Chapter Text
The crowd of minions was thick and unruly. Lena fought her way into the row, decapitating several minions on her way with flourishes of her sword. Reaching the center of the brawl, she let forth a wave of destructive will, sending several minions into flaming thrashing masses and incapacitating several more with electrical currents. Once the crowd had cleared, she began to focus on individuals with her heavy blade. Finally she was down to just one remaining. She completely dismembered it in three fatal swoops of her sword, the last of which sent the minion's disembodied head catapulting through the air.
She laughed once and turned, only to be face to face, or carapace rather, with another minion, its body towering over her form. She sobered instantly. The minion's arm began to spin, turning its blades in fatal arcs. Just as Lena raised her sword to counter, the fiend caught her arm in a long whirling sweep, cutting long jagged marks into her flesh.
"Ah!" Lena grit her teeth against the assault and dropped her sword in the sand. She reached over her shoulder to find purchase with her rifle, but was unable to steady it with her badly injured arm. She wound up shooting several times into the sand surrounding the minion, and once on its leg which unfortunately did nothing to incapacitate it. Reloading her rifle was an impossibility, it was dropped into the sand forgotten as well. With two of her three offenses down she was left with no other choice but to charge another blast of fire and lightning. One minion. One single minion... I guess that will teach me to get cocky… If I even have another chance…
Lena gritted her teeth and held her hands in front of her, hoping that she had channeled enough will to throw an effective assault.
Just as she had readied her mnemonic, she heard a single shot ring through the air, followed by the sound of metal striking metal. She opened her eyes to see Ben finishing off that single minion that was threatening her existence. The rest of the troops had finally reached their battleground just as another wave of minions reached them. Ben scooped up both of the Queen's weapons from the ground and reached for her waist, pulling her from the fray.
"Some hero I am, right?" Lena laughed out limply as Ben tugged her further from the skirmish. His sword in one hand, the other wrapped firmly around Lena's waist as he hunched forward rushing her from the battle. She retrieved her weapons from the crook of his elbow, freeing his arm and strapped them back into their consigned spaces.
She grinned at him and went to make her move back into the fight.
"Oh, no you don't," Ben grunted, sheathing his sword in favor of gripping her shoulders and pulling her back towards himself, "You just nearly got yourself killed out there. What were you thinking, rushing out there alone?"
Lena could hear the clash of metal on metal and smelled the gunpowder in the air. She couldn't spend any more time thinking, she just had to get back into the fight to help her squad. Ben gripped her arm once more, giving her an irreverent look.
"Ben, I've got to get back out there, they need my help." Lena made to move again, but this time, rather than attempt to stop her, Ben followed closely on her tail, readying his rifle once more.
"You really are a hell of a woman," Ben began his typical bout of mid-fight ramblings before they reached the thick of the battle, "A true hero and all that. Fantastic, really, but so damnstubborn…"
Lena shook her head once at him laughing silently to herself. She readjusted her grip on her sword. The blood flowing freely from her forearm was hindering her grip on the pommel. This won't be pretty…
"Truthfully, I have never met such a person as yo—whoa, there!" Ben was interrupted mid-sentence by a minion that unexpectedly dove at him from over a dune, narrowly dodging an arcing slice of the minion's bladed arm and unloaded his rifle directly into its carapace. It fell bodily to the ground where it twitched, once, twice, then collapsed into a heap of cogs and gears, leaking black oil into the golden sand.
"Did you see that! It nearly took my head off!" Ben laughed boisterously, pointing wildly to the mass of metal lying at his feet as Lena tried her hardest to keep a firm grip on her blade as she took on yet another minion. She looked over her shoulder briefly to give him an exasperated shake of her head.
"Well. I thought it was impressive…" Ben shrugged enigmatically.
"BEN! A little less chit-chat, a little more assistance. Please!" Lena had just blocked a heavy flourish from the next clockwork beast; a growing pile of gears was forming around her heels.
"Oh, right… Sorry…" Ben smiled once more in spite of himself and threw himself into the fray, wit and cutlass gleaming.
"Lena! You can't just go throwing yourself into battles like that! Quite literally. You threw yourself!" Ben emphasized his words with a grand sweeping gesture. He had already corralled her back into her bedchamber, forcing her to sit down on her bed in the semi-darkness. Ben dropped all of their weapons to the floor by the door and strung his several ammo and bomb belts across the back of her desk chair.
"I didn't throw myself into anything, Ben. I knew exactly what I was doing." Lena retorted.
"Right, you didn't just jump off of that bloody tower, or anything. I'm just imagining that." Ben said in a rather acerbic manner.
"That's not what I mean, Ben," Lena gave an exasperated shake of her head. "Look, you can't expect me just to stand idly by and watch my men die. I need to be out there, they deserve that much. You know that. You've lived this." Lena gripped his hand, and looked him in the eye, imploring he see her reasoning.
"Of course, Lena. You know I understand." He gave her hand a squeeze to punctuate his words. "You want to help all of them; I want to help you. To keep you safe. As safe as I can at least." Ben shook his head and gestured at her bloodstained top, bruised cheek and ravaged arm, laughing silently at the thought of his queen's unnaturally strong willpower.
"I'm fine. I'll heal, it's only a couple of scrapes and bruises," Lena pulled away and went to leave the building, "I don't need any help."
"Scrapes and- The hell you don't! Look at your bloody arm! Bloody being the vital word, there!" Ben was dead serious at this point, as he gestured to Lena's freely hemorrhaging arm, "Those damn Minions. That chump really got you there, didn't he?" Ben lightly gripped the underside of her forearm and elbow to take a closer look.
"Ben, please. Like I said, I'll heal. I heal quickly." Lena brushed his hands aside and started for the front door. Ein lifted his head in anticipation for another stroll outside, but was rebuffed when Ben started his next tirade.
"Yeah, maybe, but not before an infection sets in! I've seen less severe injuries than this go from paper cut to amputation worthy in less than a day. I am cleaning this up for you, and there is absolutely nothing you can say or do to persuade me otherwise," Ben stood and guided her back to her bed, "Now sit down, and wait here. Stay! Please." He paused no less than three times on his way to the door to assure that Lena was still. She cocked an eyebrow at him and gave him a contemptuous look.
"Benjamin, you do realise that I am not of the canine persuasion? I assure you." Ein, who had been sitting quietly at his master's feet, gave a small derisive whimper. Ben shrugged his shoulders and shook his head before turning around one last time and leaving the quarters.
"He may be unhappy that I barged headfirst into battle, but I'm almost certain that it wounds him more that it was just that I didn't have the decency to let him get the first shot." Lena said to her collie, grinning. He just gave her a weak sigh and rested his muzzle on his front paws once more. Well I thought it was funny. The same goes for you as well; I'm sure, sir, considering you were having a little lie-down through the entirety of the skirmish.
"No dogs in the bunker, Ein. Outside," Ben snapped his fingers at the dog upon his re-entry, carrying an armload of antiseptics and clean gauze and linen. Ein whimpered softly, fixed Ben with a withering glare and grumbled as he retreated back into the courtyard through the halfway opened door.
"That's quite the lovely dog you've got there, rather personable if you do ask me." Ben stated sarcastically, pointing with his thumb over his shoulder.
"He learned from the best," Lena said proudly with a mischievous grin.
"Now, let me have a look," Ben sat beside her gently on the bed and laid out his supplies across the patchwork coverlet. "Lucky we have all these supplies, I have seen some pretty terrible infections in my time. We might've had to lop the entire thing off," Ben said, smiling, as he gently cleaned the long cuts that marred Lena's arm.
"Ben, you do realise that we are in the middle of a desert, not a marsh? I'm not going to get a wild infection in just twenty minutes." Lena said condescendingly through the stinging of the antiseptic.
Ben ignored her completely, or rather, pretended not to hear her.
"Yeah? Well…" Ben paused, searching for a retort. None came to him. He sighed deeply and went back to cleansing Lena's wounds. A smug sense of satisfaction washed over her and she couldn't help but smile at Ben's pseudo-misfortune. To get Benjamin Finn to shut up was a talent in its own; one that Lena had been working to perfect in her time in his acquaintance.
"Now, Captain Finn, you couldn't possibly be so distraught about my little bout of bad luck?" Lena gestured to her forearm, which Ben was now dubiously patching with thin squares of gauze. Her small smile still graced the corners of her mouth. "I'll guess that you're just jealous of the impressive scars that I'll be sporting once this heals right up."
Lena couldn't help but notice that he still hadn't responded. It was so uncharacteristic that it effectively wiped of the remnants of her self-satisfied simper.
"Ben?" Lena asked, touching his forearm with the hand that wasn't attached to the arm he was studiously swathing within layers of cool linen bandages, "Ben is something wrong?"
Her brow furrowed as she unsuccessfully attempted to gauge the expression on his composed face. He glanced up briefly, meeting her eyes for a fleeting second before focusing once more on his current task. His mouth opened once, as if about to speak, but he promptly shut it again and shook his head.
"I'm… just thinking about our earlier conversation, is all." Ben stated simply after a few moments of deliberation. Ben finished wrapping her bandages but instead of withdrawing his hands he trailed his fingers down her forearms and gripped both of hands. The same look crossed his face that she had noticed the night previous before leaving the mess. The atmosphere of the room shifted. It felt powerful. Intense.
Lena froze. She stared wide eyed into his open gaze and swallowed hard. Ben met her stare, eyebrows furrowed as he still tightly gripped her hands.
He sat up sharply, clearing his throat and began to move towards the door.
"You should get some rest, princess. It's been a long day."
Lena let out a breath that she hadn't known she had been holding and stood quickly, attempting to stop him before he reached the door.
"Ben, would you-" She reached for his wrist, gripping the white sleeve of his rough cotton tunic in her palm, her question abruptly silenced when he turned quite suddenly and roughly fastened his lips with her own.
She stood shocked for a brief second, and then she closed her eyes tightly and slid her hands up to his chest until she held the lapels of his vest in her palms, pulling him downward and deepening their kiss. She felt his hand take her waist, his long fingers digging into the thin fabric of her top. She gripped the lapels of his vest more firmly and pulled him even closer before dragging her fingers into the short hair at the nape of his neck.
Ben backed her gently back into the room until she came up short, the backs of her knees hitting the edge of her quilt covered mattress. She sat down abruptly, pulling Ben with her where he held the small of her back with one hand and held himself up with the other, poised over her as he kissed her ardently.
Lena gasped into his lips as he tightened his hold of her waist and positioned one of his knees between her own. Her thoughts were running a mile a minute. Ben. I'm kissing Ben, and he's kissing me back. Am I asleep? This is too good to be true… She assumed that after her months of hopelessly pining over him that it was just that, hopeless. She never imagined that she'd actually find herself in her current position; somewhere between her firm mattress in the middle of the Auroran desert and her Captain's warm chest.
Ben gave her a quizzical look, before he gently brushed the stray blonde curls from her cheek and forehead. She was almost certain that he understood how wildly rampant her mind was running
"Lena…" He sighed, closing his eyes once more and replacing his lips on her own, effectively silencing her internal discourse. Lena sighed in contentment and trailed her fingers through his hair. Seconds passed. Dozens of minutes, maybe, but she hadn't a care in the world. Somewhere far away, out of the semblance of heaven that they had built for themselves, she could hear a small scratching accompanied by an occasional whimper. She paused for a brief second, her hands resting in the unexpected silkiness of Ben's hair. He paused fleetingly to meet her eyes before continuing his administrations. Oh, she didn't care. The only thing that mattered was Ben's lovely mouth; a mouth with which he was now trailing kisses down her cheek and jaw to her neck. Lena let out a satisfied whimper. By Avo, he's good at this… The scratching noise again. What?
The door to the barracks swung open, creaking loudly until it bounced lightly from the roughhewn stone of the buildings walls.
"How can a canteen be a place where you go to get a drink and a thing you put your water in? Just sayin'. We need two words." Lieutenant Montgomery accompanied by a few of the other fort's lieutenants were seemingly in the midst of a great philosophical discussion when they roughly threw open the door. Ein barged happily through, not stopping for a second thought before barreling into the room.
The lieutenants stopped short at the sight of their queen and their newly appointed General sprawled across the patchwork quilted bed in the corner of the barracks, tangled in each other's limbs.
Lena broke apart from Ben with a gasp, pushing him off of her onto the bed and stood quickly, accidently knocking the scattered bottles of anesthetics that Ben had retrieved to the floor where they promptly shattered. It didn't even faze the shocked lieutenants as they stood in the doorway, open mouths gaping.
"Ahem. My sincerest apologies, your Majesty…" Thankfully, Dan had the decency to look at least slightly apologetic about his sudden and inopportune intrusion. Lieutenants Tom and Geoff stood behind him grinning widely. Tom wouldn't stop elbowing Geoff in the side. Lena was absolutely mortified. "We'll just be on our way. We'll be in the mess if you need anything."
Geoff let out a disapproving sound, "But I was—" Dan cut him off with a curt shake of his head and pointed outside.
"Your Majesty. General Finn." With a salute he was out the door, leaving Lena to her absolute humiliation. She sprinted across the room and threw the latch, locking the door securely behind them.
She crossed her arms and looked back to Ben who was now lounging quite comfortably on her bed, feet crossed at his ankles dangling from the side with his arms tucked behind his head on her pillows, a wide grin spread across his face.
"I'm so glad you find this funny," Lena deadpanned.
Ben chuckled deep in his chest, his grin, somehow, growing.
"Absolutely hysterical."