She’d seen it through all the chaos, through all the goons and their weapons. Seeing the moonlight reflecting the pointed edge of the arrow, through her many battles Celeste had gotten good at spotting where most weapons aimed and landed— more often than the target themselves. 

But it wasn’t just aimed at just anyone, the arrow was shooting right for Lily, her visibility shown through dirt that smeared on her right arm, giving away her position. The invisible girl oblivious to the arrow's presence as she barreled through a group of goons, using her newfound weapon of choice: Jack’s old staff. 

The whole mission was to infiltrate a delivery, which held different equipment, weapons, and classified information that should not get in the wrong hands. Don’t stray from the mission. They had an objective, Jack still trying to move the metal truck— with no avail as he struggled to focus with different thugs attempting to stop him. Her flames were already fighting off her own attackers, they weren’t that good at actually stopping her and with quick hands she kept distance between them all. She had been tossing another box to their designated pick-up spot, kicking another guy as he scrambled down when she saw it. 

It was not a moment's hesitation, Celeste was bursting through the air, jumping off the ledge she stood, fire exploding all around her. She will be faster than it. The pool of flames blasted anyone near, their bodies shooting away from the sudden heat impact.

She was fast, wrapping her arms around Lily in a protective hold, as she braced for impact. The arrow followed their movements, its wooden center shifted suddenly— this was not a normal arrow. Flames expelled out of Celeste in a hurry, trying to burn the object as it grew closer, yet it persisted against the onslaught. 

Camille’s words rang through her head, enchanted objects can’t be stopped unless another magic user combats the spell. 

She brought Lily’s face towards her chest, wrapping her fingers around her head— around the protective metal mask that surrounded the head of her dear friend. It was not going to hit Lily, and she was going to make sure of that. 

Through the mask she saw the arrow shift up, the glowing tip growing brighter as it shot towards her. She kept her arms strong around Lily, flames attempted to shield where it shot towards— she didn’t have enough time to brace. 

Black filled her right eye in a split second, the pain barely registering. As the impact shot her to the ground, her arms tightening around her blue haired friend. Unfortunately the pain didn’t wait long, and the air was completely knocked out of her, leaving her heaving for air and it never giving enough. Fire halting all around and she was still wrapped around Lily, but the strength left all her muscles. Lily must’ve noticed, cause she could feel chilled fingers wrapping around her shoulders, gripping with a strength that’ll bruise. 

 There were whispers— muffled voices all around, the arrow was in her eye and it hurt but no movement or sounds dared to slip past her mouth. So she laid, unmoving, trying to wrap her head around what to do. Her thoughts were the only coherent thing, reminding her that she indeed had an arrow, which she saw coming, right in her eye socket. Her left eye was fine, but she couldn’t see anything out of it, only blurriness and muffled backgrounds. 

A blue blob entered her vision, Lily, thank god this fate hadn’t fallen upon her, she still couldn’t move and she could only imagine the image of her completely unmoving on the ground. 

“Red!” The sudden voice knocked her out of whatever spiral her head was stuck in because all the pain and soreness shot back in her body, and with a quick movement she was shooting her arms forward. Fire licking the tips as she grabbed hold of covered arms, the fabric soft against her senses.  

“Oh my god, calm down, we gotta— oh my god it’s lodged in there, can you hear me Red?” Celeste could recognize Lily’s panicked voice, even though her vision gave her no insight of her surroundings. She took the deepest breath her lungs would allow— every muscle protested and let her arm rub up Lily’s shoulder, before moving towards the current situation lodged in her eye. Lily’s voice went back to its muffled state, as she let her fingers wrap around the arrow's body, different textures tickled her pinky as she gripped the body tightly. With another deep breath she tugged with as much grace as her arm allowed— meaning she pulled it out as fast as possible. The feeling of skin being ripped apart at the action left a sore taste in her mouth, blood slid its way down to the edge of her chin. 

A scream was heard in front of her, and any guilt was quickly buried as the pain numbed everything out, her thoughts wrapped around the fact of the foreign object in a place she never realized disgusted her as much. . . yuck. The arrow in her hand burst into flames, and she didn’t stop until its form crumbled between her fingers. 

Another pair of arms wrapped from behind her, pulling her up onto her feet and after she failed to hold herself up, more chilled ones appeared. Shaky arms wrapped around different shoulders as she was dragged away, her feet barely able to keep pace. They must’ve been moving for a while, because it felt like forever before they paused, she sat down again, chilled fingers already ripping off her mask, as the world brightened up slightly, at least in her left eye. 

“Okay, okay, you with us Celeste?” The soft tone of Jack’s voice led her only open eye towards the green blob, her breaths slightly shaky as hands folded around her chin. Her vision zeroed on her friend's face, green eyes crumbled with concern as he observed the damage. His attention remanded on her face, as he spoke the words to Lily, somewhere next to them, “An arrow? She pulled it out?” 

Small breaths came from Celeste’s left, but her gaze remained on the green features of Jack, his freckles more prominent, the summer truly did well with his skin, the slight tan on his features that the night did no justice too. “Yes, I was fighting off some guys and suddenly she was wrapping around me and we were hitting the ground,” there was a hand on her shoulder now, the words much closer, “it went through her mask, and she was just laying there.” There was a slight rasps to the others voice, a sniffle followed at the end.

Jack was moving strands of hair out of her face, sweat gripping to her forehead. She licked her lips, the first words out of her since it happened, “sorry.” Jack was suddenly holding her face tighter, locking a stare, with what eye was working at least, alas she continued, “I saw it flying towards Lily, I couldn’t let it hit her.” The blue girl in question came into view, tears still falling down her face. 

“Are you okay?” There was shakiness that hugged her bones from deep within, holding tight and giving her an ache she hadn’t felt in a while. Her thoughts fraud no better, constantly revolving the moments before, and the unsettling feeling of the whole ordeal. Of course not. “Yeah,” the lie slipped past quickly but what else was she to say? “Just a little freaked out, I can already feel it healing.” She settled in her seated position but no relief was shown on either of their faces and Jack let his hands lay on her shoulders, squeezing slightly before looking around and pulling out his phone, keeping his left arm firm on her shoulder, calm and reassuring.

“Camille should still get you something— we’re heading back, Lily help me carry her.” Before the thought of protesting could even form in her jumbled head, arms were already wrapping around her back, helping her up. All her muscles decided it was better to melt into the care of her friends, the throbbing from her eye keeping her out of the moment as they made their way back to the apartment. 

Camille was all over her, using remedies including different plants she’d never seen before used in different teas and ointment, the constant lavender flooded her nostrils every time. After several hours, eyesight returned to her eye, starting with blurriness that’ll clear up by the morning. That didn’t stop the constant pestering from the cat girl, her rambling shifting into upgrading enchantments on their mask— only a strong magic could’ve broken through the old ones. The witch kept her for a couple more minutes before sending Celeste back to bed after she nearly fell off the chair for the 3rd time, her thoughts finally clearing up after so long. 

Silence was something Celeste didn’t find herself in often, thoughts were a racing game, every possibility and concern echoed her brain daily no matter the situation. But as she melted into her pillow she found the sudden quietness didn’t bother her for tonight and a dreamless night followed.