The Forgotten Zodiac

((I intend to use it as much as possible.))

"That would have been bad," L'arc agreed, crossing his arms as he thought about it. The small group had reached a balcony, and the druid sat down on the railing as he thought. Suddenly, he straightened. "What about a flying competition?" he offered, glancing at Verolen. "Israel wouldn't say no to you, Verolen. And witches fly, too," he said. "It'd have to be one on one, because that's only fair - we don't really have anyone that can fly other than Israel."

((Okay then. xDD))

Verolen lingered on the idea. He started to pace back and forth, thinking about it. "Alright," He sighed. "A flying competition, it is. But no acceleration spells, Nana. You use your broom's natural flying speed. Got it?"

"Sure," Nana grinned. "Let me go get my broom from Horace. You should get your bird ready." She turned on heel and skipped off.

L'arc paused for a second, trying to remember where Israel was. "...Is he still on the roof?" the druid asked, leaning back as far as he could on the balcony to gaze upwards. "Israel! We need you!" he called.

Verolen sighed, staring up at the sky. "Israel, we're depending on you for something very important. Come here, please." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Israel poked his head over the edge of the roof, watching Verolen, L'arc, and Kendra for a moment before chirping. "Is Arachne back yet?" he asked, somewhat hopefully.

Verolen pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment. "No, Israel. She's not back. And she's not going to be back for a long while. But for now, we need to get Rush back. And we need your help to do that. It's a one-on-one race with Nana, that little witch girl. Flying race. Can you win it for us, so we can get Rush back?"

"Uhm... probably?" Israel said, flaring his wings slightly. He leapt off the roof and landed beside Verolen, then gave the demon a hug. "I'll fly fast," he promised. "And then Rush'll get better, and then we can stop the war, and then Arachne will come back, right?"

Verolen smiled. "Yes. She'll come back when we stop this war. It was in the contract with Zex, so I can safely promise you that."

"...why did he take her?" Israel asked, quietly, his voice low and his tone sad.

Verolen sighed. "He did it for her own protection..." He said softly. "She made the contract with that in mind. She said it herself; it wasn't that she didn't feel safe, but she felt as though she was a burden on us all. I...I don't blame her. But look on the bright side, Israel...once this war is over, the second it ends, Zex will return her to us, safe and sound. Like nothing ever happened."

"It's my fault. She lost her leg," he said quietly. His wings lowered to brush the ground and he sighed unhappily. "My fault."

"No, Israel." Verolen said firmly. "She doesn't blame you for this. She never, ever would." He shook Israel's shoulders gently. "You couldn't have done anything. I couldn't have done anything. This...this is just the way the fates decided things would turn out. Israel...you can't keep beating yourself up for something like this. It's nonsensical."

Israel hesitantly met Verolen's gaze, his lip quivering. Finally, he seemed to shake himself, steeling his nerves and emotions. "I'll... fly really fast. For Arachne," he said.

Verolen nodded. "All for Arachne. No one else. Not even for Rush. Just...do it for Arachne." He smiled a bit. Nana had good timing; she skipped back into the room, her broomstick in tow.

"I'm ready! Just mark the start and mark the finish." She grinned.

"You have to fly into the forest and find a Blue Pear. They bloom early, I saw one or two on my walk with Bermuda the other day. They're really easy to spot, too, so there's no disadvantage there." Verolen nodded. "The first person to bring a blue pear back here wins."

"Blue Pear? Got it." Nana nodded.

"No locationing spells." Verolen chided.

"Alright, fine. Can I ask why a blue pear?" She frowned.

"I was going to get one myself for Sylas. It has properties that can help heal the heart, and numb the pain. Now...well, two birds with one stone, right?" Verolen shrugged. "We'll start from the roof."

"The roof. Blue pear. I can see blue," Israel nodded, smiling happily. He flitted up to the roof, stretching his wings. "How do we know when to start?" he called to the others still on the balcony. "I'm ready!" He transformed to his raven form. "Set!" he cawed.

Nana hopped on her broomstick, lining the edge of the stick up with the edge of the roof. "Set!" She called.

"Alright..." Verolen held up his cloak, which he had turned into a flag. "On your marks! Get set! Fly!"

Israel was a black flash as he leapt off the roof and headed for the forest. Already his heart was racing fast, but that was only nerves - he would not be weak, he would be strong and win. For his beloved Arachne. He did not turn his gaze to see how close or far away Nana was - he had to focus, had to find the blue pear, had to get back.

Nana was hot on his tail. Even without acceleration spells, her broomstick was quite fast. Her knucles were white as she gripped the broomstick tightly, not wanting to slip; every movement she made slowed the broomstick down, so she wouldn't be falling off. Without warning, her broomstick nose-dived, picking up speed and getting her in line with Israel, directly below him. They were quickly approaching the edge of the forest.

Israel cawed as he caught the movement. He mimicked the action and dove to fly just above the treeline, looking around for the blue pear. If he only knew what the tree looked like... he was almost certain that his vision was sharper than Nana's. From Verolen's rule-setting, the siren could assume that they weren't too far away. He just had to keep his eyes open...

Nana suddenly dove again, slamming into a tree. A moment later, she shot out of the tree again, holding a small blue pear in her hands. The tree looked like a birch of some kind, and the fruit was rather low-hanging. Israel just had to grab one and get back in the lead...