Charlotte woke up drained and sore all over. Her skull was so tight she felt like her brain was going to ooze out of her ears. Despite her pain-wracked body aching for care, she could tell something was…off. She sometimes slept with the window open when it got hot, but she didn’t remember opening it last night, so where was that breeze coming from?

Had she even gone back to bed? She scarcely recalled waking up after a depressing nightmare, shuffling out of her bedroom, and bringing a bag of bagels to the bathroom. In fact, if memory served right, she hadn’t left her bathtub to get back into bed.

That explained why she was so sore, at least. All her foster parents’ riches couldn’t buy her a comfy bathtub to spend the night in. She really needed to stop doing that; not only were her late-night binge eats adding to her weight problem, passing out in the tub was just killing her back.

She opened her eyes to get her bearings only to shut them tightly when harsh light burned her retinas. Had she left the bathroom light on, too? That made sense; if she got up to turn the light off, she would’ve just gone back to her bedroom. Easier to just ignore it and keep stuffing her face with everything bagels…

Speaking of bagels, she was starving.

“Ugh,” she grumbled, feeling for the bag she dropped somewhere in or around the tub. Instead, she felt something course brush against her fingers. Was this…dirt? Why would there be dirt in her bathroom? She hadn’t cleaned up in a while, sure, but it wasn’t this bad.

Her frown deepened as her hand wandered farther away, blindly feeling her immediate surroundings. Her fingers slid across rough dirt, sharp pebbles that cut superficially wounds into her palm and…fabric? Curious, she tugged at the soft and silky material. It resisted her attempts to pull it closer to her so she pulled harder and-

“Awfully touchy, no?”

Charlotte yanked her hand away, her eyes snapping open despite the burning light bearing down on her. Sitting a few feet away from her was a…bug girl? Her entire body was covered in light green chitin and she had honest-to-God antennae sticking out of her triangular head. Not to mention the wings hanging down her back and the four arms sticking out of her…top and middle sections.

Right. I’m not in my bathroom but another world with a bunch of other paladins. I guess…that means different….things…different people would be chosen as paladins, too, right?

Charlotte cleared her throat and the poor girl jumped five feet into the air, her wings snapping out to keep her hovering for a few seconds. They stared at each other, equally freaked out at the sudden turn of events. Bug girl’s tiny black pupils contracted further into her pale green irises as she hyperventilated in mid-air, her breaths coming in quick and short.

Should probably try to get some answers out of her before she passes out, Charlotte thought, sitting up. “Uh, wha-er, who are you?”

Bug girl stared at her for a second longer, perhaps still viewing her as a threat. Charlotte looked down at herself; through her tattered uniform, she saw her muscle form had disappeared while she was passed out. She must’ve run out of anima to power it. Her core did feel empty, as did the rest of her body. Her system was fresh out of the mystical energy that turned her into a black She-Hulk.

Not as pretty, though, she thought bitterly, scratching at her bare arm. She froze as she realized she was touching her right am, which was decidedly free of the anima blockade she’d been maintaining. The parasite was free! It was somewhere in her body, doing things to her and-

“Safe,” a chirpy voice interrupted her panicked thoughts.

Charlotte stared up at the bug girl, glaring at her. “What?” she snapped.

Bug girl extended one bony arm toward her, trembling only slightly as she whispered, “No more bag thing. Human is safe.” She gestured toward herself, her palps twisting to form an eerie but oddly shy smile. “Mepe fix with a cure. You better now.”

“Not sure about better,” Charlotte grumbled, rubbing her aching temples. “I feel like crap.”

Bug girl―Mepe, apparently―shrugged. “Use much anima; Mepe cannot fix exhaustion.”

Charlotte dropped her hands onto her lap, too tired to do much else. As she lay back down, minding the rocks that had been digging into her back before, she looked back up at bug girl. “Yeah, okay, fine. How’d you find me?”

“See Human sleep in the cabin,” she explained, rubbing her forelimbs together as she dropped back onto the ground. Her long, inverted legs caught her easily as she folded her two sets of wings neatly against her back. She lowered herself to the ground carefully, patting down her skirt with her lower arms. When she was settled, she tsked at Charlotte, wagging one long, clawed finger.

“Very dangerous,” she added. “More Naid than usual, Phattie says. Human could get ov-over-” She frowned, tapped her chin. “Over-something. Does not matter. Point is, stupid to exhaust self after a battle with no friend.” Her palps lifted into another creepy grin. “Mepe need lots of help fighting Naid, Phattie says, so Human and Mepe should be friends!”

Seeing Charlotte react less than excited at her proposal, her enthusiasm dropped and she went back to nervously rubbing her forearms together. “Uh, Mepe fix Human if she gets too hurt, yes? Mepe can fix very well; parasite is gone, no? Mepe also has a loud yell. Goes boom when Mepe aims right; blows Naid’s head right off!”

That’s actually kinda cool, Charlotte had to admit. Even if she smiles weird and looks like a monster, it would be good to keep her around. Especially since my fighting style involves me getting up and close to the zombies…

Unbidden memories rose up from the dark crevices of her mind. Events she’d been trying very hard to forget resurfaced and she was forced to relive the horrible, gore-filled past. She turned on her side, pushed herself up with one arm, and heaved the remaining contents of her stomach.

“Oh, icky, icky,” bug girl murmured. “Bad stomach? Mepe can fix!”

Charlotte groaned, wiping her mouth as she rolled away from the mess. “I’m fine,” she muttered. “Don’t-”

Mepe shoved a spoon of something into her mouth cheerfully, cutting her off. Her palps clicked together happily when Charlotte, stunned and confused, accidentally swallowed the contents of the spoon. Gagging at the sour taste, she pushed Mepe’s hand away from her face and spat out the spoon.

“The hell was that?”

“Bad stomach is fixed,” Mepe said simply, picking up the discarded spoon and skipping back over to her spot. “Mepe has fixes for stomachs. Scratch? Can fix. Feel bad? Can fix. Hungry? Can fix.” She nodded, satisfied at her proclaimed abilities. “Yes, Mepe fix many things. Human should take Mepe as a friend.”

“I, um…” Charlotte was at a loss for words. Her stomach did feel a little better after she’d had whatever bug girl had given her. Plus, her chances of surviving this place would up quite a bit with a healer on hand. It wouldn’t hurt to keep traveling with her, even if she couldn’t talk right and she looked like some insect devil incarnate.

“Sure…why not?”

Bug girl squealed and clapped her hands. She hopped over to Charlotte and gave her a hug, though her too-short arms couldn’t reach around Charlotte’s gut. “We are friends! Human and Mepe travel together, fight Naid together, do everything-”

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” Charlotte mumbled, extracting herself from the ecstatic girl’s grip. “Where’d you take me, anyway? And where’s my bat?”

“Mepe finds safe place to rest,” she explained, walking over to the bush hedge surrounding their cleared area. She dragged Charlotte’s bat―free of brains―and her robe out of them. “Mepe very good at finding things Naid don’t like. Take trial and error, and sometimes make a deadly mistake, but most times, Mepe finds what she is looking for.”

“Right…” Charlotte took back her things, grunting as she nearly dropped the bat. Opting to lay it against her legs rather than strain herself carrying it, she looked back at Mepe. “So….how’d you get the…the Naid to leave us alone?”

Naid’s a stupid name for zombies. It doesn’t even have relatively anything to do with them.

“Smells. Naid don’t like how this,” she waved a hand at a bush, “smells.”

Curious, Charlotte leaned over the bushes and sniffed at them. Was that…sage? She took a step back and examined the bush. Sage didn’t grow on bushes and had purple flowers, which only added to her confusion. She touched a bright orange petal, rubbing it gently with her finger. Bringing it up to her nose, she inhaled the same sage scent from the bush.

“What is this thing?” she asked Mepe. When the bug girl didn’t answer, she turned to look at her, opening her mouth to repeat the question. She paused, taking in the horrified look on Mepe’s face. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Touch Stinging Bud is very bad,” she hissed, her palps clicking together in distress. “Stings skin and chitin, can burn if exposed for a long time. Naid don’t like cuz it smells pure, paladins don’t touch cuz it hurts!”

Oh, Charlotte felt the stinging now. Even her nose was starting to feel hot and she’d only smelled the stuff. She hurriedly wiped her hands on her uniform pants, desperately trying to rub whatever toxins the flowers gave her.

“Don’t just stand there!” she yelled at Mepe. “Do something! Don’t you have a fix for this?!”

Mepe cringed and shook her head, “Don’t know how to fix Stinging Bud. Very sorry. Should wear off soon…maybe?”

Disheartened, Charlotte stuck her burning finger in her mouth, hoping that cold saliva might soothe the pain. Instead, the same itchy sting traveled from her finger to her tongue. She stuck her tongue out, flapping her hand at it. “That huuuurts!”

“Yes,” Mepe agreed, watching her frantically prance around. “Should not put the sting in the mouth. Not very good idea, no?”

Charlotte glared at her. “If you’re not gonna help me, then shut up!”

Bug girl went quiet, scuttling back to her spot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took fifteen minutes for the stinging to dissipate. Charlotte had distracted herself from the pain by interrogating Mepe about her healing skills.

She’d more or less learned to ignore the pain in her arm, sides, and shoulder while fighting the zombies, so it’d come as a surprise to see that the only thing remaining of her former injuries were jagged pink scars that tingled when she touched them. When Charlotte had asked what had been done to her, the bug girl turned surprisingly professional, losing some of that jittery edge.

“Bloodberry, Green Newt’s Spit, and yellow honey,” Mepe answered, taking said ingredients out of one of her myriad of pouches. “Bloodberry,” she held up a wrinkled, bloodred fruit resembling a raspberry, “gives back blood. Works very well for Humans and Trolls, very close, those two. Not work so good on Karikit, so Mepe doesn’t use very much.”

“Is that what you are?” Charlotte interjected. “A Karikit?”

Mepe beamed at her, clicking her palps together. “Yes! Mepe is a flying Karikit. Not many of those, so picking as a paladin is very very special, yes?”

“Uh, sure. How does the bloodberry give back blood?”

Mepe shrugged. “Special berry, special juice. Don’t know why, just that it does. Mepe learns not to question. Better that way.”

“Right…so, you collect newt spit?” Charlotte made a face, pointing at the vial of clear liquid. “You put that on me?”

“Better than Red Newt Pee, no? Human complains too much. Should be happy that spit heals.”

“It’s still disgusting…”

“Sure,” the girl said. “Green Newt have special regeneration properties, like Trolls and spiders. Collect the spit and easy fix, yes? But!” She held up a finger, looking at Charlotte seriously. “Must use Bloodberry with Green Newt Spit. Cannot heal with just blood, you see.”

Charlotte frowned and crossed her arms. “Why doesn’t the Newt spit just heal the blood, too?

“Spit makes sure nothing goes wrong. Bloodberry gives back the blood, but it just keeps giving. Newt spit turns excess blood to powder to stop bleeding. That’s where the yellow honey comes in. Yellow honey mix with powder and fixes you up! That’s why Human has scars and not missing arm chunks. Understand?”

“Wha-no! How can any of that stuff do that? How can the yellow honey just-”

“Shh!” Mepe interrupted, her antennae snapping up. Her eyes widened and she hurriedly put away her things. She clasped each pouch to the belt holding up her skirt and jumped to her feet. “Naid coming. About…two. No, three.”

Charlotte scrambled up, fumbling with her bat. “I thought you said they didn’t like the smell?”

“They don’t,” the Karikit replied. “But Naid is tricky sometimes. Unpredictable.”

“Great,” she sighed. “And I’m fresh out of anima so I can barely lift this thing!”

“Bat is heavy,” Mepe agreed, pulling out a vial. She shook it, turning the formerly clear liquid into a brownish substance. After sloshing it around a bit more, she held it out to the Human girl. “You want strength boost?”

“Gladly.”

Charlotte accepted the vial and downed its contents. It tasted rather pleasant, to her surprise. She smacked her chops, delighted at the nutty flavor. She was about to ask what Mepe put in it when the first Naid leaped over the bushes and into the small clearing.