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Blinking into existence was nothing like fading out of it.
There was no bright light, no emptiness that bled through her bones in a matter of seconds, no looking to the right to see her one last time, maybe just a little longer to reach out and hold her hand before--nothingness.
There was only the distinct feeling of being, and feeling, as if it had never stopped in the first place. Caulifla glances around at her teammates, who are all processing this miracle on their own time. Marveling, pinching their arms or looking around like she was to make sure this was all real, and cheering in unhindered joy at the phenomenon of living.
She flexes her hands and sucks in a deep breath, taking in the sensation of her lungs expanding, and her blood pumping. Life fills her up, so up to the brim she doesn’t realize how big she’s beaming until it almost hurts. She whips around to her right to see Kale, and something else fills her up.
“Kale!” She shouts, running to her without a thought; only feeling, only instinct, only want.
Kale turns to her voice with a bewildered expression of a million emotions, too many for Caulifla to name, so many she wants to hold on to. Caulifla gets up to her and wraps her arms around her, holding on to what she can. Whatever Kale would’ve said is stolen by a surprised yelp as Caulifla squeezes her close and relaxes her into a dip. The weight and warmth of Kale in her arms is everything right now. The way she’s looking up at her, all wide-eyed and breathless--whether it’s from being alive or seeing Caulifla, or maybe both--is everything right now. It’s everything and it bubbles up into a laugh, helpless and happy.
Caulifla pulls Kale up closer and leans toward her all at once, pressing a kiss to her lips because it feels right, and because she can.
It lasts only a second or two, and when she pulls back, Kale looks almost like she might cry again, but she’s smiling. Laughter bubbles out from her, too, as she puts her arms up around Caulifla’s neck to bring her back down for another one.