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The first thing to interrupt Josef's blissful unconsciousness was the temperature.
Just enough of a chill that clung to his skin, slowly pulling him from his sleep. The body ache was normal after he expended himself fully, even after the Heart worked its magic on his wounds, his muscles throbbed, his joints stung, and his head felt weak from blood loss. And yet as his mind woke sluggishly, the slight chill was what confused him.
It was tolerable after the freezing cold of the snowy mountains, more like a nightly chill. And even this would have been fine, it made sense in his sleepy consciousness for it to be night, even for him to be resting far away from the ravaged mountainside where he remembered to have fallen.
That had happened to him before.
But no.
The nagging thought that brought him to decide to wake up, was that it was much too bright behind his closed lids to be night time.
White blinded him as he cracked his eyes open. Blinking against the light he nudged his arm to find his sword, only to realize he was still holding it tight to his side, his dirty palm wet with sweat.
The aching faded to numb as he remembered what had happened; the demons, the sky, Nico pulling her old master through a tear in the world, and falling into oblivion willingly.
Panic seized him, and he started to struggle to sit up, trying to look around him for her.
"She's on top of you." Came a voice close to him.
A hand gently pushed him back down to rest on something softer and warmer then the floor. Which was only then, did he realize he had been laying on something other then the floor.
His other hand was still in Nico's hair, and her head lay on his chest, her fingers practically
knotted in his torn shirt. A white blanket had been lain over them both, where it possibly could have come from he didn't know or care.
The floor was cold and hard, but the back of his head and neck was warm, comfortable. Sensations and thoughts were sluggish, but eventually he managed to tilt his gaze upwards.
Eli looked down at him, his eyes tired, shoulders slumped. He was sitting with his legs tucked beside him, Josef's head on his lap. One hand lay on Josef's shoulder, his other was near Josef's own, gently carding through Nico's hair as she slept on top of him.
"Don't think I've woken up like this before." Josef said, looking back up at him.
"No," Eli huffed out an almost chuckle, "this is new for us."
"We won?" It wasn't likely they'd be here talking like this if they hadn't.
"Yeah, we won." Eli's voice was weak, but given what they had gone through in the past week and a half, the fact he was even sitting upright seemed like a miracle. "Defeated the villain, saved the day, whole nine yards."
Josef couldn't help smiling at that. But then he considered Eli's grip on his shoulder, how he nervously continued to pet Nico's hair. He thought about how in all their years of friendship, he'd never would have expected to wake up from one of his near death experiences with his head pillowed on the thief's lap. About the blanket taken from somewhere. Eli always cared in his own way, they'd gotten each other out of all kinds of scrapes, he hadn't abandoned Josef during the mess in Osera, sticking with him when he perhaps needed him most. But this was new.
Eli stared at him, flashing a smile whenever their gazes met, but his eyes were dull.
"It was close, wasn't it?" asked Josef.
Eli didn't say anything for a while.
"...Yeah, it was close," he said quietly. "I don't actually know how we managed to win."
For a moment, Josef could feel Eli's thumb rubbing on his shoulder, just by his shirt collar, and Eli's hand, brushing by Josef's as he continued to methodically stroke Nico's head. Then that all faded to the back of his conscious, as he closed his eyes, and let the peacefulness of the moment drift him back to sleep.
They'd done it.
They'd have time to talk later.