"So he left us at Verge to go have a fight with a bird, then came back four years later... to open a shop in Bastion?"
She paused for a moment before mumbling:
“Actually, he always wanted to run a Memory shop. I guess dreams do come true... good for you, doofus."
Then, she suddenly yelled:
“But wait! There's more! He also seduced our poor, naive Nephis! The scoundrel!"
Sunny almost stumbled.
Neph's even voice resounded from behind the closed door.
"Who says that it wasn't me who seduced him?"
Effie seemed to have given her a look of pity.
"Oh, please..."
Nephis responded in the same reserved tone.
"But wasn't it you who suggested that I should... hmm... how exactly did you put it? Oh, yes..."
Effie's voice suddenly rose an octave.
"I did not! I absolutely did not! Your memory is messed up... because of Cassie. That's why you think that I said all those things about Sunny. You know, about how he is... he is..."
She fell silent and then said in a shaky tone:
"..He's standing right behind me, isn't he?"
Sunny, who had opened the door a moment earlier, smiled.
"He is."
Then, a deafening shout made him wince.
"Mommy!"
Little Ling dashed forward and slammed into Effie with all his Transcendent strength. Any other mother would have probably been sent crashing through the wall by the unbridled enthusiasm of his embrace, but she just swayed faintly, glanced down, and wrapped her hands around the boy.
“Dumpling!”
Sunny watched them with a dubious smile. The scene was so overly sweet that his teeth hurt. It was a good thing that the little menace had only asked him for an infernal horse...
In the next moment, however, someone slammed into him, as well.
"Sunny!"
Sunny was dazed for a moment.
‘What is happening?’
Who was hugging him tightly enough to make him feel like he was suffocating?
‘Oh, right... it's that fool.'
Of course, it was Kai.
"Yeah... good to see you too, buddy. Now, can you let go of me?"
Instead of answering, Kai just hugged him tighter.
Sunny let out a heavy sigh and glanced at Jet, who was sitting on a chair some distance away.
His eyes were saying:
"Please, help!"
Jet studied him for a few seconds, then raised an eyebrow.
“What? You want me to join the hug, Sunny?"
He considered it for a moment, looked at Nephis, then shook his head.
Jet chuckled.
Then, a smile appeared on her lips — a rare soft smile that he had not seen grace her face before, and that suited her too well.
Jet sighed.
“It is good to have you back, Sunny. It's really... really good to have you back."
Sunny remained silent for a short while. Eventually, he exhaled slowly.
"It's good to be back, everyone."
Nephis, Cassie, Effie, Kai, Jet...
Seeing them, he finally felt... at home. There were a lot of things he had to do. The world was able to remember him once more — but for most people who had known him, that simply meant that they considered him dead, buried under snow somewhere in Antarctica. Only those who had met the Lord of Shadows or Master Sunless face-to-face would know the truth, and out of them, most believed that the Lord of Shadows was gone.
That meant two things. First, that there was no threat of the Forgotten God waking up because of him. And second... that he had a lot of explaining to do.
In the near future, Sunny would have to visit a few people. Teacher Julius, Saint Tyris... Naeve was probably very confused at the moment. Sunny would finally be able to congratulate Quentin on surviving the Second Nightmare in a meaningful way, and give Kim and Luster his official blessing. There were others, as well.
And, of course... there was Rain.
But for now, Sunny simply wanted to enjoy the company of his friends.