Consciousness came back with a sudenness that could almost be called violent. He was resting his head on someone's lap, and they had a small, soft hand placed atop his forehead. Also, there was something in his mouth, parting his lips and pressing against his front teeth. It's taste was sweet, but not overtly so to the point of the sacacharine. No, it was more like freshly harvested honey, rich and soft against his lips, with what little of it managed to reach his tongue through the saliva still enough to leave an impression.

  Experimentally, he opened his mouth, ever so slightly, and pressed the tip of his tongue against the object.

  The effect was immediate. His eyes exploded open, and his body propped itself into a sitting position without him telling it to, so violently in fact that he startled the person- Mila, obvious now that he was properly awake- in whose lap he had been resting, causing her to yelp in surprise.

  Also, there was a screen before his eyes.

  Due to the great damage and subsequent healing process experimented by the user's body, the next stats have increased:

  STR 28 --> 33

  VIT 31 --> 37

  DEX 37 --> 39

  His eyes darted to his HP and STM. Around eight tenths for the former and a more than adequate 89.4% for the latter, much higher than they had been the last time he had checked. Much, much, higher. So much so, that the only explanation for it could be...

  Healing magic.

  His last memories from before losing conscience came back to him in a rush, and his heart soared with relief. They had the amber. They might not have 'won' in the traditional sense of the word, because they only had it due to Ruth sparing them for reasons unkown . There was a part of him that wanted to be mad about his defeat, about not winning his prize 'the proper way' but... he honestly couldn't bring himself to.

  They could save Conrad, and Mila...

  "Kurt?" Came her voice from behind, weak, disbelieving.

  Right, Mila. He turned to look at her, and found her mostly the same as she had been before he collapsed: The same teary eyes, the same reddish nose... But it was her expression that gave him pause, and threw a bucket of cold water over the fire that had been building up on his chest.

  She looked tired, and confused, as if her brain had been pushed to its utmost limit trying to process everything that had happened in the last, what, twenty minutes? Three hours? How long had he been unconscious? The full moon was still high in the night sky, so he couldn't have been out more than a couple of hours at most.

  "Hey," He called, softly, while reaching for her. He just now noticed the golden glow that was coming from her lap, and how the shadows cast by the light were giving her semblance a somewhat ominous aura. "It's... over, right? We have the amber."

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  The girl nodded absentmindedly, staring him dead in the eye, hers still filled with utter nonplusement. And then Kurt's hand reached her right cheek, grazing it softly, and she finally reacted in earnest. Her face twisted in what seemed like pain, her teeth bared and her gaze looming downwards. For a moment Kurt feared he had hurt her somehow, and tried to pull his arm back.

  She didn't let him. Her hand grabbed his wrist, and pressed it against her face. He could see tears pouring from her clenched eyes now, and he moved on instinct. He hugged her which, with both of them on their knees and him bending at the waist to reach her, caused their chest to press against one another, so tightly that the light cast by the amber all but dissapeared from his vision.

  "Hey, it's okay." he said while his hand rubbed her back. "It's over, I promise it's over. We can just leave this place now, okay?"

  Mila took a deep breath and, with what seemed like a childbirth-like effort,.managed to push a singular word from her lips.

  "Idiot."

  Kurt blinked twice, confused. He softly pushed Mila away, both hands on her shoulders, so that they could see each other's faces, and talked. "W-What? Why do you say that?"

  The girl looked at him, lower jaw trembling, and Kurt saw something in her eyes, something that had been so seamlessly mixed with her sorrow and confusion that it was only that those two emotions had somewhat dissipated that he could see it.

  It was fury. And it was directed at him.

  " 'Kill me?' " She asked. It took him a couple seconds to realize she was merely paraphrasing. Paraphrasing him, to be specific. "You actually asked her to kill you?"

  "I-I... I did, yes." He admitted, feeling a lot less secure on those words now that they had made Mila mad at him than when were actually going to cost him his life. "It... was the only think I could think of to..."

  "Bullshit." She interrupted, her voice so low to the point it was almost a snarl. "You knew there was another option. ONE-" She punctuated the word by jabbing her index at his chest. "-that didn't require you, or anyone, to freaking die! So don't tell me yours was the only way!"

  Despite the harshness of her words, Kurt found his resolve grow at the mention of the 'alternative'. "Yeah, that is true." He conceded. "But that option was no less of a sacrifice, was it? Your life or my death? That's not even a choice in my book."

  Mila's expression hardened, and her cheeks puffed. She was trembling now. "Well, neither is it in mine! Did you think about that for a moment?! That I was willing to make that sacrifice for you?!" She began sniffling, and Kurt saw her ball her fist with knuckle bleaching strength.

  Kurt opened his mouth to retort, but the girl was faster.

  "Two inches. " she said, softly, weakly. She was now looking at her lap, and the amber resting on it. "That's how close her arm came to your kneck. Two inches, and she would have killed you. And I was watching it from up close." She raised her face suddenly and looked him in the eye. Her jaw was tense, and her face was red. "You say you offered her that deal to 'preserve my life'?! Well, what kind of life do you think I could have led with that image in my brain?! I...I..."

  Her rage evaporated, and sorrow took over once more.

  "...There's just no way I could live like that. There just isn't. I would rather spend the rest of my life here, with her, than somewhere else with that."

  Her sniffling grew in intensity, and Kurt felt a ball of guilt on his stomach follow its example. Had he been... selfish, when he had made that deal? He had been offering his life for Conrad and Mila but... was he really? What if he was only trying to score some kind of 'victory' from the wyldfae? To make up for his weakness and failure, and redeem himself with an heroic sacrifice.

  Had it been about his ego?

  "Mila." He called. She said nothing. "Mila." He tried again, firmly, with greater volume, and this time she reacted, turning her tear-stricken eyes towards him. Kurt took a deep breath, and let it go through his mouth before talking. "I'm sorry. I really am. I was desperate, not thinking clearly, and above all else, I felt weak. I was trying to take some measure of control with what little resources I had, so I could try and protect you and Conrad. I... don't know how much of it was me trying to feel better about my defeat and how much was me trying to do the 'noble' thing, I really don't but... whatever the case may be, I really am sorry for my recklessness."

  Mila stared at him as if he had grown a second head. "I... uh... I wanted you to apologize, but now that you have I... only feel like a jerk."She looked at him timidly, and extended both her arms to him. "Can we just hug again? To make it all better?"

  Kurt found himself chuckling at this, and eagerly took the girl on his arms once more. "Always." He whispered, enjoying the warmth of her flesh. The smell of her hair. The softness of her skin.

  And then it happened. It was like... opening your eyes after diving underwater, or like a myopic person putting on a pair of glasses of the first time. A sudden clarity, so massive and fundamental that it was almost like a revelation. Only in his case it wasn't so much 'learning something he didn't know' and more like finally admitting to himself a truth he had been denying to everyone, to himself, for nothing but fear.

  But not anymore. Not after this.

  It was in that clearing under the pale moonlight, that scenario that had almost bore witness to both Kurt and Mila's deaths, while he was holding the girl in question as tightly as he could without hurting her, that he could finally admit it to himself:

  He was in love with Mila.