Secrets and Sins Part 2: Finding Mary

Chapter 5

~Ava~

She couldn't believe she was standing outside the dark oak door of Mother Superior’s office for the second time in 24 hours. What made it worse was she wasn't the only victim of Mother Superior’s wrath; Bea had been summoned as well. Ava glanced over at the sister warrior; she had been silent the entire walk through the convent after receiving the message on her pager from the leader of the OCS. Bea’s face was blank, impassive, giving absolutely nothing away. Ava felt the horrible gnawing guilt surfacing once again, the taller woman wouldn’t be in this situation if not for her. She knew how much Bea respected Mother Superior and now she had been dragged into this.

She must be so pissed at me.

“Oh, most definitely.”
“But I’m sure she will forgive you, eventually, she loves us.”

Was that you trying to comfort me?

“Did it work?”

Before Ava could tell the Halo it most certainly hadn't worked, Mother Superior’s voice called to them to enter. Bea reached out to open the door, but Ava grabbed her wrist, making the taller woman pause.

“Bea…” She implored quietly; the sister warrior exhaled through her nose before finally meeting Ava’s eyes.
“I’m so sorry about this.”

The Halo bearer felt a rush of relief as Bea’s face softened a little at her apology.

“It’s okay Ava. It wasn’t your idea, I'm just as culpable. You don’t need to apologize to me.”

“So, you’re not mad at me?” Bea huffed a laugh.

“No darling.”


~Beatrice~

Beatrice didn't think she had ever seen the older nun this upset. Mother Superior’s rant had been going on for at least ten minutes now, the woman’s face was red with anger as she leaned over the desk staring them down. Words like 'unbelievable', 'debaucherous', 'embarrassment' were repeated often, though 'sexual escapades' was far more mortifying for the sister warrior.

When Mother Superior paused to take a breath, Ava piped up, "I'm really, really sorry Mother. It won't happen again. I swear."

The older nun’s eyes snapped to the Halo bearer, Beatrice grimaced, she didn't think Mother Superior was quite finished with her scolding.

"You are completely correct Ava; it WILL NOT happen again." Ava shrank in her seat.
"This is a convent after all. I would've thought you both…" Beatrice flinched at the cold glare thrown her way, "...would have known better.”

Mother Superior took a deep breath standing up straight, turning away from them to look out the window behind her desk.

"You will both be assigned extra chores as punishment. If I hear of anything, and I mean anything, happening again, then I will ban you from each other's rooms."

Ava let out a little squeak, Beatrice stole a glance at the younger woman to see her wide eyed and pale. The sister warrior felt pretty strongly about their current sleeping arrangement as well, there was no way they could let that happen.

"Am I understood?" The older nun turned back and looked between them with a serious expression.

Ava was nodding so rapidly; the sister warrior was afraid she would give herself a concussion.

"Yes, Mother Superior. We understand. It won't happen again." Beatrice declared firmly.

It'll be fine. I don't need to be intimate with Ava constantly, it'll be easy.

It was not easy.

Beatrice's resolve nearly broke later that evening when Ava exited the bathroom in just a towel to grab some clothes. The sister warrior was relaxing against the headboard of their bed, reading and sipping a cup of tea. It took everything in her not to spit out the current mouthful of tea, when Ava had emerged, the delicate skin across her shoulders and back still wet from the shower.

Beatrice had a very vivid memory of the last time she had seen Ava in just a towel, at the hotel, her body warmed. The choking noise from the sister warrior made the Halo bearer freeze in her path to the dresser. She turned slowly to look at the taller woman, before glancing down at herself, realizing what had just happened.

"Okay so I'll take my clothes with me into the bathroom next time?" Ava offered, a sheepish grin on her face.

"Yes, I think that would be appropriate, yes." Beatrice squeaked out.

~Ava~

Shoulders burning pleasantly from the effort, Ava threw her fist into the boxing bag, hearing the creak of the stand it was hanging on, repeating the movement again and again. The repetitive action was therapeutic, allowing Ava to let her mind wander to other things.

It had been little over a fortnight since she had returned to the OCS and her life had fallen into a routine of sorts. Ava spent her mornings training with the OCS recruits, improving her strength and speed and skill with weapons. In the afternoons, she practiced with the Halo under the watchful eye of Bea, trying to harness the new power at her fingertips. By the time Ava returned to her quarters in the evening she was absolutely exhausted which was kind of for the best with Mother Superior’s strict no sex mandate. Keeping her hands to herself wasn’t proving to be particularly easy, but she respected the new rules and would never want to put Bea in that situation again.

Despite being kept insanely busy by her training schedule, Ava still often found herself pondering about Mary. There had been no new information, which was to be expected, but the Halo bearer was still feeling disheartened. The longer it took to find the captive woman, the more torture Mary would have to endure. It was keeping Ava awake at night and had provided an excellent new source of nightmare fuel whenever she did finally manage to sleep. 

Drawing her hand back to throw a right hook, a voice caught her attention, shaking her out of her dark thoughts, "Hello darling, how's training?"

Fist flying through the air, Ava glanced around the boxing bag to see Bea entering the room. The Halo bearer’s breath caught, the sister warrior had obviously just been for a workout, sweat beading across her glistening skin. She was dressed in just a grey crop top and black running shorts.

So. Much. Skin.

Ava's brain short circuited, while she stared, mouth falling open, not realizing that the hand that was about to reach the side of the boxing bag had begun to glow.

Bea's eyes widened slightly when she noticed, opening her mouth to say something, but it was already too late. Ava hit the bag with all of the force of the Halo behind her. There was an explosion of sand and bits of leather, covering the Halo bearer head to toe in sandy dust.

Ava blinked, the dusty fog clearing slowly, "Holy shit…"

She met the sister warrior’s eyes from across the room, shocked expression on her face, "Ahhhh, I didn't mean to do that."

Bea burst out laughing, clutching her sides as she cackled. Ava pouted, spitting out a mouthful of sand.

"It was your fault, coming in here with barely any clothes on! What about our deal to not tempt each other?" She exclaimed, pointing at the taller woman accusing.
"Do you think Mother Superior will be mad at me again?"

Bea just laughed harder, wiping tears from her eyes.

Luckily, Mother Superior was more forgiving about Ava destroying the boxing bag, although the Halo bearer was charged with cleaning up the mess. She had been painstakingly clearing up the sand and leather for the last half an hour.

Could sand have gone any further?

"You have done an impressive job of spreading it far and wide."

You could have given me some warning that I had power punches!

"I haven't had a true bearer for many, many years. I may have forgotten exactly what it entails."

Well,  that's just great, so there could be more surprises...

"Oh most definitely."
"Learn to control your emotions and we won't have these issues."

Ava groaned, sweeping the last of the sand into a dustpan. She knew she had improved with handling the Halo, but being a person who wears their heart on their sleeve, the Halo bearer was finding it way more difficult practicing self-restraint.

I am trying, it's not exactly easy with everything going on.

"You are doing well Ava."

Ava paused, was caught off guard at the praise, the Halo always seemed so harsh.

Really?

"Of course, nothing wrong with being a slow learner."

Ava sighed; she knew it was too good to be true.

Way to ruin the moment.