It means nothing to her. Living. Ava would be so ashamed. She tried. God, she tried. But the life that they’d lived together left a gaping hole in her heart. And she needed to feel something. She needed her sisters again, falling into easy routine.
Training. Mission. Recovery.
Training. Mission. Recovery.
Mission. That’s where they were now.
Dragged out of bed in the early dawn, summoned to a series of dimensional pulses. The rough cobblestones rocked against their feet as they shuffled along, hidden in the shadows of the old buildings.
“This way,” Camila whispered, gesturing up ahead as she looked up from her tablet.
The pulses were getting stronger, Bea’s heart beating in tandem. She didn’t know why she could feel them. The other sisters gave no indication that they could, so Beatrice shoved it down, attributing it to the years of experience.
“Almost there,” Cam squealed, rushing a bit ahead of the pack.
It was a normal town square, open air, plenty of space, surely bustling by midday. But the tips of Bea’s fingers tingled, adrenaline redirecting it elsewhere.
“Camila slow–”
The pulsing exploded, a steady BAM BAM BAM against her sternum as the air erupted, sparks of orange and red bursting through the air, tarask swiping through the silence.
Her legs propelled her on instinct, eyes fixed on dear Sister Camila, head ducked and still buried in her tablet.
The blue glow of the screen made Bea’s heart jolt, shining against Cam’s face like the shards they’d pulled from Shannon not just last year.
No.
She was not going to lose another sister.
She flew across the square, snapping her wrists the second she made contact with her battle habit to drive Camila as far away as possible.
A sharp rod slid through her armour as another ring of blue appeared, angry tarask growling, hot air blistering against her face.
Is this how Lilith felt?
Cold creeps up her fingertips, neck stiff. The air forces itself from her lungs, and she can’t get it back, mouth gaping in shock.
Ava climbs through the portal, a divinium knife flying through the air. It meets its target, right through the monster’s heart, and Bea can’t help but smile.
She knows the second Ava sees her, eyes shining with elation, wide grin splitting her face.
The tarask roars, and Bea feels it. It rocks her, digging deeper through her middle. The sluggish spurts of red falling from her abdomen, sapping the warmth from her bones. The tarask vibrates behind her, breaching this realm for the next, and Bea wants to beg, “No, I just got her back–”
It’s like a higher power hears her plea, her heavy limbs sliding her down the claws, crumpling straight to the floor.
The ground blurrily comes up to meet her, head bouncing from the weakness. She can’t even hold up her own head.
The impact jars her, the emptiness suddenly gone, replaced by thick syrup sticking to her throat, blocking the airway.
Faint hollers reach her ears as her lung convulses with coughs, desperate to expel the blood pooling in her lungs.
She’s been blessed again, right in the view of Ava’s wonderful face. Thank you. The last thing she’ll see before she dies.
She thinks Ava’s face falls, but half her gaze is obscured by the cobblestones pressing into her face. The other half is hazy. Between the dark splotches, two Avas rush towards her, overlapping and separating with each sway.
Ava’s twinkling voice sounds like it’s underwater, just out of reach for clarity.
“Bea–”
A deep chill runs through her bones, barely mustering up the strength to comprehend the words, but she’s here.
“Stay with me Bea,” drifts into her ears.
The pulses keep going, portals thrumming with energy. It was Ava, calling for her.
But her heart misses a beat, pulsing a half-second slower than the dimensional field. Then a second. Then two. Then three.
The splotches have disappeared, replaced with a dark veil, falling like a curtain over her vision. Shaky hands gather her up into their arms. She wants to reciprocate, but her limbs refuse, weighed down by a million different forces.
The darkness abates for a second, Ava’s brilliant brown eyes shining back at her. Seeing her.
“I missed you,” she chokes, copper on her tongue. It comes out weak, and for a second, she thinks that Ava hears nothing at all.
“I love you,” Ava responds, clutching her closer. “Please don’t leave me, please don’t leave me.”
She hears, but her brain is slow to process, fuzzy and waning. But she has to say it back, she has to. She didn’t when Ava first left and now–
”I love you too.”
Her eyes have slid shut, so she doesn’t see the glow. But she feels the warmth, spreading over her limbs and soothing the aches and pains.
She doesn’t see the Halo in Ava’s back, but she feels it, beating steady til hers matches.
“I’m not letting go of you yet love,” a tender promise by her ear.
The halo glows harder, a faint tingle in her side.
It comes out stronger this time, steady and sure. She pries her eyes open, reveling in the soft glow.
"Ava."
Ava stares back at her, devotion apparent. God, how Beatrice would kill to just touch her face, soft skin gentle under her fingertips. Warm and real.
Her body responds now, an affectionate smile curling her lips.
“I love you.”
In this life.
And evermore.
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