So many voices began to squabble at once in her head. Self-preservation said Run, get out of here while you can still walk. Pettiness said Let it eat her. But the one voice that spoke loudest of all was the one she'd never been able to put to words, the one that had never allowed her to fully hate Audrey for whatever reason. The one that had forgiven her, all those months ago.
She took one step. I'm not noble. Another, then two more. I'm not selfless. She broke into a staggering run that set every bone in her chest aflame. I'm not kind. It didn't matter what she was or what she wasn't. It didn't matter that she was Thieves' Guild. What mattered was that every second she wasted thinking about it was one second closer to Audrey's death, and she pumped her legs harder, dagger clattering to the cobblestone as she slid, scraped her knees, threw both palms to the either side of the younger blonde.
The sharp set of jaws descended upon Damia's back, and then everything was quiet. As the fangs dug deeper into her, piercing her sides, a laugh bubbled up in her throat. Blood saturated the material of her blouse, hot and distracting against her skin, and with nearly all of her hair curtaining her face, she looked to Audrey, red painting her lips like a mockery of lipstick.
"Don't tell anyone I was noble," she whispered.
And then it threw her, her body hitting the stone more than an arms length away.
Audrey was frozen in place, eyes wide, and skin stained with Damia’s blood. It was only after the beast had thrown her like a lifeless doll that her body had begun to tremble. First it had been tears that had begun to well up in her eyes as she tightened them shut, then she was holding back the choking feeling in her throat while trying to conceal the increasing shaking of her body. But then, after all of that, it was just anger. It froze in in her core, spreading to her limbs as she stiffened up and eyes shot open to stare back at Behemoth with his one, beady little eye.
“Shiva!”
At the command the tall figure of a woman erupted from the ground, appearing behind the king. Her sword impaled him through the side, using the rest of her strength to throw him off the small blonde. With another wave of her sword, she unleashed Diamond Dust upon the creature while Audrey scurried to Damia’s side. The sight of her mangled body made her stomach retch, dragging her the best way she could out of the scene and out of Behemoth’s eye.
This is all I can do for now, child.
As soon as Audrey reached the corner she began stumbling as Shiva returned to her, each step leaving a frosted footprint before entirely dissipating. Setting Damia down she got to work looking for a sturdy board and some left over tarp. It wouldn’t do to carry her incorrectly to the medics and have her die on Audrey’s behalf. “Damia,” she called out to her, putting the supplies together and hoisting her on the board. “You gotta stay awake. Damia!”
She was still fretting and fussing over the corsair, hands bloodied, when the scrape of a boot on rubble announced someone else’s presence. Citizens were streaming by in the streets, some in groups, others in scattered ones and two, on their way to a place where a king behemoth wasn’t trying to tear them to pieces… and one of those hurried passersby was a very familiar sight indeed, drawn by the sound of that screamed name and a towering blue being stepping down the street, then fading.
“Do mine eyes deceive—” Miles started with a quip, but it died halfway to his lips as he paused at the mouth of the alley and saw the state of the two women. He froze.
“...What in Faram’s name?”
The familiar voice was enough to draw her out of her panicked screams. “Miles!” she craned her neck over her shoulder at first before spinning on her heels. “I—the Behemoth—Damia— ” she fumbled with her words trying to explain the situation as to why his wife and his lover were both beaten to a bloody pulp, his lover more so than his wife. “We have to take her to the clinic. She’s bleeding out. Miles!”