“Jupiter, is this really necessary?” Diana, goddess of wildlife and the moon cried, “For goodness sake, he’s barely thirteen!”

“And this one is barely a month old, Diana. I’m sorry. But you know this must be done, if we hope to stand any chance against the Maelai.”

“Don’t worry, Mother.” Added her silver haired firstborn, “It’ll be okay…”

Diana simply cried more and hugged her son tightly.

Proserpine hiccupped, “It’s for their own good… Right?”

“I wouldn’t even consider giving her up if it were not, my dear.” Pluto, her husband, replied. He kissed his small daughter’s forehead, and the two year old girl-child smiled, unaware of what was making her father so upset, but not wanting to add to it. She tugged on his hair slightly to get his attention and buried her head into his chest when her mother handed her over to him.

Pluto almost cried. But he didn’t. He was the King of the Underworld, if anyone should wait until they got home, it was him.

Jupiter softened when he glanced at his brother. Neither of them had ever been on very good terms, but he still sympathized with him. He had many children, and loved every single one of them. He could understand how hard this was for Pluto, as the god had very few children, and even fewer that survived.

Pluto kissed his daughter one last time and ran his sharpened nail across the child’s throat, killing her as quickly and painlessly as possible. Even still, the girl let out a cry before she became totally lifeless and Pluto found that he could not suppress the small sob that escaped him. Afterwards, he encased the girl’s soul in a protective barrier, which was maroon in color, the girl’s favorite color, and sent her to wait to be reincarnated.

“I… I can’t…” Diana sobbed, and her son gently stroked her back.

“Don’t worry, Mother.” He repeated, “I’ll be seeing you again soon.”

Smiling sadly, he picked up a silver dagger from the table and mutely walked out of the room. No one could ever accuse Cancer of being a coward.

“…Now what?” Juno, Jupiter’s wife, said miserably. She, too, had been forced to end her own daughter’s life.

“…Now…” Jupiter said with a ragged sigh, “…We wait.”

Fifteen years later, Los Angeles, California.

“KYM NAOMI NADINE OSVITCH!!” Yelled a highly stressed out Catholic housewife at the newest addition to her household.

Said addition had heard her, but pretended not to have. She simply tucked her short, messy, blonde hair behind her ears and rearranged the disposable contacts in her dark green-blue eyes. Her complexion was normal, if not, then just a tad paler than that.

Even more annoyed at being ignored, the woman stomped upstairs and busted into the room, which three adopted children, including Kym, all shared.

“KYM!” She yelled again, and this time Kym couldn’t just as well pretend the bitch didn’t exist.

Sighing in a combination of misery and extreme annoyance, she turned her head towards her ward, glared, and asked, deadly calm, “What in the hell do you want?”

“Don’t give me that tone!” The woman snapped back, “And don’t act all innocent, either! You nearly gave poor Fran a heart attack, putting that scorpion in her underwear drawer! It could have stung her! She could have DIED!”

Her voice still eerily calm, Kym replied, “Once again, Mrs. Whitfalle, you only prove what I already know. You are an idiot. Pacho is an emperor scorpion. Poisonous, yes, but barely so. Fran would have gotten, at worst, a reaction akin to a bee sting, had she even been stung.”

“Fran is allergic to bee stings!” She fumed.

Kym raised an eyebrow, “…Oh. Well, then, yes. I suppose it’s very likely she would have died. Damn.”

The poor old woman had had enough, “That’s it! Get out of my house!” She screamed, near ready to pull out her hair.

Kym calmly walked to the closet and pulled out her already packed suitcases. “Well, Mrs. Whitfalle, these last…” She checked her wristwatch apathetically, “...Five days, twenty-two hours and seventeen minutes in your home has been the most boring experience of my life. That having been said… Buh-bye.” And with a wave of her slender hands, she left.

Once she was outside, she giggled ecstatically and hugged her scorpion, which had previously been resting calmly on the juncture between her shoulder and neck.

“Gone in five days!” She laughed, “That’s got to be a personal best!”

She hadn’t been that happy in days, and it showed as she walked towards the agency she belonged to. Her social worker, Mr. Garcia, didn’t find her hobby of putting scorpions in people’s most private places nearly as funny as she did. She cackled maniacally as she remembered Steve, one of her former foster parents. He’d found it rather difficult to get laid for quite some time after the hooker had told all her friends about what they’d found in his box of condoms. Pacho had been none too happy about that particular mission either, but he was a trooper, so he dealt with it. Who said scorpions were unaffectionate and didn’t make good pets?

As she was walking down the street towards her agency, where Mr. Garcia was sure to scream himself hoarse at her, she noticed a strange boy leaning against a brick building up ahead.

He wasn’t strange because of his appearance. Quite the opposite, actually. He looked like an average black male. He was bald, about 6’2, with a somewhat muscular build from what she could see of him. No, it was more the fact that she noticed him at all that made him strange. It was hard not to when her body seemed to be pulling towards him.

He, apparently, noticed her too. He looked up, smirked, and started walking towards her.

“Ah. It’s you.” He said simply, staring down at her slightly shorter 5’11 form.

“Just who the hell are you?” She said defensively. This guy was way too confident for her liking. “And why the hell am I attracted to you like this? …Shit, that didn’t come out right…” She blushed lightly. Not one with subtlety, Kym.

He chuckled, “My name is Akia. I am Aries. But you’ll learn more about me… And yourself… Later.” Without warning, he shoved her hard into the street. The bus driver never had time to stop. He ran her over, snapping her neck and killing her near instantly. Akia quickly grabbed her limp body and ran into the alley, disappearing into the shadows.

“Got her.” He said to the robed figure who awaited him.

“You didn’t have to kill her. In fact, Pluto asked that you refrain from it.”

“Nonsense.” Akia smirked, “After all, what kind of goddess of death would she be if she herself were not dead?”

“It wasn’t necessary.”

“Neither is your presence. What are you doing up here anyways, Charon?”

Charon pulled back his hood to reveal nothing but a skeleton’s skull, “For your information, I was going to escort the princess back to the underworld personally. As you might or might not recall, I was her nanny way back when…”

“How touching.” Akia said sarcastically, “Then why don’t you lug her heavy ass down to the underworld?”

“Fine, I will. Hand her over.” Charon said, taking the girl into his own bony arms. Then he softly added, so that Akia would only barely hear him, “Whiner…”

Before Akia could reply indignantly to that, Charon stepped into the awaiting portal behind him, Akia grumbling as he followed.

A few moments later, in Hades

“……Ugh…”

“Welcome back to the land of the no-longer-living, Princess.”

The irritated blonde opened her eyes and glared at the boy sitting beside her.

“Where the hell am I?” She asked groggily. The gravitational feeling she had had when she first saw him was gone, replaced by another that was pointing in a different direction.

“You are currently being rowed by Charon,” He pointed to a man in a long black cloak, “Across the River Styx.”

She sat up and took a good look around her. The water in the river beneath her was dark… Like thin ink. She tried not to stare at it, though, as every once in a while a foggy face would form in the shadowy water and moan and scream at her, which was, obviously, creepy. Off to her left, some random guy was getting ripped to shreds by some huge three headed dog, a Labrador if she wasn’t mistaken. She briefly wondered if she should help him…

“AAAAUGH!! MY SPLEEN!!”

…His problem, not mine. She thought, quickly looking away.

“Don’t fret over that man.” The hooded rower told her. “Trust me; he’s done nothing to prove he doesn’t deserve it.”

The boat came to a stop momentarily after he said that, and she looked ahead once more. Embedded in a wall of black coal were two huge, gold and silver embellished gothic style doors. A girl, probably in her younger teens, leaned against them.

“It’s about bloody time you got here.” She said in a distinct British accent, though she doesn’t quite look British. She looked Portuguese, with cocoa brown hair, tanned skin and stormy blue eyes. She was athletically thin and a bit shorter than Kym, but probably still tall for her age. About 5’8 or so, Kym guessed. Once again, the most noticeable feature about her was that as it did with Akia, her body seemed to be pulling towards her.

Charon, who she realized with little surprise is a skeleton, helped her out of the boat and onto the bank. The girl strode up to her and shook her hand, and the gravitational pull disappeared.

“My name is Jen Poe Griffin. I am Sagittarius.” She says.

“Kym Osvitch. Um… Do I really need to know your zodiac sign?” She replied with a raised eyebrow.

“You didn’t tell her?” She accused, looking at Akia incredulously.

“No, he didn’t.” Charon answered her, glaring at the boy. Though how exactly he managed to do that when he hadn’t any eyebrows was beyond Kym. She supposed it was the same force that allowed him to speak without a larynx.

“Tell me what, exactly?” Kym asked.

“You,” Jen said, pointing at her with one of her well-manicured fingers, “Are the personification of the zodiac sign Scorpio.”

“Oh.” She said simply. “That makes sense, I suppose.”

“…You aren’t even going to ask for any proof?” Jen inquired.

“No.”

“…Why not?”

“Because I’m standing next to a skeleton who is walking and talking like a normal living being. I think I can believe a lot of things at this point. And… Well, I’m getting a real strong sense of déjà vu here, you know?”

Jen nodded, accepting this answer, and knocked on the doors ahead of them. They opened two seconds afterwards, leading them into what appeared to be a throne room, also encrusted with gold, silver and jewels, just like its doors. Twenty feet ahead of them was two silver thrones, seating two regal-looking individuals.

The first, whom was sitting in a slightly taller throne than the other, was a man. He had chin length, coal black hair, black eyes and a pale complexion. Despite how old Kym knew he must have been, he looked to be in his younger to mid-thirties. He wore a grey-blue toga, of all things, though Kym couldn’t say she was too interested in his apparel.

The younger looking woman beside him was decidedly much prettier. She had long, slightly curled, dark blonde hair, green-blue eyes and a normal white complexion. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, though she probably could have passed for a teenager if she wore the right clothes and makeup. She wore a toga like the man beside her, but white in color and pinned with a feminine ruby flower brooch.

“…Who are you?” She asked slowly, the aforementioned sense of déjà vu much stronger towards these people.

“Why, sweetheart!” The woman smiled, clasping her hands together in excitement, “We’re your parents!”

As was expected by both of the enthroned adults, she raised an eyebrow, “Parents.” She stated doubtfully.

“Yes,” The man continued, “I am Pluto, Lord of the Underworld. And this is your mother,” He pointed to the woman beside him, “Proserpine. And you,” He pointed to her, “Are, as you may or may not know, the personification of Scorpio. Does that make any sense, dear?”

She couldn’t help but sort through her many memories as he told her this. She thought back to all the strange things she’d done over the years… There wasn’t a single scar on her body, not anywhere. The wounds never lasted long enough to leave a mark. The second her skin broke, the blood receded right back into her body and the skin sealed itself after it. She knew enough about the zodiac to know that this, crazy as it may have sounded, made a shred of sense.

“Yeah, it does…” She replied finally, “So why did you bring me here?”

“Excellent question!” Charon interrupted, “You see… In your previous life, a great evil arose. In order to protect you, and a great many other people, we reincarnated you as a form of hiding you. Now all of you, as in the zodiac signs, have been born again. We need you to collect the rest of the signs and bring them here, and then we’ll explain everything in detail.”

“And I don’t have to go to school, right?” She added hopefully.

“…Um… No…” He replied slowly.

“Sweet. Alright, I’ll do it!”

“Wonderful!” Pluto said, “Now, from down here, in Hades, you can take one of the many passageways to a certain chosen point in any country/state in the world. There is one chosen point in every country, and although we know what country they live in, we do not know specifically where in that country they are. That’s where you come in. At first I was thinking that each of you would get three countries and your mission would be to find the Zodiac in each of them, but since this is your first mission, you and Jen will be doing six together. Do you understand?” Pluto explained.

“I think I do.” She replied quickly, though not entirely sure. “But how are we going to find these people? I dunno about you guys,” She motioned to Jen and Akia, “But my sense of direction is nil. And I don’t have any spare cash to spend on a bus ticket.”

“Ah, yes. You have a psychic link to every other sign, once you are in five miles of the person you are looking for, you will feel a tug that will eventually lead you to them.” That would explain the tuggy-feeling, “As for financial issues...” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a Capital One card, “The pin number is 8745.”

“Got it.” She nodded, taking the card and putting it into a worn, old wallet. “So, where are we going first?”

“Virgo.” Jen replied immediately and in, she noticed, a very bossy tone, “Unless you object, Ms. Osvitch?” She adds in a stuck up manner.

With great effort, she resisted the urge to repeat what she had said in a slow, condescending voice and, instead, shrugged, “I don’t have a problem with it.” She said, though, once her back was turned, she stuck out her tongue and made childish faces at her.

“Well, I’m leaving then. Good luck, Princesses.” Akia added in his own stuck up manner before turning to leave. Having struck a nerve, she followed him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and she socked him, hard, on his left cheek, and he stumbled back. He didn’t fall on his ass as she’d hoped he would, though.

“Call me ‘Princess’ again, and you find this ulna,” She started, pulling the bone right off Charon’s body. “Halfway up your ass, got it?”

He smirked through the pain, “Understood… Your highness.” She pulled her fist again, fully intending to hit him again, but Jen grabbed it before she could do so. She was stronger than she looked, but Kym insisted to herself that she could have freed her fist if she had really wanted to.

“Honestly, you Americans are so damn violent… Let’s just go already.”

The blonde rolled her eyes, more of a twitch of irritation than a way of letting the girl’s bossiness slide. She told herself she would definitely tell the bitch off next time she got on her nerves, though it would actually prove to take a full four times before she would actually do it. “Fine, whatever…” She half-growled.

She looked back for a second at Akia, feeling a little guilty for hitting him. She usually didn’t lose her temper as quickly as she had, but something about him just irritated her to no end. Merely being in his presence was like hearing nails being dragged across a chalkboard. Jen really wasn’t much better, but to be honest, if she had to be around one of them for more than five minutes, she was glad it was Jen and not Akia.

Charon led the two girls down a series of bone and insect infested passageways. Centipedes crawled through the eyeholes and nasal cavities of skulls, and spiders hung from the ceilings. Kym took great care not to touch them.

“God! I freaking hate spiders!” She cringed, making sickened faces. “Huh, Pacho? Spiders are so nasty.” She claimed, kissing the scorpion’s pinchers.

“Here we are.” Charon told them a few moments later, motioning to a door that led into some old dusty storage room. “This portal will lead you to Houston, Texas. Virgo is somewhere within this state. Good luck in finding her.” He told them, a little awkwardly.

“Right! Thanks, Charon.” Kym replied, finding herself compelled, for some reason, to kiss his bare forehead. “Bye!” She said. Jen nodded to him in acknowledgement, following the blonde in front of her.

“How they grow…” Charon said to himself, chuckling, before closing the door behind him.