Gemini's heart thumped loudly in her chest as she and Aries walked through the marketplace. What were they doing there again? Oh right, they were going to her first trial. What could it be? Her mind raced with all the different possibilities.

They had been walking for a while through the market and Gemini's nerves were getting the best of her. And the heat of the sun was not helping. Oh, how she longed to sit down under a shade and sip some cold fruit punch.

In Eden, fruit punch was very popular and could be found everywhere. It was sort of like their signature or national drink and the punch found there is like no other. Made from an array of fruits, the burst of sweetness ends with a refreshing tartness that makes many yearn for more.

"Where are we even going?"

"Somewhere," Aries said cryptically as he led them down a narrow path, but immediately regretted taking the shortcut.

Gemini stiffened as they stumbled into a memorial dedicated to Ophiuchus. Aries paled as his eyes darted to Gemini then to the statue of his dead lover.

"I-I must've taken a wr-wrong turn," Aries mumbled as he ran a hand through his hair. "Come on, Gemini, let's go-"

"What is this?" Gemini demanded as she read the plague at the foot of the statue. "You never failed to look out for her and loved her till the end? What bullshit."

It didn't seem possible, but Aries got even paler. How could he forget that Gemini was Ophiuchus' niece and that Zadkiel probably told her another story of Ophiuchus' trial?

"Gemini, listen, I didn't mean for her to-"

"To die? Well, if you hadn't filled her head with dreams of being a god with you, this wouldn't have happened."

"I regret it, okay? Every single damn day," Aries defended, his eyes glistening with tears as memories of his time with Ophiuchus resurfaced.

"Oh yeah?" Gemini retaliated. "You killed Ophiuchus! You lied to her that she could pass and she believed you, even when it was painfully obvious that she was going to fail! If you hadn't been so high and mighty-"

"Shut up!" Aries roared, cutting Gemini off.

Everyone around them quietened down as they all turned to stare at the duo. "You know nothing about me!" he continued, oblivious to all the eyes on them. "How do you think I felt when Ophiuchus died? Do think I don't blame myself as well? I failed her, Gemini."

"So? That doesn't give you any excuse to be such an asshole. You certainly didn't seem like you cared at all. You weren't even at her funeral. You just disappeared then returned a few days later, partying at some bar," Gemini shouted.

As if just realising that everyone was looking at them, Aries asked rudely, "What are you looking at?"

Scared, everyone quickly continued with whatever they were doing while talking in hushed whispers.

Aries turned back to her, livid. "You weren't born then," he said lowly, but Gemini could hear the dangerous note lurking beneath his words, " You don't know what happened between me and Ophiuchus and you don't need to know."

"She is my aunt, I think I deserve to know."

"No, you don't," Aries said harshly. "It isn't important and didn't your mummy already give you her twisted version? Is that not enough for you? What more do you want from me?"

Before the tears could escape, an old lady holding a bag of apples stepped out from the crowd. "Now, look here, mister. I don't care if you are a god, but you don't treat this nice lady like that! Don't you think she deserves to know the truth?" she admonished. "I don't know how you even became a god with that attitude and temper. Disgraceful!"

Gemini gawked at her, along with everyone else in the market. Was this woman crazy? You don't just talk to a god like that. Much less, scold one in public. And to say those things...

Meanwhile, Aries glared at the old woman, pure rage running through his veins, anger clouding his thoughts. His heart felt like it was being ripped open once again by a thousand knives piercing into the still tender wound. Without thinking, he punched the old lady in the jaw. Hard.

A loud crack was heard as the lady fell on the ground with a gasp of pain. Her bag fell out of her hand and the apples scattered on the ground.

Gemini stared at Aries in shock. God, what should she do? Help the old lady? Let someone else help? Her thoughts were a jumble as she stared dumbly at the scene before her. Then a small voice in the back of her mind snapped at her to help.

Gemini quickly snapped herself out of it and immediately rushed up to the old lady. "Are you alright?" she asked, helping the lady up. "Are you hurt? That was quite a hard punch and-I-and-"

"I'm fine, dear, nothing I couldn't handle. Luckily I've been taking my vitamins if not I would have broken a bone or two," the old lady said softly, her eyes crinkling as she smiled up at Gemini. Her expression morphed into one of despair as she looked around at her apples. "Oh my, now my apples are all ruined!"

Sure enough, some of her apples were trampled on and many were bruised from the fall. "Don't worry, we'll buy you more," Gemini assured her before glaring at Aries who was calming himself down.

"What were you thinking?" she snapped. "You can't just go around punching someone just because they said something you didn't like! And why are you just smiling at me like that? Shouldn't you be apologising to the poor lady?"

Aries just continued to smile at her, reminding himself that he had to keep it in, and nodded to the old lady. The woman smiled at Gemini before she was engulfed by a bright light. The light faded to reveal Taurus, the Goddess of Earth and Wilderness. She looked like any normal civilian with a white shirt and denim shorts with sports shoes. The only thing that showed she was a god was the silver necklace with a forest green Taurus symbol and her "famous" septum piercing.

Taurus smiled down kindly at Gemini, who stood there dumbfounded, "Congratulations, little one. You've passed your first test! It takes great courage to stand up to a god and much kindness to help a poor old lady. It may seem like a simple act, but it is one that not many would do."

Everyone in the marketplace cheered as Gemini said dumbly, "This was my first trial the whole time?"

"Yes, well the fight about Ophiuchus wasn't supposed to happen, but anyways, you passed beautifully, my dear," Taurus reassured her. "Do you want to sit down? You look quite pale, dear."

"Ye-yeah."

Taurus led Gemini to a seat as she tried to process what had just happened. Meanwhile, Aries turned to Taurus who was passing the poor girl a glass of chilled fruit punch. "Vitamins? Really? Was that the best you could come up with?"

"Well I'm sorry if I'm not that good at thinking things up on the spot," Taurus countered, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You had months to prepare," Aries pointed out.

Taurus said sheepishly, "It may or may not have slipped my mind."

Before Aries could reply, Gemini asked, "So did I pass?"

Taurus looked at Aries as she patted Gemini's shoulder and said, "Yes, you did, dear. Yes, you did. Now, do you want to hear the truth of what happened to Ophiuchus?"

Aries sighed and began his tale.

・‥...━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━...‥・

What do you think happened to Ophiuchus during her journey to become a god?

Do you think Gemini has any right to be angry at Aries?