An Unlikely Hero (Part 8: Whose to Blame?)

"Faith?"

Piper stared up in shock, as she saw the sorrow-filled face of the pixie that raised her after her parents' death. However, by letting her guard down, Piper gave the Arachnid Queen the time to seize her with the magic in her staff.

"No!" Faith cried, as she watched Piper get suspended in mid-air by purple chains that wrapped around her torso.

Piper struggled against the chains, but no matter how hard she tried her struggle was in vain. Stormy gave out a laugh as she waltzed down from her throne, and toward the young pixie. 

“Tsk, tsk, I thought you were smarter than that Piper.” she smirked, placing her index finger underneath Piper’s chin. The young prankster jerked her head away from the Queen’s touch,  and stared defiantly at her. 

“Now, all we have to do is wait for your companions to arrive.” Stormy exclaimed, before raising her staff. Piper was swiftly flung up, before stopping abruptly about a foot away from Faith’s cage. 

“I’ll let the two of you catch up.” The Queen said, before exiting the throne room door. 

“Where is she going?” Piper raised her eyebrow with curiosity, before struggling against her restraints again; she hated feeling this helpless. 

However, after a few minutes of silence, her attention slowly averted from the chains to Faith, who was sitting in the cage, her back turned to her, and her head in her knees. 

“How long have you been here?” Piper asked. 

Faith’s head lifted, and she adjusted her body so she was facing the pixie she raised. “Two years and a half years I think.” she answered in a solemn tone. 

Piper’s eyes went wide, and tears filled the brim; the pixie who had been like her mother, had been captured, and possibly tortured for the last two and a half years because of her. 

The prankster turned away from Faith, and squeezed her eyes shut; by now she could feel cold liquid trail down her cheek, and her hands trembling at her sides. 

“Piper, what’s wrong honey?” Faith asked; her loving tone only resulted in memories from Piper’s past coming to the prankster’s mind, causing more tears to flow. 

“I….I’m so sorry… you were the only kind one to me when I...I arrived at the village and...and I just ran away….I’m sorry.” Piper exclaimed through breaths and sobs. 

“You don’t need to be sorry, Pip; those pixies didn’t understand what you went through,” Faith extended her arm in between the bars of the cage, until she was able to grip onto Piper’s hand. 

At the touch, the young pixie looked at her through glazed eyes with confusion. 

“...I also blame myself for you running away.” 

“Why?” Piper asked, through a sniff. 

“Because I wasn’t there when you needed me. Yes, I took you in but I didn’t tell people how amazing you were; I didn’t lead our fellow pixies to get to know you.” Faith explained further, squeezing Piper’s hand in a loving gesture. 

“Faith, I’m the one that should have stayed. You raised me, you took me in, you were just like a mother to me.” Piper answered, in disbelief at what Faith had just said. 

“Then I guess we’re both to blame then, seeing that we can’t come up with a compromise.” the older pixie said, a smile lighting up on her face. The comment also put a soft smile on Piper’s face, and caused a small giggle to escape from her parted lips. 

“Piper, I plan on escaping alive with my fellow pixies, and I know you do too. So, I will ask this right now; when we get out of here, will you be my daughter.” Faith offered, her face stern but soft at the same time. 

The prankster’s eyes went wide at the sudden offer, and things were quiet for a few moments, before a smile that went from ear to ear, broke on Piper’s face. 

“Yes, most definitely yes! I would love to be your daughter!” Tears Piper thought she wouldn’t be able to cry, streamed down her face, but instead of sadness, these tears were tears of overwhelming joy. 

Faith, whose face was also wet with tears of happiness, gave Piper’s hand another squeeze, before things went quiet again. 

The two pixies looked around the room, looking for a way out, but at first glance there was nothing; however, the stone dagger in Piper’s belt caught Faith’s eye. 

“Piper, your dagger.” she exclaimed. 

The young pixie looked down at her belt, and asked, “What about it?” 

“If I can grab your hand from here, then I most likely will be able to grab the dagger, and pick the lock on the cage.” Piper’s eyes lit up once again at the idea, and a smirk crept up her face. 

The two nodded to each other, and Faith extended her arm again, but this time toward the stone dagger in Piper’s belt. Piper tried to adjust herself to make the attempt easier, and after a few struggling moments, Faith was able to get a grip on the dagger’s cold surface, and pull it from the belt. 

As soon as the arm was back in the cage, Faith went to work on the cage’s lock. However, the throne room’s door opened, and the older pixie was forced to draw the dagger back into the cage, and put it behind her back, and out of sight. 

Piper squinted her eyes suspiciously when she saw that the silhouette that was cast along the stone floor didn’t look like Stormy Nightfall’s. Instead it was a lanky, teenage shadow; Flint?

Sure enough, Flint came walking through the doors, and gazed around the room, and right behind him was Captain Draco. “Flint! Captain!” she called out with joy. 

Flint’s face was full of joy when he looked up and saw Piper, and he zipped up towards her.

 “What the heck took you so long?” the prankster asked, as Flint studied the chains. 

“Well, we ran into spiders because this is their nest, and they were trying to defend it.” he exclaimed, with a smart-aleck smirk. 

“Ha ha, very funny.” Piper snarked. 

Captain Draco started working on the cage Faith was locked in, and Piper could have sworn he saw the Captain glance at Faith and smile, and the older female pixie smile back. 

“Piper, who are these two?” she asked. 

“That’s Captain Draco, and this is Flint. They were my companions on the journey here. Draco, Flint, this is the Pixie who raised me after my parents died, Faith.” Piper introduced. 

“Good to meet you.” both male pixies said. 

Captain Draco managed to get the cage unlocked, and Faith fluttered out, but stumbled a little since she hadn’t flown in a long time. Draco put his hand in hers for support, and both of the older pixies’ faces turned red a little bit. 

“Alright, but how are we supposed to free Pip-” Flint was cut off, by the sound of the throne room doors being flung open, before the three free pixies were thrusted against the wall, and pinned there by an invisible force. 

A sharp gasp of shock escaped everyone’s throats, and Piper glared down at the intruder; of course, Stormy Nightfall.

“Now my dear pixies,” she started, an evil grin plastered on her face. “Shall we end this game?” 

TBC….