6:47pm

"Here you go."

Seth set the plates down—the grilled chicken club for the girl and the double-stacked beef burger for the boy—and managed to put on a smile, even though he wasn't feeling particularly cheerful.

The last two days had been nothing but torture. Every minute in Eliona had been spent either in a dungeon or getting beaten up by Dhin. When he awakened on Earth, he could almost feel the residual aches. Those never quite went away, and now he had a throbbing headache that only seemed to be growing worse.

If that wasn't bad enough, the next meeting of Operation Rabbit Hole was tonight, and he still wasn't any closer to figuring out what to say to Chadley. He was certain the taciturn man knew his secret about experiencing everything in Eliona like an actual Elionan. Yet Chad had never brought it up and he so far hadn't said anything to the others.

They'd even raided together a second time last night. Seth's mind was a blur, though. He could barely remember what happened in the raid over the brutal session Dhin had put him through afterwards.

It took superhuman effort to maintain the expression of a server who was absolutely thrilled to be working the floor.

"Is there anything else?" he asked the young couple at the table.

"Yes," the girl smiled at him. "Could I get some hot sauce to go with my fries?"

She was pretty, with round dimpled cheeks and big hazel eyes that seemed to dance with laughter. Her brunette curls framed her face like it was an art piece. The boy looked at her with adoring eyes.

"Me too," he said, not even once looking towards Seth. If he was a dog, the boy's tail would have been wagging a mile a minute.

Seth groaned inwardly, but he gave a curt nod and returned to the kitchen. It was as if everyone somehow knew that Tripp was out right now and made it a point to ask him for all kinds of extra stuff. Just a few minutes ago, someone had asked if he could bring them orange slices for their water.

Bells jangled from the entrance just as he pushed through the swinging kitchen door. More customers, but they could wait a minute.

The sound of sizzling grease came from the grill as the diner's cook placed raw meat patties onto its hot surface. Jake wore the world's most pointless apron, in Seth's opinion, as it was almost doll-sized on his oversized frame.

Seth went around the counter to the far side of the kitchen, not paying much attention to Jake. Both of them had their jobs to do, and neither of them were much for idle talk. It was perfectly normal for them to work side by side for hours in comfortable silence.

He went to the fridge and opened it, while absently rubbing at his eyes. They felt irritated, like he had had some kind of grit in them. They'd been like that since he woke up this morning.

Grimacing, he scanned the shelves. He found what he was looking for on one of the middle shelves.

Hot sauce on fries. Who knew? Seth grabbed one of the bottles. He was the kind of guy who liked his fries plain in all their crispy, salty goodness. When you added ketchup and other stuff, the fries just got soggy. And gross.

As he delivered the hot sauce to the young couple's table, he glanced over at the people who just came in. It was a pair of cops. They were grinning and joking with each other, far too energetic to be anything but at the very start of their shift.

One of them, an Indian woman with an easy smile and short curly hair, met his gaze. She tilted her head, one slender brow lifting as if in question.

"Grab a table," Seth told them. "I'll be with you in a sec."

The cop's smile widened, and she lightly smacked her partner on the arm, who happened to be a man who was about as tall as she.

"C'mon then, shall we?"

Her partner looked young enough to be her son, and judging by the way he flushed, he was more than a little smitten with her. Both of them settled at a table near the door, while Seth attended to the young couple with weird food tastes.

"Anything else?" He was growing to hate asking this question.

The girl with the dimples shook her head. "No, but thanks."

Her boyfriend didn't seem to even notice Seth's presence. He'd gone from eyeballing his girlfriend to devouring his meal with all the gusto of a piranha on a carcass. It really showed where his priorities were.

Shaking his head, Seth went to the cops.

"Hello there." The woman greeted him warmly as he approached. Her brown eyes seemed to dance merrily. Seth somehow found that his mood lightened ever so slightly.

"Hi," he said. "What can I get you?"

"We'll have the burger special." She didn't hesitate at all, something that Seth was grateful for. He liked when people knew what they wanted. It saved him from having to point out the obvious board hanging over the counter with the evening's menu.

"All right. And to drink?"

"Just a couple of coffees." She rested her elbows on the table. "Busy night?"

Seth shrugged, not really in the mood for small talk. "Not too bad. I'll be back in a minute."

He went to the kitchen to get their coffee. When he pushed through the door, he winced. The lights seemed to be significantly brighter in here. It made the ache grow sharper behind his eyes.

He went to the coffee maker. It was full of hot coffee, since not very many people ordered it this late. Maybe once he finished with this latest order, he'd pour himself a cup. It was better than pouring it down the drain at the diner's closing.

"Oh," he paused, glancing towards Jake. "Two more burger specials."

The big man grunted in reply. "Pass me?"

"Sure."

Seth was closest to the fridge anyway. He knew Jake was asking for the tray of prepped patties. After working with the man for a while, he'd learned to understand Jake's way of using as few words as possible.

And if he thought Jake was hard to understand, then his twin, Chadley, was multitudes worse. That man only liked to speak one word at a time. How they managed to survive with such bizarre communication habits, Seth had no idea. They must have been a real riot when they were kids.

He set the coffee pot down at the edge of the counter and turned to towards fridge. He wasn't sure what exactly happened, but he must have hit the pot with his arm. The next thing he knew, he was standing stock still, his shirt and pants soaked through with scalding coffee. The glass carafe lay at his feet in pieces, a puddle of steaming coffee slowly spreading across the floor.

He stood motionless, more startled than anything, and stared at his hands. The skin was turning red and had started to sting.

"Seth!"

Jake came around the counter, moving surprisingly fast. He paused, pale eyes darting down than up, taking in the entire situation in a split second. His expression tightened.

Then he stepped over the mess, huge hands gently grasping Seth's shoulders, and moved them both backwards away from the pool of glass and coffee on the floor. He directed Seth to the main sink, and with one hand, he turned the tap on and got cool water going. With the other, he took Seth's elbow and guided him to putting his hands under the flow of water.

Outside the kitchen, the door to the diner jangled once more. Jake glanced towards the swinging kitchen door, a creasing forming in his brow.

"Hold them," he told Seth, and then he was stepping over the mess on the floor and pushing through the swinging door.

Seth stared at the flow of water as it cascaded over his hands. It helped soothe some of the sting, but he was increasingly aware of the rising pain on his shins and belly, where most of the coffee had splashed. Now the wet material of his clothes clung to those areas.

He shivered, fingers trembling beneath the water. How much damage had been done? Maybe it didn't even matter.

Distantly, he took stock of his situation. First, he was still standing. Limbs still attached. No holes, no exposed bones, no blood. He was still functional then, with maybe a ten percent loss of health. Or fifteen, as it was hard to tell with burns. It couldn't have been that bad, since he could feel the searing pain. If he hadn't, then there would have been nerve damage to worry about.

That's good, he thought. He'd experienced what it was like to have nerves burnt away and it wasn't pleasant.

The door to the kitchen swung open, and Tripp came through. He carried a paper bag and he all but tossed it on the counter without a second look. Like Jake had earlier, he took a giant step over the mess on the floor and immediately came to Seth's side.

Tripp was usually very easygoing, but this was the one of the few times that Seth had seen such a serious look on his face. It didn't suit him. Tripp was like one of those fun Asian uncles who had all kinds of crazy stories and didn't blink at how ridiculous they actually were. Nothing seemed to faze him.
But now, Tripp looked grim.

"Okay, Seth. We gotta get that shirt off. That's a pretty big spill."

Seth gave a little half smile. His boss's concern wasn't really necessary, but it was a nice feeling to know someone cared.

"It's not that bad."

That had the opposite effect, for Tripp's dark eyes narrowed. "It might not seem that way, Seth, but believe me, scalds are often worse than they look. Now come on. Shirt off."

Seth sighed inwardly, but cooperated. He lifted his reddened hands as Tripp tugged at his shirt, and between the two of them, they managed to slip it off over his head. Both looked at his stomach, one with a grim expression, and the other with a distant interest.

There was more redness, big enough that Seth wouldn't have been able to cover it with a palm. The skin looked slightly shiny as well.

Tripp found a clean cloth and ran it under cool water. He pressed it against the burn, expression tight.

"Hold this for a moment."

When Seth placed a hand over it obediently, Tripp grabbed chair and brought it over. He then directed Seth to remove his pants, and then sit. Both his shins had been burned as well, but it wasn't as bad as his hands or belly.

Tripp gathered more clean towels and soaked them in cool water. He knelt, wrapping them around Seth's legs, hands, and took the one Seth had been holding against his stomach to wet it with cooler water.

The whole time, Seth sat in silence. He was a bit baffled by Tripp's actions, since he didn't think the burns were bad at all. The reaction seemed a bit over the top. Still, he was happy to sit, because it gave his tired body a chance to rest. He leaned his head back and let his eyes close. Just for a minute.

"Seth!" A hand patted his cheek, startling him. He opened his eyes, blinking as Tripp leaned over him. "Stay with me. I'll get you something for the pain, all right?"

The kitchen door swung open again and Jake's large frame came through. He was carrying empty dishes, and he set them on the counter next to the paper bag.

"Okay?" he asked.

Tripp twisted to look back at the cook. "Don't think so. He seems to be in shock."

Seth disagreed. Really, they were making too big of a deal. He dealt with way worse every day.

"I'm fine," he said softly. "Just tired."

"You're not fine," Tripp turned back to him. "I'm going to take you in. Jake, can you manage the place?"

Jake grunted. "Go."

"All right, hang on." Tripp left the kitchen, urgency to his stride.

Seth sighed. He looked down at the wet cloth resting across his belly. His skin prickled into goosebumps as cold water dripped down onto his underwear. In any other situation, he would have been mortified to be sitting at work in his underwear, but right now, he failed to muster enough energy to care.

He was more concerned with how to tell Tripp that he was fine. Just last night, he'd spent nearly four hours in the caldera of a semi-active volcano. He'd fought a mentally instable robot tank, which tossed rockets and fire in such quantities that it was impossible to defeat without getting singed or shot full of holes.

Not only was he used to dealing with worse injuries, he also knew what his limits were. A few red spots on his skin were literally nothing. But how could he explain that to someone who didn't play Eliona?

He pulled the cloth away, eyeing the shiny, reddened skin. Touching light fingertips to it, he easily recalled that how several hours ago, this area had been nothing but a bloody hole of ruined flesh. That hadn't been fun.

"Just needs a quick Mend," he mumbled, and the thought made his lips twitch in amusement.

Then he sagged a little as a wave of light-headedness overtook him. His headache sharpened to a brutal point, a pickaxe driving deep into his eye sockets. He winced, biting back a groan.

All he wanted in life at this moment, more than anything, was to find a cozy bed to go pass out in. Actually, he'd settle for the floor right now. If it weren't covered in glass and rapidly cooling coffee, he'd seriously consider flopping down on its hard, cold and most likely greasy surface.

Thankfully, Tripp came back with a long coat before Seth got desperate enough to try sleeping on the floor. The coat he'd found was brown and looked like something the main character in one of those crime TV shows would wear.

"Here," he said, "let's get this—Seth. You're supposed to keep that on the burn."

Shifting the coat to one arm, he stopped a little to retrieve the towel that Seth had let slide to the seat of the chair. Tripp went to move it back, but then paused, his gaze fixated on Seth's stomach.

His silence and lack of movement caught Seth's attention. He rolled his head back and squinted at his boss questioningly.
"Tripp?"

"This..." Tripp didn't seem to have words. He abruptly squatted, and gingerly wiped the wet towel across Seth's belly.

He frowned.

Wondering what was wrong, Seth looked down. He blinked. The burn on his stomach... wasn't there. The skin was pinker than normal, and it tingled, but gone was the majority of the redness. And, he realized, it didn't really hurt anymore.

"Huh," he said. It must not have been as bad as they'd thought.

"What happened?" Tripp sounded faint, like he wasn't sure what he was seeing. The look on his face was so bizarre that Seth couldn't help but smile crookedly. To see the unflappable Tripp so thrown off was kind of funny.

A shadow fell over them as Jake came to see what was going on. Both of the men just sort of stared at Seth's stomach. It was weird. Beyond weird. Seth wondered if he was dreaming, because this whole situation was starting to feel a little surreal.

He wasn't sure what prompted him to do so, but he laughed softly at their dumbstruck expressions.

"Maybe I healed it," he joked. "I do it every day, you know. Look." Touching the back of one burned hand with reddened fingertips, he said, "Mend."

And just like that, a bizarre rush of light and warmth and dizziness coursed through him. White spots burst before his eyes, almost like the snow he'd see when he teleported or re-spawned in Eliona.

Yet it felt different this time. Instead of being warm and comfortable, it was cold and unstable, like he was trying to balance against a howling, icy winter storm. He shuddered once, violently, and then went limp as the icy wind hollowed him out. It took everything trace of warmth and energy he had, leaving nothing behind but a numb, growing dark.

Huh, he thought dimly. That's different from how it's supposed to go.

And then he knew nothing more.