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Maybe Lune hadn’t expected to find a beholder in that cave. None of them had, to be honest.
The villagers nearby had talked about animals disappearing from the region, and some people had concluded that a spectator was hiding in the woods. Not a fucking beholder.
The two creatures were pretty similar, and their merry band of adventurers had already taken care of a few spectators before, but this abomination was taking them down one at a time. It didn’t look good.
Lune dodged a ray of red magic, which hit the wall of the cave behind her, cracking the stone from the ground to the ceiling. Surely the cave would hold on long enough for them to slay the beast and escape…She hoped it would.
Blinded by the light of the rays, Lune closed her eyes and focused her superior elven hearing on her companions. She could hear the screams of the battle, the roaring of the thunder contained in Gustave’s arm, the groans of Monaco in his bear form, the deafening blasts of Verso’s gun, the soft music of Maelle’s singing blade…But she couldn’t hear Sciel’s mutters of incantation.
Her heartbeat quickened, pumping her blood through her body at lightning speed. She opened her eyes, perhaps a bit too quickly as her vision swam in front of her before falling on the inert body of her friend.
Was she just unconscious? Was she simply knocked out? Was she even breathing? Lune couldn’t tell from this far away… Was she dead?
No, no, no, no, no, she couldn’t be. She couldn’t!
Lune’s focus shifted entirely on Sciel as she ran, barely managing to cast a wall of water between them and the creature on her way to her friend.
Barely managing to breathe, she slid down on her knees next to the sorcerer, not thinking for a second as she began to call on the nature around her to cast a healing spell.
She tried to focus on the warmth of the air around her and the solidity of the ground under her knees. She focused on the tiny, yet stubborn weeds that managed to grow on the ground of the cave. She drew her power from the small green blades of grass, from the persistence of nature, even in the darkest places, and pushed that determination towards Sciel, who was starting to come back to herself.
She watched in relief as some of her cuts and bruises started to fade, and her cheeks took on a healthier shade of pink as her breathing began to stabilize.
It was Lune’s turn to lose her breath when Sciel opened her eyes. The soft shades of green of her irises had always reminded her of the beautiful hues of the sun passing through leaves, and now, with the residual light from Lune’s spell, the colors had blended into a mesmerizingly vivid green, so close to the tones she knew in the grove she was raised in.
The air around them felt electric, not only due to Sciel’s magic, Lune guessed when the half elf stared right back into her own eyes. Did she see something there as well? She probably did, judging from the softness of her gaze as she studied the woman above her.
Things had always been ambiguous between the two of them, even at the very beginning of their adventures. Small touches that lasted a little longer than necessary, late night conversations around the campfire, huddling for warmth at night…
“Hi…” Sciel murmured with a hoarse voice, bringing Lune back to the present.
Lune felt her heartbeat pick up again, her fingertips trembling as she gently ran them down Sciel’s cheeks.
“Hi,” she answered softly, leaning down just slightly when Sciel grasped her fingers in a tender gesture. “Are you still hurt?”
The other woman winced as she sat up, holding her ribs as she did. “I think I can still fight.”
“Nonsense! Can you even stand properly?” Lune interjected, taking her friend’s hands in hers.
“No, really, I-“
“We could really use the help over here, if you’re both done counting each other’s teeth with your tongues!” Verso screamed from the other side of the battlefield.
Lune then quickly assessed the state of her companions: Gustave was reloading his gun with what seemed to be his last magazine, Verso was blocking attacks with great difficulty, Maelle was still attacking, but her leg was bleeding, and Monoco had already lost his bear form while the beholder was still attacking mercilessly.
They were going to lose.
They were going to die.
This might be her last chance.
She had to listen to her heart, for once.
When she looked back at Sciel, she saw in her eyes all the confirmation she needed to lean forward to her and, drawing what she would from the nature around her, she cast a second healing spell as her lips touched Sciel.
She felt more than anything the explosion of wild magic surrounding them at the contact, but whatever effect the sorcerer’s magic had triggered, she couldn’t care less. All she could feel was the way Sciel’s chapped lips moved against her own, all she could hear was the rapid beating of her own heartbeat, and all she could smell and scent was Sciel, Sciel, Sciel.
When she opened her eyes again, her friend looked invigorated, and her skin was glowing in a soft blue shade.
After that, everything moved in a blur. She once again drew from the power of the land to heal her friends, then managed to toss a full magazine to Gustave, healed Maelle from her leg injury, and attacked the creature with a cantrip.
Heal, attack, repeat.
In the heat of the fight, she saw Monoco once again in animal form claw at the beholder’s eye, and Verso landing hit after hit on its dancing tentacles. She spotted Gustave firing again while Maelle cast spell after spell when he managed to reveal a weakness of the creature.
But the most impressive was by far Sciel, who slung spell after spell after spell without fail, shrugging off blows like they were nothing, as if their (quite literally magical) kiss had woken up something within her.
The beast eventually let out a guttural sound, scream, and fell to the ground under the last of Sciel’s spell.
Finally relaxing from the fight, Lune allowed herself to fall back to her knees, catching her breath while the others celebrated.
“I can’t believe we actually did it!” Said a voice above her shoulder. Lune grinned when she turned around to see Sciel before she circled her and knelt down in front of her.
A tentative hand rose to cup Lune’s face, and she all but melted at the contact, eventually letting her head fall on Sciel’s shoulder with a breathless laugh.
“Me neither…” she murmured against her, savouring the warmth of the body against hers.
“About that kiss…” The sorcerer started, and Lune took a steadying breath before facing her friend again. “I would-“
“Guys! Look at what we’ve found!” Maelle screamed from the other side of the cave.
The two women looked up just in time to see Gustave usher Maelle away with a little chuckle. “Let them have their moment, okay?”
“That goes for you too, Monoco.” Verso said as he led his best friend to the other side of the cave.
Sciel and Lune looked back to each other with a soft smile.
“I’d like to do it again.” Sciel murmured. “The kiss, I mean.”
Lune was glad to indulge her.