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The blonde puppet sat in an upholstered chair in the middle of an unused hotel room. P had placed it that way very deliberately. It wore a crown over its blonde head and a coat with a Monad's brooch pinned to the lapel was draped over its shoulders.
P approached cautiously. A swirl of emotions were running through him. It was a lot to process. The last time they'd met, they had been enemies... Or so, P had thought. A ping of regret went through him at that memory. If he did nothing else today, he hoped he would at least be able to make amends.
He knelt before the King of Puppets. The puppet's body was new, fresh from the factory. The previous body was beyond repair, sending another ping of regret through P's heart. He presented the ergo to the puppet, carefully cradling it in his hands. The Burnt-White King's ergo... Romeo's ergo.
Pressing it to the puppet's chest, P watched as it absorbed into the new blonde puppet's heart. After a moment of quiet stillness... the puppet's eyes flung open.
The sudden loss of ergo made P woozy and his legs gave out suddenly. He fell back, but Romeo caught him in his new arms.
"Carlo...?" Came the familiar voice.
P's lashes fluttered as he looked up into Romeo's hazel-blue eyes. His heart pounded in his chest.
"I'm sorry..." Came the very quiet utterance from P. Something in Romeo's face softened and he pulled P into a tight embrace. It was unexpected and left P feeling awkward... And somehow, warm. "I'm sorry," he whispered again, more resolutely.
"It's okay," Romeo said into his hair. "You did it, Carlo. You saved me. You saved us all."
A tear rolled down P's cheek and he shook his head. He didn't save everyone.
Very gently, P pulled away from Romeo only for the blonde to look at him and gently wipe away the tear with his thumb.
Looking back at him with his wide blue eyes, P felt a lot of things at once. A warmth in his chest for Romeo... But there was also a tightness there when he thought of everything that'd happened... The way Romeo felt so familiar as if he'd known him his whole life and yet also felt so strange as if he didn't actually know him at all... It really confused P and he didn't know what to do.
"You still don't remember," Romeo spoke. It was a quiet observation and when P looked at him, he noticed he didn't look upset by it. Instead, the blonde smiled sadly. "That's alright. Just knowing you're okay and being together with you again... That's enough for me."