How can I smile
A few months had passed since Ava crossed the Arc, since Beatrice left the OCS, since Yasmine joined them. One day, Ava was back. Why she was back, or how, she didn't know. But she was back. She appeared in an empty street in the middle of the night, she knew where she was, she wasn't far away from the orphanage, she was tired, sleepy, but she began walking to Cat's Cradle, she knew what she had to do.
Beatrice had gone back to the Alps, but there were too many memories, painful memories, that didn't let her live, so she went back to Spain, although she stayed in Madrid. She had a normal life, she got a job as a martial arts teacher, she had a small apartment and she lived normally; that was until she started to see people acting weird.
One night, she decided to go out for a walk, and she ended walking past a bar, she wasn't a nun anymore and she could really use a drink, so she went inside and ordered the first thing that came to her mind. She drank, and she drank some more, a little more, until she was dizzy and could barely walk straight, she paid and left the bar, going straight to her apartment. While she was walking, she heard noise coming from a empty street, thinking the worse, she quickly walked to the street and looked around, seeing a man on his knees, she approached him carefully, seeing that the man was in pain, Beatrice knew this pain too well, he was getting possessed.
She knew what she had to do, even if she didn't want to, she hit the guy, who immediately fought back, Beatrice was used to fighting possessed people, but this time it was different, the man had more strength than usual, not only was he stronger, he was also faster, which made things hard for a drunk Beatrice. After some minutes, Beatrice managed to put him on the ground, that seemed to be enough for the demon to leave the body, she got up and left the place, going straight home, she was injured, she knew she had bruises, and her knuckles were bleeding. As soon as she arrived home, she quickly cleaned her hands and patched up her knuckles before packing some clothes in a backpack, she grabbed her phone and once more went outside, walking on empty streets, if she had the Halo, or Lilith's powers, she would be able to see who was possessed, but since she didn't have any of that, she had to trust her gut. Which worked.
Beatrice knew that what she was about to do was illegal, but she needed proof, so she recorded the few people she thought were possessed, out of the three people she recorded, only two of them turned out to be possessed, a young woman and a male teenager, but that was enough. Everything was recorded, from the moment she saw them to the moment the demon left the body, she was right, the possessed people were stronger that they had to be, Beatrice had fought enough possessed people to know how strong they could be, she knew this new strength wasn't normal. She knew she had to go back, she didn't have any way to contact the OCS, there was only one solution, to go back there.
On her way back to her apartment she thought things well, it seemed stupid, to go back just to show them what she found out, Lilith probably knew it already, which meant that they had started to try and eliminate the demons, but then she remembered Lilith's words, the Holy War was about to start, so she made up her mind, she was going back to Cat's Cradle. Or so she thought, as soon as she sat down on the small couch she had, she fell asleep, the next morning, she didn't remember anything, alcohol effects.
Ava arrived at Cat's Cradle around 3am, almost passing out, she knew no one would open the door, so she did something she knew she would regret later, she phased through the walls until she was in Mother Superion's office, she thought the older nun wouldn't be in there, so her surprise was big when she saw her sitting on her chair looking at some papers. Mother Superion looked at her and her eyes widened, she quicky stood up and ran to hug the Halo bearer, tears falling, Ava hugged back, happy to see her. "How? When? How long have you been here? Are you alright? How is it-", asked Mother Superion, who was cut off by Ava, who was hugging her once more, "I know you many questions, and I'd love to answer all of them, but is it okay if I, you know, rest for a bit?", she asked, already falling asleep hugging Mother Superion, the older nun sat her on a chair and let her sleep there, she sat on the other chair, looked at her girl and smiled, falling asleep next to her.
Both women woke up at some loud knocks on the door, Ava was dizzy, she looked around, smiling as soon as she realized where she was, Mother Superion opened the door as Ava stood up, stretching, Camila entered the room with some papers on her hands, she looked at Ava and dropped the papers to run and hug her, "Ava! I missed you so much!", she said, laughing a bit with some tears on her eyes, Ava hugged her back, also crying, "I missed you so much too Cam", she answered, hugging her friend more tight, loving the physical contact she missed so much. Mother Superion coughed and the two women pulled away, "What happened Camila?", the older woman asked, picking up the papers the young woman dropped, "Right, yes, we've got some reports of more people getting possessed, those are some of the locations where they were seen and how they looked", Ava quickly stood next to Mother Superion to read the papers, seeing a bunch of names, "Shit", she said, Mother Superion was about to remind her of the no curse rule, but before she could speak, Ava turned to Camila, "Can you contact Lilith?", she asked, a serious look in her face, "I- I can try, but I don't know if she'll reach out", she answered, Ava stood still for a few moments before sighing, "She will, tell her that I'm back, and that I need her", she said, Mother Superion stared at her, "Ava, you know what's happening?", the older woman questioned, Ava looked at her and stayed silent for a few moments, "I have an idea, but I need Lilith", she answered, walking around the room searching for paper where se could draw, "Should I contact Beatrice too?", Camila asked, the Halo bearer stopped walking, she looked at Camila and shook her head, "No", was response, she found paper and grabbed a pen before starting to draw.
The nuns exchanged looks, confused, but didn't question Ava's request, Camila quickly left the office to go to her bedroom, no one knew how she contacted Lilith, but no one tried to know, they allowed the young woman to keep it a secret. Mother Superion and Ava stayed in the office, the Halo bearer was drawing something, as soon as she finished the drawing she handed it to the older woman, Mother Superion stared at the drawing, it was a drawing of a woman with dark eyes and some sort of white cape, she also had some sort of white helmet, "That's Reya, she sent me back, she- she gave me some information and asked some of my questions, but she said that I needed Lilith to know more, I'll explain everything as soon as she's back", she explained, Mother Superion just stared at her before going back to see the drawing, "There's also someone else, or something, I don't know how it looks but, uh, Reya said it's not good", she continued, looking around the room a little scared. She felt someone, something was coming their way, the Halo started to glow almost instantly, Ava was ready to fight whatever it was, Lilith appeared out of nowhere, holding Camila's arm, "I swear this is the last time I teleport you with me for short distances", Lilith warned, smiling a little when she heard Camila laugh, she stared at Ava, noticing how the woman was trying her best to stay still, Lilith opened her arms and sighed, "Alright, come on", she said, the Halo bearer didn't waste a second to hug Lilith, the taller woman hugged her back for a few moments before pulling away. "Camila said you needed me", she comments, Ava nodded her head, "I have news about the war", the Halo bearer answered.
Beatrice knew she had to do something, she knew she had something really important to do, she couldn't remember what it was, but she knew how important it was. Those days she went straight home after work and stayed inside, she didn't want to get drunk anymore, especially because of how hard it was to walk to her apartment. Something clicked. She remembered something weird happened the night she got drunk, she knew that what she had to do was related to that, but she couldn't remember what it was, as if something was blocking those memories.
The only thing she could do, was do her job, buy groceries, read more books and sometimes watch TV, do her usual routine; as time passed by, she could slowly remember what had happened, but it was little by little, if she tried to focus on remembering more, she forgot the little she had remembered; she knew this wasn't normal, something was blocking her from remembering, something wasn't letting her do the important thing she had to do. But she just accepted it, thinking it could be some effect of the alcohol, after all, it was her first time getting that drunk, so she just let things be like that, she didn't push it anymore.
Until she noticed the backpack that was tossed somewhere on the floor of her bedroom, she had clothes in it, as if she was going to leave that place, escaping from something, or someone, she didn't feel well about it, but seeing that nothing had happened, she forgot about it, taking out her clothes and folding them. In the back of her mind she still thought this was all very weird, but she ignored it, deciding to keep going with her life. Just like Ava wanted her to. Ava.
It had been two weeks since Ava arrived, and as much as she wanted to figure out what to do, they still had no idea of what was going to happen, or when was it supposed to happen, or how to stop it. Lilith and Ava spent hours talking every day, it's easy to say that they didn't get much sleep; they tried to get more information about the whole situation, Ava even put on the Crown of Thorns to see if she could talk to Reya like she did months ago, but it was useless. By this point they almost gave up, they couldn't get any new information.
Ava had commented some things, like in some time there would be a Holy War, and that all of them would have to choose a side, the thing was, they didn't know how many sides were going to be, or with who, so that information was useless. She had also mentioned that things were going to get worse, and that some other Arcs would open around the world, the problem was, the Arcs would be natural, so they didn't know where they were going to appear or how they were going to look like. Every new information they got was useless because they had small bits of it, Camila compared this situation like a puzzle, and they only had the four corners, but the thing was, this puzzle didn't have four corners, so the progress they all made was completely useless, "We should contact Beatrice, she would know what to do, or at least she could give some ideas about this whole thing", Camila commented, reading the few notes Ava had written, "Camila is right, Beatrice is the most capable to understand this whole situation, Ava, I do not understand why you won't allow us to reach out", Lilith followed, Ava just stared at both women, a serious look in her face with just a small hint of sadness, "She- I have my reasons, okay?", answered the Halo bearer, looking back at the drawing of Reya she had showed Mother Superion.
Three weeks had passed and they hadn't made much progress, Ava and Lilith hadn't sleep much, in these three weeks, they had barely slept, getting 3 or 4 hours a day, they had stayed in the same room these weeks, they had written all the information they had in paper and taped it to the wall, they tried to connect dots, for example, if Reya was one side of the Holy War if she had nothing to do with it, if the most recent attacks had something to do with Adriel's realm, but it was all useless; they couldn't figure anything, Ava did ask Reya some questions, but what she was told wasn't much different from what Lilith knew, they didn't eat, didn't sleep, didn't leave the room. Sometimes, Mother Superion, Yasmine and Camila would join them, but they asked questions that had no answer, so one day they just stopped.
One night, without notice, Ava fell asleep, she didn't have the Crown of Thorns, but she saw Reya, the Halo bearer was ready to accept that she failed, but Reya spoke before she could, "I'm sorry I didn't contact you before, I couldn't, we don't have much time, so go ahead, ask whatever it is that you need to know", she indicated, Ava couldn't help but smile at this, and she started to ask everything she could think of.
Beatrice had noticed weird behaviors' in some people, but it wasn't until one night that she figured out why, there was a large amount of people in an abandoned building, all of them had the same eyes, filled with hate and rage, around their eyes, there were some black lines, as if they were veins, Beatrice knew they were possessed, but she had never seen anyone like this, she took out her phone and started recording them, she put the phone down, still recording, and decided that she needed to know if they were stronger, which they were. She ended up running away, she knew when the demons left the bodies, but she didn't understand why they didn't posses her, although she didn't mind, she was glad they didn't.
She returned home, watching the video, noticing that not only they were stronger, they were faster and smarter, putting a real fight which was hard to win, she then realized it wasn't the only video of this type that she had, there were other two, from the night she got drunk; as if something inside her mind unlocked, she remembered what had happened and why she had out clothes in a backpack, it wasn't the alcohol, some sort of demon power was blocking those memories for a reason. They didn't want her back at the OCS.
As soon as she arrived to her apartment, she grabbed a backpack and put some clothes in it once more before leaving and going to a bus station, she had to go back to Cat's Cradle, she realized they had no clue about what was happening, her guess was that whatever had allowed the demons to appear, was nowhere close to the Cat's Cradle, nor Ronda, it had to be on the North of Spain. She got on the bus that went to the South as soon as possible and waited, she rewatched the videos again and again, and every time she watched it, she somehow felt them getting stronger, she didn't know how it was possible, but she knew there wasn't much time left.
Ava only slept two hours before she woke up, she hadn't had enough time for all her answers, but at least they had more information, Lilith was asleep, she got up and started to write everything before she forgets it, she taped those papers to the wall and stared at them, it was just past midnight, but she couldn't sleep anymore, she was tired, exhausted, she had been overworking her mind and body, she didn't eat enough, she was weak, and as much as she wanted to fall asleep, she couldn't, she had to wait for everyone to wake up so she could tell them what had happened, just because she couldn't sleep it didn't mean that she would wake them up.
She stayed sitting on the chair, looking at the wall, thinking of everything she was told, there was one constant thought in her mind, they were in danger. Suddenly, her mind was filled with thoughts of Beatrice, Ava would lie if she said she didn't miss her, truth is, she missed Beatrice a lot, she just wanted to go to her and hug her and kiss her and never leave her side, but she was scared, whatever it is that they had to face right now, made Ava realize that she could die, and that this time, there was not a chance of her coming back to life again; she wanted to protect Beatrice from this, after kissing her and crossing the Arc, she realized how hard it would be for her lover to move on, she knew everything would be hard for her, and she hated herself for doing that so much, so now, that the threat was bigger, she didn't want to go back to Beatrice just to lose her again, this time, without the chance of coming back.
She doesn't know how long she stayed thinking of Beatrice, but she knew it had been hours because suddenly, Lilith touched her shoulder, scaring Ava, once she realized who it was, Ava relaxed and pointed at the wall, where there were now more papers, "I spoke to Reya, we didn't have much time", she said, Lilith looked at her, "How long did you sleep?", she questioned, stepping closer to the wall to read what the Halo bearer had written down, "About two hours? Maybe, yeah", she answered, passing a hand through her hair, exhausted, "Wait, how long did you talk to Reya?", questioned Lilith, focusing now on Ava, "Maybe 30 minutes, a little more or a little less, I didn't have a clock", she answered, already knowing what Lilith was thinking, "You weren't in Reya's realm", said the taller woman, stepping closer to Ava, "I know, I don't know where we were, but it was definitely not her realm, time goes slower there, I know", she answered, both women stood in silence, thinking, "We should get them, tell them what you know", suggested Lilith, Ava nodded and took a deep breathe, "You go for Mother Superion, I go for Camila and Yasmine", she answered, Lilith nodded and instantly went to look for the older nun. Ava took a deep breathe and went outside to look for Camila.
Beatrice got some sleep in the bus, and she woke up just in time to get out of the bus and begin walking to Cat's Cradle, she was tired and a bit sleepy, but she knew how important this was, even if she wasn't part of the OCS anymore, nor a nun, she still wanted to help in everything she could. It took her a while to get to Cat's Cradle, she felt really tired from the activities of the day before, but she pushed her tiredness away and kept walking.
After a few minutes, she was standing outside of Cat's Cradle, she started to question if it was the right thing to do, thinking that maybe they didn't want her back, she also questioned if Ava would be happy once she knew Beatrice was back, but she forced those thoughts to leave her mind, she knew she had to show them what had happened, she took a deep breathe and walked to the door, seeing Camila, who was looking at the sky, drinking some tea, she smiled and walked some more until Camila looked at her, her eyes widened and a big smile appearing on her face, "Bea!! Hi!", she said before hugging the taller woman, who just hugged her back chuckling a bit, "Hello Cam, how are you?", she asked as she pulled away slowly, happy to see her friend, "I'm okay, how, how are you? What brings you here?", she asked, holding Beatrice's arms gently, "I'm good, oh and I found something weird happening in Madrid, but I'm sure that, this is also happening in more places, on the North", she explained, taking out her phone, "I don't get it, what's happening?", Camila questioned, looking at her friend worried, "First let's go with Mother Superion, she needs to see this", answered the taller woman, looking to the chapel, the younger woman nodded and started to walk.
Ava walked outside and looked around, trying to find Camila, which was hard considering her eyes were tired, it took her some time to spot Camila in her blurry vision, but when she did, she smiled softly, "Hey Cam, we got new info", she said loudly, unaware of the woman next to Camila.
Beatrice heard a familiar voice calling for Camila, she looked to where the voice came from. And her heart stopped. And so did her breathe. And her mind. Everything. Fucking. Stopped.