Summary: A reimagining of the Dom rescue scene, in which Diavolos rescues Kenna. This is a bit of an AU for Loopy, where Diavolos gets injured while they were rescuing Dom.
Kenna sees it coming. She can hear people shouting at her to move, first with urgency, then with near-panic in their voices. Above her, she can see Dom, can see his tail whipping over a boulder. She can see what’s going to happen, can see Dom growing closer, almost like she’s watching it in slow motion.
Move, her brain is chanting, move move move! She doesn’t know if it’s panic or disbelief, but she feels frozen as she watches him.
“Kenna!”
Kenna hears Diavolos shout, right next to her ear. She feels him slam into her, shoving her out of the way behind a boulder.
“Oof,” she groans, her back colliding with the unforgiving hard ground.
She sees flames above them and hears more indistinct shouts. She winces, her ears ringing, her vision starting to swim and fade to black. The last thing she remembers is Diavolos, hovering over her.
Kenna wakes up in an unfamiliar bed. She tries to get up, wincing as her every muscle seems to protest.
“Gods,” she gasps when she finally gets upright with intense effort.
The trapdoor in the floor opens, and Annelyse comes through, worry on her face. The airship, Kenna remembers, they’re on the airship. Annelyse checks her over, scolding Kenna to just hold still for two minutes.
“Dom?” Kenna says when Annelyse has convinced her to lay back down.
“He’s fine,” Annelyse reassures her. “Resting. Sei is with him.”
“And Diavolos?”
“He’s fine too. A few cuts and bruises that he refuses to let me look at,” Annelyse says with a frustrated look.
Kenna laughs, wincing when it makes her ribs ache. “Typical…difficult…Nevrakis,” she gets out.
Annelyse rolls her eyes. “At least he’s more pleasant than the rest of them.”
Kenna makes a noise of agreement, then asks, “How did I get back here?”
“Diavolos carried you,” Annelyse answers.
That surprises her, just a little bit, that it was him and not Jackson, and it surprises her even more that Jackson allowed it.
“He did?” Kenna asks.
“He insisted.”
Because of the alliance? Kenna wonders. Or because of the way I kissed him last night?
“Can you send him up?” she asks Annelyse.
Annelyse looks at her curiously, a smile playing over her lips. “Of course.”
She vanishes through the trapdoor, and Kenna sinks back into the bed, closing her eyes. She thinks she falls asleep for a few minutes, waking when she hears the trapdoor creak. Diavolos’ head appears. Even through he’s visibly wincing, he still manages to wear that cocky smirk.
“Queen Kenna,” he greets her.
“Diavolos,” she says in return. “Annelyse said you won’t let her check out your injuries.”
Diavolos shrugs, lowering the trapdoor as he steps into her room. “Nothing to worry about.”
Kenna raises an eyebrow at his grimace when he stands fully upright. “Really?”
He ignores her question, lowering himself to her desk chair. “Yours were far worse.”
He gestures at the angry red scrape and bruise blooming along her right arm.
“I’ll live,” Kenna says. “Thanks to you.”
“Letting you become dragon food wouldn’t have been the best start to this alliance,” he jokes.
Kenna smirks. “No, probably not.”
She means to thank him for saving her life and for getting her back to the airship, but before she can, she yawns widely, the fatigue from the day and her injuries catching up to her again.
Diavolos grins. “I’ll let you sleep.”
He rises, but before he can leave, Kenna manages to get herself sitting at the edge of the bed. “Wait,” she says.
Diavolos holds his hand out as she attempts to stand. She rests her hand in his, his grip warm and strong as he easily pulls her upright with a gentleness that surprises her.
He’s standing so close that she can feel the warmth radiating off of him. Her hand is still in his, she realizes. His fingers are a little calloused, from all the years spent in battle and using a sword, she assumes.
“Thank you,” she says.
She says it easily, casually, but she means it. Diavolos very well could have let Dom destroy her and played it off as not having time to get to her. But he hadn’t. And even though they have an alliance, and letting her die wouldn’t have been in his best interest at all, she can’t help but think he would have saved her regardless.
“We’ll call it even,” Diavolos replies smoothly. “You let me out of the dungeons, I saved your life.”
Kenna studies his face. She could accept that answer, let it go, let him go. But she really doesn’t want to. What she really wants is to kiss him again.
“Oh, we’re not even,” Kenna says.
She lets go of Diavolos’ hand and loops her arms around his neck.
“No?” That damnable smug grin is back on his face.
“No,” she answers.
The corners of her mouth quirk up. “As I recall, I was the one who kissed you last night. Not the other way around.”
Diavolos chuckles, then tilts his head down. “You’re right.”
He wraps his arms around her waist, yanking her in close while mindful of her injuries, then tilts his head down, his lips meeting hers. He kisses her like he had last night, hungrily and insistently, teasing a little bit, biting her lower lip and then soothing it with another kiss. She pulls back just for a second, sucking in a quick breath, and his tongue dances with hers when she presses her mouth back to his.
When Diavolos tilts his head back, his arms still tight around her waist, he’s staring at her. He’s smirking again, but there’s also a layer of warmth and affection behind his gaze.
“Now are we even?” he asks.
“Not even close,” Kenna breathes, and leans in to kiss him again.