The Night That Changed Everything

Sweat rolled down AJ's face as she hoisted another massive storage crate full of freshly picked apples.
It was midday in the summer and the heat was almost intolerable, but the country belle wouldn't have it any other way. She loved her farm and that was that.
AJ loaded her cart with the last crate, adjusted her stetson, and started the slow ride to the storage basement beneath Sweet Apple Acres with her family's livelihood.
For AJ, being an Earthbound was a privilege; they were a people tied to the living magic of the earth and the most physically powerful of the three races. To AJ, that meant she and her family had an obligation to tend their life-giving farm to ensure the survival of her small town along with seventy percent of the southern provinces in the Sovereignty.
It was something Jackie took pride in; her Granny Smith always told her that Earthbound had healing hands. Able to mend plants, animals and even people with enough skill and concentration. AJ believed that also; she could always feel the trees in her orchards grow and improve under her careful tending.
On her slow return trip back to the barn, Ajax's thoughts drifted to the friend she'd made only two months ago: her new and dearest friend, Beau.
Beau was an oddity among her kind, the Bast. A winged race that controlled and manipulated the weather in service to their fellow Trinitans. They were, for the most part a loud, rambunctious, and free-spirited people; Beau wasn't, at least not anymore.
She was very easy-going and forcibly quiet-spoken due to her past. Yet, despite all that, she was still in love with the sky. She couldn't fly, only hover, but that didn't stop her from being an incredible athlete. After the death of her mother, Beau's father ruthlessly trained her into an apex specimen of physical prowess; since age twelve, she had destroyed records in every school she'd ever attended in events ranging from track and field to full contact sparring. Her entire childhood had been an abusive regimen of brutal punishment and frightened hatred. Even then, she loved the competition.
They called her "The Dash" or "The Grand Champion" for her unmatchable speed. Now, a lot of that was gone and AJ blamed herself for it.
"Heya AJ!" exclaimed a whispery, slightly scratchy, female voice from behind the daydreamer. With a yelp of surprise, the farmer leapt from her seat and nearly fell off of her cart. She jerked at the reins to pull herself back into her seat, much to the dismay of a protesting workhorse.
"Dammit Beau! Are ya tryin' ta give me a heart attack?" A fit of airy laughter was her only response. Jackie looked back to see a very amused rainbow-headed girl lying on, and helping herself to, her freshly picked apples from one of the many open crates.
"Get outta there, ya varmint!" Jackie scolded, the anger in her voice betrayed by her widening grin.
"Aww. C'mon, AJ!" Beau whined, "A little generosity never hurt." She rolled off of the precious red fruit and leaned her legs over the edge of the cart as a cool breeze rolled through the orchards cascading the pair in it's refreshing embrace. Jackie looked up to see Beau serenely relaxed, something she rarely did, and especially not in public. On the rare occasions that she would let her defenses down and really became herself...
"Hey, AJ?" a voice broke her from her thoughts, "Who...wha? Yes, Beau?" stuttered the farm girl.
"How long have I been staying here?"
"Awhile now, why?"
Beau looked down at her feet, her features betraying her inner conflict, "I have something I want to say."
AJ's heart stopped, dread creeping into the corners of her mind.
What could she say? Will she say she hates me? Blame me?
"AJ? You okay?" Jackie looked up to see Beau hovering above her, staring at down at the farmer inches from her face. AJ's heart was racing.
"Er...yes? What's on yer mind?" her face flushed in an instant and she looked down, grabbing her trusty Stetson and pulling it down to cover her reddening cheeks. She felt a pair of smooth, soft hands lift her face to a radiant and smiling rainbow.
"I love you, AJ." the farmgirl looked back at this beautiful stranger pulling her in slowly for a kiss.

Then AJ woke up.

Jackie looked over to see her digital clock, quietly informing her it was two fifteen in the morning. These dreams had been coming for the past week now, plaguing her nights with almost intimate encounters. She was hot, flustered, and confused; and Beau was her friend, her responsibility.
There's no reason to be havin' those kinds of thoughts about a guest, anyways.
She groggily sat up, rubbed her eyes and headed for the shower. Since there was no way she was going back to sleep she decided she may as well try something to clear head.
~~~~~~~~~
The hot water was relaxing on her toned, worn-out body while it silently wiped the troubled dreams from her mind. Though, it seemed that small relief only made way for equally troubled thoughts.
What's wrong with me?
Why am I having these dreams?
Do I really feel that way about Beau?
AJ dispelled the torrent of questions while silently finishing in the bathroom, getting dressed, and stepping out into the hall. She looked through to the open door to her guest room; Beau's room. Reality came back to her in a much grimmer mood.
Most was true, the former champion had been staying for the better part of two months, slowly recovering. She'd completely lost her voice; the words she'd spoken to AJ in the hospital intensive care being her very last. Nowadays, she could sit up, even come downstairs and have breakfast on occasion, but she still had to go to the hospital once every three days for rehabilitation and examination. She needed her bandages checked and changed every six hours, but that was no chore, and had to endure a careful regimen of powerful painkillers. AJ smiled to herself as she thought of the countless mornings that her little sister, Annabelle, would insist that she help bring her new friend, Beau, breakfast.
A sigh broke her from her reverie. Snapping back to reality, AJ peered into the room to see Beau's face trickling with tears as she shook with silent sobs. Jackie quietly hurried into the room and knelt down next to the bed. She fumbled with the lamp on the bedside table, hunting for the elusive light switch, until she finally illuminated the room in a soft amber glow with faint click.
"Beau?" she cooed softly, "Beau baby it's okay. Wake up."
Her confused and bloodshot eyes snapped open, searching for the terrors which haunted her dreams. Before AJ could get the next word out, Beau wrapped her arms around the farmer's torso and wept silently into her shoulder.
After a while, Beau stopped crying and sat upright in bed. She adjusted her pillows meticulously, to Jackie's never-ending amusement. Her chuckles earned more than few indignant looks from her houseguest who promptly patted the empty spot to her left.
"Wanna talk?" AJ whispered as she crawled under the covers. Beau nodded her head vigorously and slowly, achingly, turned to reach down under her nightstand to grab her notebook. AJ noticed this and jumped out of bed, hurried around the bed's perimeter, and grabbed the notebook before handing it to the intensely irritated Bast glaring daggers into her very being.
"Now, don't give me a look like that!" AJ defended, " You're still a patient, sugar, and we can't have you over extending yourself and tearin' open any wounds." With a huff, the rainbow headed athlete slumped into her pillows while AJ crawled back into bed.
The girls always enjoyed their little conversations; it was the only time Beau felt like she had a voice. AJ just enjoyed being there with her, equally silent, only reading and writing her responses; it made for an equal ground, she thought. Beau pulled out her pen and began their talk with a simple note.
"You're such an ass."
AJ chuckled as she read the note and wrote back, "That's no fair! Why do you say that?"
"You know I hate being babied." was the reply.
"Is this because of the notebook?" AJ shot a curious glance to her friend before passing the notebook back.
"Not just that." Beau stopped for a moment, taking a steadying breath, "It makes me feel useless."
"How?"
"I've always tried to be the best; for that that bastard tried to kill me. And now, I'm stuck in this bed being pampered and a burden."
Beau watched intently as Jackie read her lengthy answer. AJ looked her in the eye for a moment before quickly jotting down a note and passing the book.
"Beau, in our home, you'll never be a burden."
Beau smiled as the two sat in silence. She scribbled a small sentence as the page became stained with a tear and slowly handed it back.
"Thank you, AJ."
AJ cleared her throat after reading, trying to clear the choking tightness. She fought to remain calm and opted to try to reinvigorate the conversation. "Mind if I ask you something?" she wrote.
"What's up?"
"Why were you crying earlier? Bad dream?"
Beau froze after reading; she just sat there without moving until she gradually put the pen to paper, "I don't wanna talk about it..."
Perplexed, Jackie decided to push on; whatever was bothering this girl, she was determined to help her through it.
"It'll make you feel better." she went for the nurturing approach and leapt internally when Beau sighed and began to write.
"My dream had you in it, and I told you something. You didn't like what I said and you told me you hated me and wanted me to leave." Beau scowled after writing her answer and left the notebook in her lap before the farmer next to her gingerly retrieved it.
AJ stared at the note baffled. She looked at Beau who only turned away to hide her face as if she were ashamed for admitting it.
"Beau I couldn't hate you...why would you think I would? What could you say that was so bad?" She handed the notebook back to Beau who only shook her head at the question.
"I can't tell you. Not now, at least." was all she wrote.
AJ put the pen down and spoke, breaking the tense quiet that had settled between them. "Whenever you wanna talk, Ah'll be right here for ya."
The Bast simply nodded, her head hanging low before she smiled back and hugged her friend for what felt like forever until a series of feverish knocks interrupted them.
"Beau? Are you awake?" Annabelle's muffled voice emanated from the other side of the oaken door, "Is AJ in there with ya? You want some breakfast?"
"Yeah, sugar," Jackie chuckled and answered with a sigh, "Ah'm here."