A/N: This update was late because I had to study for my finals. After finals I took a short break because I was really burnt out. I'm back now, and I would like to thank everyone for your patience!

An alarm blared throughout the hotel at six am. Everyone slowly appeared, wondering why they always had to get up so early.

Ophiuchus yawned. "The private jets will arrive in an hour. Half of you will take a tour of the capital city, Aquariolus with Aquarius and Aquari. The other half will explore the southern part of the country. I will not be conducting the tour because I have business in Serenum, but while I'm gone I'll have my assistant Cetus watch over you guys and participate in your tour. She'll be here in half an hour."

And with that Ophiuchus walked out the front doors.

"Assistant?" asked Taur.

Gem smacked her palm against her fist. "What's one assistant against twenty four of us?"

"I don't know," Lee sighed. "Cetus is probably really strong if she's assigned to watch over all of us."

Pie flipper her hair over her shoulder as she walked towards her room. "I want to explore the capital city. As for Fetus, she can kiss my ass. I'm not scared of anyone, not even Ophiuchus. Call me when the first jet arrives."

"There's no point going back to sleep. Let's get some breakfast!" Aquari scanned everyone. "I'll be going to the southern part of the country. Who else wants to come?"

Saggi raised his hand. Then Vinn, then Scor and Taur. Then Leon and Cancy.

"We need some originals too." Aquari scanned everyone. "Libra, Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn, and Gemini. You guys come too."

And with that, everyone except Pie went to get breakfast.

***

Cetus walked through the front doors. She was recently sent down from the sky to assist Ophiuchus as her assistant. King Cepheus deemed Ophiuchus incompetent by herself since the zodiacs have been out of control lately.

Cetus had no idea why they chose her. Ophiuchus mentioned something about her great power that could easily outmatch every Zodiac at the same time.

Cetus didn't know what she meant, because as far as she knew she didn't have any powers.

As she looked around the lobby, Cetus looked in a mirror standing on the wall to check her appearance. Her wavy firetruck-red hair was pulled back into a long braid. She adjusted her glasses that framed her soft brown eyes before walking into the cafeteria where she suspected everyone was. She took a deep breath before opening the door.

Only to have something thrown over her head. She felt multiple people pick her up and carry her somewhere. When everything stopped, she heard a door click shut. Cetus pulled the bag off her head. She was in some kind of small room.

"Hello?" Cetus stood up and tried the door. It was locked.

"We'll let you out of the closet once we're finished our tour," spoke a voice that was overly sweet. The voice of a devil disguised as an angel.

"What's going on? I'm Cetus, Ophiuchus' assistant."

"We know who you are," replied the girl. "But we want to make it clear that we don't take orders from anyone. If you don't behave, I'll invite my pet snake to come play with you."

Cetus tried ramming the door open. It was sealed shut with some kind of magic.

"I feel kind of bad. Isn't this a bit harsh?" asked a boy.

"She's Ophiuchus' assistant. If she's as powerful as they say, she'll find her way out. Don't fall for her trick just because she looks innocent. She's probably just as evil as Ophi."

"What are you talking about?" Cetus knocked on the door. "I'm not here to hurt you! I'm here to help you guys."

"So was Ophiuchus." And with that everyone left.

At first, Cetus curled up in a ball on the verge of tears, wondering what was going on. But then she understood.

They immediately assumed I was going to hurt them. How has Ophiuchus been treating them for them to react that way towards me? Cepheus has spoken to her about being harsh, but I wonder if there's more going on than he knows about.

What has Ophiuchus been doing to them this whole time?

***

Aries, Gem, Cancer, Leo, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Aquarius, Pisces, Ares, Lee, Capri, and Pie explored the capital city with Sagittarius guiding them.

After exploring a bit, they decided to split into two groups. Sagittarius led herself, Pisces, Cancer, Aries, Pie, and Leo to find the floating bikes, while Aquarius led Gem, Scorpio, Ares, Lee, and Capri through the rope bridges.

"It feels like we shouldn't be able to walk on top of the trees," announced Ares while stepping through the leaves. "The branches feel like they're going to snap."

"The trees here are very steady," announced Aquarius. "And almost everyone living here has enough power to glide on air currents, even for a short period of time. These bridges and ladders throughout the trees and for the benefit of foreigners, or those born without powers."

"If you put another leaf in my hood I'll shoot you."

Ares froze, a handful of leaves hovering behind Scorpio's hoodie. "It took you a few minutes to notice."

"No, I just didn't bother." Scorpio put her hood up, leaves falling down her shirt.

"I thought you hated silver." Ares played with a handful of her brown hair, a few silver streaks running through.

Scorpio swatted his hand away. "It's rude to touch someone else's hair."

"I think the silver looks nice, silver scorpion."

Scorpio drew the hoodie strings as tight as she could, the hood completely closing around her face to block out Ares.

"Aren't they silly?" joked Capri who's arm was linked with Lee's.

"Yeah."

"Look." Capri picked a leaf off a nearby tree and handed it to Lee. "Here!"

"What do you want me to do with that?"

"I don't know. It's pretty."

"Thanks," he replied in a monotone voice while tossing the leaf over his shoulder when Capri looked away.

"Over to your right is a hotel made out of a tree that's about 50 meters in diameter. As you can see, the rooms are built into the tree, yet it's still alive," explained Aquarius.

"I think I'm the only one paying attention," announced Gem who started walking beside him.

Aquarius turned around to find Capri and Lee looking around, completely tuning him out. Scorpio and Ares were too busy playfully fighting to pay attention.

"Congrats. You're my new favourite person."

Gem made an exaggerated happy face. "Really? This is such an honour. I would like to thank my parents-wait I don't have parents. I would like to thank my moustache."

"I forgot how weird you were."

Gem rolled her eyes and nudged Aquarius with her shoulder. "I'm still more awesome than you."

"You are."

"Wait what? Did you just admit it?"

"Only Gemini is dumb enough to argue with you. It's easier to just go along with whatever you say."

"And if I say I want a piggy back ride?"

Aquarius stopped and kneeled on the ground. "Then you get a piggy back ride."

Gem jumped on Aquarius' back. "We should have became friends sooner."

Aquarius stood up, his hands wrapped around Gem's ankles to make sure she wouldn't fall. "I feel like we've discussed this before. Or maybe I had this conversation with Sagittarius before. She's always wanted us to be close, since we're two of her closest friends."

"What if I say I'm hungry?"

"I can take the group on a detour to a café if you'd like."

"Such a gentleman."

"I'm not paying though."

"That makes me so sad. I might cry." Gem sniffled and wiped fake tears from her eyes.

Aquarius leaned over a wooden bridge, his hands tightening around Gem's ankles. "What if I throw you over this bridge?"

"I can fly. I'd also make Sagittarius kill you."

"I guess I won't then since I don't want to die."

"Good choice."

"There's a little café up here. I'll treat the group."

"Even Lee?"

"Unfortunately I can't treat everyone except him."

"You can..."

"It'll cause a problem. It's easier to just pay for whatever he gets and not end up in a fight with him."

"If it were me I wouldn't. But I don't mind drama."

"I try to avoid unnecessary drama at all costs."

"What are they arguing over this time?" sighed Gem as she looked back.

"Why are you putting sticks in my pocket?" asked an annoyed Scorpio.

"Because he's a twelve year old who doesn't know how else to get attention from his crush," muttered Aquarius under his breath.

Gem chuckled and playfully kicked Aquarius. "Shhhhhhhh! Don't let either of them hear you say that."

"You get so annoyed," teased Ares.

"I'm not annoyed. I'm just wondering why you find stuff like this so amusing."

"Careful!"

Scorpio ignored Ares, and tripped over a log. "Ow."

"Told you." Ares picked her up bridal style. "Guess I'll just have to carry you."

"Carry me?!? I just tripped! Put me down!"

"You can't be trusted to walk safely on your own. Good thing your superior is here to save you."

"You're making it so hard not to hate you." Scorpio glared at Ares. "I can walk by myself."

"I think they secretly like each other," whispered Gem.

Aquarius nodded. "I think they decided to become rivals, but they started to like each other, so they disguised it as hate. I think they convinced themselves that they hated each other, but now they're tired of being mean to each other, so now they're trying to be friends."

"Did Gemini come up with that?"

"Yeah."

"How do we save Capri? She looks miserable."

"You annoy Lee while I talk to her."

"Lee would take it out on her if he sees her talking to a guy."

"Then... I'll distract him." Aquarius let Gem down. "Lee, I noticed that you seem to be working out a lot lately. Do you have any tips?"

Lee unlinked his arm from Capri. "Why are you asking me this?"

"You seem to be getting stronger."

"Well, it could be from the pull-up bar..."

Gem pulled Capri back while Aquarius spoke to Lee.

"What's going on?" asked Capri.

Gem shrugged. "Since they're talking, I figured we could hang back and chat."

Capri smiled. "Yeah."

"Aquarius said he was going to take us to a café."

"Really? I hope there's cream puffs, they're my favourite."

"Capricorn makes really good cream puffs. He was our chef."

"Really? I'll have to try them sometime."

"Yes. You'd really like them."

***

"HOW DO YOU DRIVE THIS THING AGAIN?"

"WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME?" Pisces was on the back of a floating bike, grabbing onto the driver, Sagittarius, like he was about to die. They were flying above ground, being pushed around by wind currents.

Their bike floated up and down, and tipped sideways at an uncontrollable speed. They would have fell off if there wasn't seat belts to keep them on the bike.

"I'm steering the bike but it's not going where I want it to go."

"Wait! Stop! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

They both began screaming as the bike began flying upside down.

"WE'RE GOING TO DIE!" screamed Sagittarius.

"It's not that hard." Leo and Aries pedalled past them. Leo smoothly flew the bike, as if she'd been flying one for years.

"That's just Leo though." Pisces closed his eyes as the bike turned back upwards. "Leo can do anything."

"No, you guys just suck," teased Cancer who flew by on a bike built for one person. His bike was shaky, but he was flying a lot better than Sagittarius and Pisces.

"Look what I found!" Pie flew past them, holding onto a bird that she grabbed midair with one hand, steering the bike with her other.

"Let the bird go!" gasped Cancer. "You can't just grab birds out of the air while they're flying. Wait, how did you even do that?"

Pie shrugged, letting go of the bird.

"I think I've got it now." Sagittarius exhaled as the bike stopped shaking. "Ohhhh. The bike turns sideways if you lean sideways."

"Because your weight will tip it sideways," said Pie as if that were obvious.

"Hold on!" ordered Leo.

Aries held tightly onto Leo as she did a flip with the bike. "Do that again!"

"How do you guys do that?" asked Cancer.

"How do you guys steer without wind currents rocking the bike?" asked Sagittarius.

Cancer shrugged. "You don't let the wind push you around."

Pisces rolled his eyes. "Very helpful."

"Let's race. First one to that really tall tree wins!" Pie began pedalling as fast as she could.

"Let's beat her!" cheered Aries.

Leo hooded. "Alright. Pedal as hard as you can!"

"I'm not going to try to beat them," sighed Cancer.

Pisces gulped as their bike began shaking because of the wind. "If I die, give all my stuff to Virgo!"

Sagittarius furrowed her brow. "Why?"

"Because then it would cause him a lot of work to sort through all my stuff."

"Poor Virgo," chuckled Cancer. "I'll give him anything valuable and sell everything else."

"Saggi you can't let me die now! I can't let Cancer do that."

"What do you mean let you die? I'm trying my best to control this thing."

"Should I try to drive it?"

"If you try, I'm confident we'll both die."

"Then you can keep being the driver. That way we only have a fifty percent chance of dying."

"Can't you trust me just a little?"

"Forty nine point five percent chance."

"Better."

Cancer rolled his eyes. "These bikes are programmed to eject a parachute out of the back if it descends towards the ground too quickly. Neither one of you are going to die."

"She could crash us into a tree of something."

"I'll purposely crash you into a branch or something."

"Love you too Saggi."

"Oops." Cancer jokingly bumped into them, causing them to both scream at him at the same time.

Meanwhile Pie, Aries, and Leo all sat on a large tree branch, taking a break. Their bikes remained in the air thanks to the motors built in.

"How do these things fly anyway?" asked Pie. "I know the motors have something to do with it, but I don't get it."

Leo inspected the bikes. "Maybe there's some kind of magic in them to help them fly, and drive through the wind."

"I like these," smiled Aries. "I should buy one and bring it back to my country."

"What's taking the others so long?" sighed Pie.

"Did you see the way Sagittarius was flying?" Leo stretched her arms. "I think it'll take half an hour for them to catch up."

Aries sighed. "Let's fly around on the bikes some more. I'll drive this time."

***

After a few hours, Taurus, Gemini, Virgo, Libra, Capricorn, Taur, Cancy, Leon, Vinn, Scor, Saggi, and Aquari arrived at the southern part of the country. The canopy above the shortest trees was dusted with snow. The trees here were mostly pine trees, with a few thick leafless trees. The buildings were build closer to the ground, and there were metal bridges rather than rope ones.

"So in this part of the country, it's always snowy?" asked Virgo.

Aquari nodded as she led the group through a path outlined by metal handrails. "The northern part is stuck in an eternal fall. This part of the country is in an eternal winter."

"It's so pretty." Vinn picked up a handful of snow and threw it at Scor. "Maybe the snow can make you pretty too."

Scor rolled his eyes. "If I wanted to look pretty, I'd ask Leon for help."

Leon threw snow at Scor. "Vinn was right. He does look better with snow covering his face."

"I'll kill you both."

Vinn and Leon ran from Scor as he chased them, everyone making snowballs as they ran.

"Children." Saggi shook his head as he gathered snow in his own hands. "They're all children."

Libra smirked. "Then why are you making snowballs? Or are you a child as well?"

"I'm just rolling the snow into a sphere. It's not a snowball."

"I'll fully admit that I'm a child." Capricorn threw a snowball at Saggi.

"I can't move." Taurus stopped as her wheelchair got stuck in the snow.

Aquari used air currents to lift the chair. "There."

"Thank you." Taurus wheeled up to Capricorn, before dumping a pile of snow down his winter jacket.

"AHH! WHY IS THERE COLD WATER RUNNING DOWN MY BACK!" Capricorn looked at Taurus, packing snow into an extra large snowball.

Taurus quickly looked around. "Gemini protect me!"

"Which side should I take?" asked Gemini.

"Aren't you dating Cap?" asked a Taur.

"Yeah but he's against Taurus. Also it's more fun to torment him."

"Team Taurus," whispered Libra.

Gemini gathered snowballs and threw them at Capricorn.

"Didn't we come for a tour?" asked Libra as if she didn't just contribute to the snowball fight. "Everyone is throwing snow instead."

"Libra, I can't believe you have so much dandruff." Virgo sprinkled snow over Libra's head.

Libra rolled her eyes. "That's so lame."

"No, you're lame."

"You'll be m-my shield." Cancy hid behind Libra.

Libra pulled Cancy against her chest. "It's okay. I'll protect you." Libra used currents to deflect snowballs that were thrown towards them. "Okay, that's enough! Can we continue the tour?"

Everyone listened to Libra and began following Aquari. Capricorn tried to throw more snowballs at people, but strong winds blew the snow out of his hands.

"It's going to be a pain to get these ice chunks out of my hair." Leon attempted to brush through his long hair.

Taurus easily combed through her hair. "This is why I keep my hair shorter."

"Vinn! There's so much snow in your hair!" Taur, who just overheard Leon and Taurus, found an excuse to talk to Vinn as he helped her pick the snow out of her hair.

"Thanks Taur." Vinn grimaced as she pulled on her hair in an attempt to get the ice out. "Actually, maybe I should just wait and take a warm shower."

"Here, I'll rub my hands together until they're warm! Then maybe I'll be able to melt the ice!" Taur began vigorously rubbing his hands together.

Cancy cringed. "That's kinda awk-awkward."

"He's trying a bit too hard," muttered Virgo. "But at least he's trying!"

"Even Vinn looks a bit uncom-comfortable."

"You wouldn't want a guy to warm his hands to melt the ice in your hair?" asked Capricorn.

Libra shook her head. "I don't like it when people touch my hair."

Capricorn began rubbing his hands together. Libra ran while Capricorn chased her.

"He just doesn't behave," sighed Virgo as he replaced Libra beside Cancy.

"He doesn't both-ther me."

"Maybe because you got picked on enough in school. Becky didn't exactly welcome you."

"Becky is a bitch."

"Yeah, she's pretty mean."

"Where are we going now?" asked Saggi who walked beside Aquari.

"I haven't decided yet." Aquari looked around. "Maybe I'll show everyone the garden of ice sculptures. Or maybe I'll let everyone warm up in a restaurant with hot food."

"I could really use a pizza. Or a burger."

"Alright. Restaurant it is."

"We're getting food?" Scor grinned. "My stomach is begging for food."

"Is it? What if we let everyone in the restaurant except Scor?" joked Aquari. "I'll make you starve."

"Why would you do that?" Scor put Saggi in a headlock. "If you lock me out, he gets locked out too."

"Why did you bring me into this?" Saggi tried to free himself from Scor.

"That's fine with me," replied Aquari. "I'll lock you both out."

"What if we lock her out instead?" whispered Saggi.

Scor nodded. "I like that plan better."

"We should have left some food for Cetus," announced Taur who started to feel guilty for how they locked her in the closet.

"Don't feel bad for anyone associated with Ophiuchus." Gemini sighed. "She's probably just as manipulative. We don't feel sorry for people like that."

"Why did she get sent down anyway?" asked Taurus. "Ophiuchus is more than capable of handling us. We haven't even seen her full powers yet."

Capricorn frowned. "She's trying to convince everyone that she's weaker than she really is. That makes me uncomfortable."

Gemini rolled his eyes. "What could she possibly be planning?"

Leon shrugged. "Whatever it is, it can't be good for us."

"Maybe we'll have to kill her," shrugged Saggi.

Cancy's eyes widened. "We'd ne-never get away with that."

"I don't feel safe around her." Vinn shivered as a cold wind started to blow. "She clearly wants to see us suffer, and I want to know what she's doing in Serenum while we're here."

"What could she possibly be planning?" Scor shook his head. "Food is more important. We can discuss this again after we eat."

Aquari opened the door to a nearby restaurant. "Agreed."