Beatrice should have known better.
But really, even when she's given up her vows, the sister warrior in her still burns with the need to be of use. To be of service. It's branded into her very bones.
So when she had overheard a group of men, most likely to be the remnants of Adriel's zealots, she couldn't let the opportunity pass.
Maybe, just maybe they could have found a way to reach Adriel and in turn, a way to reach Ava.
No, she couldn't let the opportunity pass.
So that's how she found herself in her current predicament. A blade buried so deep in her side she could feel the serrated edge of it scraping pass a rib on its way in.
She retaliates by throat-punching the assailant, eyes ink black and she gasps when he pulls the blade with him on his way down the dark staircase.
His screams echo, mixing with the familiar high-pitched screech of a wraith in the empty building until a dull thud was heard.
The sound of blood was roaring in her ears, and she blinked back the white stars dotting her blackening vision as her side pulses with hot, lancing pain with each heartbeat.
There wasn't a time for her to collect her bearings however when she heard the angry shouts of more men coming her way.
She stumbles back, her hand shoots out to steady herself, leaving a bloody trail as she climbs out the window and into the dark.
-
She's running-stumbling, slips on a loose roof tile and falls through a poorly concealed hole on the roof she was running on.
A momentary weightlessness, then-
She crashes onto the ground, hard. She can feel something break. A bone? Bones?
She doesn't know, cannot pinpoint where it hurts when everything hurts as she lays in what she thinks is an abandoned apartment, judging from the swirling dust and the dank smell of mildew.
She stills then, her OCS training kicking into play. Listening, sensing for any sound or movement that would indicate that she's not alone, that it wasn't safe yet.
When she hears nothing, she takes in a shuddering breath and is met with a blinding pain that leaves her breathless.
She turns onto her side, gasping, clawing at the hardwood underneath her and heaves herself onto all fours. Blood drips steadily from the wound in her side, hot and viscous.
She tries to stand, slips on wet blood and stumbles forward, making her way to the far corner of the room. Her back slides, gracelessly to the ground and her bones rattle at the impact.
Blood loss is imminent, she thinks, have to find a way to stop it.
Survive, Mother Superion's voice echoes in her head.
Her head lolls weakly to the side, black clawing at the edges of her vision but she sees it. A white sheet covering abandoned furniture.
She reaches out blindly, hands grasping at air and her side burns anew with the effort.
Gritting her teeth, she reaches out again, farther this time and grasps at the sheet, pulling it towards her.
She tears a strip and with clumsy fingers, ties it around her midriff, sucks in a breath and pulls.
Tighter. You have to stop the flow.
A fresh surge of pain lances through her, up her spine and blinds her. Her body spasms, uncontrollably. She sees her legs jerking, slides against the floor trying to find purchase and she's seeing all this like an out of body experience.
Then, she knows no more.
-
She's drenched in cold sweat the next time she wakes up. Must have blacked out, she thinks.
Strips of light were peeking through the blocked out windows and she groggily realizes that she's been here all night.
Her bound wound is aching, throbbing dully with each pump of her heart and when she passes a hand along it, heat radiates from it.
An infection probably, blood loss most likely.
She's shivering now and cold- oh so very cold.
This is it, she thinks, this is how she dies.
Maybe...maybe she'll get to meet Ava, wherever she is.
Sweet, sweet Ava.
She could see a vision of her on the back of her eyelids, ever so vibrant. She coughs and she's then suddenly reeling from the bright hot pain, the vision of Ava laughing, smiling flickering in and out.
Her consciousness was leaving her again and her head lolls to the side, fingers twitching in an effort to keep awake, but she knows it's a losing battle, but then-
"Wake up sleepy-head", a familiar voice, giggles to her right and her eyelids twitch, head turning to seek out the voice.
"It's really not like you to sleep on the job, Bea".
"Ava?", her voice cracks from disuse, eyebrows shooting up in an effort to pry open her heavy eyelids. Her eyes manage to open a sliver, and she sees her.
Her Ava, in all her blinding glory.
She's dressed the same as when she left albeit lacking the bloody holes and glowing divinium and sports the same toothy grin that she had grown to love over the months they had spent together. The one she had missed.
"Are-", she gasps, "are you really here?".
"I am. I'm here, Bea", she could almost feel ghostly fingers against her cheek and she shivers, breath rattling in her lungs.
"I missed you", her voice warbles, thick with emotion eventhough deep down she knows that this could only be a figment of her imagination, a feverish dream.
Mercy, one would say, before the inevitable.
Ava sits before her, bracketing her legs and cold hands cradle her warming cheeks.
"Then come with me", she says as she leans in close, their noses touch and Beatrice sighs, leans into careful hands, relishing in the familiarity of the calluses and grooves there.
There's a low ringing in her ears, foreboding and she can feel herself slipping.
"Ava, I'm tired"
Ava smiles then, fingers stroking her cheeks, "Sleep then, I'll be here".
Beatrice hums, the hand that was pressed to her side falls but consciousness would not leave her yet.
Something was wrong. She thinks she sees red in the periphery of her vision.
"Ava?", she asks again, tastes the blood in the back of her throat.
Ava hums a tuneless tune, fingers smoothing back sweat-slicked bangs and Beatrice sighs at the familiar comfort, overshadowing the warning bells in her mind.
The ringing is growing louder now, insistent.
Ava leans in, a faint whisper of a kiss on her forehead.
"Let go, Beatrice"
"I can't", her heart is beating slower underneath her sternum, body heavy but the ringing in her ears grows louder still.
"Let go", Ava says again, her smile stretches wider, a red haze surrounding her and Beatrice shudders at the sight.
The haze around Ava grows, creeping towards her, surrounding her. Darkness claw at the edges of her vision, her fingertips tingle, heart beat slowing beat by beat.
The ringing is deafening and then-
"Let her go!"
A burst of gold and white and light and an authoritative voice.
The image of Ava in front of her warps and twists on itself. The smile that was stretched on familiar pink lips, warps into a snarl and Ava bursts into a kaleidoscope of red and gold and light.
And then..
Multiple hands grasp at her, touching, pulling and she feels herself being pulled into strong arms. It was chaos around her, so much different than the quiet stillness from before.
"Beatrice! Hang on, please hang on".
"Ava?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm here", Ava's worried face looms above her. Even with her darkening vision, she could see that this Ava was different. Older, hair a tad bit longer than the last she'd seen her.
"Can you teleport us all out?", Ava says breathlessly to the figure behind her and Beatrice shudders suddenly, feels herself slipping again.
"Yes, I can try. Jillian's?"
"Please Lillith"
The arms surrounding her tightens and she hears Ava whisper into her hair as she holds her close.
"I'm here, I'm not going anywhere, just please stay with me".
Beatrice nods, hands gripping Ava's forearms. A faint pulling sensation at the center of her being and darkness consumes her.
Finally decided to post this drabble in AO3 with some minor changes. Have a go at it if you would like!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
