In the meantime, the patient in question was slowly internalizing the knowledge that without all this help, magical and otherwise, he was facing his own mortality in ways even he had not faced it before.

He dropped to his knees again to accommodate the heights of the humans who were helping him. Elisa was a little busy, what with managing his severed hand, but it seemed so important that he tell her exactly what he was thinking as soon as he possibly could. He touched her hair with his uninjured, bloody hand, speaking softly and with great effort.

"I swore I'd always be there for you -"