Slowly Climbing Higher
Ava sat in the middle of the room surrounded by people. She was still breathing heavily, her hair dampened by sweat, the knuckles on her left hand turning white due to her death grip on the Halo, still dripping with her blood. Bea stood behind her and to the left, one hand on her left shoulder and the other caressing Ava’s neck behind her right ear. Ava could feel the tension in the sister warrior’s posture as they both watched and listened to the crowd of people before them.
It’s not that Bea didn’t trust their OCS family; it was simply that this was completely uncharted territory. No Warrior Nun in history ever held the Halo in their hands once it was already theirs. It had never been so exposed before, so tempting to others. Ava had not been this at risk since she was first brought to the OCS after receiving the Halo, and Bea was not about to ignore any possibilities no matter how impossible they seemed.
It was Mother Superion who had spoken to the pair first. She kneeled down so that she was face to face with Ava and looked carefully at the Halo in the young woman’s hand. Noticing Bea’s stance, she was careful not make any moves in its direction. “This is—truly remarkable what you have accomplished, Ava. It still works for you?”
Ava simply nodded and made the Halo glow in her hand. “I haven’t tried to do anything with it yet,” she said. “But I’m not paralyzed, so it’s working.”
“It would seem then that the first order of business would be testing, see if it works the same way when you’re holding it as it did before—see what happens if you let go,” replied Mother Superion.
“Yes, Mother,” said Bea. “That was the plan after Ava rests for a minute. Of course, she has to stay in here while it happens; it’s not safe for the Halo to leave this room yet. But with all these people in here…” She trailed off, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice.
“Of course, Beatrice,” said Mother Superion, standing back up. She and Bea shared a look and Mother nodded to her. Bea felt the tension in her shoulders relax slightly. Mother understood, Bea wasn’t being distrusting, she was simply being protective. “Camila,” called Mother sharply.
“Yes, Mother Superion,” said Camila as she came forward. Her eyes flickered to Beatrice and Ava as she awaited her orders.
“I want you and Dora to secure this hallway. No one in or out until both Ava and Beatrice are satisfied that Ava and the Halo are protected. Jillian and Yasmine will stay to offer them assistance.” She raised her voice to address the room. “Everyone else, out!”
Bea carefully watched the flurry of activity as the crowded room emptied. Camila was the last to leave. She smiled at the pair. “Don’t worry, we’ve got you,” she said and she turned and left the room.
“You don’t really think?” asked Ava quietly once they were alone. She was unwilling or unable to complete the question.
“No,” answered Bea right away, “but then again I didn’t really think Lilith would either.”
They waited in silence for a moment when Jillian and Yasmine peeked their heads back in. “We’re ready when you are,” said Jillian.
Ava stood and looked at Bea. “Thank you for always watching over me.”
Bea smiled and winked at her. “It’s what I do.”
“Okay, first test,” said Jillian’s voice through the speaker. “We want to see what happens if you’re not touching the Halo. Go ahead and put it down but remember do not hand it to Beatrice. We want to make sure you stay the Warrior Nun.”
“I don’t know why it’s a big deal if I hand it to Bea—” Ava said as she nonchalantly tossed the Halo onto the chair—“Oof!” She immediately collapsed to the floor as her arms and legs lost all sensation.
“Ava!” shouted Bea as she reached out to grab the young woman and helped her to the ground. Without thinking, she grabbed the dormant Halo and shoved it into Ava’s hands. It flared to life immediately and the Warrior Nun was able to get up.
“That’s why,” said Jillian, simply. “We don’t know what will happen to you if you accidently make someone else the Halo Bearer and we want to keep you functional.”
From that point forward, Ava took the rest of the testing a little more seriously.
Jillian’s battery of tests was grueling. Not only was she determined to test all of Ava’s powers to see if they would still function while she was holding the Halo instead of ‘wearing’ it, she also decided to use this opportunity to test exactly how much power the Halo gave off in certain circumstances. For Ava, the testing was mostly repetitive and boring. Happily, Bea was there to keep her entertained.
“Go ahead, Bea, climb on top of me.” She was flat on her back levitating herself about one meter off the ground, like a magician’s assistant, when Jillian had said she wanted to see if there was a change in the Halo’s power usage with more weight. Bea smiled and started chuckling at the suggestion when Jillian chimed in over the speaker and without a trace of irony agreed that it was a good idea. Giving Ava a glare that would have been far more effective if she had been able to refrain from laughing, Bea stepped up onto the chair that Ava had been sitting in and hesitated.
“Problem?” asked Ava.
“I’m just trying to think about how to do this without hurting you.”
“Oh Bea,” said Ava innocently, “I know you know how to be on top without hurting me.” Bea blushed as she gave Ava a wide-eyed stare, trying to stop herself from smiling.
“Ava!” she whispered. There was no comment from the other room and they both looked at the monitor to see Jillian and Yasmine talking quietly to each other while staring at a screen. Bea could only shake her head as Ava shrugged at her.
“Ok seriously,” said Ava, sounding suddenly business-like, “you could press yourself flat against me, you could straddle me—oh! Oh! You could sit on my face!”
Bea turned beat red and as she bit her lips and squeezed her eyes shut, from embarrassment or from trying not to laugh, Ava wasn’t sure. It got even worse when Yasmine absently asked through the speaker, “Beatrice, have you climbed on yet?”
Both women broke down into hysterical laughter for a full minute while both Jillian and Yasmine gave them confused looks through the monitor. Eventually, Bea laid flat on top of Ava so that they were face to face.
“I cannot believe they didn’t hear any of that,” said Bea, her face right in front of Ava’s.
“That was amazing,” agreed Ava, “totally worth sitting through all this boring shit.” She became thoughtful. “You know,” she said, a mischievous look in her eye, “I’m surprised we hadn’t thought of all the sexy possibilities of this levitation thing before.”
“It would never have worked,” Bea responded a beat too quickly. “You would have had to keep the vest on so you wouldn’t summon a Tarask.”
Ava’s eyes widened and jaw dropped before she started to smile. “You have thought about it. I can’t believe you, Beatrice! You’re supposed to be the good one!”
Bea opened her mouth to respond, hesitated and closed it again before smiling and winking at Ava.
“Okay, Beatrice,” came Yasmine’s voice again. “You can get yourself off now.”
Both women crashed to the floor in laughter as Ava finally lost her concentration.
All of the abilities that the Halo had bestowed upon Ava were tested and proved to be just as powerful as before, except for her healing capabilities. Bea had outright refused to allow that test, arguing that the Warrior Nun had been through enough for one day and also that since Ava’s Halo scar was gone, it was obviously still healing her.
They did discover a new trick to her levitation, potential sexual uses aside. Ava could now make either herself or the Halo levitate separately from each other. Of course she couldn’t let go without collapsing but it still gave her an idea she wanted to try out.
“Jillian,” she began, “you said the levitation was my body manipulating gravity. Does that mean I’m weightless?”
“Effectively yes,” replied Jillian, “why?”
“What if I threw the Halo as hard as I could but didn’t let go; and instead I levitated my body at the last second; and then I also levitated the Halo?”
“Are you asking if you can make yourself fly?” Bea cut in, taking a second to think through Ava’s awkward question. Ava just shrugged at her.
“It might be possible,” replied Jillian. “It depends on if your levitation makes you truly weightless, otherwise you’re still trying to throw around your own body weight so you wouldn’t move very fast. You can always try it out.”
Her abilities completely tested, Ava was finally getting excited again for testing out the Halo as a weapon.
“I have everything prepared,” said Jillian, “but not tonight, I have a lot of data to go through before those particular tests, and unless you want to sleep in here tonight, Ava, I suggest you both work on getting the Halo back in—in your back.”
Ava took a deep breath at this thought. It had been extremely painful to remove the Halo the first time. She was not looking forward to putting it back, or taking it out again the next day. She looked over at Bea, who was looking back at her with sympathy as she took the younger woman’s hands.
“It will be alright,” Bea consoled her. “Just try and do the opposite as you did before. Start with trying to phase around it. Maybe you can put it in with minimal discomfort.” She held Ava for a moment in a sweet embrace before stepping back to give the Warrior Nun space.
Ava kneeled and saw Bea kneel down with her. When she put her left hand with the Halo behind her back, Bea grasped her right wrist and squeezed. Ava felt the Halo go warm and could hear it sing as she activated it while trying to phase her upper back around it. It was partially successful, she could feel the Halo burning her once it was back inside, causing her to grunt in pain, but it was over in seconds.
“That wasn’t so bad,” she said, feeling relieved, breathing a little harder than normal. “Hopefully getting it back out tomorrow will be more like that instead of that shit show earlier today.”
“Let’s not worry about that right now,” said Bea, gently stroking the Halo Bearer’s face. “You look exhausted. Yasmine?" She spoke to the other woman without looking away. "Please let Camila and Dora know that the Halo is secure again.” She paused as she continued to search Ava’s tired face. “Perhaps also ask them if they would consider having dinner here with us? You as well? I think Ava and I could do with a quieter evening.” Ava smiled her thanks to Bea in response.
That night, Bea was lying awake, watching her lover sleep. They were face to face in bed when Ava had dozed off early, exhausted from the day’s exertions. She looked peaceful; her worries about removing and replacing the Halo now behind her. As Bea watched Ava sleep, a feeling of anxiety twisted its way from the depths of her belly around her heart and into her throat. She wasn’t sure what had caused it. Perhaps she was worried for the safety of the woman lying next to her. Maybe it was her old fears of not being worthy of anyone’s love. Could it be guilt over giving up her religion, her quest to save her soul? Possibly it was simply the overwhelming feeling that they were both so young, too young to be leaders in this upcoming fight that they knew almost nothing about.
As these thoughts continued to race around her mind, Bea felt her eyes tear up and her bottom lip quiver. This was a vulnerability she would never show anyone, not even Ava. She relied on Ava for many things but this budding, undefinable apprehension she would keep to herself; releasing it only here and now, when her greatest source of comfort and happiness was next to her yet blissfully unaware. Beatrice allowed a few tears to fall between her muffled sobs before taking a deep breath and reestablishing control—that was all she would allow herself. She continued taking comfort in Ava’s presence; remembering something that Ava had told her all those months ago.
They can’t beat us, Bea. Not together.
She and Ava could overcome anything together. That was what mattered. Sliding closer to Ava in bed, and risking waking her, she slid an arm underneath the other woman’s neck and brought her other over and around her back, pulling Ava into a close hug. Then she rolled onto her back and brought her lover with her. Ava, still asleep, buried her face in Bea’s neck and wrapped an arm around her while they tangled their legs together.
Ava awoke the next morning to find herself snuggled into Bea’s side, her arm across her bare chest and their legs intertwined. She smiled into the sister warrior’s neck and began placing light, feathery kisses wherever she could reach from just below Bea’s ear down to her collarbone. She began gently moving her hand, softly brushing against Bea’s skin along her neck, down her chest, across her abdomen and back up, being careful to not so much as graze any sensitive spots along the way. Her leg was slowly rubbing up and down Bea’s thighs.
Taking her time, Ava slowly increased the intensity of her touches. Her lips pressed a little harder, sometimes opening and tasting patches of Bea’s smooth skin. Her hand’s rubbing was a little firmer as it continued its circuit around her torso, gently massaging around Bea’s neck and cupping her breasts as it passed by. Her leg moved up a little higher as she increased the speed of her movement between the other woman’s thighs.
Bea started moaning softly as she began to wake. She tilted her head away from Ava’s, offering the younger woman more of her neck. Her back arched as Ava’s hand passed over her chest and she spread her legs a little, pushing downward, her body aching for more contact. Her eyes fluttered open as she took in a deep breath and smiled.
“This…,” she swallowed heavily, “You—remind me to never set an alarm again.” Ava smiled into her neck as she shifted to climb on top of her.