Tiernan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"You all go," he said. "I'll deal with them."
"What did you do with the Alliance people?" Llewellyn asked suddenly.
"They're all tied up in the hallway, still unconscious," Tiernan said. "I'll hand them over to KARMA, though I wouldn't hold my breath for any arrests. I'd suggest you equip concealment and try to sneak out of the hotel if you can."
"You really are the best leader," Ejay said, patting Tiernan's shoulder. "It's in moments like this that you earn both of TAPESTRY's 'T's."
Tiernan gave him an unimpressed look, while several TAPESTRY members started snorting and snickering.
***
While TAPESTRY fussed around Gilded and tried to sort things out among themselves, Llewellyn and I equipped concealment and started toward the exit, weaving between overturned chairs and debris.
The ballroom looked like a warzone, which… I supposed it had been, in a sense.
Penguin chittered on my shoulder, still clinging to me.
"I need to get home and shower," I said with a sigh as we reached the service corridor. "I'm covered in blood."
"Don't even think about going anywhere," Llewellyn said immediately. "You're coming with me."
Huh?
"What? Why?"
Llewellyn's jaw was set. "You died, Ryo. You stopped breathing. You're not going anywhere."
I looked down at myself. I probably looked like I'd crawled out of a horror movie.
"It's just blood," I said. "I can clean up at my place and then join you afterw—"
"No," Llewellyn said, tone brooking no argument. "You're coming home with me."
Home, he said.
Uh.
Well, alright.
"Fine," I said. "But I need to call Gran first. She's probably worried sick if this has already made the news."
Llewellyn nodded, his expression softening slightly.
I took out my phone.
"…"
On second thought, I didn't think I'd be able to talk to Gran right now without breaking down.
Ah, damn it. What was wrong with me?
I rubbed my eyes. In the end, I opted to type a quick text.
"I'm alive and well!" I typed. "If you watched the news, no need to worry. The three of us are fine."
I sent it quickly before I could change my mind and slid my phone back into my pocket.
I was going to call Gran later and tell her properly once I was sure I could speak without any issues.
In the hall, I spotted both Ó Néill and Ó Lochlainn talking to security, while several other KARMA agents milled around.
I eyed Llewellyn but it didn't look like he wanted to stop to give his statement. They were likely used to him vanishing anyway.
If they asked us later why we were there, we could just say the System sent us; no need to even mention TAPESTRY's role in this, though it'd be clear we'd fought with them. But… they didn't need to know they'd been the ones roping us in.
We made it out of the hotel without incident, teleporting from the alley behind it straight into Llewellyn's living room.
Lumos appeared with a pop and bounded over immediately, tail wagging, then stopped and whined when he caught the scent of blood.
"It's okay," Llewellyn said, bending down to scratch behind his ears. "We're fine."
Penguin chittered anxiously from my shoulder, seemingly conflicted between wanting to say hi to Lumos and being unwilling to let go.
I took him and placed him down gently.
"It's all good now," I said. "I'm not going anywhere, and there's no fighting, see? I'm just going to take a shower. You can wait here with Lumos in the meantime."
Penguin let out more anxious chittering. I explained again and he transformed back into a penguin, chirping dejectedly, before waddling toward Lumos and rubbing his little face against Lumos instead.
Lumos looked down at him and whined a bit too, looking unsure of what was going on.
Ah, this was all a bit—
I didn't want them to be upset.
I scratched my head and stood up again.
"Shower," Llewellyn said, taking my arm gently and dragging me toward his room. "Now."
I nodded, suddenly feeling the weight of everything that had happened. The blood was starting to feel sticky and uncomfortable.
"I can manage on my own," I said as Llewellyn pushed me into the bathroom and turned on the water.
"I want to check if your wou—" Llewellyn started, then caught himself, and looked away, ears red. "I need a shower too," he said instead. "Unless you mind?" he added after a moment.
…Mind showering with him? Me?
As if.
I'd wanted to see him again so badly, even if just one more time, I wasn't really sure what to do with myself now that we were alone.
I started pulling off my blood-soaked clothes, but Llewellyn took over and took them off me himself, before doing the same with his own.
When we stepped under the hot spray, Llewellyn immediately reached for the shower gel, his hands swiping at the blood congealed on my torso and abdomen, wiping it away with a cloth, only relaxing slightly when he could see there was no scar.
"I told you I'm fine," I said.
Llewellyn didn't reply, just proceeded to wash me carefully.
I swallowed, this felt a bit—
"Your turn," I said later, taking the washcloth from his hand.
Llewellyn let me.
We kissed under the shower. Llewellyn pressed me against the wall and we kept kissing, and kissing.
It felt amazing.
I'd thought I'd never get to do this again and I was feeling a bit emotional.
Whenever Llewellyn moved back a bit to breathe I could only hover close and pull him back in.
Once we were out of the shower and wrapped in Llewellyn's giant fluffy towels, with our hair toweled off…
"Hey!" I yelped, flailing. "This is unnecessary! I can walk!"
I mean, why had he picked me up?! This was embarrassing!
Llewellyn ignored my protests and carried me bridal-style out of the bathroom.
This guy! Why was he so strong!