1
It was supposed to be a short and routine mission. It was supposed to be a routine recovery mission. It wasn’t supposed to escalate into what it has now. Undoubtedly, Beatrice had expected a small fight, it was rare in their line of work that violence could be avoided entirely, but this wasn’t a small fight. Bullets were flying everywhere, the sound of metal shell casings met the ground. It was loud, chaotic until there was silence.
Beatrice found herself on the floor, her body sore. She didn’t get shot, that she knew. Why am I on the floor? She glanced back and forth. Her ears were ringing, and her vision blurry. There were only silhouettes, but the sound of screaming started to fill her ears. She stumbled as she got up, frantically looking around. Camila was a few meters away, still unconscious, Lilith was up, hitting a man across the face until he collapsed. She could see Mary on the floor, but it was too dark, making it difficult to tell what she was doing.
Where’s Sister Shannon?
Beatrice walked over to Mary’s direction. Why is Mary crying? Looking down, she paused. Mary was supporting Shannon’s head on her lap, whispering words that were inaudible to Beatrice. She stared longer. Glowing, blue fragments were scattered on the Halo Bearer’s torso, Divinium, it’s Divinium.
“Beatrice! What the hell are you doing?” Mary yelled at her, that part she understood clearly. “Get help! Please.”
Beatrice needed to act fast. She can’t merely be standing around. She needed to make herself useful. She called out, to no one in particular, to get the van. They needed to get out of that warehouse. She kneeled across Mary; the woman who always appeared so strong and tough now looked vulnerable, tears streaming down her cheeks. Beatrice put pressure on Shannon’s torso on the wounds she was bleeding from.
She tried to reassure her sister that she was going to be alright, “Just breathe, Shannon. In and out. We’ll get you out of here soon.”
After what seemed like years, she heard the screeching tires of the van they had driven to get to their current location. Lilith, Camila, and another Sister Warrior tried to cover Beatrice and Mary. They both carried Shannon while they fled to their escape vehicle outside.
The ride back to the Cat’s Cradle wasn’t much better than their previous situation. Shannon was getting paler and lost consciousness a few times. More than that, they were still being chased. Beatrice kept her hand on Shannon’s wounds the whole time, applying as much pressure as she could without exacerbating her sister’s condition. All the while, Mary held Shannon’s hand, whispered sweet reassurances to her, crying for her.
Was anyone going to do that for me? Am I going to be loved the way Mary had loved Shannon? Probably not, Beatrice is too flawed for that.
xxxxx
Camila had called Mother Superion on the drive back to warn her of the fight and also to seek help from other Sister Warriors for when they reached Cat’s Cradle. Simultaneously, Lilith had called for a surgeon, a fellow nun they knew, often helping them with sutures and other forms of treatment when they got back from a dangerous mission.
Camila had been the first to get off the van, followed by Lilith. Beatrice carried Shannon’s legs while Mary held her upper body. They brought the Halo Bearer down to the basement, where they laid her on a metal table. The whole idea of it gave Beatrice goosebumps. That table wasn’t meant for the living, it was for corpses.
A few moments later, she heard Sister Lilith’s voice, turning to her direction. She saw the surgeon’s familiar face, rushing into the room. Mary barely explained what had happened, simply demanding that the surgeon remove all the shrapnel immediately. Mary focused her attention on Shannon, never taking her eyes off her while reassuring the latter woman with her words. The surgeon informed that the shrapnels had caused too much damage, removing them could lead to a more inevitable death.
At this point, Beatrice seemed to know that there was nothing that could be done. As always, her logic and understanding were superior to the fear and anxiety that she felt. She asked for medicine to alleviate Sister Shannon’s pain instead. Beatrice knew that Mary needed some form of reassurance for herself hence turning to Beatrice, but she couldn’t lie. She didn’t want to cover the gravity of the situation, so she shook her head, no, they haven’t seen worse.
Lilith spoke, insinuating what she had been thinking all along, she knew that it had also crossed Mary’s mind at some point. Lilith was ambitious, they all knew that, but Lilith also had a heart. They all cared for each other deeply even though they didn’t show it as explicitly as they had liked, but they loved each other. They were Sisters, in this life or the next.
Everyone in the room turned towards the door upon hearing the loud bang. Beatrice received information on her earpiece and recited it out loud. Mary was mad, but Beatrice knew that Lilith was right, the protocol has to be followed, it had to happen. Shannon knew it too. Another loud slam echoed through the walls, Beatrice had to go. She had to help her other sisters. She gave Shannon a kiss on the forehead, it was the most physical intimacy she had given in so many years. Still, Beatrice was certain that she would never get another chance to express the sisterly love that she had for Shannon.
xxxxx
Beatrice fought to the best of her abilities to prevent the intruders from getting to the basement, but there were too many of them. Only a handful left of the Sister Warriors were still standing. Soon, Beatrice blacked out too. Once again, my performance is unacceptable.
For the second time that night, Beatrice got up, her head throbbing from the hard blows she had received earlier. Something was wrong. Dead bodies were at every corner of the church, thankfully, there were no fatalities amongst her sisters. Well, except one. She tried to keep the place in order, instructing other sisters to clean up the bodies and helping others bandage the wounded. Beatrice noticed Camila looking somber sitting on one of the pews, she knew the disappointment in the younger woman’s eyes. Camila had been so excited earlier in the day to go on her very first mission, but it had a ghastly turnout.
Father Vincent arrived about half an hour after she had regained consciousness. He didn’t ask much, he just requested to be taken to their fallen Halo Bearer. It was when only him, Beatrice, and Mary were in the room, along with Sister Shannon’s body, that he solicited a recount of the night’s events.
She knew that the way she had spoken about the incident sounded cold and detached, as though it was “just another incident report”, as Mary had said. She knew that. Beatrice also knew that if she had allowed herself to dwell on the matter, she would feel that ache inside of her that would take months of healing. Beatrice wasn’t trying to be selfish, she was just afraid that if she got distracted, it would become an unacceptable mistake to those around her.
Just as Beatrice had finished her recount of the mission, the monk entered the room, frantic. He directed them to the other room and was joined by Lilith. The surgeon who last had the Halo was slumped against the wall, no longer breathing. The monk told them what he had seen, it sounded absurd, but the body bag was there to prove it. The Halo was gone, placed in the body of an allegedly dead girl who had no business with the OCS.
Ever since Beatrice joined the OCS, she was taught of the importance of the Halo. In her first months, she read all that she could about it in the archives of the library, each book emphasizing its power. It was evident that Lilith was mad, she was supposed to be the Next-in-Line, it was her right. In a way, Beatrice understood Lilith, something that was yours to just be taken away so rudely, Beatrice felt that before.
Father Vincent declared that he was going to look further into the missing girl’s background; the missing girl who now carried around an Angel’s Halo on her back. The sisters remained in the church, cleaning up and tidying up the place of worship back to how it was prior to the events of that night. Shotgun Mary, instead, got on her motorcycle, her unwavering resolve to find who was responsible for the death of her friend led her away from the Cat’s Cradle.
xxxxx
The next day, she got up the same time she always has despite the exhaustion from the night before. Beatrice prayed and meditated, she opted out of running that morning -- her body still sore from the fights and impact of the blast -- then she took a warm shower, one that was longer than her usual bath in the mornings.
Following breakfast was training, the usual. Everything seemed normal that day, except it was more silent. There was no laughing while training or loud chatting during meal times, the whole aura of the Cat’s Cradle was different. Of course, it would be.Shannon was gone, the Halo missing. Beatrice then wondered why the routine of the day was still similar.
After completing her duties for the day, Beatrice sat in the library searching through the pages of multiple books in front of her about the Halo and if it indeed had the power to resurrect someone. She sat at the same place for hours until her vision started getting blurry and noticed the cramping in her neck. She didn’t want to leave yet, not until she had discovered something solid that could be used. Be efficient. Beatrice repeated that to herself, she had to find something, she can’t leave empty handed, this is unacceptable. In spite of her toxic thoughts, Beatrice was smart enough to know that she wouldn’t be able to concentrate fully on the task at hand if her own body was betraying her. She hated that, she hated that although her mind was willing and mentally fit (as mentally fit one would be to still succumb to the constant fear of disappointing others and being turned away is), her flesh was weak. It always had been. She despised the fact that even with the years of training, meditation and practising mindfulness, she was never in full control of her body.
Beatrice closed the books laid out in front of her, stashed them into her corner then made her way to the common area where she heard the sound of the piano’s soft music. She heard Sister Camila playing on the piano one of Sister Shannon’s favorite songs. She loved hearing the younger woman play, it reminded her of easier times. When Beatrice was younger, she would play the violin to her heart’s content especially during stressful school days. Music always made her feel better but she hasn’t played in years, uncertain why. She remembered the times when her mother would ask her to play music for their guests, it was one of the few times she felt that her mother had been proud of her. Beatrice smiled at the memory but quickly shook her, she did her best not to think of her parents anymore. It always brought her too much pain. It isn’t the time to focus on your losses, Beatrice. Someone had just died, not everything was about me, I shouldn’t be selfish. With that, she refused to think more of her past and strode towards Camila, Mary joining her. Mary had placed her arm on her shoulder then Lilith joined them. Beatrice wasn’t used to the physical touch but it was something the three of them needed so she wrapped her arms around Mary’s and Lilith’s waists on each side.
Beatrice just stood there, immersing herself in the music with her sisters. Her heart felt content at that moment, she was surrounded by people who cared about one another and Beatrice could only hope that someone would play the piano for her too when she left this life. Camila played for a while more with soft tears flowing from her eyes. They would all miss Shannon deeply, especially Mary. Beatrice knew that, in fact, they all did. Mary and Shannon shared a bond that was special to the two of them but nonetheless, they all loved Shannon and Shannon loved them. Moments after Camila pressed the last key and closed the lid over the piano, Beatrice realized that she still had to analyze the fragments from Shannon’s wounds and so she did.