An Unlikely Hero (Part 2. Memories.)

Piper laid in the mud, unconscious. Her mind couldn't seem to wake up, due to being lost in a fog of memories and flashbacks.

-*-

An 8-year-old pixie skipped happily next two other pixies; her mother and father. "Piper, stay close!" called the mother, as the little pixie began to chase a beetle.

"I won't, mommy." Piper called back, jumping over a rock. As she continued to chase the beetle, Piper's foot caught on a root, and she rolled down a slop.

"Piper!" she heard her father shout, as she hit the bottom. Piper's face, arms, and legs was covered with tiny scratches, and smudges of mud. "Ouch." she mumbled to herself; it hadn't been that hard of a fall, but she had slammed her elbow into a stone pretty harshly.

A hiss sounded behind Piper, and she tensed up before turning her head. A dozen of tiny, black eyes came looked upon her. Piper jumped to her feet, and her breathing grew frantic. "Help!" she called out.

Her mom and dad appeared beside her in moments, and guarded their precious daughter as the spiders came out of the shadows. "Topaz, get Piper out of here!" the father ordered, pulling out a stone dagger.

The mother, Topaz, wasted no time picking up Piper and flying from the slope. Piper looked down over her mother's shoulder, and saw her father trying to fend off the spiders, but one of them pounced on him, and he disappeared underneath the spider's body.

"Daddy!" Piper screamed, tears streaming from her eyes. Her mother pushed Piper's head into her shoulder and whispered softly, "Don't look."

A white web shot into the air, suddenly, and wrapped around Topaz's wings. Both pixies tumbled to the dirt, but they managed to survive. When Piper came to her senses, she was a few feet away from her mother.

"Mommy..." she choked out, limping over to her. Topaz coughed awake, and stared up at her daughter with her emerald eyes. "Are you okay, honey-drop?" Topaz asked, using Piper's nickname. Piper nodded, and tugged at the webs covering her mother's wings.

"The Arachnids are coming darling, you must leave." Topaz ordered. Piper's eyes stared at her in terror, before tears escaped from them. There had to be something she could do.

The dreaded hiss of the spiders drew closer, and Topaz urged Piper once more, "Hide Piper, hide!" Scared of the hisses, Piper sprinted away, her wings not being fully developed to fly yet.

She hid behind some trees and bushes, and sat herself down breathing fast. Reality caught up to Piper when she heard her mother's pained screams, and Piper broke into a silent sob as the realization dawned to her. She was an orphaned Pixie, and she was alone.

-*-

Weeks later...

"Help! Someone help!" Piper called out, as she staggered through the empty woods. Murmurs came from somewhere above her, and the sun was suddenly blocked out.

Piper looked up and saw a wooden platform; a pixie village! Her eyes lit up with hope, and she went to the nearest tree and started to climb up.

Piper reached the top fairly quickly, and she hoped onto the platform. She was surrounded by huts, and fellow pixies; none of them noticed the injured, thin little pixie that had just entered their village. she trotted around, trying to get someone's attention.

"Hello, can you help-" before Piper had time to finish, the female pixie who was buying produce looked down at her and yelped in surprise.

She knelt down to Piper's eye level, and said, "Darling, what happened to you?" Piper chocked on her words as she stuttered, "My.... parents... are.... dead."

The nice female pixie gasped, and took notice of Piper's thin structure. She stood up, and placed her palm in Piper's. "What's your name?" she asked.

Piper looked up at the female pixie, and mumbled, "Piper."

"Alright, come with me." the female pixie responded. She lead Piper to her hut, and sat her down at the table.

"Piper, I'm going to take care of you, okay?" she reassured her. Piper sadly nodded, but she knew that she needed to move on to survive,

-*-

Life in the village was tough, no one except for the female Pixie, who's name was Faith, took any notice of her. When Piper went shopping for Faith, the market booth clerk wouldn't even look at her. No one would look at her; she would even overhear some of the other kids making fun of her because she was an Orphan.

One morning Faith found Piper crying in her room with a bruise on her tear-stained face. "Piper?" she called. Piper stopped crying, looked up, and whispered, "They beat me for being an orphan."

Faith raced to her side, and hugged her. "Don't listen to them, being an orphan is nothing to be ashamed about."

A loud knock sounded at the door, and Faith walked over to it, and opened it finding guards. "Where's the outsider girl?" they demanded. "Piper? Why?" Faith responded. "We got word that she beat up a few kids earlier." the soldiers answered.

"What? No Piper got beat-" before Faith could explain, she heard the window in Piper's room open. The guards and Faith ran to her room, and saw the window wide open.

"Oh no, Piper!" she called out. A black silhouette darted upwards past the window, and flew away into the trees; Piper was flying!

Piper was crying as she flew, but she shouldn't have closed her eyes because she rammed right into a tree trunk, and fell onto a branch. The sound of guards brought her back to her senses and she flew up into the leaves.

The guards searched for her day and night, but Piper was too well hidden. After the guards had given up, Piper made her way to an abandoned platform, and sat down on it. It overlooked the village; the village that had shunned her for being an orphan.

Letting one more tear fall down her cheek, Piper knew no Pixie would accept her, so she might as well get payback on that village.

-*-

"Piper! Wake up!" The young pixie felt wet, cold, and muddy. Her eyes fluttered open, and she weakly sat up, finding Draco. They were in some sort of cave, and camp fire was built.

"Hey." Piper whispered. "Are you alright?" Draco asked. Piper nodded, and remembered what she had dreamt. "How long have you been with guard?" she asked. The Captain raised his eyebrow, and answered, "About five years."

"So, you weren't one of them." Piper realized. "What?" Draco questioned. Piper shook her head, and said, "Nothing, I just remembered from past. Do you know female pixie named, Faith?"

"I remember her, but she left the village about three years ago. She told everyone she was looking for something." Draco answered.

"Me?" Piper asked herself, but she stayed silent.

"Well, get some rest Piper, we're leaving first thing in the morning." Draco said, patting her shoulder. Piper nodded, and laid back down.

To be continued...