What You Are Is Beautiful

A Faint Red Glow

A/N my phone really didn't save this chapter properly and uploaded my draft version with notes for the next chapter instead of deleting them 👁👄👁 republishing because that was NOT supposed to happen

Ava's eyes snapped open as her body fully tensed, causing her to sit up, her head colliding with something before her. She heard a muttered 'ow' from beside her and turned to see a nun beside her clutching at the bridge of her nose.

Ava shifted again to face the distressed Sister. "I'm so sorry." She covered her mouth with her hands, eyebrows up and furrowed in concern.

The Sister sighed and waved a hand in response, dismissing her apology. "It's fine. I was just checking on you." She gave her nose one final rub before straightening her spine and looking at Ava with a calm and composed smile. "I'm Sister Aqualina."

Ava took one good look at Sister Aqualina before responding. She was about average height with caramel skin and eyes that seemed to glow from within. "It's nice to meet you, Sister Aqualina. I'm Ava Silva."

"Yes," Aqualina replied, "the Halo Bearer."

Some sense had finally been snapped back in for Ava and she felt a pang of discomfort and confusion. Her dream of Hell and Michale rushed back to her. She glanced down at herself in a pair of royal blue sleep shorts and a matching silk button up. She then looked at the all too familiar scratchy blankets over her lap and then to the similar beds on her left and right. "I'm in the infirmary."

"You are. You had a run in with an iblis and succumbed to a brief comatose. You've been out for nearly 30 hours."

"That's way too long. I have to go see Mother Superion."

"Ava, you should really rest."

"Pardon me, Aqualina, but I have something very important to discuss with Mother Superion." Ava saw a brief flash of confusion shine through the Sister Warriors vacuous expression. "It's about Adriel." Ava gulped. "And how we're going to save the world."

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The light outside Camila's window had ceased to shine hours ago, but the two sat with one another in a comfortable silence. Lilith had her arm resting over her stomach as the two girls sat against Camila's headboard and watched a movie on the OCS issues tablet.

Camila had finished messing with her little garden and moved onto fixing up Lilith's bandages. Her strong but gentle hands worked quickly and smoothly to help Lilith remove her long sleeved training shirt.

One glance at the now topless Lilith had revealed the blush that had crept all the way down to her chest. Camila tried to ignore it as she worked on cleaning the injury, but couldn't help the curiosity that stirred within her. Since when did the tough, impassive Lilith blush and stutter? Camila couldn't pinpoint an exact moment that their interactions had become like this, but she had started to take notice lately.

Lilith now sat beside her as they watched the screen, both pretending to pay attention to the plot while they dug around in the depths of their own minds for some sort of consolation. Lilith couldn't figure out how to deal with something she couldn't control. She had been trained to be the paragon of control. She always had a plan and knew how to get it done. She had never before been so unable to tame her anger and frustrations. She had never before been unable to make herself not feel.

But now, she felt everything so much. Everything was so strong. What Lilith used to feel as muted and negligible was now robust and passionate. And it scared her. And what scared her even more were the feelings that she couldn't help but feel towards the girl who was slowly falling asleep on her shoulder.