Joshua looked down on his patient and sighed, sometimes he wished he were normal. Fate had thrown a lot at him, and he was no stranger to ill fortune. Indeed his life so far had put him through enough bad experiences to severely scar him and leave his mind off balance, a cruel legacy that would remain to his dying day.

Not that anyone noticed; he was stuck as is, forever 17, locked in a youthful body that nerve aged or changed, even if he cut his hair is was back to its old style was the next day. He didn't know how that worked, but the ability had been contagious, affecting his brother and several friends. At least he would see those friends, they would have to see everyone they knew grow old and perish. He had quite often torn the pages out of books he was reading when they mentioned the great age of vampires or sages or wizards. Immortality wasn't much fun from the receiving end.

For some reason watching others perish bought these thoughts to the front of his mind, seeing them slip away from this world reminded him that he would never be quite so lucky, he would never suffer a scar, grey hair, or decrepitude, his end would be quick. His patient however was close to death, breathing was shallow and rapid, and while he wasn't a doctor instinct told him her condition was pretty serious. She'd need to be kept warm and probbably require some serious medical intervention.

How had she got here? A crash of some sort? The machine outside looked like it was more suited for falling than flying, it was battered and broken and and seemed to radiate an air of age. Not old like mountains, they were meant to be old, rather old like the pyramids of Giza, something artificial that had stood the test of time.

Surely she couldn't have teleported here? No, that was impossible, few could, and besides, that thing looked heavy, if you tried to take that with you you'd arrive as a circle fifty feet wide. There wasn't anything outside that could've dropped it off, and it certainly hadn't fallen from the sky. A teleporting machine? It wasn't impossible, but... why? "Well, that thing's not going anywhere fast"

What was he doing? Looking for clues at time like this? He searched for, and found his emergency medical kit. It was very well stocked, he'd taken every precaution What was required was the calcium bandages. He cut the small strip of material and laid them on any wounds he could find without being indecent. The women groaned slightly, perhaps due to the sting, but didn't awaken from her sleep.

Right, what else could he do? A healing spell, that would be reasonable and simple enough to do. He muttered the words under his breath and reached out to his patient.

And leapt back.

The sting was incredible, his entire finger felt numb, and that was only where the spark had hit, there was a strange feeling in his arm, a numbness that sparked along the nerves and made a determined attack on his mind. Somehow he'd lost a lot of energy and he hadn't even finished the spell. He was glad he hadn't touched the strange woman, it could have been lethal.

This was bad, some of her wounds were in... difficult or at least embarrassing places and her energy clashed with his own somehow, magic wasn't going to be any use here, and without it, he felt very limited indeed.

He sat down and began to wait, hoping she'd wake up soon. He had trouble keeping his own eyes open, the drain on his energy had been substantial. There were so many things that could be happening and this only increased his natural paranoia. What was going on? Family matters, employment, his friends well-being....even those he might decide to see again. His mind drifted back to two other girls he had fought with once.

And perhaps, the idea of proposing to Adis...wouldn't be good if they found out....perhaps he was being a BIT too hasty.

Granted, the feelings towards each of them were almost stronger than anything else he had, with the possible exception of Rachel, but...it had been quite some time since he'd seen them, and they wouldn't be happy if they thought he'd forgotten about them. He tried to bring their memories to the front of his mind.

"I haven't had a chance to see them at ALL. So much has happened, and to keep them safe, I had to leave them behind, but I promised I'd let them come with me after the danger was over...but it took quite a bit of persuading to get Sugar to agree."

Ah Sugar, she was the princess of the spirit realm of Seraupth; not that you'd know it to see her, she preferred a more demure appearance than most of the people he'd met and she made sure she didn't develop a reputation. She preferred simple outfits, her favorite was a (very) small black tank top with fluffy white edging and a long pink dress that could be described as either smart of skimpy depending on your view of her. She blended easily among the crowds and socialized well with well... everyone. However she didn't like forward guys, or any girl who took an interest in Joshua, she had a jealous and protective streak and a determination to snare him, sooner or later.

Mind you, she WAS pretty, she had the nicest pale pink hair and eyes you could really call sapphire blue, perhaps a reflection of her personality, they burned ice cold when she was angered and twinkled like gems when she was planning something, which she often was. She knew more water spells than were good for her, and Joshua ha taught her some skill with the sword.

And then there was Dinah, or perhaps Dinahs was more accurate; from the same realm as Sugar she was about as far removed from her as possible. She...they were somewhat...different, with two souls in one body always jockeying for control. Devil Dinah was agitated having to put up with her 'better half' but somehow, there wasn't anyway for the two to seperate. In fact, if it wasn't for the Angel that merged with her, she'd probably be a lot different.

Her...thier personalities manifested themselves in a classical good-evil dichotomy, they even called themselves Devil Dinah and Angel Dinah. Instead of her just changng voices and personality, the body and appearance seemed to change slightly as well, when one of the two souls gained control, and the other was still in concious thought, despite the fact you couldn't see the other one.

Devil Dinah was conniving and hostile to everyone, Joshua included, though she seemed to have a grudging admiration for him. She liked to wear black one piece dresses usually with the upper half like a red broken heart on the chest, black shoes, black socks, black everything. She had red eyes and blue hair and was always trouble. Angel Dinah was very similar in appearance, inhabiting the same body, but preferring white dresses and angel wing hairclips. She utterly adored Joshua but was seldom seen being the more introverted personality. She had the remarkable ability to walk straight into trouble from which she could never defend herself much to Joshua's and Devil Dinah's chagrin.

Joshua smiled at the memories. "I guess when all of this is done I can find out some information from the source, I can pick them up on the way."
There was pain, and darkness, the sensation of moving while standing completely still and then... she awoke.

Where was she now? The surroundings were different from the inside of her ship, it was quiet and somebody had moved her. Was this a prison cell? Had she been captured, or had she been taken to hospital? Her body moaned at her mind, her injuries lining up to announce their presence, but it was an old pain, on that was, for now, under control.

"Hey. Nice to see you're in one piece. But don't you think you should rest a bit more? You've still got a few wounds."

At the sound of the voice she span around clumsily, reflexes still relatively sharp despite every limb feeling like it was jacketed in lead. This wasn't good, he opponent was a young human male in good condition and possibly armed while she was injured, unarmed and tired. She could barely stay upright let alone fight, combat wasn't an option.

"Whoah! Watch it, you're still weak, didn't mean to startle you there, but it's not like I'm some crazed killing machine here, hell, even ol' Shelley was better armed when he was on the loose. Heh, as I remember I met a few of his crazed machines, almost did me in too, ol' bignose."

Not an attacker, or at least not one yet, there was no telling his motives, perhaps he was peaceful, either way, people had to be warned. She looked at Joshua with a terrified stare.

"...Where am I? I remember being on the Beacon...before something knocked me unconscious. I need to find someone to help me. There's something coming..." she panicked.

Joshua placed a hand on her shoulder and looked at her sternly. Something was distressing her, had she really been on the Beacon? It had been destroyed days ago, along with the entire crew, all that was left was cooling wreckage, the result of a microconverter malfunction. Or maybe not, her craft had appeared, it hadn't landed, the ground wasn't even disturbed by something that should've wiped out a whole city block at terminal velocity. So how did she get here? Magic? Or perhaps...

"...Something...killed the crew...I saw them die...bright lights..." the girl shivered, almost in tears.

Perhaps she was overreacting, or perhaps something was very wrong. A cover up? Possible now Joshua was gone, but then again, maybe people just didn't know what was happening, one explosion looks like another, why suspect anything at all? The universe was a big place and a lot happened, now was not the time for conspiracy theories, now was the time for calm and considered action.

"Okay, I think we should get somewhere safe, can we move your ship? No? Dang...Okay, try and get anything valuable, I'll help, we need to get somewhere safe."

The girl was quick, ducking inside her ship and emerging only with a small backpack. To Joshua's mind it could contain anything, high explosives, powerful crystals, or perhaps just fresh clothes and lunch, there was no time to ask, he knew where they had to go.

* * *

It was dark in the cell, not a prison, at least of the conventional sort, but an asylum. Some things were too broken to be ignored and when they were found, they were not treated, they were punished. On Earth this kind of place had vanished in the 19th century when mental illness had be turned from demonic possession to a simple malady, but the world that tolerated split personalities was not so forgiving.

They had tried the table again today, electroshock was in vogue, but they had also supplied liberal doses of arsenic and a solid beating as usual. The cell was cramped and dirty, it's padded walls stained yellow over the years. But most importantly, it was dark. Nothing stopped them turning out the lights, not begging, pleading, struggling, they always let the dark in, and the darkness always spoke.

This time, the prisoner listened.