Change of Heart

Chapter 15

Hi guys, I've got so many tests coming up and this chapter is a little short. Sorry. Hope you like it.

Astra stared at the endless blue expanse above her. Clouds of every shape and size drifted across the sky. Slow and steady, totally undisturbed by what happened below them. She sighed. Why couldn't she be like that? Why couldn't she just fly away and leave all her problems behind her? It would be so simple, so easy. All she had to do was use her wings like she did everyday. And yet...she couldn't leave. As if some invisible force tied her to the forest. No matter what happened she couldn't just go and leave the other creatures at the mercy of the king. Astra recalled his dark, cold eyes. The hatred in them cutting through her like a knife. She shuddered. No one should ever have to live in fear because of him. She lifted herself off of the ground. She couldn't stay here forever, no matter how much she wanted to just close her eyes and drift away. She had a responsibility to the forest. Better a single fairy hurt than every single creature in the forest. She was strong, she could handle it. She wouldn't break. Slowly she walked toward the meadow where the creatures were waiting for her. The humans had left but they could come back any time they wanted. Was it time to leave the forest? Time to find another home, where suffering couldn't find them?

"Fairy, what are we going to do?" Astra shook her head,

"I don't know. But we're going to figure it out together." The pixies clustered together becoming a hazy sphere of light.

"Is Florian going to come back?" they said in unison. Astra ignored the pain in her chest,

"I'm sorry but he isn't." The pixies nodded sadly. A troll grunted,

"We should leave, this place is no longer safe." A centaur immediately retaliated,

"Are you out of your mind? We have lived here for millennia, since the beginning of the stars. We are not going to leave because some puny humans!" The troll growled,

"Those puny humans burned almost all of the eastern border!"

"This is our home!"

"Our home is being destroyed! Would you rather watch as we all burned with it?!" Anger was clear on the centaur and troll's faces. Astra watched helplessly as her family tore itself apart. Sadness, hopelessness, frustration and irritation swirled inside her.

"Stop!" The creatures were silenced, staring at the fairy.

"Stop fighting! This isn't going to solve our problems." she took a deep breath, she had to make a decision.

"We should leave." The creatures gasped,

"But we can't!"

"How could we just abandon our forest?"

"We can't leave!" The shouts of protest rose around Astra, building like waves threatening to pull her under. To drown her. They fell on her as she struggled to hold up under the pressure mounting on her shoulders. But no single person can save the world. No matter how powerful, or magical. And all that pressure was too much. Astra broke.

"STOP! DO YOU THINK I WANT TO LEAVE? THIS IS MY HOME TOO, BUT WE DON'T HAVE ANY OTHER CHOICE!" Astra was breathing heavily, she looked around her. Faces full of shock and even fear, met her grey eyes. The world seemed to move in slow motion as Astra processed what she just said. What she just did.

"I'm sorry, I-I-I'm sorry, I just, I-" Astra took a step back, then another, then she turned and fled.

Astra cried. And she knew she shouldn't. She was being weak. She wasn't supposed to be weak. Crying was a sign of weakness. But she couldn't stop. She wasn't ready to face the world yet. She was just one girl. It didn't matter if she was a fairy or not. She was just one girl. With the whole world on her shoulders. She was like a glass sculpture, and cracks were started to appear. She was about to shatter. A rustle of leaves caught her attention. And out of the bushes came a pixie, Audrey.

"Fairy?" Hastily, Astra dried her tears. Her fingers doing nothing to hide the anguish on her face.

"I am so sorry." she whispered. The pixie, no bigger than Astra's palm fluttered forward an put her tiny hand on Astra's arm.

"It's okay. We understand that you're worried, and we understand that you're stressed. We want you to know that we're no mad or angry. We want you to know that you don't have to be perfect for us." Astra nodded silently. Audrey tried again,

"Would you like me to stay?" Astra smiled gratefully but said,

"No, thank you." and the pixie flew off. Astra dried her tears and stared up, the clouds were gone now replaced by a smooth deep blue sky, a brilliant moon and thousands