Truth is fleeting. Faith is absolute.

- Mathias [1:36] Testament Luminus.

-//-

They stood at attention. Feet beside each other, backs straight and arms on their sides. Bolters, mag-locked to their power packs. They waited in silence as heavy metallic feet slowly  thudded down wooden stairs. Rosetta's heart thumped in her chest along with every heavy footfall. They all eyed the stairs to their right as silver sabatons stepped into view.

Rosetta could only hold her breath as she beheld a divine spectacle. A bright red velvet cape, chemically treated to never be dirtied by the foul soil of the tainted earth, flowed around polished silver armour of the order but so much more refined and perfected. Adorn with golden symbolism and imagery, it was a thing of beauty, entirely befitting its wearer.

Strong sabatons held up elegant grieves, each one decorated with a long golden fleur-de-lis which, in turn, supported cuisses as they protected her beautiful thighs and carried her holy equipment. Her decorated helm, her plasma pistol, blessed blade and a wide variety of grenades.

The cloth upon her armour was white as it flowed around her armoured arms and legs, stopping short of her vambraces and receded beneath her stylised coat-of-plates. This coat-of-plates was gloriously decorated with silver and gold as it conformed to her body like a corset and off her exemplary form with deserved pride.

Soon the figure showed her gorgeous face of lovely perfection. Lady Mirabel had come walking in with all the grace that is expected of her. Her beautiful face framed by mighty pauldrons, even more laden with ornamentation than the rest of her armour. On her right pauldron she bore a winged inquisitorial 'I' and on her left was a life-like rendition of the imperial aquila. Both form from gold, both were artistic marvels in their own right.

She was followed in by Palatina Isabel, as stone cold and proud as ever and a lone hospitaller. The hospitaller; there was the aura of a predator about her. An icy cold smile and sharp blue eyes, softened to make for a cheap mockery of friendliness under a thinning layer of grey hair spawning from a balding scalp.

The distant stench of madness radiated from this strange hospitaller and it irked Rosetta did not like it nor did the others for that matter yet one of them dared showed it. At least not in Isabel's overwhelming presence.

"Squad. Assemble!" ordered Lorraine.

Rushing to obey they all straightened up, feet side-by-side, hands held together behind their backs, standing in a line, as Mirabel inspected them all. She came up to them and walked across them, stopping on front of Rosetta. She gazed right through the red lenses of Rosetta's helm with a sharpness beyond any blade, making the woman skip a heartbeat. 

"Sister, Rosetta. It was you who captured the traitor, was it not?"

"Y-yes, my Lady."

"For what reason did you commit to your action, girl?"

Rosetta shook inside, doubt blossoming across shaky nerves but she did not linger on it. Her lady, no, her saviour, stood before her, addressing her. She was overjoyed to witness this come to pass yet again.

"Dammit, girl. The Lady Canoness called on you to a question. Answer it now." Barked Isabel, shaking Rosetta from her trance. Rosetta eyed her, seething in fear and frustration. Then she straightened herself, addressing Mirabel at last.

"My lady, he may bare truths that will unveil the soul of this heresy."

Mirabel raised an eyebrow.

"Are you so certain, girl?"

An insult? No! Why did I think that? Rosetta shut the thought out, sweating to maintain her composure.

"His hue, my lady. It stands apart from the others, denoting rank and import."

"His hue she says," Mirabel scoffed, looking at Isabel, sending Rosetta's temper flaring.

"A heretic bares no truth, Sister," she continued, looking at Rosetta again.

"But a heretic always bares reason, no matter how mad they become. It is this man's reason that bares truths we must seek, I swear it!" Rosetta froze knowing exactly what she had just blurted out.

Rosetta's hands pulled on each other hard as all eyes fell on her. Thoughts raced through her trembling mind and ravaged her heart with panic and grief. Mirabel glanced at the Hospitaller who seemed vexed by the outburst and Isabel readied her sword for retribution but Mirabel shot her a look that froze her in her tracks. She then looked back at Rosetta as a few terribly long moments passed her by.

"Isabel. Stay here with the squad. Rosetta. Adriana. Come with me. The rest of you are dismissed."

-//-

The Squad eased up, moving to more natural positions with Isabel among them, standing by the exit. All the while, Rosetta made the aquila sign with her crossing hands on her chest and bowed her head as she followed Mirabel into the next room. They stepped down a few steps into a barrack with the storage room, turned prison cell, locked away beyond the next door.

Mirabel stopped in the middle of the room, nods to Adriana The Hospitaller who moved on through the door, unlocking it for them all. Then, free from prying eyes, she turned to face Rosetta as a friend. Mirabel's perfect bright red lips curled up into a thin smile as she looked into Rosetta's eyes, stopping her in her tracks.

"You've grown since Mundinus, Rosetta. Already no longer the novice I met almost a year ago hmm?"

"E-e-excuse me, m-my lady?"

"Remove your helm, Sister. I wish to see your face again."

Rosetta hesitated for a moment before she slowly obeyed, grasping her helmet with shaky hands, decoupling it from her suit. With what seemed like an eternity of effort she pulled the helmet off of her head with shaky hands. Finally she shook her head back and forth once or twice to brush aside her bright red hair.

Rosetta looked at the woman of her dreams, cheeks running red and eyes as bright and green as ever. Mirabel let out a cute snicker, making Rosetta's heart thump against her chest. Mirabel looks at her with that same smile while she almost gawks back at her, face running an even deeper red than before, feeling so naked and exposed without its shield.

"Ah, it is a blessing to see another familiar face once more."

Mirabel's gaze strayed into the void; sadness glazing over her eyes making Rosetta's heart ache,

"With so many of us left behind on that forsaken rock it is good to see that the Emperor still has a use for some of us," she continued.

"My Lady, what of Marietta, Ravenna? What of Torabel?"

"Marietta's head was torn asunder by an Ogryn no less then yesterday. Ravenna left to pursue the Ordos Famulous before we deployed... and Torabel?"

Mirabel looked at Rosetta, sharing a deep sorrow she would not dare let another soul see.

"We both knew a dark madness was encroaching upon Torabel's mind even then and yet we ignored it." Rosetta looked away now grimacing with heartache while Mirabel paused. "Rosetta she took up the Oath Repentant."

"We are truly all that is left?"

"I am afraid so."

Rosetta's heart shattered. Old comrades, all gone. Unable to even face the only other survivor, she turned away. Even as heart, body and soul begged her to embrace the woman before her. She knew it was not right to treat the Canoness as such. For dignity's sake, for emperor's sake she dared not touch her despite her true desires.

She teared up. She wanted to weep, to cry and wail into the sky but for dignity's sake she was denied the luxury. Now, more than ever, her armour felt as much a prison as it was her protection. Her hand wandered onto her collar and latched onto it. The temptation to tear it off and abandon all responsibility to fate, palpable in the air.

Mirabel settled down and soon her sad face faded and she laid a hand on Rosetta's pauldron, rocking her back and forth like a babe for the merest moment, flushing her despair from her suffering heart. Rosetta looked at her, wide eyed, seemingly so fragile in that moment as Mirabel pulled off a beautiful smile.

"All the more reason to embrace the others right? We are all the daughters of the emperor after all, aren't we, Sister."

Rosetta's eyes snapped onto Mirabel's as her heart thumped hard against her ribs. Sheepishly, she nodded in agreement and Mirabel turned her back on her, walking towards the cell. No longer able to resist the urge, Rosetta moves to embrace her only to be stopped by Mirabel's palm hitting her between her breastplates, right on her suit's collar. Mirabel stood there with her face turned away from her.

"Stop. Do not think I am blind, Rosetta. I know you feel for me... Do not force this. Do not weep like some petulant child. We are... all of us... born to love the Emperor with all our hearts. There is no room for any other."

Rosetta's tears began to pour.

"Then what? What do I do, my lady? What do I do with this poisonous heart?" she whimpered.

Mirabel's hand on her chest turns to a fist as she taps her there with a clank of metal on metal.

"By the Emperor, you turn it all into fury. Fury with which you smite his foes for the betterment of the Imperium. We are the Adepta Sororitas! We must strive to reach far beyond mere mortal desires and I will not accept you doing any less."

At once, Rosetta's spirits soared. Her heart took to Mirabel's heart utterly and all her confusion and doubt was immolated in a renewed flame of furious purpose. Rosetta straightened up again, her eyes lighting up and her expressions sharper that ever as new strength was pumped into her veins. No more wallowing in the dark, no more swooning over Lady Mirabel, she was a Sister of Battle, it is time she acted like it.

She bowed her head, making the sign of the aquila on her chest, genuine, courteous and proper.

"Understood, my lady."

-//-

Antonin Derelian sat there, groaning and sweating as the hospitaller stood by. Awaiting orders. It was obvious. She had drugged him with a cocktail of drugs to ensure compliance. Such a repulsive sight. One befitting a traitor of the Imperium, of the Ecclesiarchy and of the God-Emperor himself.

Mirabel knelt before him as the hospitaller gripped his hair and pulled his head up. Mirabel studied it well, judging his reactions closely.

"Antonin Derelian. Why did you stray from his light?" she demanded.

Antonin sat there wheezing and sweating, his conscience drifting off as he succumbs to the drug. Soon he begins to murmur something. Mirabel then sits on a heavy chair and her heart turns cold for the dirty work ahead. Rosetta found it all repulsive yet did not protest. Instead she would bare witness to what fruits her actions have borne.

"Speak up!"

"Huh? Oh... dere... whole shurch ish all a lie... we sacrifish show much... for a lie... unacceptable."

"Why do you say so?"

He began to drift off again and the Hospitaller summoned a full syringe from the medicae kit built into her armour. It stuck out from her wrist like a little blade tied to her forearm. She held him in place as she injected the serum into his jugular.

Soon its contents was squeezed into the man making him shiver, and able to pay attention once more. Then she let go, letting his head dangle about in his delirious state. Mirabel leans in close reaching up to him and tapping her fingers against the palm of her gauntleted hand, making noise to catch his attention again.

Still he shivered with every metallic tap, barely able to look at her.

"Tell me, why do you say that the church is a lie?"

"Relics, found. Deep within... Celestia Secondus... underhive... Told the truth."

"What are these relics? What did they say? Tell me!"

He stared at her right in the eye.

"The Lectitio Divinitatus... it is not a work of the Emperor's!"

-//-