He came to after the surgery and was strangely motionless until he realized he was in a hospital room and all the memories of the fight with Virgo came flooding back.

“MMF!”

Leo’s nurse rushed to his side and tried to calm his now-thrashing body.

“Sir, please calm down!” she urged. “You’ve just gone through surgery on your mouth and arm. Your body needs rest, so you’ll be in the hospital for a month or two.”

“MMFM??!” That only made Leo thrash harder. The nurse yelled for backup, and more nurses swarmed in, accompanied by the doctor.

“Good evening, Leo,” he said with a warm smile. “I’m Dr. Murphy. I’m glad you’re so energetic, but please put that energy towards healing.”

“MMM—” Leo tried to scream but a diluted pain shot through his jaw and he immediately fell quiet. The doctor nodded at his reaction.

“You’ll be feeling numb for a bit, so please don't try to talk. The nurses will inform you of your stay and details of what happened in a little while.”

“WHMMMF AMMF MMMFIRGMM?” Leo mumbled. Dr. Murphy cocked his head, trying to process the muffled words of his patient. One of the nurses eventually spoke up.

“I believe he wants to know what happened to Virgo,” she said. “The other boy at the scene.”

“Ah,” Dr. Murphy said and grinned. “Good on you, Nurse Becka. Well, Leo, Virgo’s just been released from questioning.” Then his smile dropped and his eyes narrowed disapprovingly. “One of the young ladies that you abused is going to be released from our care in a bit, too. Two of them will have to stay longer.”

“Mmf…” Leo couldn’t care less about Virgo’s friends. He didn’t feel an ounce of sympathy for Cancer, Capricorn, and Scorpio. What he was really irritated about was the fact that Virgo had been taken down to the police station but then almost instantly released. That bastard deserves a life in prison for what he did to me, Leo thought bitterly. Once Boss finds out, he’ll—

Leo froze as he pictured Taurus’s face. Oh, shit, he thought. Didn’t Taurus specifically tell him to stay out of Virgo’s matters? Harassing the three girls counted as ‘Virgo’s matters’, right? And if there was one thing Taurus didn’t permit, it was Leo acting without his permission. Leo had done it once before when Taurus was dating a girl he liked. They were still in high school at the time, and Leo had made out with Taurus’s partner in a janitor’s closet. Taurus quickly found out and blood-lusted displeasure had spread across his face as he looked at Leo. It was such a menacing expression that Leo’s blood ran cold whenever he thought about it.

Taurus broke up with the chick a day later and tanked Leo’s grades in a class he’d been actually studying for. He also turned his favorite teacher against him, the only teacher Leo liked, as a warning. That was when Leo realized that serving Taurus meant survival of the fittest and guaranteed a good life for him…and that there was no point in trying to do anything on his own.

That’s what he’d figured. But his pride had taken a heavy blow after Virgo had leaked his messages, and he just couldn’t control himself.

Boss’s going to kill me, Leo thought. He’s actually going to kill me.

The moments where Leo felt truly afraid for his life were constant with Taurus, but he’d always gotten over them quickly as Taurus moved on. He assumed Taurus had forgotten about his misdeeds and that they were as close to buddy-buddy again as they could get.

But Taurus didn’t forget. He never forgot.

And this time, the sinking feeling in Leo’s stomach was pointing to not only his grades being tanked, but his whole life.