DISCONTINUED - The Fireflies - A Zodiac Adventure

Nine - Sagittarius ♐

(A/N: Sorry for the late chapter again 😅 man, I'm terrific at keeping promises. My productivity was rubbish this week.)

Things had been going way too quickly. I'd reunited with a bunch of friends and gone to war in the same week. How was that even possible? I nocked an arrow on my bow and tried to aim, but my hands were shaking too much. This wasn't like the training - back then, everyone was brushing up their archery skills to look good in front of the coach and everyone else.

Now, no one's trying to impress. I was standing in a group of equally nervous, fearful and sweaty men, arrows nocked on bows, just waiting for doomsday to arrive. The fact that people were sure we had an Imperiuch undercover near us didn't help at all.

I gulped. Would I ever see my friends again? How could the war begin so abruptly? Virgo was supposed to be the closest to me, but we hadn't seen each other once.

I got ready to fire...and then a sudden scream made me drop my weapon.

Quickly picking the bow up before a hoard of screaming people could trample over it, I looked around frantically. Did we really get ambushed?

More screams around me answered the question.

I hurried to the other side of the room as it seemed like the ambusher was right around the corner, but he seemed to travel faster than I'd anticipated. I was pushed against the right side of the room, and to my sheer luck, he was on the left. My eyes widened as I remembered - Virgo! She could be in this exact same room, unable to find me because of the raging chaos. What if the Imperiuch already got her? What if they were about to get her and I wasn't there to save her?

I stumbled across the room, willing myself to go faster as I pushed archers out of the way. If there was a chance Virgo was there, I had to somehow find her.

"What's a little girl like you doing here?"

I froze. The voice was right behind me. Could that be the ambusher? Did he get a maid?

I whipped around. No. The ambusher didn't just get any maid - he got Virgo. And he was about to stab her with a sharp, silver dagger.

"Virgo!" I screamed, leaping towards her. I managed to push her out of the way, but a sharp pain made its way through my left leg.

"Aarrgh!" I yelped. The wound was enough to immobilise me - I couldn't even look up from where I was. All I saw was darkness...but what I heard was way more reassuring.

Virgo squirmed out from underneath me. I heard her feet shuffle and then a strange feeling across my spine - she probably took an arrow from my quiver. Then I heard the screech of a grown man followed by a 'CLATTER!' of the dagger falling onto the ground.

"V-virgo?" I asked, the pain still burning in my calf. With all my willpower, I pushed myself up and managed to see a bunch of feet surrounding me.

Then I felt a strange sensation tingling on my wound as if it was being rubbed against something. "This is gonna sting," Virgo told me. Then, after a gentle pat of what seemed like cotton, the sting came.

Gritting my teeth, I managed not to scream - I was determined to look at least slightly masculine and strong in front of Virgo. I felt her wrap my wound up after cleaning it up. "You okay?"

I sighed in relief as the pain died away. "Y-yeah," I managed to say, "I'm fine."

I heard Virgo stand up. "Go back to your posts and keep shooting," she told the archers who had crowded around me. "The maids will take care of this ambusher - he's powerless now. I'll help this guy."

As if it was totally normal to be ordered around by a maid, everyone quickly hastened away without a single complaint.

Virgo helped me up. "Where did you get-" I stopped mid-sentence as I was hoisted up enough to see the now unmasked ambusher shuddering in pain...with an arrow sticking out of his groin. So that was why the archers treated her with utter respect. "What the-"