//------------------------------//
// Talk 
// Story: Beyond Blind Eyes 
// by Lunaric 
//------------------------------//

She lightly rubbed Aqua's whithers with her wing. The filly hadn't woken up yet. Cotton glanced at the window. The Princess' sun was already up and was nearing noon. Cotton had thought, Past time to wake her up, but it is a weekend... And she probably needs the sleep.

Looking back down at the filly, she watched the foal's face. Her little nose was scrunched up. A few ideas of dreams flew past her mind as she watched. Cotton smiled a troubled smile. She knew that the filly wasn't old, but it was easy to forget. Nothing about Aqua's personality came off as young. Almost nothing. She does occasionally start laughing out of nowhere at seemingly nothing. And when she tries to explain, it all falls apart. But she keeps laughing. She pet Aqua's mane.

Aqua twitched, and Cotton feared she put too much force behind the petting. But she continued.

The filly's expression and her grip on the blanket relaxed as Cotton continued. Cotton wished she could help the filly, but beyond working as a caretaker, she wasn't able to do much.  She had no experience with emotional problems other than her own. The fact that she couldn't help hurt her. She is my responsibility but, she's grown on me... Cotton looked down at her hooves on the bed. She shuffled on top of the blanket. Feel like a foal again... confused and out of control... all I can do I try...

Hearing a shuffling not her own, she glanced at Aqua. Pulling back her own wing, she watched and waited for the filly to wake up. 

She watched as the filly stretched out wide with no regard for the blanket and pillow being pushed away. Big stretch. A small smile from Cotton. The filly then relaxed and didn't move.

The filly blearily opened her eyes, staring at nothing with nothing. She adopted a confused look for a second as she grunted to nopony. "Oh... right..." 

She barely heard what Aqua mumbled. Cotton looked down. ...over a month since...

Shaking her head, Cotton cleared her throat to announce her presence.

The filly turned to her. "Hm..? Cotton?"

Cotton hummed an affirmative and continued, "Yeah, it's me. How are you feeling? How was your sleep?"

"Oh..." She glanced up in thought. "Decently, I guess..." Aqua yawned and smacked her lips twice. "My neck isn't as stiff as when I got here, though that's probably because of the pillow."

Did she not have one befo-

Aqua cut off her thought unknowingly with a chuckle, "That pillow sucked ass, but I had it for years." Aqua sat up as her demeanour changed from relaxed to reserved. The filly became quiet and thought to herself.

As a silence grew between the two, Cotton debated with herself before nodding and risking it. "Want to talk about it?"

Aqua looked in her direction slowly. "...Last night?"

Cotton hummed and affirmative.

The filly looked down and began to twidle her hooves. "I-... A-alright..."

Cotton reassured her with a short wing hug. "You can take your time."

Aqua mulled over what to say before beginning, "I... I had a good life. Before coming here, I mean..." Aqua glanced down as she paused. Cotton tightened the hug.

When the filly looked back up, Cotton noticed a purple tinge in the filly's tears. They're back again...

Aqua continued, "I-it's hard to think about... Imagine you lost everything. As if life gripped you by the balls and pulled hard. I didn't have everything, but I had enough..." The filly sniffled. "I... I'm pretty certain I've told you but... I used to draw. Not enough, but a decent amount. Then, suddenly..." Aqua looked directly at Cotton. Dead blue and greyish eyes pierced Cotton's soul. Sorrow and well-hidden restrained anger could be seen.

Cotton broke the eye contact first. "Oh..."

"Yeah..." Another sniffle as the filly looked down. "It... It hurts to think about sometimes, as I'm sure you can imagine. Last night was just one of those days... Those days... come more often than they used to..."

How do I- No. Don't think, just do. Cotton shook her head and pulled Aqua in tighter. "I- I'm sorry. I... know I can't fix that but, I'll be here if you need me."

"You know it's not your fault but... thank you." The filly finally leaned into the hug and squeezed her tightly.

Together, they stared out the window for the better part of an hour while they silently hugged.

Aqua eventually broke the hug with a giggle and a proclamation, "I'm hungry."

Cotton smiled. "Well then, let's fix that."

Cotton picked up the filly, who responded with an audible gasp, and put Aqua on her back.

And so, off the bed, out the room and towards the cafeteria they went, with small smiles on their faces.