The darkest parts of you

Chapter III

It was morning, Beatrice was already up, she had woken up before the sunrise of course, like always. She was still in the exact same position she was when they fell asleep.

During the night she felt just how stressed out and shaky Ava was. Every time she felt Ava shaking she'd reached for her hand and squeeze it, kiss her head, remind her that she wasn't alone and but every time Ava's relief was just temporary. Beatrice hated that Ava was so scared and anxious she wanted to make her feel better but she didn't know how.

Beatrice waited for Ava to wake up. Ava opened her eyes, at first she got scared but once she realised she was in Beatrice's arms she relaxed and smiled. She lifted her head up and looked at Beatrice, they stared at each other for some seconds.

"Good morning"

"Good morning....are you feeling alright?"

"I am in your arms so yes"

Beatrice smiled and leaned for a kiss as she touched Ava's face.

"I'll go bring you some clothes. Okay?"

Ava nodded. They both hated that they'd have to let go but they knew it was coming sooner or later.

Beatrice got up she walked to her closet and grabbed some clothes. Ava got up and walked up to Beatrice and grabbed the clothes Beatrice offered her. She smiled.

"Thank you"

Ava said with her usual soft way. Ava walked to the bathroom and changed clothes. She came outside and saw that Beatrice changed clothes too. Beatrice turned around and saw Ava, she smiled instantly because Ava looked so cute tiny there wearing Beatrice's oversized sweatshirt.

"What'd you wanna do?"

"I don't know"

"We could go to the garden. Everyone will be, happy to see you. That's only if you feel ready"

"I'm okay, i got this"

Ava said even though Beatrice understood she wasn't really sure by the way her voice changed.

They walked to the door, Ava opened it and just as she was about to step outside Beatrice grabbed her hand, Ava looked at her.

"You should know, everyone will be curious about what happened. Are you sure you Can stand answering questions?"

Beatrice was concerned about that. She saw how Ava reacted when she tried to start a discussion about her time in the Ark.

Ava looked down. She wasn't ready to answer anything yet. She wasn't even sure what happened yet, honestly, to her everything was messed up. But she'd have to do it eventually and there was no time in waiting.

Ava didn't say anything and with that, Beatrice knew what to do. She reached for Ava's hand, they walked out of the room together and to the hall where they saw Camila, with mother Superion. They turned and looked at Ava, their expressions changed immediately as if they had seen a ghost. Even though Beatrice told me Ava was back, seeing her walking to them with their own eyes was something extremely weird.

The first thing Ava did was rush to Camila and hug her. They backed off, Camila was still holding Ava's arms.

"We missed you Ava"

"I missed you too. All of you"

Ava said and looked at mother Superion who blinked trying to clean her sight. Ava smiled.

"Mother Superion"

"Ava...it's good to have you back"

Ava nodded, she pulled back and walked next to Beatrice, waiting for all the questions to hit her one after the other. She was so not ready for that.

"I have so many questions"

Camila said, she was about to continue but Mother Superion cut her once she saw that Beatrice shook her head negatively.

"Perhaps...we should give Ava some time. Don't you think?"

"Oh sure"

Camila said. Ava nodded, she was really relieved in that moment, but also anxious at some point. She turned her head at Beatrice to see that she was already staring at her, she felt better, Beatrice's little nod was so reassuring. Ava smiled but looked down almost immediately. She felt her heart beating rapidly all of the sudden. Beatrice saw that Ava got lost in her thoughts. "Ava. Are you feeling okay?" Beatrice said as she put her hand on Ava's shoulder, once Ava felt her she jumped up.

"I'm i'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"I just- i need air"

Ava said, she started walking away "Ava" Beatrice said as she started walking behind her, Ava ignored her and ran outside, she stayed still trying to relax, Beatrice walked in front of her.

"Ava. What's wrong?"

Beatrice said, she tried to stay calm so that Ava wouldn't get even more stressed out. Ava kept looking down, as if she was refusing to dare and look at Beatrice.

"Ava"

Ava shook her head

"I am so sorry"

Ava said, voice breaking, her shoulders anxious, even though Beatrice couldn't see her she understood that she wanted to sob, that she was trying not to cry. Beatrice didn't hesitate to grab Ava's face and brought it up.

"It's okay"

"I am sorry"

Ava repeated, whispered this time. She couldn't so anything else but apologise. Beatrice didn't want an apology, she didn't even want her answers even though she had so many questions. She just wanted to make Ava feel better.

"Don't. Don't apologise. I understand"

Beatrice leaned towards Ava, their foreheads touched. Beatrice cuddled Ava's face, softly. After some seconds, Ava's head fell on Beatrice's shoulder, she closed her eyes and tried to calm down.

Beatrice was slowly realising that Ava was hurting, whatever happened to her out there was bad. Really bad. She kept regretting letting Ava in the portal. She really wanted to help her, but she didn't know what she was up against and she also knew that pushing Ava wouldn't do anything good, that it could make Ava feel worse. That was still Ava's first day back, maybe if she waited, it would help her, heal, move on. It's not like she could do anything else. One thing was for sure, she would be there for Ava, no matter what.