Chapter Text
Staring at the face of the woman she never expected to see again, Ava sits behind her reception desk at work at a dental practice, shrinking into her chair already. Beatrice isn’t even inside yet as she walks towards the practice from the outside car park. But Ava already shrinks.
It’s been a long time, but Ava still feels as she felt the last time she saw Beatrice.
Less.
Ava left her old hometown to not run into any of the people from her old life, but moving to Madrid from her old home doesn’t seem to be enough to escape the worst thing she’s ever done, or well…no, still technically it is.
A lot has changed for Ava in the years since she did the act she’ll always regret.
And when Ava says a lot has changed, she means a LOT.
She died for one.
Yeah, you read that right. Ava died.
Ava’s old friends. Her old life is literally a different life for her now.
During the day Ava tries to be a normal person. As much as she can. She works this job, and she pays the bills, but at night she’s the cleanser of the wicked, the purger of evil. She’s the Ghost Rider.
She died in a bike accident. She got drunk one night like an idiot and drove off-road straight into a tree. She smashed into it brutally, and moments after impact, she died.
But she heard a voice after the quick but unexplainable pain she felt. Just Ava’s luck, the motorbike she ‘borrowed’ from some random because she wanted to was haunted by the spirit of a damned soul named Lilith.
Lilith offered Ava a deal. Live again in exchange for being Lilith's vessel to send souls down to hell.
She’s a passenger in the arrangement. Every night Lilith takes over. Ava’s flesh is melted away in an excruciating, torturous experience. It all melts away so only bone remains. Ava’s skull is surrounded by hellfire, and Lilith takes over to sate her need for evil souls.
It’s a nightmarish existence, but it’s Ava’s now.
She’s so far away from the person Beatrice and their friends group knew and grew to hate and ostracise after she… She cheated on her fiancée, Lexi, and the beating heart of the group of friends Ava found in college and had ever since, before a few years ago.
The cheating was something Ava obviously didn’t plan for. It just happened. She had a drink issue, but that didn’t excuse it. Lexi was a mostly sweet person Ava did want to marry.
A night of weakness is why it happened with a butch, ridiculously hot woman. Vi was her name. She didn’t know anything about Ava’s situation, so it was all on Ava. She was the one who cheated. She told Lexi, maybe too bluntly, and Ava’s friends, including Beatrice, who was Ava’s best friend, turned their backs on Ava.
Ava understood. It hurt. She thought if anyone would stay her friend, Beatrice would. But Beatrice didn’t respond to texts or calls. Until she did respond with a simple act.
Beatrice blocked her.
Ava saw Beatrice around and tried to get her back, but Beatrice was ice to her. She just ignored her, and Ava knew then it was over.
She lost her community of friends she relied on. Gone. Poof. She suddenly was alone. No parents or family, as they died long ago. No friends. Nothing.
She can’t say she didn’t deserve it. She left to leave behind the act that followed her around wherever she walked or worked back home in the Midlands of England.
But it’s followed her here. What the hell is Beatrice doing here? Of all places? The coincidence makes Ava want to burst out into a squirming laugh.
She grips her desk, watching Beatrice stop for a moment and check something on her phone. She’s as classy as she always was. Well put together. Controlled. In a dark green turtleneck jumper and slacks. Bea’s, or rather now Beatrice’s, hair is a little messy at the back in its bun.
“What’s wrong?” Lilith inside Ava’s mind chirps up. Terrible timing.
Ava can’t exactly respond to the disembodied voice in her head right now with Yasmine sitting next to her on a call arranging an appointment.
Oh yes, she has Lilith in her head to deal with. That’s fun. She’s the same when Lilith goes on her murder rampage as a spirit of vengeance. But while Ava has to watch every act of Lilith’s with the Ghost Rider’s numerous abilities, from the penance stare that makes a victim see the pain they’ve caused others in there lives until they eventually succumb to it to Lilith igniting any weapon with her supernatural fire and using those to kill. Lilith doesn’t have to watch Ava’s life. She just switches off like she’s asleep.
Again, it’s torture. Lilith wasn’t a good person obviously in her former life. She’s using Ava as a conduit to murder.
“Who’s that? She’s hot.” Lilith has little filter.
Ava ignores Lilith and readies for this. To be looked at like she’s some gum on Beatrice’s shoe.
Beatrice opens the door to step inside. Ava shrinks as much as she can into her chair.
“Hi, I’ve got an appointment with Dr Li?” Beatrice talks with her eyes on her phone, then looks up with a polite smile.
It fades immediately.
Beatrice’s eyes widen.
Ava doesn’t know what to do here. She just fiddles with the cuffs of her blouse around her wrist, wanting this to be over. Beatrice and she were so close. They opened up about their social lives and work, but now it’s just nothing. Ava was cast off, and that was that.
The pain Ava endures every night. She's endured something Beatrice could never imagine. She should be able to be strong here after that, but she just isn’t.
Ava opens her mouth, but nothing comes out.
“Ava?” Beatrice blinks in obvious surprise.
Ava straightens herself. Beatrice threw her away. However, she might have had good reason to, as she sided with Lexi. Beatrice made that choice.
“Hi, you can take a seat in the waiting area.” Ava smiles falsely. She’s not exactly playing this like someone not bitter about things, but she’s allowed.
The reason Ava died was the utter loneliness she felt. The pain of having no one in one fell swoop.
She’s cursed with Lilith due to her own actions, but Ava hurts about what happened. She deserved it, but the fact is if Beatrice, who was far more of a friend to her than she ever was to Lexi, hadn’t completely shut the door on Ava, things might’ve been different, and Ava wouldn’t still be alone. She wouldn’t be trapped in this hell.
Beatrice opens her mouth a little, just looking at Ava with eyes not soft or harsh, just taking this in. Ava doesn’t know. She’s not a mind reader.
“How… How have you been? What are you doing in Madrid? You never told anyone you were leaving; you just left. I…I can’t believe it.” Beatrice isn’t the only one.
Ava twitches and averts her gaze to the window to the outside car park. “I live here now. I just wanted a fresh start after everything. You and everyone made your feelings about me clear.”
Silence takes over, and this isn’t going to go anywhere Ava likes. She’d just prefer it if Beatrice took a seat and ignored her. She gets it. She got it then, and she gets it now.
“Well…what you did was wrong, Ava. But I didn’t want to force you out of the country or anything. Lexi wondered what happened with you, and everyone else did. I did.”
Ava bites her cheek. “Yeah, you blocking my number really showed concern about what happened to me.”
“Ava. I…you have to understand I did what I felt I had to. Your actions had consequences, and…”
“It’s fine. I’ve more than paid the price for it. Please take a seat.” Ava motions to a chair in the waiting area.
“You’re being a bitch.” Lilith jibes. “This is the Beatrice, then, is it? You cheated on your fiancée and her friend. Got what you deserved if you ask me.”
“No one did.” She murmurs to herself as she checks the patient schedule on her computer display. Yes, Beatrice, at 3pm. She’s right on time.
“Sorry?” Beatrice, of course, hears.
“Nothing, I wasn’t talking to you. It’s in the past, Beatrice. You made your choice. I get it. I’m at work right now.” She doesn’t say it with any spitefulness. She just hopes that’s the end of this.
It’s not, as Beatrice taps the reception desk with her fingers. No ring?
“You divorced Carrie then?” She can’t help herself. Beatrice was married to Carrie for a few years when Beatrice cut her out. Ava was Beatrice’s maid of honour.
Beatrice bows her head, humming. “Yeah, divorce comes in many forms, I guess.”
“Indeed. With romance and friendship.” Ava finally raises her tired gaze to Beatrice. She still doesn’t see the coldness she saw last. Just Ava doesn’t know what this is. It’s awkward on Ava’s part, but Beatrice doesn’t seem to be.
Beatrice hesitates. Darting her eyes to the waiting area and then back to Ava. “Would you want to catch up some time?”
“Considering you blocked my number, I…”
“I changed that years ago. I tried to text you, but nothing. I’m new to the city, and I wouldn’t mind having someone I know to talk with, I guess.” Beatrice’s uneasy smile just saddens Ava. Most things do these days.
That’s her existence. Agonising pain no one could understand unless they felt it and sadness. She’s cut herself off from people. She doesn’t feel any desire for much anymore. She feels broken. She made a deal with a killer in Lilith to be alive again, and a big part of Ava just doesn’t see why anymore. The pain isn’t worth it.
Ava shrugs, feeling heavy as ever. “Got a new number.”
“Mine’s still the same.” Beatrice offers an olive branch.
Maybe it’s genuine. Ava doesn’t know. She just sees a sadness or worry in Beatrice’s eyes and nods. She doesn’t see the point. This scar won’t be healed with her and Beatrice.
Ava accepts, though. Might as well. In between watching so much death, she can catch up with someone who isn’t really interested in her friendship again. In Beatrice’s eyes, Ava’s not trustworthy. She’ll see that again as she talks with her more.