My shoulder was on fire, the throbbing pain made my whole body flare with rigidness, my teeth gritting to the point I believed I'd chipped a tooth. I heard nothing, but the faint sound of rushing water through my ears, as if I'd dived head first into the sea. "Jim, stay with me!" It was mum, I felt her delicate yet strong arms snake around my body, and realised I was atop of something sturdy. I heard crashes and growls of something near by, and thought it was the Heloisa mutt that just shoved a sword through my chest. But I couldnt bare to open my eyes, they went squeezed shut, as if they helped ease my pain.

I felt air rush past me as I was weilded through the air in my mothers arms. She wasn't strong, but she wasn't entirely weak, either. I felt her struggle to lift her 12 stone son, and by the feel of it, I knew we were headed up some stairs. I couldn't move my left arm, which was evidently the side of the sword wound, where the cool air made it feel as if I were being stabbed with tiny prickling needles.

The next thing I knew, I was placed on a bed, a guest room, where the bed was programmed to hover when a certain button was pressed, but I didn't need such luxury right now as I felt blood pool from my shoulder.

"Jim?" My mother held my face in sweaty palms, as I pried an eye open, I saw tears leak from her eyes uncontrolably, short gulps of air racking her back into sobs. "I've called Delbert, please hang on, Jim," She pleaded with herself more than me. I reached out a hand and gingerly touched her hand over my face. She looked up astonishingly like I'd just woken up out of a coma. "I'll be alright,"

She smiled a thin smile, and when she did, her eyes loomed over mine until they diverted to the door. I made out wet slapping sounds and knew it was her. "Mum," Before she could answer me, she ran to the door. I heaved up on my right side, and saw her. Ariel was on the floor, wet red hair looped around her neck and draped over her shoulders dripped with water, her tail a healthy looking green with a new sheen to it, but her eyes were on me, and they were so wide it looked as if they'd spring from her head. But she quickly looked up to Sarah as a threat. "What's wrong with him-"

"Nothing," She hurried Ariel out of the room.

"Mum-Agh!" I reached out a hand to stop her, but just saw Ariel get waded out of the room as a searing pain ate at my shoulder, it felt like it was getting chopped off.

I understand why she's getting Ariel out of here, because of course, I could be bleeding to death. But to say 'nothing' is wrong with me is a little crude. I've been stabbed, does she really not trust this...mermaid? This girl?

She hurried back in with wet towels and a metal bowl. "Why'd you hurry her out so fast?" She didn't even glance in my direction, just placed the bowl down on the bedside table and set the towels onto the bed and sat by my side, folding a wet towel in her hands, her brows furrowed.

"Jim, you've been seriously hurt, I don't know where she's came from or what she could be carrying-"

"Mum, she's a mermaid, she isn't going to play me a song and drag me to my doom like a siren-AGH!" She pressed a wet towel to my shoulder, wincing as she knew she was hurting me.

"Jim, I know she isn't going to hurt you," Her face turned serious. "But think about this, my son has brought home yet another burden. The last time that happened, in the space of five minutes, my inn, my home, my life was invaded by pirates and burned to the ground. You have to give me credit, here." She took the towel away and held the metal bowel near my face. "If you feel like you want to be sick, here." Her words hurt. It was because of me the last inn was burnt to the ground in embers and ash. I had caused her such misery. Then Silver came to mind. His glinting eye made me close my own and my chest contracted a little, or was it the pain? I could no longer tell.

"What happened to that dog?" Before my mother could give me the low down of the alien that stabbed me, Doc rushed in with another alien.

Delbert's glasses were askew, his ears flopped and red coat wavered in his rushness that he dropped his own bag. "That 'dog' is right here, thank you very much." Worry lined his face, as well as his new home life. He gestured to the other alien by his side, that instantly took one look at me and hurried over. "And this is-"

"I'm Doctor Lionel Gurgon, just call me Leo, dear boy," He was the same species as Mr. Turnbuckle from the RLS Legacy a few months ago, who sadly lost his life at Flint's secret trove, along with other rogue aliens.

This doctor had eyes like a snails that wired from his head, which was just a smooth pale purple colour. His limbs were just tentactles, not slimey, thankfully. No nose, but filtering gills at the side of his neck. He put on some gear and opened his own medical bag and dug out some tools.

"Will he be alright?" Mum cooed over me, I felt another flare of pain twinge my nerves.

"Mum, he hasn't even touched me yet-mmmmmf-" Okay, as soon as I said that, Leo used cutters to tear my shirt, in doing so, made me move a little, which didn't help at all. My chest was exposed, my muscles were noticably firm, and fine layers of fair hair lined my torso, but the most disturbing was the gaping wound at my left shoulder. It wasn't horrific, but not very pleasant. Blood was dry around some areas, but the wound sprouted new blood every time I took a breath, which was so painful I wished I could stop breathing.

"Right, Jim-" He must've been told my name by Doc. "I'm going to have to clean and weld your wound, do you want to be put under for this?" He wanted to know if I wanted to be knocked out. I've been dealt worse pain in my lifetime, I'm sure I can survive a little cleaning and welding from an iron rod that welds body tissue within seconds to heal, but it's quite...very painful.

I shook my head, and thought of Ariel. Her blood red hair flashing in my view, her large, scaly tail looking bloody and battered when I first saw her not long ago. How things have dramatically chanegd within minutes, and here I am, bleeding and in agony. I wondered what it was like for her, to go through her own pain. All she was doing was drying out, was that like oxygen for us? Or thirst?

Leo gave me a once over and dimly nodded and got out thin bottles of labelled liquids. He popped out a syringe and I heard my mother gulp at my side. It didn't help my own fear of needles when she's gasping on my behalf. He filled it with liquid and tapped the thin needle and pricked the inside of my wound. I felt my eyes bulge from the excruciating pain, I almost screamed, and this was only the cleaning stage.

Doc went over to mum's side, cradling one of her arms that was bloody, my blood. Her face contorted in fear, ground-breaking fear, as if something precious was being torn apart in front of her. Next, Leo brought out a little device. Suturing was out the window decades ago when they invented this little torture. It burned 600 degrees within second of being switched on. But it had elements to quickly weld flesh tissue, that when welded, was cooled. Leo flicked a button and the tip of this thing blazed orange like the sun.

I pressed my lips together and looked to my mothers side, she bent down like a sack of Purp's and gripped my hand she almost broke off my fingers. Then I gripped hers with incredible force, as scorching pain, so blindingly agonizing that my brain couldn't decipher what was happening to my body.
My shoulder felt like at any moment it could go up in flames.

Welding had to be done a little slowly, to be sure the tissue fused together, but when he moved a little lower, I couldn't take it no more. I screamed, so loud and, thankfully, not girlishly. The hollow shrieks made my mother wince in terror and squeeze her eyes shut and Delbert, the poor guy, he dipped his head and braced against the cries of pain.

Then, the door, someone was numbly bashing against it, knocking almost.