Secrets and Sins Part 2: Finding Mary

Chapter 10

~Ava~

"Ava…darling, can you open your eyes for me please?" A soft voice pulled her out of the darkness of unconsciousness.

Ugh.

Her head was absolutely pounding and her face, well, that wasn't much better. Ava groaned weakly.

"I know it hurts, baby, but you have got to open your eyes. I need to check you for a concussion."

"Bea?" Ava whispered, forcing her eyes open a sliver, blinking rapidly as her vision adjusted to the light.

The sister warrior slowly came into focus. Bea was sitting beside her on the bed, she looked worried, chewing on the corner of her lip as she gazed down at her.

"Hey…" Bea greeted her quietly, offering a small smile as she gently took Ava's chin with her hand, leaning in to examine her pupils carefully, the Halo bearer could tell by the concerned expression on the taller woman's face that she had the dilated pupils of a concussion.

"What happened?" Ava lifted her hand gingerly to her face feeling her painfully swollen nose.

"Well, I was actually hoping you could tell me?" Bea turned away to grab an ice pack from the side table, delicately placing it on her sensitive face.
"You woke up and came out of the bedroom like this…" She gestured at Ava's head, "...your wings were out as well, but they disappeared while you were passed out. You said 'I saw her again' before you fainted?"

"I saw her again?" Ava repeated, trying to encourage her sore brain to recall the moment.

"Was it…Mary?" Bea asked tentatively.

The mention of the captive woman's name was like a bolt of lightning to her memory. Ava winced as her headache abruptly intensified, but she remembered.

"Oh shit Bea! I did see her again!" She exclaimed and then immediately regretted it as her head gave her an agonizing throb of pain.
"Owwwww" Ava brought a shaky hand up to her ice pack covered nose.

"Hey just be careful okay, talk slowly and quietly, it'll be less painful." Bea raised her free hand, entwining their fingers.
"Why aren't you healing?"

Good question , why aren’t I healing?

“You’re the one who pretty much drained all my power astral projecting. I barely had enough to bring you back…”

ASTRAL PROJECTING? I CAN ASTRAL PROJECT NOW!?

“Appears so, no idea how you managed that…never had any bearer unlock that kind of ability before”

Wow…

“Please be careful doing it, there’s not much I can do for you when you’re away. I am bound to your physical body, which is why it uses so much energy pulling you back.”

Ava’s mind was spinning, which was not great for her concussion, she struggled to wrap her head around this new information.

Wait, is that what happened when I saw Mary the first time?

“I would assume so…I wasn’t really paying attention at that time.”

That’s right, you were sulking.

“You can be very hurtful sometimes.”

Ava scoffed, Bea gave her a confused look.

I can be hurtful!?

~Beatrice~

"Sorry, I was talking to the Halo." Ava explained when the sister warrior quirked an eyebrow at the Halo bearer’s scoff.

"Oh right, I thought you were just finding it difficult to think with your concussion." Beatrice smiled.

"Oh that's definitely not helping…" The younger woman replied before launching into a recount of her dream, or vision or…whatever it was.

Beatrice listened to Halo bearer with rapt attention, feeling her stomach drop when Ava reached the part about how badly Mary had been beaten. She didn't notice the tear running down her cheek until Ava lifted a hand to brush it away.

"So you can astral project now?" Beatrice muttered staring into space as she tried to process this revelation.

"Yep! Halo says it's not something the bearer has been able to do before." Ava grinned proudly.

"But you can get hurt?" The sister warrior had an uneasy feeling, she didn't like this, Ava had said how difficult it was to return to her body.

"Apparently, but it was divinium…so maybe that's all that can touch me?"

"Still, I would prefer you don't do it until we know more about what we are dealing with."

Ava gave her an irritated frown, “It’s not like I planned for this to happen Bea, I was asleep…”

Beatrice sighed, looking away from the Halo bearer, trying to quell her own agitation. She didn't want to argue, the sister warrior knew she was only perturbed because she was anxious about Ava’s safety.

I can’t protect her if I can’t follow her.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I just…I don’t want you to get hurt.” She murmured, turning back to the younger woman.

Ava’s expression softened a little and she squeezed Bea’s hand, “I know.”

~

Ava spent the day in bed, and after much discussion, the younger woman convinced Beatrice that she would be fine to stay in the apartment alone while the sister warrior went out to pick up some groceries. They had empty cupboards and weren't going to be eating that night if they didn't go for a food run.

Beatrice mulled over the morning's events as she wandered down the aisles of the small local food mart. She had called Camila with the new details about Mary’s situation before she left, hoping that the information might help the OCS with the research into their friend’s location. Beatrice had also sent out a message to Lilith, the former sister warrior had been MIA since Ava had first discovered Mary was alive back at the hotel, she assumed that meant the winged woman didn’t have any leads yet as per their deal.

Stopping beside the range of cereals, Beatrice grinned when she saw they had Fruit loops in stock, Ava’s favorite since discovering the rainbow colored rings on their last stint in Switzerland. Adding a box to the trolley of meagre supplies, Beatrice hoped that the cereal would help to cheer Ava up a little, the Halo bearer had definitely seemed thrown by the latest incident. The sister warrior made her way up to the counter to pay.

~Ava~

Can you heal me yet?

“Nothing has changed since you asked me five minutes ago.”

No need to be rude about it.

“Leave me in peace to recharge.”

Fine.

“Fine.”

Ava let out a frustrated huff and crossed her arms. She had been lying on the bed for hours now, her nose and head still throbbing. Bea had left to do their shopping a while ago and now alone, the Halo bearer was bored out of her mind. She had tried to get up to go and watch T.V in the lounge, but her head felt like it was going to explode as soon as she was upright. So here she was, arguing with the Halo yet again while she watched the minutes tick away.

Ava was randomly doodling on her bare leg when a loud crack of purple power sounded at the foot of the bed, the Halo bearer jumped with surprise nearly stabbing herself with the ball point pen.

“Lilith! Thank God!” For once Ava was pleased to see her, anything to break the monotony of healing like a normal person.

“Ava...? Why are you pleased to see me?” The former sister warrior was instantly suspicious, Ava couldn’t blame her, it was rare.
“Jesus, what did you do to your face? Walk into a door again?” Lilith smirked a little.

“Hey! That happened one time.” She exclaimed, offended.

Lilith rolled her eyes, “Anyway, Beatrice sent the call. Where is she? What’s going on?”

“I saw Mary again…” Ava filled in the winged woman, watching her eyebrows raise higher and higher until they were basically disappearing into her hairline.

When the Halo bearer had finished, Lilith was silent for a long moment, wearing an indiscernible expression. Ava was pretty sure she had witnessed a flicker of something different across the other woman’s face at the mention of Mary’s condition…something soft? But the Halo bearer couldn’t be sure because as quickly as it was there, it was gone again, replaced by the usual coldness.

“So you can teleport and astral project, but can’t control it?” Lilith sighed.
“Typical.”

“I’m trying, okay? It's not exactly easy to keep a handle on it while I’m sleeping.”

“Hmmm.” The former sister warrior began pacing, it was unusual for the normally stoic woman to show any kind of nerves.
“The tattoo you mentioned, can you draw it for me?”

“Of course.” Ava grabbed a pen and pad, quickly sketching out what she had seen before handing it to Lilith.

She noticed the taller woman’s eyes widened slightly when her eyes landed on the paper, “What is it?”

Lilith looked up at her, “I think I’ve seen this before. I’ll be back.”

“No Lilith wait!” But it was too late, the winged woman vanished in a crack of purple power.

Ava growled, flopping back on the bed before groaning at the sharpening pain from the sudden movement.

“Well that doesn’t look promising…” Bea commented stepping through the doorway, arms full of groceries.
"Would it make you feel better if I told you I brought Froot loops...?"