Chapter Text
Beatrice had never had a problem with newbies before; they were always respectful and attentive, eager to complete their assigned tasks at the first spoken word. The countless hours spent practicing in the courtyard and learning in the armory about using different weapons were delightful; without a doubt, it was her favorite part of training new warrior sisters.
Their mandatory daily routine started at 7 am and finished around 2 pm. These 7 hours of hard training and practice included learning how to use weapons properly, hand-to-hand combat, learning martial arts, using modern technology gadgets, communicating with each other properly during missions, and learning at least three different languages. All of these were compulsory.
After everyone had mastered the basics, they could choose additional activities, including exorcism, sewing and creating durable warrior clothes and equipment, or designing new gadgets, you name it. Alongside the training, finding a stress-relieving hobby that would develop the mind rather than the body was recommended.
The Cat's Cradle also provided the sisters with a professionally equipped library, music room, forge, gym, and a creative workshop, often packed in the afternoon. Sometimes even the kitchen and armory needed help. Every Tuesday and Friday, those who had been members of the order for at least six months had the opportunity to work in the field, a job that involved 90% being undercover and surveillance, with only extreme cases requiring intervention.
On Sundays, rest was also obligatory; even though some people trained their bodies relentlessly, it was hardly ever useful if it was not given enough time to recover from so much intense activity.
The bruises, sweaty foreheads, and the sparkle in their focused eyes before delivering a massive punch reminded Bea of her first day here. With each new sister trained, she felt more confident and mature, which she desperately needed; she could not disappoint.
Her hard work since the day she arrived had not gone unnoticed. Having seen the perseverance and compassion in her over the years, Mother Superion now, for the first time, entrusted a handful of recruits to Beatrice to train them, to work hard with them. It was a great honor and responsibility to help mentor a new generation -under Mother Superion's supervision, of course- but still, she was self-conscious about it; she didn't want to disappoint Superion.
She knows what it's like to have the eyes of those she loves fixed on her, full of disgust and disappointment. She couldn't relive such a moment, so she must be devoted to the mission, spending as much of her day training and working hard, showing the new sisters the ropes, and passing them everything she had learned.
In her spare time, she also must try to get to know her new sisters, each one of them. Trust between the sisters is crucial, their lives may one day depend on it, and even the very existence of the order could be at stake if mutual trust is not established in time. The new sisters seemed to behave as expected, they were reliable, and Beatrice was proud of her work over the past few weeks. But not everyone made her job so easy. Specifically, one person made it quite tricky for her to be seen effectively in Mother Superion's eyes.
"Beatrice, a word if you please." Her voice was not exactly what you would call cheerful, inscrutable as usual; she was a walking-talking mystery.
Beatrice swallowed hard, not suspecting what the sudden conversation might be about. She didn't say anything, just nodded, and they moved to a quieter corner of the courtyard, hoping she hadn't screwed up anything during the training.
"Yes, Mother Superion, what would that be?" She spoke calmly and quietly; surely, she had done an excellent job with the new sisters. Mother Superion probably just wanted to congratulate her on her impeccable methods.
"What you've done with the newest recruits is impressive. The last time training was this successful and effective was when I used to teach them. Excellent work, as always, sister. Keep it up."
She was momentarily dizzy, holding her breath until the end of Mother Superion's sentence. Yes, another day without failure. It looked like Beatrice's day had reached its peak. She smiled genuinely at the older woman, but when their eyes met, the smile disappeared from her face.
"However, one person isn't exactly driven by nice words and thoughtfulness." The uttered sentence was accompanied by a soft sigh, breaking eye contact; Mother Superion fixed her eyes on the entrance to one of the buildings, then continued.
"I expect you to talk to her, make her see some sense; I'm sure you can do it. She'll listen to you alone. Unfortunately, I can't influence her. Please don't mind if I give you this little extra work Beatrice."
Brows furrowed, Beatrice became annoyed; it was supposed to be an easy day. She couldn't say no; in her heart, she knew she had to solve the problem herself.
"Yes, Mother Superion, consider it done already."
She looked back at Beatrice, who was absolutely calm, took her by the shoulder, gave her a slight nod, and went about her business at her usual slow pace. After she was sure she had gone far, Beatrice's face immediately showed signs of worry, so she headed for one of the buildings without wasting a moment.
Within minutes she found herself at the door of one of the rooms; the corridor was dark and empty; this floor was relatively quiet. It was dinner time, which - like today - the sisters usually spent together in the dining room. When she raised her hand to knock, the wind suddenly pushed the door open, so all Bea had to do, was go in carefully.
"I hope I'm not disturbing you; I just came to..."
Instead of the usual warm, excited voice she adored so much, silence greeted her. The room was cold and empty; she noticed a few white candles burning around the table and a blood-stained piece of cloth beside them.
Showing signs of worry again, she turned away from the table and looked around the room. She had never been actually inside before. The room's shape was unusual, with disproportionate walls, and the windows were not even level with each other. In the corner to the left of the door was a dark, solid wooden double bed with a single duvet and three large pillows; the bed was made up on the side nearest to the wall; the rest was empty.
The bedside cabinet was also empty, just a tiny closed notebook lying on top of it, a pen sticking out of the sides. Beatrice glanced around the room again, then carefully lifted the notebook and opened it to the first page; she got confused as she read it. It was simply letters and short words, repeated over and over throughout the long pages. As if someone was learning how to write from the beginning. She must have been halfway through the book when she finally saw the first sentence written in it.
[Bea laughed at my jokez.]
She smiled at the spelling mistake and then turned a few pages, seeing more sentences.
[I had the nightmare again. Woke up in tears. Accidentally punched the wall. ̶I̶ ̶m̶i̶s̶s̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶.̶]
Beatrice slowly looked at the wall; the brick was cracked and had some missing pieces. She had seen enough. Not wanting to read the pages any longer, she put the notebook back in place. She continued to survey the room, looking for anything that might provide further information about its owner.
A few scraps of clothing lay on the floor, bloodstains adorning most of it, some torn. A familiar piece peeked out from under the bed, a black sweater with detailed silver trim on the arms, with a beautiful sword on each sleeve. Beatrice had noticed it was missing a few days ago; it must have gotten lost in the laundry and ended up here.
The rest of the room was completely empty, with not even a mug or any form of decoration to be seen. Before leaving, she blew out the candles, just in case. That's when she noticed another one still burning behind her. She turned around to locate the remaining light source but saw no candles.
The faint light was coming from somewhere outside. She stood in one place momentarily, her heartbeat quickening slightly; she had an idea. After a small sigh, she pulled up the window and climbed onto the roof to find the source of the mysterious brightness.
It wasn't difficult to climb up from the ledge, it wasn't steep at all, and the roof of the whole building was almost flat, which provided easy access to the top.
The routine didn't hurt either; when Beatrice first got here, she often spent sleepless nights on the rooftop; the silence and solitude gave her the comfort no one else could provide. At least it used to; the last few weeks, as she finds herself alone, she can barely think; she gets gloomy by the sudden loneliness. The reason for this, she has not yet been able to decipher. That's another mystery waiting to be solved, but not today.
She looked around the roof, and there was the source of the light. The stars could envy its beautiful glow, for there was not one visible in the sky; it was cloudy.
The glowing halo was a sight for sore eyes as it shone dimly in the dark night with a heavenly light. Beatrice exhaled loudly, mesmerized by its beauty, almost forgetting why she was up here in the first place.
At the sudden sound of Beatrice's loud breathing, the halo flashed in alarm, and she had to cover her eyes. The sudden bright light was unexpected; it blinded her for a few seconds.
"Bea!? Oh God... warn a girl next time, you fucking scared the shit out of me." The halo-bearer's voice was agitated.
She glanced quickly at the confused nun behind her, then turned her back again, hugging her knees and staring at the cloudy sky as if nothing happened. The swear words irritated Bea; that will be very hard to get used to. She'll let it slide this time. Better not to start the conversation with a lecture about cussing.
"Sorry, Ava, I didn't mean to startle you; I just wanted to check on how you're doing."
Ava scoffed and raised an eyebrow; so far, only one sentence had left the older girl's mouth, and she already looked super annoyed.
"Did you really? Since when did you bother to ask me how am I doing?" Ava's voice sounded like a sharp, violent gunshot in a peaceful forest.
She was fuming with anger; something was not adding up. Beatrice couldn't figure out what happened to the dorky girl who had been cracking jokes all day.
"Shit, I barely saw you once or twice in the past few weeks. We haven't eaten together since... Whatever." Did she sound... sad?
Beatrice sat down next to Ava, well, not right next to her; she left a good half a meter between them; she didn't want to scare her off. She tried to read some information off the younger girl's face, but she turned away from her completely. How did they become so distant?
"I am sorry, Ava, the past weeks have been unbelievably challenging, Mother Superion, she---"
"I'm fine. Could you leave me alone now, please?"
Ouch, that was brutally cold for Beatrice to hear, even though she, too, often put it bluntly when it came to talking about feelings. Did it also strike a chord with others when she behaved like that?
Clearly, Ava was anything but fine . Should she push it, ask her what the problem was? If Beatrice accidentally pisses off Ava, the halo might react violently in her response, and both of them could get hurt... She has to be extra careful with her words; now more than ever, phrasing properly is the key to helping Ava to calm down and open up.
Beatrice felt dizzy again, so she gently wiped her forehead, slowing her breathing. To help the younger girl, first, she needed to calm herself down a little. There was this thing she didn't tell anyone.
She was afraid of heights. She feared heights, which would strike as soon as she got more than 2 meters above the ground. All she could think about was slipping and being swallowed up by the endless abyss. The fact that they were sitting on the highest point of the building, in the dark, without tactical clothing or equipment, did not help the situation.
So Beatrce summoned all her inner strength and leaned back a little, so her body could at least try to relax. All of a sudden, without even thinking about it, she put her arm around Ava in an attempt to make her feel safe. That was a big mistake.
For some weird reason, Ava reacted to the unexpected touch very poorly, as if someone just had burned her to her bones. With the halo amplifying her strength, she instantly pushed Beatrice away with both hands, causing the nun almost to start sliding down the roof.
Also, thanks to the halo and Ava's reflexes, she quickly grabbed her by the arm before Beatrice realized what had happened. The older sister's breathing became ragged, her eyes fixed on the ground, and panic was written all over her face. She slowly glanced at Ava with tears in her eyes.
"What is your problem, Ava?!"
Now Ava was the one who got worried and confused; she hadn't seen this emotion on the sister's face before and wasn't even sure what she was looking at. Could it be... fear, anger, or maybe both? Is that possible?
"Well, what did you expect me to do? You saw how frustrated I was. I didn't ask to be touched."
Ava accidentally yelled louder than she intended; her sudden anger scared her enough to think of a solution.
Oh man, she really wanted to act friendly, but shit kept pouring on her today as if she was raising a litter of puppies with raging diarrhea . The situation kept getting worse with every passing minute and harder to fix.
Fuck, fuck, FUCK , she has to calm down just a notch, or else she might end off kicking Beatrice down the roof.
So taking the first step to calming-the-fuck-down, Ava's strong hand let go of the confused sister's arm and instinctively sat closer to her, now trying to speak softer. That may help.
"I swear I didn't mean to do that. The shoving and yelling part, I'm just having an unholy mess of a day... Sorry." The last word sounded funny, coming out of her mouth.
Bea wanted to tell her it was okay and not to worry about it, but her "sorry" rang so sarcastic that it made her go apeshit. Maybe coming up here was a mistake.
"At least don't lie straight into my face Ava; you sounded nothing like a person who is actually feeling sorry about their actions."
This would not end well; the conversation reached the point where it was impossible to phrase the words nicely.
"You know what? You're absolutely right; I'm actually not sorry at all for fucking having feelings and acting on them!" Ava's voice was trembling; her finger started to shake, and she stood up to look more intimidating.
The halo made a strange sound as if ready to blow up the roof. Beatrice looked nervous; Ava proved many times during the previous weeks that she had no idea how to control the halo yet, even though she kept denying it.
"Ava, I’m not mad, but please you-"
"I asked you to leave. So please, just go away. I want to be fucking alone."
Tears were rolling down Ava's face; she sobbed and backed away quickly from the other girl, her breathing faster with each step. Beatrice wanted to go after her, but a sudden strong explosion pushed her back a second later, causing her to lose balance and end up lying on the roof.
She lay there for a good few minutes, unconscious, when she managed to lift her head slowly. There was blood coming down from her forehead; she must have knocked her head into the tiles. One of her hands was also injured, with red bruises and abrasions on the back of it. It was the halo. Where did Ava go?
"Ava, where are you?"
Beatrice tried to yell, but instead, it came out as a weak, embarrassing shriek; she felt the strength leaving her body; the halo really did a number on her head. Instead of getting up, she took a nice deep breath and rolled herself over so she would be laying on her back, the one part of her body that didn't ache with pain.
The sky was still, filled with clouds, with no stars to be seen. It was dark and lonely up here. Anxiety started to take over, and Beatrice's mind became just as overcast as the sky as she wondered what might've happened lately that caused Ava to react so aggressively. She was fine just a few days ago; she even told her that... that she…
"Oh shit, I messed up."
She whispered quietly as the sudden realization hit her extremely hard. She was so focused on training the newbies that she had forgotten about Ava. No wonder she was so tense around her; she had every reason to be angry.
After all, her reaction to their little argument was totally understandable. Once again, Beatrice managed to disappoint and hurt someone she cared for. This day was supposed to be easy.