I had a wonderful life on Earth, I really, truly did. Jokes aside, the social nature of humans let me be a little eccentric and people would laugh it off, they would enjoy me for me, the few I’d gotten to know at least. You don’t find that very often on any world. In a way, this was payback. Swappers have a hard time with kindness for kindness sake, I admit. I only barely grasped it as a concept, but an equal trade? That I understood.

So when I snuck into the hospital the way I did before, I did so with intent to repay a debt and to make my life easier. I can’t very well be a proper NEET if I’m always out working and doing things for myself now, can I? No. No I can not.

Suki was lying there in her bed, the machine at her side beeping with steady slowness, her face was pallid as if she were freshly dead, her decline was steeper than I expected. Her eyes were dull, listless, unfocused.

She showed no sign of response until my hand touched hers. I hadn’t made myself visible yet. “Who…?” She spoke with difficulty, her voice was scratchy and faded.

“Are you? To stop the pain?” She asked.

“Yes.” I said, my slender fingers ran over the back of her hand, she had tape on her arm holding a little clear rubber or plastic tube of some sort down, needles in her hands, tube in her nose, to say she looked like hell would be an understatement.

“Good.” She tried to smile up at nothing. “My boy. He was here. Kayobi is doing all the work. I feel bad that I. Can’t help them. Sweet boy. Sweet girl. He will be…okay. But she seems. So lonely. But. A good neighbor. I hope she is eating. More than just snacks. Look in on her. Would you. Angel. Bless her. For me.”

I don’t know why that made me want to shed human tears right then. My lower lip trembled a little and my eyes watered over. “Open wide,” I said, and pulled open the cap on the vial, then tilted its contents into her mouth. It was tasteless stuff, but more importantly she didn’t really have to do much about it, not even swallow, it rapidly began to absorb into her body and never reached the back of her throat.

I put the vial away, and shifted into an angel’s form. Only then did I bend over and give her forehead a kiss. “You make her such good meals, you bless her plenty for both of us, human. Just… don’t let her chores get to be too much.” I said and unable to resist the urge, I reached for the little hand button to call for a nurse.

The beeping was going much, much faster now. I dont’ know what it was, but if I had to guess, it was probably her heartbeat rising to a normal pace? Her respiration was already improving. “Here. Let me help you. You won’t need this.” I said, and began to undo the tape and pull the tubes free, that took a moment, and involved a fair amount of gagging and more snot than I expected.

The beeping ‘flatlined’ when the machine could no longer detect the patient, and I stroked her hair one more time. The color was coming back into her face and body, her eyes were coming slowly back into focus.

“You’ll be fine.” I said, and as the medical staff’s rushing feet drew closer, I cast my spell again, slowly turning myself invisible.

I turned my head to look at their faces this time, and winked at them as they stared, agog and disbelieving when they saw Suki Toriyama’s condition.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

I stepped out of the way right enough, and… alright I couldn’t resist. [D’oog kcul] I whispered the spell very quietly, and touched the backs of each of the three to come rushing in. It was just a little ‘good luck spell’ nothing ‘tremendous’ but ‘luck’ isn’t really a thing.

Luck is just a matter of probability recognition and well timed decisions. It’s just being more ‘aware’ of things and making a person’s brain more likely to make the right call as opposed to the wrong one.

How long it would last? Well, it was hard to say. Maybe their whole lives, maybe only a few months? That was just dumb luck, as far as I knew, if you’ll pardon the expression. I don’t really know why I chose to do that for them, maybe because they were helping out Suki, maybe because it was just funny if it seemed to them that they’d been blessed by seeing an angel, maybe there was no reason at all.

But I left just as Suki began to sit up on her own, staring at her intact hands and weeping with uncontrollable joy as she realized she would see her son, her store, her home again.

“It was real.” She gasped with the barest of disbelieving breaths. “I thought it was just a dream, that I was just a dying fool who was hallucinating, that it was all in my head. But it was real.” I looked at the scene from the door, keeping myself undetectable. The doctors and nurse were busy looking her over, urging her to lie down and shouting things like…

“This isn’t supposed to be possible!”

“Get her into testing, we need to be sure!”

“I’m going home… I’m really going to go home…” Suki whispered and wiped her eyes and face, and I don’t know what happened after that.

I got out of the way of the door, the chaos was bringing other people over, white coats were fluttering in momentum made breezes as staff clustered around and shouted and tried to squeeze in. I suppose by then the story of the angel visiting the patient had spread, and I had to bite my arm to keep my laughter at bay until I could get out of there again.

I teleported outside my building, then up to the walkway outside my door, and then walked back in again.

Celia was dozing on the couch, a big bottle of soda was drained down to about half what it started as and the array of snacks was severely attacked. She’d even finished off an entire pizza by herself.

I looked at the screen and watched the male protagonist get dunked into some water and emerge as a pretty young girl. “Could have waited on me.” I grumbled a little, she was only two episodes in, but still.

I turned it off and went to fetch a blanket, which I then draped over her. The couch was thick and cozy, honestly I’ve fallen asleep on it many times, I knew she’d get a good night’s rest.

Tomorrow the store would be open for only a few hours, it was a national holiday, minimal work would be done, no kids would be in school, all in all, that would mean more time for pretty much… everything. And of course, more time to enjoy my lazy summer day.

I’d probably see Suki come home too, and I wouldn’t need to work the store anymore. One less thing.

“Lucky me.” I thought as I closed my bedroom door. Celia was sprawled out and starting to snore. Her human form was apparently the sleeping embodiment of a buzz saw.

No matter. I wouldn’t hear her from where I would lie curled up beneath my own covers.

I yawned, closed my eyes, and as I thought about my last day working the register at Toriyama’s… I felt, strangely enough…

Like I might miss it.

Just a little.

I hadn’t worked out why before I fell into a deep, contented sleep.