Training day
Camila didn't sleep a lot, she woke up at 4AM, feeling sick; she wasn't sick, it was the anxiety that she was feeling, it was going to be her first full day there and she had no idea of how it would be, she had been handed a schedule, so she knew she'd be training; she noticed the training clothes that Beatrice had left the night before and put them on, seeing herself in the mirror, she fixed her hair a little bit before leaving her room and walking to the dining room, noticing Beatrice was already sitting on the spot where they were before, said woman looked at her and waved her hand, motioning her to sit next to her, Camila sat down and Beatrice put a plate with breakfast in front of her.
Not too long after that, Shannon and Mary sat next to them, chatting and laughing, Camila couldn't help but feel a little out of place, the three woman talked normally while Camila kept eating in complete silence, she caught a glimpse of Lilith, who was kind of staring at her. They kept eating, Camila being the first one to finish because she was mostly quiet, she stayed sat until everyone else finished their breakfast before getting up and going outside to train; since she was new, she was going to be taught the basics. Mother Superion was already outside, waiting for everyone, she approached Camila and Beatrice slowly and gave a gentle smile, "Beatrice, please teach Camila the basics", she said, the taller woman nodded her head and lead Camila to a mat on the floor, and they began the basics.
The basics weren't so hard to learn, and Camila is a quick learner, so she got the hang of it quickly, she learned how to punch and kick, how to avoid getting hit and where to hit on her opponent, the easiest part was learning how to use a stick to hit. Not because she was new it meant that Beatrice would go easy on her, as soon as Camila learned the basic things she was taught, Beatrice challenged her to a quick fight, which she obviously won, but Camila did fight back, showing that she had potential; even if Beatrice was 10x better than Camila, the younger woman managed to hit her a few times, which proved that it was a good idea to recruit her. After a while, everyone sat on some benches and prepared to fight against each other, everyone except Camila, or so she thought.
Camila was sitting between Beatrice and Lilith, which was making her nervous, so she centered all her attention in the fights that were happening, all of them were normal until Beatrice's turn, against a Sister named Crimson, Camila didn't think much of her, she was focused on Beatrice; the fight begun and both women were doing really great, that was until Beatrice kicked Crimson in the stomach, making the woman tumble backwards, but she didn't fall, instead, she quickly approached Beatrice and before the taller woman could react, Crimson hit her on the ribs with a stick smaller than the one Camila practiced with, but made with another material, something like metal. Beatrice kneeled on the floor, one hand on the side where Crimson hit her, Mother Superion didn't seem to notice what had happened because she didn't say anything, but Lilith did, she immediately got up and walked towards Crimson, standing before the woman and Beatrice, Shannon walked towards Beatrice and helped her to stand up and walk back to the benches while Mary grabbed Lilith's arm and pulled her back to the benches.
Crimson looked at everyone, giving all of them a deadly stare, her eyes fell on Camila, and a dangerous smirk appeared on her face, "You, come fight me", she ordered, Lilith quickly stared back at her, "She's new, she's not fighting anyone yet", she answered, now sitting next to Camila, Crimson ignored her, her eyes focused on Camila, "Come on rookie, we don't have all day", she kept pushing, the younger girl stood up and began walking towards the mat when a hand pulled her by the arm, "I said she's not fighting anyone", Lilith repeated, Mother Superion stared at Camila for a few seconds before nodding her head, immediately, Lilith let go of her arm and sat back down. "Go easy on her", Lilith warned before turning to see how Beatrice was doing.
Camila stood in front of Crimson, not sure of what to do, she glanced back at Lilith, but the taller woman just stayed still, not moving but not looking away, Crimson looked at her for a few moments before grabbing her by the arm to hold in a choke hold tightly, Camila quickly grabbed her arm to try and pull it away, but Crimson had a strong grip on her, so her efforts were useless. Camila was struggling to breathe, she stepped on Crimson's right foot, getting a chance to free herself, she gasped for air for a few moments before Crimson kicked her on her right leg, making her kneel; Lilith stood up but Mary once more held her by the arm, Camila was about to stand up when Crimson kicked her on the face.
At this, Beatrice and Shannon approached Camila while Lilith and Mary stood in front of Crimson, Mother Superion walked towards Camila and looked at her for a few seconds, "Beatrice, Shannon, patch her up. Lilith, Mary, sit back down. Crimson, follow me. Everyone else, keep training". The women did as they were told, Crimson followed Mother Superion to her office while Beatrice and Shannon got Camila into the infirmary, Lilith and Mary just sat on the edge of the bench, seeing how everyone else went back to fighting.
Beatrice sat Camila down while Shannon grabbed some paper to clean the blood, "I'm going to touch your nose, it'll probably hurt a bit, but please don't move", said Shannon as she slowly started to clean the blood, as soon as the younger girl felt the touch she clenched her fists, trying her best to stay still, Beatrice grabbed one of her hands, Camila instantly tightened her grip as she tried her best to breathe; "Is it broken?", Beatrice asked, still holding Camila's hand, rubbing her thumb on her hand, "Almost, she'll be fine", reassured Shannon as soon as she finished cleaning up the blood, "Do you feel pain anywhere else?", she asked, Camila slowly nodded her head and pointing to her leg, right where Crimson kicked, Shannon lifted up her pants to see her leg, finding a bruise that was slowly appearing, "We shouldn't have let them fight", said Beatrice gently putting some paper in Camila's rose as she made the younger girl lean forward, "Mother Superion allowed this, there was nothing we could do", answered Shannon.
They stayed there for about 10 minutes before returning outside to keep the training, Mother Superion was back, but Crimson was nowhere to be found, Lilith and Mary were still sitting on the end of the bench, as soon as Lilith saw Camila, her eyes light up just a bit and she moved a little to leave some space for her to sit. Camila didn't fight again that day.
When it was dinner time, everyone went inside to the dinning room to eat, except Beatrice, who stayed outside to talk to Mother Superion, "I would like to know why you allowed Camila to fight Crimson, she will run away", Beatrice said, staring at the older woman with a serious and slightly annoyed look on her face, "She needed to know what she was getting into, if she can't take a broken nose, she certainly won't be able to take what's coming ahead; if she runs away after this, then let it be, we won't take care of cowards", the older nun explained, not looking amazed by the younger woman's concerns, "You haven't even explained things to her, she doesn't know about the Halo, or Divinium, yet you made her fight, and not fight anyone, you made her fight Crimson", said the younger woman, a little bit of anger in her voice. Mother Superion took a deep breath and stared at her for a few moments before nodding, "You are right, but she needs to know that there will be fights she won't win, and there will be people stronger than her, and that she will get hurt", she answered, looking to Cat's Cradle, a little smile appearing on her face, "She's strong, Beatrice, and I know that you want to protect her because she is new, but one day she will be as strong as you and you will have to trust in her and in her abilities", she finished, looking back at Beatrice. The younger nun nodded after a few moments, leaving the older woman alone to go inside Cat's Cradle to eat, she sat next to Shannon, since Camila was sitting between Shannon and Lilith, both women were looking at her a little worried, checking if the younger girl was still bleeding.
Beatrice gave Shannon a funny look before looking at Lilith, Shannon also glanced at said woman, noticing how she was paying a lot of attention to the short haired girl. They made a little bit of small talk until all of them finished eating, Lilith was the first one to leave, going to a hall, Mary was the only one who noticed where she was going, the hall she walked to wasn't the hall that led to her room, it lead to Crimson's room; under different circumstances, Mary would have probably stopped Lilith so she could avoid getting in trouble, but the dark skinned woman decided to let the taller girl do whatever she pleased, so she just followed Shannon, who was walking with Camila and Beatrice. They went to Mother Superion's office, entering after the older nun allowed them to, Camila sat in front of the older woman while Shannon and Beatrice stood behind Mother Superion, Mary was somewhere behind Camila, walking around the room.
"Camila, I've seen you've met Shan-", said the older nun before Beatrice coughed, reminding Mother Superion of what she was supposed to say, "Right, I apologize for making you fight on your first day here when you had just learned the basics, now, I know you've met Shannon, she is the Halo bearer, do not worry, we'll explain everything to you". They spent about an hour inside the office, explaining everything and answering any doubts she had, after they were all done they left the office, Mary saw Lilith walking back to her room, blood on her lip and knuckles, she shook Beatrice's arm to make her look her way, "You two go ahead to your room, Beatrice and I will take care of something", Mary said before dragging Beatrice over to Lilith's room, Camila and Shannon just stood there for a few moments before continuing their walk. After they arrived to Camila's room, Shannon stood by the door for a few moments, "You know," she started, giving Camila a soft smile, "It's okay if you want to leave, we know it's hard to accept the risks, but-", she was cut off by Camila's little laugh, "I want to stay, it is kind of hard to accept the risks and I'm a little scared, but, I want to help", she said, smiling gently at the older woman, the Halo bearer nodded her head, smiling, a soft shine appearing on her back.
"Wow", was all the shorter girl could say, the Halo bearer smiled and turned around so Camila could see the light better, "It's beautiful", the short haired girl said, softly putting her hand on Shannon's back, feeling the warmth of the Halo, it was like she had been shot a tranquilizer because she slowly started to fall asleep in that position, standing up with her hand on Shannon's back. The taller woman noticed this and got her to her bed, laying her down on it, she laid down besides her and turned around once more, allowing Camila to feel the warmth of the Halo once more; she stayed there until the shorter girl fell asleep, which didn't take long, considering she was already pretty tired after the day's activities.
Once asleep, she stood up and covered the girl with the blankets before leaving the room, meeting with Mary, who was just about to knock on the door, they both chuckled and looked at the sleeping girl, a small smirk appearing on Mary's face. They went to Shannon's room and lied together on the bed, Mary holding Shannon, Shannon's back against Mary's front so the dark skinned woman could feel the Halo's warmth, "What happened with Lilith?", asked Shannon, slowly relaxing, Mary let out a deep sigh and chuckled, "She went to beat Crimson's ass, let's just say, she didn't go easy on her", Mary answered, holding Shannon a bit tighter, slowly breathing, they stayed like that for a few moments before Mary fell asleep, followed by Shannon after a few minutes.
Meanwhile, Lilith lied on her bed staring at the ceiling, a slightly painful feeling on her knuckles, she would never admit it to anyone, but she was starting to care more and more about the rookie, she had literally fought someone that hurt the new girl, and it was obvious she was slowly starting to care about her, but still, she would never admit it. Or so she thought.