An angel with broken wings

There is a beautiful forest deep in the Appalachian mountains, hidden away from people. Within this forest lives, what some say, to be a spirit. Others like to think of this being as an angel, and others think of it as a guardian of this forest.

Few have ever successfully climbed through this rough terrain to find this place. But the few who did make it, only saw glimpses of this being from afar. Some even tried to chase it down. Most gave up, the task, but there was one man who did meet this spirit face to face.

This so called spirit, was in fact one of the few remaining guardian angels. She was living in the forest, watching over the few friends she had and was watching out for in a village south of her forest. Another being lived with her in these woods, she had in fact employed the help of a unicorn to keep the peace within the woods if she was ever away.

At first, all the man ever talked to was the unicorn, whom the angel in fact used to communicate with him. Eventually the angel finally came out of her hiding place to meet this man. The two became friendly, slowly falling in love. She even showed him a hidden path to get to the village so that he wouldn't need to climb through the mountains so often again.

Ater a bit of time, he went away. War was upon the country, and the angel knew her lover needed to train and would return to her. She sent with him, a small whistle which would be invisible to anyone else but himself and her. It would be his way of sending her letters,and she would send him letters carried by different birds of all sorts. As the months passed, the angel was in constant watch for his letters. And when he sent her his responses, she would send hers. After the 6 months of his training was complete, he returned to see her.

He asked her to marry him, which she in return accepted. He slipped a small beautiful ring with a diamond in the shape of a snowflake upon her finger. The week went by, the two spent lots of time together, knowing he would have to leave soon. One evening, the angel allowed him to stay with her, and enter her hidden area.

After that night, he left her for the rest of his training, and then he would leave for battle. He swore to return to her within a few months, in which they would be wed. But that promised day never came. Eventually the angel got wind of his involvement with someone else.

Then, one night, he came to see her. She had been out flying when he went to find her, and he was waiting for her in her hidden space. As soon as she landed, he shot her a few times, the unicorn moved in to save her but was killed in the process. The angel lay on the ground silently, unmoving after he shot her. Her wings burned with pain, her chest heaved, and the man simply walked off.

"Why..." was the last words the angel was able to speak out before falling unconscious. The next morning was a terrible one for her. Her forest, which she herself had kept warm and beautiful, was now cold. Clouds hung overhead, heavy with rain and possibly even some snow.

The angel moved silently, there was a small area she had kept hidden from the man, she crawled into it, and from there she pulled out the medicine needed. She first used it on her unicorn, which brought it back to life. The unicorn at once began to work it's magic to keep the horrible snow storm at bay. Meanwhile the angel had begun to work on patching herself up. her wings throbbed painfully, they were broken and soaked in her own blood.

Would she ever be able to fly again? Or feel the warmth of love again for that matter.

----------------

The years passed on, men still tried to catch glimpses of this spirit, but the mountains became even more treacherous and covered in ice. Ever since that day, the angel was never seen in the skies again. And no man had stepped foot in her forest ever again. Her wings on the other hand? They were indeed still broken and shattered. She sat within her hidden space, still trying to fix her wings, re-breaking bones that hadn't healed right, plucking feathers that would be useless for flying, and even doing her own surgeries when needed.

She was left alone, still wondering why it had happened.