She slowly walks towards the bedroom running her hand across the wooden grain of the walls.
In her other hand is a plate of food.
She stops in front of the door in hesitation, she can't bring herself to move her free hand.
She tries letting out a big sigh to motivate herself into placing her hand on the knob.
*sigh
Didn't work.
'You just have to cheer her up right? Nothing bad actually happened, and she's...'
/Don't lie./
She cringes away from the thought as if it were made of fire.
/You know what she is./
She unconsciously takes a step back in fear.
'She's not going to recover from this...'
'She's not going to be the same and never will.'
'She's such an amazing girl. I-I should've prepared her for this.'
/Say it./
"... I can't"
The light in her eyes dimmed... and she opened the door.
The barren room seemed lonely, with only a bed and the light of the moon being its only company. The markings on the walls and floor telling that people that there used to be more.
"Sweetie..."She spoke tentatively.
"Are you awake?"
She waited a bit for a response before continuing.
"I brought dinner..." She said, walking towards the bed. When there wasn't a response, she set the plate aside. She wrung her hands as nervously as she tried to figure out the best way to tell her.
Deciding to just give up she said, "She talked about you, you know."
There was a rustle from under the covers.
"She didn't know what happened." She lied.
"The Doctor said that there were problems with her memory; that she didn't know any better."
"She was blaming someone else, like the humans who locked her up."
She felt the covers move again and decided to bite the bullet
"It's not your fault."
"Mom! Just, just shut up!" Thread moved the covers aside, leaving her head sticking out. "Please!"
The voice came as Thread shoved the covers off her.
"You expect me to believe that after what happened!"
"It's my fault, okay! I did something stupid and nearly got someone killed! I'm a failure." Her head sunk back into the covers as she spoke in a much softer voice. "The Doctor even said as much."
"No, honey. You-"
"Yes I am! Thread cut her mother off, continuing her tirade.
"I should have seen something like this coming! A little girl who can barely see, never talks, and just came out of a bad situation. She was barely standing on the way home! Whenever we TRIED to offer some help, she just backed away like she was afraid of us!"
She covered her head again and mumbled into the covers. "It was so obvious... I really am a failure."
The mother sat on the side of the bed as a bit of life returned to her eyes.
"No."
She said in a quivering voice.
"You aren't a failure sweetie. You just made a bad decision."
"That happens to everyfey, even good ones."
"Good faeries, that do the best they can and try to make their parents proud."
Thread shifted uncomfortably under the covers as her mother struggled to finish what she was trying to say.
"Sometimes, things just happen... Not because of what someone did, but because it can. No matter how much someone wishes. Because if it was, they could have stopped it."
She paused for a moment before steeling her nerves and, "Sh-sh-sh..." The mother struggled to tell her daughter the news from the doctor. She had to.
But then she looked at the covers where her daughter was under. Her little girl.
"She's fine.." The mother hastily finished and, with that, ran out the door.
For about a minute, Thread stared after her. When she finally looked away, she noticed the plate she nearly knocked off her bed.
She pulled it over, rubbed her gloveless finger along the edge and sighed.
Giving in, she grabbed the spoon and took a bite.
It was delicious.
________________________________________
She remembered the stories her parents taught her every night back when she was younger. Of her grandparents that had lived... literally anywhere else. Of people that lived more than just a few years. Of places more beautiful than she could imagine. People who would travel across entire worlds to help people.
People like her, helping those who needed a hand. Being there and standing firm, letting them feel safe. Being like the person who helped her...
She tried giving that to her.
The little girl covered in blood and buzzed with mana. The one that stared at everyone and everything around her with a sort of tired awe. Always ready to run at the first moment of danger. She didn't even seem to notice she was doing it.
"I tried so hard to help her..."