Chapter 49

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~Ava~

Ava groaned when she came to, despite the few hours of dreamless sleep she had managed to achieve after the horrific nightmare, she still felt exhausted.

"Good morning, sweetheart. How are you feeling?" Bea whispered, nuzzling into Ava's hair.

"Shitty." She murmured, turning her face into the sister warrior's collarbone, hiding from the early morning sunlight.

Her girlfriend hummed in sympathy, tightening her arms around her and brushing her lips over Ava's temple, "Sorry to hear that...I'm glad you got some sleep though."

Ava grumbled burrowing further into Bea, though she was mindful of the taller woman's injury.

"Duvet day?" The sister warrior offered, "I can text Cam to bring us the unhealthiest food she can find in the kitchen?"

The Halo bearer lifted her head, shocked that her girlfriend, the strictly regimental sister warrior, was suggesting they skive off training to stay in bed.

"You're serious?" Ava asked, searching Bea's features for any hint of a joke.

Her girlfriend smiled, raising a hand to the younger woman's cheek, "Yeah baby, I think you deserve a day off." She lovingly stroked her thumb over Ava's cheek bone.
"But tomorrow we need to start working on...the other stuff."

Ava appreciated Bea immensely for not spoiling their moment with talk about what was quite frankly a clusterfuck of emotional damage that she needed to confront and work through, last night was just the tip of the iceberg. The Halo bearer quickly pushed the dark thoughts to the back of her mind. Bea was right, they both needed an easy day, no expectations, no pressure, just Ava and Bea hanging out.

A huge grin broke out across her lips at the thought, "Fuck yes Bea, I love you!"

She surged forward to give the sister warrior a searing kiss, smirking when she pulled away and Bea was panting slightly.

"I'm just going to freshen up a little." Ava stood quickly, hiding a wince at the sting of her scar and headed towards the bathroom, "Text Cam! I know there's marshmallows that she's been hiding from me!" She called over her shoulder, hearing Bea chuckle while she shut the door.

~

Finishing brushing her teeth, she put her toothbrush back in the little ceramic mug on the sink and stared at herself in the mirror for a moment, summoning up the willpower to look at her scar. Without really understanding why, the Halo bearer wanted to see it...needed to see it.

This is gonna suck.

Taking a deep breath, Ava peeled the dressing off her back, the gauze sticking unpleasantly to the oozing wounds. She turned slightly so she could see the damage. The burns were still an angry red color, irritated and throbbed painfully in the open air.

Why did you do this to me?

Ava didn't understand, the only time the Halo had ever burned her was when Reya tried to use it to control her. Now that she and the relic were one, the only time the power ever hurt her was when she had reabsorbed the golden energy from Reya. The younger woman had assumed that was due to the Halo being dormant at the time.

"I didn't Ava, you did this to yourself. That's why I can't heal you."

What? But how? Why?

"Our connection is weakened during sleep; you sink into a place in your subconsciousness that is not easy for me to influence. Normally, I can maintain mastery over the energy, but this time...this time your emotions were too strong, you forced me to relinquish some of the power to you. I tried to stop you, but you pushed me away. If you hadn't woken when you did..."

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