After a few minutes, the talking indistinct behind the door, it opened again. Kalyah returned, a contented smile on her face. She poured a fresh cup of water for him and urged him to drink, while she sat beside him.

"Did I do--" he cut off, his throat sore and causing him to cough.

"Drink, drink, honey," Kalyah said. "I can't heal a side effect like this, it has to work its way out of you. Numb Spores are vicious little shits. If it wasn't for the Druid, and you found them in the wild, then you would get so numb you couldn't breathe. You'd die in the patch and feed the nasty mushrooms." She patted his back as he gagged. "Don't freak out, you're not in any danger. I told you that you're fine. She kept them from doing their worst to you."

He cleared his throat, his tongue felt like a big wad of cotton. Another cup was brought to his mouth. Slowly he drank with the nurse's assistance.

"If you gotta pee, I'll carry you, don't worry," she said, her voice kept switching from calm professional to a happy maternal tone. She smelled like well washed linens, it reminded him of the days he had spent in a hospital. Her nature wasn't far off from the caring nurses. "Oh, honey, I know this is scary, it's okay to cry. Let it out, it's alright." She cooed gently.

"I thought I was dead," he breathed. "That's why I got scared."

"Oh, but you weren't. I'm sorry to keep you under that dreamless sleep. It was the easiest we had, and I didn't want to wake you up missing all your limbs." She ran her fingers through his hair, scratching his scalp.

The cat bumped into his chest, purring loudly.

"Did I upset her?" he asked, sniffling.

The nurse blinked, surprised. "Diana?"

He nodded.

Kalyah stared at the cat, a smirk on her pink lips. "It wasn't your fault she got upset," she said. "I think she's really upset with herself. I think maybe she's jealous of you. You don't hesitate to show your emotions. I've spent a bit with her, she's all torn up inside, but she keeps pushing and pushing it down. Which I appreciated while we were working on you, but as you saw, it keeps exploding out of her. She needs to deal with it."

The cat jerked its head unnaturally at the nurse.

Meeting gazes with it, she sighed. "You know I'm right, princess," she said.

The cat returned to its begging for scratches.

"Is she okay?" Jonah wondered.

"Mew!" He pet the cat's chin as its azure gaze shot through him.

"No, and she will never be the same again," the nurse said evenly.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, frowning.

"Look at you, lost all your limbs, landed in another world, and you're worrying about some pretty young girl that was annoyed having to watch you all night," she said in disbelief.

"I can't believe it," he started, but broke into coughing.

"Water, water. Goddess, I'm going to make you a tincture for that throat." Kalyah dug through the nightstand holding the water. "Stop trying to talk, it's not doing you any good."

He drank the last of the water, not wanting to be given it anymore. "I can't believe that I'm in a new world, what happened to me. I do understand pain, that's what I meant. I can process that," he said, grateful to finish his speech. He was even more thankful when the water was refilled.

Kalyah gave him a sympathetic smile as she mixed a cup of sweet smelling liquid. How many times had he seen a nurse do something similar? He couldn't count how many times he had fetched ice chips, soaked a rag, or fluffed pillows. Any innumerable actions that he did when he sat where Kalyah was now. A million jobs that one did for the sick, for the dying. He wasn't going to die, he would have, he figured. Somehow losing his limbs in that crash. Or something around it. It was all a blur of fire and water. What a shitty way to be transported, all his limbs severed. The truth dawned on him, that dark cloud that haunted those weeks on the couch at home. The TV would light his face as the room had gone from afternoon sun to nighttime while he sat, sinking into it.

"I might as well have been dead before," he admitted. "I just didn't have the courage to do it."

"Ooh honey. You're safe, and you're going to get better. Don't worry," the nurse intoned, handing him the mixture.

"No, I didn't have anyone before. My mother died and I was all alone," he said, tears streaking down his cheeks.

Kalyah squeezed his hand. "Oh, goddess, I'm so sorry, sweet boy," she said, her voice thick with sympathy.

"Mew! Mew! Mew!" He petted the cat, feeling the pulse of a living thing against his prosthetic. What use did his old limbs have? Numbly thumbing the remote for hours on end. Not a damn thing done for days. The job was useless, a suggestion when he crawled out from his den to feed himself. No matter the pain, he kept moving on. Kept his body going when his heart had died. He finally agreed, showing up and moving in silence. All his coworkers asked after him, trying to make nice.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"There's food coming for you, after you eat, you'll feel better. Come on, drink that up," Kalyah encouraged him.

There was no trace of bitterness in the liquid, a strange fruity and honey filling him. It soothed his sore throat, brought life back to his tongue. All his belly had now was fluid, the water making its way out quickly.

"What's this world called?" he asked, licking his lips.

"Hera," she said.

"Hm, don't know that one," he said with a smirk. The tears had faded, the deadness he was accustomed to had settled in. A hospital bed was a familiar location, no matter how strange the occupant.

Kalyah chuckled. "You travel worlds often, then?"

"No, but people imagine plenty where I come from. It's common to want to be anywhere else," he said, thumbing the rim of the ceramic cup.

"Is that so? Is there magic?" she wondered.

"No."

"Gods?"

"None of them are real, at least, that I believe," he said, drinking more of the mix. The sweetness was pushing the malaise from his body, but he was still drowsy. That horrible grumble ripped through him. One he had ignored until he wanted to chew on the couch to sate himself. Then he threw something in the microwave that wasn't much better than the cotton filled cushions.

"What a shame, I think you might like our world better," Kalyah said happily.

"There's a war?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, my people have been on the sidelines of countless conflicts, healing the wounded. There's always some conflict…" She averted her eyes as the cat glared at her with the same unnatural jerk of its head. "This one is in the beginning stages, so don't worry, we won't be pulling up to any direct battles. And if one should come to us, there's plenty of skilled fighters aboard this ship." She pointed around her. "Don't worry about that, you have nothing to worry about besides getting better. No one will bother you. Some people are free to join us for a meal," she said the last part raising her voice, looking pointedly at the cat.

"Thank you, for everything," he said.

"I'm glad you're taking it so well," she said with a grin.

"I didn't have anything where I lived before," he said plainly.

She shook her head, sweet face set. "No, you were still alive. You could deal with your grief and make something better of your life. No matter how long it took. But now you get to do that here, as intact as you can be after that nightmarish trip to our world. There are gods here aplenty and my goddess believes that so long as you have your body and soul together, you can strive to make the world a better place to live." She clapped her hands together. "You have been blessed with a second chance, Jonah, I look forward to how you use it."

He couldn't help but smile at the small woman. "How do you know my name?" he wondered, finally able to ask with his head clearer than it was before.

"The name plate in your pocket, some of your things survived, including your glass slate," she said, gesturing to a pile in the corner of the room.

"Glass slate?" he repeated. "My phone?"

"Oh, Stephan will be happy to hear that. But he's barred from entering, he'll only talk your damn ear off," she said, sneering.

A knock came at the door. "It's the freaky creature that will scare the boy with my disgusting looks," called a strange woman's voice.

"Lucy, you self obsessed little devil," Kalyah grumbled, stomping to the door. As she opened it, a person pushed their shoulder in. It was apparently Diana, but in much different clothes, a ruffled blouse and leather pants, she was smiling wildly, eyes hungry to stare at him. Kalyah stamped her boot as the woman entered with a tray of food, she was barefoot, the pants rolled up to her calves.

"Does this form offend him?" the Diana person asked.

"You're being terribly rude to my patient," Kalyah growled.

"Oh, come now, I have been two weeks without you while you kept praying for hours on end," the person whined, pouting her lip. She set the tray down with a clatter. "Do you know how stiff she's been acting while watching over you?" She pointed a finger at Jonah. "The little boy on the bed. She was absolutely chaise for two weeks! Kalyah usually doesn't go two days without someone getting a piece of that dwarf ass." She licked her lips, it looked like Diana, but it sounded nothing like her.

Kalyah yanked at the person's arm. "Come on, let's go, no need to ruin my good reputation," she said through grit teeth.

The person stayed perfectly in place, as if she were rooted. "A demon is far stronger than you, especially a curious one," she said. Blinking, she flashed a set of solid black eyes set with ruby pupils, before going back to Diana's brown. "You have a very good reputation aboard this ship. Ask about the other ways she can nurse you, boy." A sinister laugh escaped her throat and she fondled her own chest. "Looks like he's far more interested in this shape."

The door slammed open and Diana entered in a modest green tunic and a long skirt. She regarded the doppelganger, or whatever the hell it was, with disdain. Jonah had frozen in place, as he did often when everything got too much to handle. It's why he avoided so much of life.

"Lucy, how disgusting and freakish to take the shape of a woman you hardly know and mock me to a boy you know even less ," she said succinctly.

The duplicate shrunk before the original. "It was all in jest, princess, I didn't mean anything," she laughed unevenly.

"Go," Kalyah snapped, jabbing a finger at the door.

Lucy gave them a pained grin, escaping out of the door. As she left, a flash of reddish flame engulfed her and all he could see was a pointed tail. Which was almost slammed in the door as Kalyah pushed all her weight against it. The nurse mumbled furious words in another language.

"Please, honey, forget that ever happened," Kalyah insisted, carefully setting the tray on the bed.

The cat went running across the bed and sat in Diana's lap as she took a place at the end of the couch. It was not quite a glare, but something like a sorrowful stare that she gave him, possessively petting her familiar's head. He struggled to lift the bowl, an atrophy having set into his upper arm. Humiliation filled him with the food as Kalyah helped him to eat.

"You'll get stronger, don't you worry. I'm glad you had the power to give Aiko some love," the nurse said pleasantly. The desire to push the last few minutes out of the air was clear. "This will get you up and about in no time."

It was some kind of soup broth, all he could really taste was the salt of the golden mixture. After gladly finishing the bowl, his body grew heavier. On the nurse's direction, he settled into the bed.

Diana tried to leave, but once again Aiko wouldn't go with her, settling down at the edge of Jonah's bed.

"Fine, I will read by the bathroom light, the sources know I need to study," she huffed. "Will that disturb you?" She stared at Jonah.

He shook his head. By the time she returned he was already falling asleep.