Llewellyn kissed me back.
We heard some whistling around us and a loud "I knew it!", probably from Jihoon, but we ignored it.
When Llewellyn pulled back to look at me, his face was still stricken. Blood—mine—had smeared across his cheek and his lips.
Uh.
I swallowed.
Just then, Penguin finally reached me and scrambled up my chest, chirping frantically.
I helped him up and he started rubbing his little head all over my neck, jaw, face, everything he could reach, chirping louder.
"Hey, hey," I said, trying to calm him down. "It's fine! I'm fine. I'm okay."
More loud chirping.
I tried to sit up so I could cuddle him properly and pat his little head, but Penguin pressed harder against me, his feathers a little damp.
Ah, shit. He must have been really scared.
I felt bad about it, but I was glad to see he was okay. I'd definitely do it again, so I wasn't going to dwell on it.
Llewellyn stepped back to give us space.
To be honest, I felt embarrassed about having spiraled so hard while I was floating there alone. It was a good thing no one would ever know about it.
I could probably cut myself some slack, since I'd just died, but… I cringed a bit at the thought.
A wet cough from nearby made me look over.
Gilded had let his stream of magic come to an end and was on his knees a few feet away, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth as he kept coughing. His hands were still glowing faintly with healing magic.
Fuck. No. What!
He'd gotten like this to help me?!
"What—" I started. "Are you okay?"
Gilded raised his hand as if telling us to wait, then kept coughing. More blood trickled out of his mouth.
"I'm fine," he said, wiping his mouth with his sleeve, his elegant jacket badly torn. "Just overdid it a bit."
That clearly wasn't nothing!
Llewellyn took a bunch of Divine Restoration Draughts out of his inventory and dumped them all into Gilded's arms.
"Huh?" Gilded said, looking down, a bit dazed. "What?"
"You don't have System access," Llewellyn said. "So take them. These are Divine Restoration Draughts. Drink one, it should help with whatever is making you cough up blood. Keep the rest for when you need them."
Gilded eyed Llewellyn, looking unconvinced, but in the end opened one and gulped it down.
I watched his shoulders relax and color return to his face.
"I'm never doing that again," he said, wiping his mouth and throwing the vial onto the floor. "So, do not count on it."
Well, that seemed reasonable to me.
"Thank you," I said, meaning it.
Had Gilded really been the one to bring me back, then?
I mean, it didn't seem like it had been Queen Seolene's doing. She'd just walked away after rebalancing my magic, or whatever that had been. And I hadn't known how to return myself. So it must have been him.
But why?
Either way, I was grateful.
I was also starting to feel elated to be back. Adrenaline was rushing through my body, and my heart just wanted to whoop out of my chest.
I was still holding Penguin, and I wished Llewellyn would get back here right this minute so I could kiss him again.
"How are you feeling?" Yuè Zhōu asked, crouching next to me.
"Better now that Penguin has settled a bit," I said, looking down at Penguin.
He had squirmed, chirped, and flapped around frantically so much that now he seemed to have fallen asleep in my arms, exhausted.
"Yeah… Roan tried to calm him down, but he was really beside himself."
Ah, poor Penguin. I hadn't meant to scare him so much!
"System," I asked. "How is the bond with Penguin? Is it fine?"
[System Analysis: Bonded entity Penguin is stable. The bond currently presents as it did prior to User Ryo's cardiac and neurological cessation.
Status: No remaining discontinuity detected.
Additional Note: Temporary variance was observed during the death event. This has resolved. Bonded entity Penguin's emotional distress is being soothed.]
Fuck. Thank goodness.
A moment later, Llewellyn was also crouching next to me again, placing a Divine Restoration Draught in my hands.
"You should drink one too," he said.
"I don't think I need it," I said. It was the truth; I felt decent enough now.
Llewellyn, however, would have none of it.
"Drink," he said.
I sighed and gulped it down.
Ah, how was this potion so good? Honestly.
My body suddenly felt healed and refreshed.
"Can you stand?" Llewellyn asked.
"Yeah," I said. "No problem."
I got up.
I was covered in blood and was swaying a bit, but… I felt fine.
I looked around for Gilded. I needed to thank him—but how?
"We'll take care of him," Roan said, patting Gilded's shoulder. "You guys can go."
"What? Hey," Gilded said, looking appalled at the idea. "I don't need help."
"You just brought someone back from the dead," Phelan said. "Sit down before you fall over."
"And you helped us in the fight, even though your methods were questionable," Tiernan said, stepping in. "We're not leaving you alone. Come on. We're going to our headquarters. You can stay with us until tonight, then we'll see how you feel and decide what to do then."
"I don't need—" Gilded started, looking annoyed at the fuss, but in the end he was too exhausted to put up much fight. "Fine. Whatever."
I tried to get Penguin into my pocket, but he refused to let go. He looked up at me with wide eyes, then buried his face against my collarbone again.
Damn it. I hoped I hadn't traumatized him too badly, but… he was okay now, which was what mattered.
A few moments later, he turned into a sugar glider and climbed up, settling onto my shoulder.
Phelan came to shake my hand then, and I realized that we'd never been introduced before.
So now I'd really met the entirety of TAPESTRY, huh.
"What a mess," Ejay said with a sigh, looking around.
Just then, Shea came into the room, his hair sticking up in all directions—probably because of the headphones he always wore.
"KARMA just arrived," he said. "What do we do?!"
Ah, shit.