The news reporter stood in front of the casino, face solemn. "After the new law was passed, within twenty-four hours over five hundred people have been reported missing after visiting casinos in Vegas. As I'm sure you all know, the law states that people may now legally bet their lives in place of money. If they lose, the casino owns them. That is as much of the story as we have so far, back to you, Sagittarius."

Cancer flicked her eyes off the television, her fake nails digging into the leather hotel couch. She had known something was fishy when Scorpio had left the house in a rush, saying he was going to Casino Vauge. He was not a gambler. He had no luck whatsoever. He knew better.

When he had disappeared two weeks ago, after a minor argument over how to spend their money, Cancer hadn't thought much of it. It was typical of him to have stomp out, promising to return once she accepted he was right. In the past it had always meant he would come running back tomorrow, and grumble through the day after.

So Cancer hadn't said anything when he went out the door. It killed her a little every time he did that, but she never spoke up. He would come back, they would make up. She didn't want to be the one to ruin it.

If she had said something, would this still had happened?

In the back of her head, she knew it didn't matter. She was already here in Casino Vauge, against her better judgement, clicking her red heels together. In a tight black skirt, crop top and overdone makeup, she fit right in with the various hopefuls around her.

Stomach in knots, she tapped up to the front desk. A pretty Asian girl, definitely not above the age 18 law, spun around to greet her, a movie-star smile on her face. Cancer bit her cheek, realizing the law probably no longer existed.

"Welcome to Casino Vauge! I'm Aquarius! How may I help you?" She grinned, snapping on a pair of wide frame glasses off the counter that just made her more attractive. Cancer huffed to herself, trying to think about what she needed to do and not how thin and lifeless her strawberry blonde hair probably looked.

"Do you need a table?" She continued, flicking on the computer before turning back to her, still looking flawless. Cancer cringed at her reflection in the girl's glasses, before answering.

"I need to find a missing person."

The hesitation that followed sent Cancer's spirits plummeting. Maybe this is hopeless... she thought, not for the first time. The girl turned to her, eyes at the ground.

"I'm sorry. I can't." She stated blankly, still avoiding her gaze. Cancer swallowed heavily, before reaching out and grabbing her hand. That caught the girl's attention.

"Please..." Cancer begged, feeling her eyes fill with tears, "I need to find a missing person, Aquarius. I can't leave until I have him here with me!" The blonde huffed at the end, pushing away the unwanted surge of emotion.

"I'm sorry." She repeated, this time meeting her eyes. She paused, scribbling a note on a package before slipping it, under her hand, across the counter. She pushed it under Cancer's, snapping sharply when she glanced down. "I can't help you. Move."

Cancer frowned, fumbling with the paper as she walked away. Once she was at a safe distance, she took a glance. In messy pen, it read;

Penthouse suite, he's in the bedroom

I didn't give this to you

Inside was a room card, colored gold. It took her a moment, but she realized what the attendant had given her. Cancer looked up to smile at the girl, but she was already busy with another customer. It was probably better this way. She walked over to the elevator, and took the first one up with a group of young people, squeezing in.

"Virgo, which table should we start at?" Whispered a the girl nearest to Cancer. She was slim and had a curtain of bleached blonde hair that was cut just above the shoulders, and had a light gold cocktail dress that washed her out more than anything else. 'Virgo' looked nearly the same in a matching dress, save for a darker shade of hair.

"Lets go high tonight!" She slurred, obviously under the influence. Her friend swayed with her, bumping against the crowded bodies of other young hopefuls in the box.

"Don't bet your life," Cancer muttered, just loud enough for the two of them to hear. She felt like she ought to say it, since nobody else would. Since nobody did for Scorpio. "You'll regret it."

Virgo and her twin frowned, but stood in silence until their stop arrived. Without a glance at her, they departed he box. After that, people slowly trickled out floor by floor, she was left alone with four floors to go.

"Twenty-second floor +$100k bets." The mechanical voice dinged as they ascended, filling the empty space.

Cancer felt her stomach tighten, beginning to question the legitimacy of the desk girl. She could've been playing her, it wouldn't be the first time. But flipping the gold card in her hand, she decided to trust her. After all, this was her only chance of finding Scorpio.

"Twenty-third floor +$500k bets," It continued. The elevator kept moving.

"Twenty-fourth floor +$1million bets," It finished, shuttering as it came to a stop. The doors opened, revealing an empty hallway, voices echoing from the end. Cancer frowned, there was still one more floor to go.

She pushed in the 25 button again, harder.

"Access denied. Please insert room key to continue."

Cancer pushed the key into the assumed slot before pulling it back out quickly. The doors shuttered once more, moving shut. The box began to ascend once more, before coming to a sharp stop.

The mechanical voice crackled, befo

This was it. The penthouse.

Cancer swallowed hard, finally realizing the position she was in. She wasn't strong, or scary at all. She currently worked as a waitress at a local cafe, but here, that didn't mean much.

The doors moved open one final time, and Cancer, hesitantly, stepped out into a dim room after finding it was empty. Walking in, she realized her heels made quite a racket, so she slipped them off and carried them. In this strange place, they just might be the rest weapons she had. She cringed, realizing how poorly she had thought this through.

First thing noticeable about the room; it's size. It was enormous, most likely spanning the entire story. Looking to the right, floor to ceiling windows lined the wall, looking out onto the Vegas skyline.

Cancer stared at the twinkling lights, wondering if she was even in the right place. Scorpio could've been anywhere. But her gut tugged again, as if trying to reassure her. He had to be here.

She walked slowly, muscles clenched, ready for something, anything to appear. She stopped in the kitchen, hearing a crash come from the walls. Where it had originated from, she couldn't tell. Another one, down the hallway, had her heart beating wildly in her chest. She followed it, but walked more softly now, bare feet slipping over the floor. Whatever it was, Cancer didn't want it to find her first.

The crashes became more consistent, and she followed them to the open bedroom. Like the rest of the suite it was empty, folded crimson sheets waiting for an owner. Cancer swallowed a yawn, knowing she couldn't rest here. The guilt of breaking in weighed on her heavily enough, even if she told herself it was for good.

Another crash shook the room, a glass chandelier above her swinging around dangerously. She tensed, covering her head aimlessly. If that thing fell, it would shred more than just her hands.

Eventually the ceiling stopped shaking, and Cancer continued snooping around the room. Nothing under or behind the bed, as far as she could tell. Stomping around showed no trapdoors, to her disappointment. No secret door behind the tapestry.

Then she peeked in the closet. At first nothing would've appeared out if the normal. It was large, as big as her bedroom, cancer thought grudgingly. Clothes way out of her price range hung around lazily, and she pushed through them, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

She frowned, pulling the card out of its pocket. The writing still said; He's in the bedroom. She had scoured the whole damn place! Where the hell was scorpio?

A clanking sound snapped her out of her thoughts, and she tripped, gracelessly catching herself. She burned, embarrassed despite the fact (hopefully) nobody was there to see her fault.

"What...?" She muttered, scouring the area she had tripped over. It was only when she was trying to find anything did she realize she couldn't see. It was nearly pitch black, the only light slivers from the windows of the bedroom.

Thankfully, that was enough to pull open what had tripped her. It was a trap door, hiding under discarded suits. Cancer smiled, feeling a spark of hope go off in her chest. Maybe she would find Scorpio, bring him back home again!

She pried open the wood, cringing as it squeaked into the dead silence of night. Cancer glanced around out of caution, but still, no one was there. Breathing a sigh of relief, she opened the door fully, breaking a fake nail along the way. Light flooded from the square, and cancer could make out a ladder in the darkness.

Grinning, she began to make her way down the ladder, imagining the awe on Scorpio's face when she showed up to tell him to come back home. Maybe that's what he's always wanted... to be wanted at home...

But when she saw the sight down below,  she choked on her relief. It was Scorpio, there was no doubt about it. His brown hair, nearly black, was messy, bangs trailing into his dark eyes. His skin was pale as a newborn baby, no matter how long he spent outside.

He was chained to the wall, arms in the air, mouth bandaged with duct tape. He hung in submission, head bowed as if he was used to this. About five other people, all male, hung in the same position.

"Scorpio!" Cancer whispered, tiptoeing towards him. "Scorpio!" His head jerked up, eyes rounded in fear. He shook, violent twitches that spasmed his whole body, clanking the chains above his head.

She stopped in her tracks, terrified of the sight. She turned around at a creak, in time to see the desk girl, Aquarius, climbing down the ladder, dumping the body of a girl on the floor below.

Virgo...

"So, you found my chamber of horrors after all!" The Asian girl smirked, landing on Virgo's body with a sickening crunch. To Cancer's horror, she was wearing combat boots, and somehow looked perfectly capable in them.

"Aquarius... what?" Cancer gasped, scattered mind finally sliding the pieces together. The girl's grin just grew as realization crept into her mind. "You're... the owner..."

"Fuck yeah I am." She crowed, stepping closer to the blonde girl. She wanted to move, run, anything. But her feet felt stuck to the ground. And when Aquarius decked her before smashing her face into the ground, she didn't do anything.

The last thing her foolish mind thought was, " Such a dirty floor to die on..."

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She woke up to sharp throbbing in her wrists. She tried to move, but it only resulted in more pain. She screamed only to find it stifled by tape, and forced her eyes open. She was chained up just like the other prisoners, which unfortunately barely even surprised her. What drew her eyes was the only other girl in the room, judging by her dress.

It was Virgo, from the elevator. Head slack, tongue lolling out. Dead.

Cancer bit back a cry, but it welled back up and she began sobbing despite her efforts. Fat tears spilled down her cheeks and onto her limp body, hands unable to wipe them away.

"Cancer...?"

The girl turned to the sound of her name, still crying. Over the body of Virgo next to her, she could see Scorpio's dark head poking out, eyes filled with surprise.

"I'm-" she started, but was cut off by his grin.

"So you're stuck here too, then?"

Her tears started flowing at that, big soppy breaths. "I'm sorry!" She cried, "I know I should've let you handle everything because I'm a train wreck- god I am right now! And now you have to deal-"

"Hey, hey, there's no reason to say stupid shit like that." He interrupted, voice softer than she had ever heard it. He opened his mouth as if he was going to say more, but then closed it as the screeching sound of metal filled the air.

Turned to her side, she saw a steel colored door slide open, a man pushing his way through, shadowed by light from the other side. She went limp on instinct, frowning when the rest of the prisoners looked up in delight.

"Ay Pisces! I was worried it was our old friend dickface, but it looks like we were blessed today!" Scorpio shouted with a smirk. A series of chuckles called throughout the room.

"Thanks Scorpio, but I would be a little quieter if I were you. I think 'dickface' is sleeping upstairs today, so be a little more careful."

Everyone quieted down, even scorpio slightly did. Cancer was amazed, as he rarely followed orders even from her. She watched in fascination as Scorpio obediently let him take off his cuffs and slowly lower him to the ground.

Who was this boy?

On the outside, he appeared to be above average height, maybe 6 feet or more. In any case, he had a few good inches on Scorpio. His skin was a shining tan color, not quite Hispanic, but close. His hair was only a few shades darker than the rest of him and was styled short but wild.

Cancer felt herself growing red, and turned away quickly. She felt ashamed, looking at him that way with Scorpio in the room.

"Cancer!" Scorpio shouted, running towards her, arms wide. She grinned, a wave of happiness overtaking her as he embraced her warmly. "Shit shit shit I'm so sorry, I just wanted to get us a better life..." he muttered into her ear, warm breath tickling her skin.

"Hey, it's okay." She cooed, pulling his head up to look him in the face. Scorpio's wild black hair was as bad as ever, sticking up in estranged places. His eyes were red rimmed and mouth was cracked. But to Cancer, he had never looked better. "We're in this together, forever. Right?"

Scorpio's dark eyes looked surprised for a split second, but the blonde didn't notice his hesitation. "Of course," he replied, a smile stretching across his face.

"We'll get out. We'll be okay."

------------------------------------

Scorpio stared into his girlfriend's blue eyes, trying to hold her gaze. He hated lying, especially to her. He had gone where he thought she would never follow, where she would be away from him.

But she had followed, and now he had brought her down with him.

"We'll get out. We'll be okay." He said, hugging her tight again. But the words felt empty, even to him. Pisces was good to them, but he wasn't the man heading this and he could never get them out.

He saw the boy's head over her shoulder, dark hair shading dark eyes. Despite that, he could still feel the meaning in his gaze.

How the hell am I going to tell her?

How the hell am I going to tell her I'm gay... and for Pisces?

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Ugh so sorry this took forever :/ Anyways hope you guys like the couple of twists this chapter took. Tell me what you think and if you possibly want a sequel...?

- LBB