"...wait, what?" Ty asked.

"I'm not?" he asked further. "Who else is?" he asked her.

"Sebastien." Anya responded.

"...and he was REALLY steeped in the soul-taking, wasn't he...?" Ty muttered.

Anya just nodded in response.

"I wonder if that means the majority of the Unit has been affected now..." Ty then wondered.

Ty watched her leave, before getting up and leaving, himself.

"...hm." he mumbled.

"Wonder what caused this, then..." he said to himself.

Meanwhile, Anya made her way to where Hal was being kept, and knocked on the door, to no answer at first. She tried again, and this time heard his voice... low and hoarse.

"Come in." he said.

She did, and found him collapsed in a corner, grasping at his head. Odds are he was reeling from what had just occurred.

Hal was silent, and accepted it. When he did, she saw that it had already started to take effect.

"Ngh..." the djinn grunted, shaking his head slightly.

"What the hell was that..." he mumbled.

"I know what was happening... I know what I was doing... but what was THIS?" he continued.

"Everything just... came back abruptly."

Hal accepted her hand, and she helped him to his feet. Once he was standing, he cracked his neck a little, and sighed.

"That would make sense." he admitted.

"...I still wonder what the hell happened." he went on.

"But I'm just happy to be ME again, if I'm being honest." he then told her.

"...also, you are NOT looking good." he muttered, actually LOOKING at her and noticing her condition.

"Yeah, no." Hal responded.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I would even GRANT that wish right now." he told her. "Given how I feel, and how you LOOK, I don't think risking hitting that wall of static is a good idea." he reasoned.

"..." he was then silent, before pausing and thinking about something.

"I need to check on a number of people." he realised.

"Hollie, Rowena, Vincent... see if it's just the Unit, or if this stretches out further."

Hal nodded.

"You do that." he said.

"I need to see just how this has affected anyone else, if it has." he continued.

"When you're finished checking around, come to my office." he then told her. "Depending on your report, I'll end the lockdown." he reasoned, before taking a step forward, and pausing slightly.

"...right. Need to walk carefully." he muttered.

"I'm complete, but... things are still shifting into place."

Jake was silent, sitting where he was, and accepted the hair. A moment or two later, he sighed heavily.

"That helped." he said.

"A LOT." he stressed.

"And I feel disoriented, discombobulated, dissociative..." he listed off, before pausing. "Admittedly, not so much on that LAST one, got caught up in the 'dis' train..." he admitted with a light chuckle.

He then slowly looked at her.

"How are YOU doing?" he asked.

"...I'm sorry." Jake responded.

"I wanted to be fine. I wanted to be with you. I didn't want to cause you worry." he said further.

"But I was tricked. By that damn dark elf." he growled.

"She'll stop at nothing to make our lives miserable." he went on.

"...so is this return to my usual self YOUR doing?" he then asked her.

"...that is confusing, and slightly concerning." Jake admitted.

"It's surely not the work of Vanessa." he said.

"I don't feel her mana within me. Or... well, on a conscious level, anyway." he went on.

"And I know how it feels. My molting gives a VERY good sense of foreign mana awareness in me." he declared, before pausing.

"...unless that's how the foreign mana WANTS me to feel..." he admitted, shaking his head.

"I just know that odds are this isn't part of her plan."

Jake nodded in response.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's... definitely something to be happy about." he admitted. "Seriously, it's a MASSIVE relief to be rid of her influence, and to have... well, ALL of me back." he commented further.

"Now, are YOU going to take time to recuperate?" he asked her.

"Because you do NOT look good. You look ready to collapse soon." he said, sounding concerned.

"I'm sure Ty wants you to rest soon, too, I imagine?" he asked further.