The Greatest Power

Chapter 1 - Bittersweet Memories

I would like to apologize in advance for any English mistakes I may make. I am not native to the language and I ventured into writing in English. I would be very grateful if you can make corrections in the comments, if you want. Thanks!

3 months had passed since Ava's gone and since Beatrice's departure from the Order. It was unbearable for Bea to be in that convent without Ava's presence, especially considering that it was for the Order that Ava sacrificed herself and disappeared through that portal. Ava's last words, "I love you", lingered in Bea's mind and wracked her heart with so much pain and longing. "I should have told her that before she left... she left without knowing that I loved her too", she often thought, and that tightness in her chest sometimes made her cry for a long time in bed at night, until she was overcome by the sleep of weariness and dismay.

Beatrice went back to the bar in Switzerland, where Ava had always wanted to go back with her, and Beatrice strongly regretted not having given in to Ava's wish. She went back to the place where they spent the most time together, close to each other, happy. The place where Ava worked with a smile on her face, a smile that lit up the whole room. The smile Beatrice would never see again. Still, this was the right place to live every day with Ava's sweet memories.

She was everywhere in that bar. When someone broke a glass, when someone laughed a little louder, when someone ordered a cuba libre or danced bouncy at the evening's events. But the nostalgia was even stronger when someone asked for a lemon drop... the same shot that the two of them had together on the night they danced happily and had fun together. Together. Every lemon drop from that bar was a small stab in Beatrice's heart. A place so full of bittersweet memories.

Bea threw herself headlong into the work of running the bar. She worked day and night, she didn't want to think about anything else. She just wanted to clear her head of everything that hurt her. She involved herself in so many tasks that she ended up not having time to think about anything else. And then, one afternoon, as Beatrice checked the paperwork at one end of the counter, her heart ached so badly she wanted to cry.

A girl was entering the bar and, against the light, she was little more than a shadow. As she walked in, the light adjusted and Beatrice began to notice details. A girl in faded light jeans, sneakers, a short red T-shirt that showed part of her abdomen and her small waist, wearing a cap... even the way she walked was like Ava's, and Beatrice wanted with all her heart that it was Ava coming back for her. But it couldn't be, the girl had long hair, down to her breasts, her arms a little stronger and more defined than she remembered Ava's. Bea tried in every way to get that hope out of her chest. "Ava is gone, she's not coming back". She took a deep breath and tried to return her concentration to the accounting book, but it was in vain. The girl was coming towards her, there was no way to concentrate at all.

With her head down, with her cap and part of her long hair hiding her eyes, the girl walked towards the place where Beatrice was. Bea couldn't stop her heart from beating faster. She thought that fate had pinches of cruelty for her life, making her relive Ava in such a vivid way. The girl stopped a few meters from the counter and Bea froze. She couldn't believe what her eyes were seeing.

The delicate mouth, the small nose, perfect and slightly upturned, the face with delicate and jovial features. That beautiful girl raised her eyes towards Beatrice. Dark brown eyes, almost black, shining like two onyx stones, the eyebrows slightly arched, with that endearing look like a puppy. She looked into Beatrice's eyes and smiled a little sideways.

"Hi, Bea."

Beatrice's heart stopped for a few seconds, her knees gave out and she thought she was going to pass out on the spot. And just when she was almost going to the ground, she felt that arm that quickly held her by the waist, preventing her from falling. Beatrice looked back into those beautiful eyes, she couldn't believe it. She opened her mouth to speak and her voice barely came out.

"A-Ava?"

Ava just smiled, her eyes looked tired, but brighter than ever by seeing Beatrice up close again. Bea took another breath and wrapped her arms around Ava. And at that moment she could no longer hold back her urge to cry.