Sapphic Vibes Only (mostly)

For those of you who have been following along, here is a list of the fics in The Problem of Pain Series. (I will update with Links as they are posted.) 

PART 1: Holy War  

On a mission to help end the Holy War, Beatrice sustains life-threatening injuries and has to fight to survive, while Lilith, Camila, and Ava attempt to secure crucial artifacts for the fight to come. Mother Superion makes her way to them, but will it be enough?

PART 2: Once A Rookie

Beatrice shows up at the gates of Cat's Cradle young and a little afraid of what's to come. She's spent her last several years trying to make up for a horrible misunderstanding that got her sent away from the home her parents had built - Outcast from their legacy to maybe find salvation in serving the church. A highly competent team of 2 nuns and a shotgun adopt her as their rookie and teach her everything she knows.

incredible art by @princington

PART 3: (title tbd) 

Follows Beatrice through S1, and S2. It’s mostly going to be little snippets of Off screen moments setting up for Holy War and putting Ava and Beatrice together.  

PART 4: Beatrice Alone 

Beatrice finds herself sitting at the edge of the arc at the end of season 2. Beatrice copes with losing Ava (or at least tries), finds Lilith, and picks up everyone’s favorite man (Brother Kiva). 

Part 5: Guess Who’s Back

You guessed it! The reunion we were all waiting for had the team back together and tossed headfirst into the fight for the world. Ava adjusts to being back. Beatrice confronts her past. Camila has some troubles at Notre Dame. Lilith is Lilith. 

or

Moments and Missions Leading into Holy War 

Part 6: Battels 

Beatrice is finally pulled from the coma induced at the end of Holy War and, with the help of her sisters, learns to cope with a difficult recovery as she tries to get back into the fight. The rest of the team and the OCS are there as much as they can while trying not to let the fate of the world slip away. They are all doing their best, but a lifetime of fighting takes a toll, so many tolls on the body, the mind, and the spirit, and some are easier paid than others

Part 7: Iron in Bloom

Shannon Masters has grown up around New York's finest, and following in her Father Sean's footsteps was the only thing that mattered. But when everything goes to shit, Shannon finds herself reeling.

Enter: The Order of the Cruciform Sword

Or

Chapter 28: Romans 12:1

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

A slow morning turns into a super not slow afternoon. Beatrice's first mission doesn't go as smoothly as everyone had hoped... post mission wine anyone? Everyone's going to need it.

Lilith was annoyed. They had been working together seamlessly to this point. Leave it to Beatrice to choose the moment they were the most vulnerable to muck it up.When Beatrice’s shoulder struck between Lilith’s shoulder blades and sent her stumbling dangerously forward toward a larger woman that clearly wanted Lilith’s head, it took everything in her to not wheel around on her younger partner—shout at her for being so careless.

Lilith took several steps forward, stopping her momentum in time to duck beneath a branch swung so hard it might have removed her head from her shoulders if it had connected. “Watch it!” She admonished as she stepped around, spinning away from her attacker to barely meet Beatrice’s eyes as they flashed wide—a yelp tearing through her and she fell somehow through the forest floor with a crash that should have, in all logic, drowned out her shout. Wooden splinters flew violently up from the ground as Beatrice got lost beneath it.

“Beatrice!” Lilith felt her own stomach drop, and the blood rush from her cheeks as she watched. Her heart was pounding from what had to have been nearly an hour of wrangling a hoard of possessed, but she became acutely aware of it as it rang in her ears now, replacing Beatrice’s cry.

Her only warning was a snap of a twig from a clumsy, careless, step as the woman she’d been fighting lunged at her, tackling her to the ground. Ground that met harshly with her back, and did not, in fact, break away below her—a fear she hadn’t realized she’d had until moments ago watching it happen to Beatrice.

With a forced exhale Lilith rolled with all her might—supernaturally induced strength aside, it didn’t make her assailant any physically heavier—something Lilith found herself thanking God for as their positions switched. Lilith had the upper hand now, at the possessed’s back, her arms making quick practiced work to place them in a choke hold and she fought off claws to her leather protected arms as she rendered the woman unconscious.

It was now back to two against one. Again. Them having taken out Beatrice, her having taken out the woman, and Beatrice the smaller man, as two more rounded on her in a mess of limbs. She needed to deal with these two before she could get to Beatrice—if she could even get to Beatrice. She needed to end this. All the will power in the world wouldn’t sustain her enough if this dragged out— she was losing steam. Quickly now. Like now that she’d started to tire, her energy was all leaving her in a hurry.

Another blow struck her hard in the thigh, nearly buckling Lilith’s leg beneath her as she used her sword to deflect what she’d thought was a branch being swung earlier to realize it was a small tree, uprooted violently like it was nothing more than pulling a weed.

The man pulled back the weapon stolen from the forest to give her a well timed blow, one Lilith was well sure her arms no longer possessed the strength to block, but in doing so, he made a fatal mistake or rather, the wraith had. Just as they nearly all did, relying on their supernatural strength rather made them rather sloppy. The long swing over his head left an opening for Lilith to bury her sword in his chest. It wouldn’t keep the wraith down indefinitely but there would be a short… reboot… period when the man died and the wraith reanimated the body for its needs.

Lilith tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword, and yanked it toward her with her burning arms as she planted the sole of her boot directly against where she’d struck him. She needed her sword if she stood a chance. Relief rushed through her as a balm as it slid a few centimeters toward her before catching again, stuck in the man’s sternum.

She sent a small prayer to her many cousins and aunts that had gone before her as she let the hilt slide from her fingers and fall with the man to the leaf covered forest floor, still buried in his chest: “Be with me.”

The remaining possessed let out a shrieking roar—that same sound that filled her nightmares each night as it lunged for her, hands extended for her neck. Lilith’s mind worked quickly through her options, what techniques were available to her given her current state. She hadn't landed on one yet when her world was knocked sideways with so much force part of her wondered if it hadn't moved on its very axis. White bloomed out the deep green of the forest as it collided with her cheek.

Lilith’s world was dark for only a few seconds before she found herself blinking past the dots in her vision. There was only one thing in this world or any other that could do that.

A Halo Blast.