Chapter Text
Ava woke up slowly, sluggishly. Her brain felt foggy and like a complete mess, as if it was stuffed with cotton candy. Opening her eyes was impossible and she did not feel like it would be wise. She had no idea where she was or whether there was danger. Trying to take assessment of her situation and her body the way Beatrice had taught her, Ava noticed that she was lying on a hard surface but she did not seem to be bound or in any way restrained.
There was pain, but it was dulled, as if any wound she had had was already healing. The memories flooded back with Ava thinking about wounds. Lilith ripping out Michael's heart. Ava fighting with Adriel. Reya being dragged through the arc. Ava exploding the bomb in Michael, blowing Adriel up and with him herself. Beatrice coming in and holding her, so gently, her face so full of love and grief. Adriel coming back, laughing at them. Ava desperately summoning the Tarasks and Adriel being torn apart.
It was like Ava could still taste the blood in her mouth, could feel Beatrice's gentle hands on her body as she held her, as Ava begged Beatrice to take the Halo, knowing she would die. But then, Lilith had come, not to hurt them more, but to help them. To get Ava through the portal. The pain had been overwhelming, but Ava had felt like the most important thing in her life right now was to tell Beatrice that she loved her. That her entire life had felt like one big series of nightmares until she met Beatrice, until they lived together in their tiny apartment in Switzerland, where Ava had been happier than she had ever been before.
Floating through the portal, Ava felt like she heard Beatrice saying 'I love you' back, but she wasn't sure whether that was just wishful thinking. After that, there was darkness and then, pain, as she woke up kneeling at Reya's feet, physically better but her head feeling like it was in a vice, like every thought she ever had was physically being pulled out and dissected. Ava remembered desperately wanting to scream, but no sound coming out of her mouth. And then the memories stopped. After that, everything was blank.
Assessing her body more, Ava could now feel the Halo still in her back, the soft hum of it soothing her. But there was still pain, most likely from the divinium, taking longer to heal. Or from whatever Reya did to her. Scared and hurting, Ava knew she couldn't be back with the OCS, back on Earth, as much as she would love that. But they would never leave her on a hard floor like this, on her own. Except, was she on her own? There were soft sounds now, some shuffling and distinct breathing that made Ava's entire body tense, her mind immediately going into full alert. Taking deep breaths, Ava again thought about what Beatrice had taught her.
Assess, yes, Ava did that already, as well as she was able to. If you are not sure you are in a safe environment, something Ava was definitely pretty sure she was not, make a plan of attack. That was a bit difficult when she didn't even know where she was, but she could still pinpoint the sounds and make sure she didn't miss anything. So that when she did strike, there were no surprises. Which left point three, attack. It was as if Beatrice was reciting in Ava's head. Attack only if and when you are certain you are physically capable and have assessed your environment to the best of your abilities.
Ava was as sure as she could be that she had assessed the environment as well as she could and now her impatient streak was coming out. Probably Beatrice would tell her to still wait, but Beatrice was not here and that was exactly the problem. Ava needed to get back to her, at any cost and if she had to fight her way through an army of Tarasks and Reya herself to do so, Ava would gladly do it. The Halo clearly agreed with her, humming in her back, making Ava feel stronger with every passing second.
Making sure that she knew exactly where the sounds were coming from and very subtly moving her face into that direction, Ava summoned all her strength and all of the Halo's strength and opened her eyes, ready to charge the moment whatever was making the sounds was turning out to be hostile. At first, Ava thought she had not opened her eyes at all, the darkness near complete. Still heeding Beatrice's teachings, Ava did not move at all and eventually, her eyes got used to the darkness.
Enough to make out a figure that at first looked like a sack or a pile of clothes. But then it moved, again making subtle sounds and Ava realized it was a person. Judging by what Ava could see from her perspective with her face pressed onto the floor, it was a relatively small person, lying down on the floor, just like Ava was. Now that Ava's eyes were open and she couldn't detect any immediate danger, Ava dared to look around a little, not truly moving her head but at least getting an idea of where she might be.
It turned out that what she could see of the room were simple stone walls on the side where the figure was lying and towards Ava's feet, while there were bars covering the entire side by her head. A prison cell, if she was any judge and a very old fashioned one at that. Knowing that the apparent harmlessness of the person here with her could well be deceiving, Ava kept her body and mind on high alert, making sure the Halo was fully charged and ready.
Taking a deep breath, Ava calculated the distance between her and the person on the floor exactly, making sure that when she jumped them, she would be able to subdue them, no matter who and what they turned out to be. Or so Ava hoped. Having made the decision, she committed to it, tensing her body and lunging at the person lying on the floor, grabbing their shoulders and pushing them up against the wall. Ava ignored the high pitched cry the person let out, only making sure that they weren't an immediate threat to her. Once she was as certain as she could be of that, Ava swivelled her head in all directions now that she could look without being careful, making sure they were indeed alone.
They were, and Ava's first assessment had been correct, they were in a very small cell, bars making up one whole wall, nothing else in the cell, only the floor and concrete walls. Satisfied for now that there weren't any threats around, Ava directed her attention to the person she was holding up. Now that she took a closer look, Ava was shocked to see that it was a young girl. She had light brown skin and long dark brown hair that was tangled and dirty right now. Despite the low light, Ava could see that her eyes were the most expressive Ava had ever seen, a deep brown with a ring around the iris. There were tears forming in her eyes and her lips were pressed together in a thin line.
"Let me go!" the girl exclaimed and to her shock, Ava felt some energy from her, a force that felt like the Halo itself, and suddenly, the girl was not in her grip anymore but instead was falling through Ava and onto the ground behind her.
Feeling her eyes go wide, Ava turned around swiftly, connecting with the Halo, wondering whether she was the one who had phased or the girl, keeping her distance for now and her hands up. She knew she should be wary of this girl but something about how she now scrambled away from Ava and looked at her with fear in her eyes made Ava's heart go out to her. And she was here in prison as well, right? Ava told herself that it could well be a trap, that the girl could be here to trick her, but she looked so small, so vulnerable.
A warning voice in her head told her that the girl just phased through her, which certainly would indicate she was very much not as vulnerable as she seemed, but from how shocked and confused the girl looked, she probably wasn't going to blast Ava right now. And it wasn't like Ava couldn't defend herself, the Halo humming in her back.
"It's alright, I won't hurt you," Ava said, keeping her hands up and crouching down, trying to smile a little. There were still twinges of pain in her abdomen, the blood on the armour dried and feeling weird when she moved. Idly, Ava wondered how long she had been here. She wasn't very hungry or thirsty, but that didn't mean much, the Halo could regulate that. She clearly hadn't had a bath since she got here, or a change of clothes.
The girl now looked up at Ava with a sceptical expression, but also something defiant in her eyes, jotting out her chin in a way that Ava thought was adorable, though she immediately chastised herself for it.
"I could hurt you. I've got powers! Don't come closer or I'll blast you!" the girl said, her voice wobbling, obviously mostly trying to project a confidence she was not feeling.
Ava suppressed the chuckle she felt bubbling up in her. It was hard not to be enamoured with this girl. Allowing herself a little smirk, Ava shrugged.
"Well, I have powers as well, so you can try blasting me, but it won't make me go away." Ava sighed as she saw the girl's eyes going wide. "Look, we're clearly trapped here right now, so we might as well work together and get out, okay?"
The girl laughed bitterly and shook her head.
"There's no way out." Now she looked devastated, more tears in her eyes. "Even if there were, I have nowhere to go. I'm all alone and I have these powers that I can't control. That's why they put me in here, cause they're afraid of me."
Once again, there was a warning voice in the back of Ava's head saying not to trust this girl, but she pushed it down. If it turned out that the girl was indeed a spy or dangerous, that was a problem for future Ava. Right now, they needed to get out of here. So she smiled in a way she hoped was encouraging.
"I am not afraid of you. Like I said, I have powers too. And I understand being trapped somewhere you don't want to be. Very much. But I promise that I'll help you, okay? I'm sure we can find a place where you can go." Ava held out a hand to the girl, who looked at it like it was a snake at firs, but when Ava tilted her head and smiled wider, raising her eyebrows expectantly, the girl took her hand, though she still looked very wary of Ava. There was something electric going through Ava when they touched, something feeling like Halo energy but also different. It was comforting, nice. Shaking the girl's hand a little, Ava nodded at her, still smiling widely. "I'm Ava. What's your name?"
For a moment, the girl just looked at Ava with mistrust, but then she sighed and shrugged, taking her hand back to fiddle with both of her hands in her lap, looking down on them.
"I'm Mary Sue," the girl said, making Ava laugh in surprise, which made Mary Sue look up with a frown. "Is my name funny?"
Mary Sue said it with so much defiance and even a little anger that Ava couldn't stop thinking about Mary even more and how much this girl reminded her of her friend. She grinned but shook her head.
"It's not funny, no, but I have a friend called Mary. I was thinking about how much of a coincidence it is for you to also be called Mary," Ava explained, making her voice soft, soothing. Mary Sue furrowed her brows even more.
"It's not Mary, it's Mary Sue! That's totally different! And you don't have to talk all soft and weird like that, I'm not a child, I'm fifteen and a half years old," she insisted, making Ava have to suppress a laugh again. Instead she schooled her face into something more neutral and nodded solemnly. She remembered being a teenager and being trapped far too well to not sympathize with Mary Sue.
"Of course." Ava frowned, deciding that they needed a topic change. She got up, walking to the bars. "I could phase through these. Could you too? We need to get out of here."
Mary Sue got up as well, crossing her arms in front of her chest and looking at Ava with a defiant frown.
"I told you, I'm not going anywhere. I got nowhere to go and I don't even know you," Mary Sue said, her voice still trembling a little but also quite firm.
Once again, Ava swallowed down the urge to either chuckle or frown, really finding herself warming up to this girl. The warning voice in her head was barely even there anymore now and on a whim, Ava found herself reaching out a hand towards Mary Sue, glad when she hesitantly accepted it.
"Look, you can come with me, okay? We just really need to get out of here. I need to get back to my friends, to…" Ava stopped herself before saying Beatrice.
Even when they only knew each other for a few minutes, at this point she was pretty sure that Mary Sue wasn't a spy for Reya. And even if she was, Ava could use her help now and then deal with her once they were back home. The entire OCS would be there and powers or not, they definitely would be able to deal with one teenage girl. Mary Sue shrugged now, squeezing Ava's hand before letting it go and letting out a long suffering sigh.
"Okay, I will help you. But I'm not going to be a prisoner again, ever." Mary Sue's voice was firm, the underlying pain getting to Ava.
Smiling at Mary Sue, putting all the emotions she was feeling about having found Mary Sue here, someone she already felt like could be a worthy ally, into that smile. Well, most of them, she did successfully suppress the ones that made her feel a little uneasy about bringing a strange girl back to the others, explaining to them why she had done that. But they would understand, right? Reya was their enemy now, she had probed Ava's head, had imprisoned her. They would destroy the arc and make sure if Mary Sue was in any way evil, which Ava really didn't believe she was, they would deal with her. Like they had dealt with Adriel.
Pushing down the voice saying that dealing with Adriel had literally nearly killed her and had killed many of the OCS, Ava took a deep breath and turned towards the bars.
"Here goes nothing," Ava said, mostly to herself. Closing her eyes, Ava tapped into the Halo's energy, feeling its readiness to help her. Stepping forward, she could feel the solidity of the bars around her but it was easily conquered and in just a few seconds, she was outside.
Once again pushing the voice down that said Reya really should have better security since she left Ava the Halo, Ava turned around and grinned at Mary Sue, who looked at her with wide eyes.
"Wow! That was very cool!" Mary Sue exclaimed, her voice full of awe. Ava chuckled a little and gestured towards the bars.
"I know," Ava said, a pang of pain going through her when she thought about how she had said that before, to Michael when they had gotten to that church where Adriel's followers had held their perverse baptism. Ava pushed that memory down. There was time to process Michael's death and everything else. Now, they needed to get to the arc or whatever equivalent there was on this side and back to Earth. So she nodded towards Mary Sue encouragingly. "Now you. I know you can do it, you just phased through me like a pro."
Mary Sue laughed a little and then took a deep breath and stepped forward, also closing her eyes and stepping clear through the bars, walking another three steps before stopping and turning around to Ava with wide eyes and a slow grin forming on her face.
"I did it! Ha! That was awesome!" Mary Sue exclaimed. Then she schooled her face into a more natural mask and nodded slowly. "I mean, I knew I could do it. Obviously."
"Obviously," Ava agreed, laughing a little. She felt the urge to hug Mary Sue but Ava didn't think they were that close yet, despite it feeling like they were. Mary Sue tilted her head, furrowing her brows deeply.
"What now? There are like ten Tarasks out there, I told you, I knew I'd never be able to get out of this place even when I phased through the wall." Mary Sue's face had fallen, the distraught look returning. It cut through Ava more than she had expected and she felt the need to hug Mary Sue rise inside of her even stronger now. Still pushing that urge down, especially when Mary Sue crossed her arms in front of her chest again, Ava instead just smiled in a way she hoped was encouraging.
"See, but I'm here now. I couldn't take on ten Tarasks on my own and I assume you can't either, but together, we totally can." Not waiting for Mary Sue to inevitably protest, Ava carefully walked towards the corridor that opened up outside the cell.
The walls were simple grey stone, everything looking at the same time old and modern in a confusing way. Ava shoved that thought aside to concentrate on their mission right now, getting to the portal. Not dwelling on the fact that she didn't even know where the portal was, Ava kept herself to the wall, advancing towards a dead end with an opening to the right. Carefully looking into whatever space was beyond it, Ava immediately pulled herself back from it.
Mary Sue, who had followed her and was now standing close to Ava, rolled her eyes and shrugged.
"Told you so!" Mary Sue said, very quietly.
Ava raised her eyebrows and waved Mary Sue off, once again very carefully peeking into the space. There were indeed about ten Tarasks mulling about in what looked like a guard station, if a gigantic and very weird one. What caught Ava's attention the most though was the big portal at the end of the room, which wasn't glowing at the moment, so it wasn't activated, but there were some control stations that looked like they could open it.
Retreating again, Ava walked a little away and gestured for Mary Sue to follow. After she did, Ava leaned in close to her, hoping they could be quiet enough for the Tarasks not to overhear.
"Do you know how that portal works? The one in the room? I have to go through it to get back home," Ava whispered, very quietly and urgently. Mary Sue frowned and shrugged.
"I guess. It's really easy, you just put in the name of the place you want to go to." Mary Sue's frown deepened and she shook her head. "But I don't know where you came from."
"Earth," Ava said immediately, but then it was her turn to frown. "I have no idea if they have a different name for it here though."
Already feeling discouraged by that thought, Ava was confused when Mary Sue's face lit up and she even laughed a little. Ava tilted her head at Mary Sue, who leaned in closer again, bringing her mouth to Ava's ear.
"They don't change the names, ever. It's a superstition thing. If your place is called Earth there, that's what it's called here." Mary Sue shrugged when Ava looked at her in confusion and surprise. There was some embarrassment but also a little pride in Mary Sue's face. "I listen. The guards talk a lot and I've been here a while."
"Right," Ava said, very quietly. There was another pang of doubt inside of her, but it got quickly quieted by how Mary Sue looked at her, open and vulnerable but also defiant and ready to put her walls up immediately again if Ava turned out to be against her. And in this moment, Ava really did not want to be against her. So she smiled and nodded, walking back towards the opening and peeking inside again. There were weapons on one of the walls, swords and staffs. Ava retreated again and leaned close to Mary Sue. "There are weapons by the wall, we can grab them and fight, then open the portal before anyone even knows we're gone. They won't follow us, will they?"
Suddenly, Ava realized that was a big flaw in her plan, especially since she did still have the Halo and the Tarasks were drawn to it, right? Well, not always, but still. Mary Sue shrugged now and shook her head.
"I don't know, but probably not. I don't think we're that important. Or at least I'm not. They put me in that cell to rot cause they didn't know what to do with me. Don't know about you," Mary said, still very quietly, shrugging once more and looking at Ava a little suspiciously again.
It made a very unwarranted giggle bubble up in Ava, that Mary Sue was the one to be suspicious of her. But then again, of course she was, just as much as Ava was suspicious of Mary Sue. It would be weird if she wasn't. What Mary Sue had said also made Ava realize that she did not really know anything about what Reya wanted from her. Aside from the Halo, which was very much still in Ava's back, so Reya couldn't want it too much. Ava shrugged, not really caring to dwell on that right now, too eager to get out of here.
"No idea, but I guess we're just going to have to take the risk. Are you with me?" Ava asked, keeping her voice just a whisper but still as imploring as Ava could make it. It was still a bit weird to her, she knew Mary Sue for all but five minutes, but the thought of leaving her behind was just wrong. Thankfully, Mary Sue nodded, despite not looking very confident.
"Yeah, let's do this," Mary Sue whispered, the bravado in her voice clearly fake, but Ava smiled at her, patting her on the shoulder.
"We got this, just grab a weapon and start hitting Tarasks, okay? Or blasting them, that works too." Ava wasn't sure why she believed in Mary Sue so strongly, but she did. She only hoped her trust was not misplaced, but right now, this was her only option. Taking on ten Tarasks on her own was too much, even with the Halo. Five had been too much for Adriel, after all.
Not wanting to think about that, Ava instead only nodded at Mary Sue curtly, giving her one more encouraging smile and then stepping through the opening resolutely, immediately launching for the weapons. The Tarasks roared and charged, but Mary Sue and Ava, well, mostly Mary Sue, held them back with blasts and strikes of their swords. The fight was a blur for Ava, as if it happened but also somehow not. Like time was standing still during the fight and then resumed after it was all done, the Tarasks either lying in heaps by the walls or having retreated.
Shaking her head because she suddenly felt disoriented, Ava let the sword fall on the ground and hurried over to Mary Sue, who was already typing in what was clearly their version of a computer.
"Earth, right?" Mary Sue asked. "I programmed the portal to shut down behind us, so no one can follow."
Ava nodded, commending that quick thinking. She looked around anxiously, wondering if their fight had drawn anyone's attention.
But so far, there weren't any blinking alarms or anyone who came running, so she hoped they'd be able to escape. She nodded at Mary Sue, once again shoving down the voice inside of her that said it was too easy. It would be alright. Once Ava was back with Beatrice and Mary and everyone else, they could sort it all out. That thought made Ava think of something else, right when the portal activated, shimmering in a blue light.
"Where are we going to land? This connects to the arc on Earth, right? Does it?" Ava thought about how neither Lilith nor Michael had actually come back from the other side through the arc and the Tarasks clearly didn't use it either. But did they even use the portal or did they just teleport, like Lilith? Mary Sue shrugged.
"From what I heard, it gets you where you want to be most. Like, your desire or something? But I have no idea, really," Mary Sue said, looking at the portal in awe and with a little hesitation.
Ava immediately thought about Beatrice but realized what she really needed right now was the entire OCS. The safety of the Cat's Cradle, whatever and wherever the current Cat's Cradle was. It would be her best move to go to the headquarters of the OCS. Especially since Ava trusted Mary Sue, but she was far too aware that it would be better to have the entire might of the OCS at her disposal if Mary Sue turned out to have nefarious intents.
With a determined nod, Ava walked towards the portal, Mary Sue also getting up and following her, though more hesitant. There was now distant shouting and fast footsteps to be heard, which made Ava shove down any reservations she might have still had, holding out her hand to Mary Sue.
"Come on, we can do this. I promise, you'll be safe," Ava said, aware that she couldn't really promise that. Mary Sue was clearly also very aware of that, judging from the way she raised her eyebrows at Ava.
"If you say so," Mary Sue mumbled, side eyeing Ava, who simply chuckled a little, glad that Mary Sue still took her hand, despite her clear reservations. Walking together towards the portal, they only hesitated for another moment before stepping through.
There was a weird feeling of being pulled in every direction at once and then Ava stumbled onto solid ground. Disoriented for a moment, she looked around and saw that they were in the courtyard of a majestic building, several nuns looking at them in shock. Smiling at Mary Sue, Ava squeezed her hand.
"Welcome home."