Leo's eyes widened, and his face paled.

"G...g... gone?" he asked.

She nodded in response.

"Oh... oh, no. Oh, no, no, no..." Leo muttered quietly.

"I need to... I need to see him." he then said.

"I need to see Chronos."

Leo thought for a moment, before nodding.

"Right." he said.

"One moment." he told her.

He then scrambled to get a pad of paper and a pen, and wrote something down for her, handing it over.

"I am the second in command here, and this should get you some time off to recuperate, and it should expedite your treatment... ie: get you to the head of it all." he went on.

"....it's the least I can do." he mumbled.

Leo just sighed deeply, and shook his head.

"Ugh." he muttered.

"Time to do this." he said.

Some time later, Miki and Tyson were back in their home, when Miki received a call from Sharp.

"...I need you to come into my office, ASAP." he said when she answered.

"I have someone here that is EXTREMELY insistent on meeting you, and they're NOT taking 'no' for an answer." he went on.

"How soon can you get here?" he asked.

Normally, when people made demands like that, Miki knew that Sharp would send them packing. The fact that he was acquiescing to it this time was very telling.

Either the situation was THAT dire, or the person was THAT powerful.

Or both.

"Ah... a half-hour you say?" Hal asked.

That's when she heard the conversation become a little muted and muffled. However, she knew she heard discussion, which turned into a heated discussion, which then seemed to turn into an argument, and then almost a shouting match.

"...this person is EXTREMELY insistent that you get here within the next few minutes." Hal sighed.

"I have explained that you do not have the usage of active mana for teleporting purposes, and they are saying they will teleport you here themselves." he went on.

"However, I do not care who it is, if you are not comfortable with that, then they will wait for you to drive here." he then said, conviction in his tone.

There was another pause.

"They have deemed that to be acceptable." Hal informed her.

"Now. They are also willing to let you get ready." he continued.

"Do you need time to get dressed or gather your things?" he asked.

"Or are you ready now?"

Before Hal could answer, she saw a figure floating in the air off to the side, and THEY spoke.

"What's going on is that the Somnovore has now made things personal for me." they said.

"Somnovore...?" Hal muttered.

"SHE drew a picture of it." the figure said, gesturing to Miki.

"How did you know about it? How did you see it?" he asked her in a demanding tone.

This question seemed to anger the figure.

"I know of 5 ways, only 1 will work." he said. "The head of my Order decided to try one of them, and it has resulted in her going missing, and the creature is now angrier." he went on.

"As told to me by THAT one." he continued, gesturing to a male that she hadn't noticed. He looked younger, and was cowering slightly.

"I sense that you might know more about this creature, though." he then said to Miki, eyeing her suspiciously.

That's when she felt her shadow shudder slightly.

The figure raised an eyebrow.

"Is that so." he said.

He then looked at her shadow, before it came to life, and moved over to a nearby chair.

"....never thought one of YOUR kind would bind to someone." the figure commented.

"Now... you going to tell me what I want to know? Or do I need to rewind you back to when you're nothing more than a fraction of a shade in what was once your host body?" he asked.

"I'll tell you, I'll tell you!" the shadow creature exclaimed, obviously scared.

Hal was silent, and sighed.

"I didn't hear half of that conversation." he said, referring to how he couldn't see the shadow creature, or hear what it said. "But if we need Sierra, I'll call her." he told her.

He then picked up his phone, and dialled her number.

"...it's Agent Sharp. Are you in the Unit, or home?" he asked when the line was picked up.

"I need to see you in my office, ASAP." he told her.

"How soon can you get here?" he asked, before the figure looked him over, causing him to sigh.

"Listen..." he said, before giving her the same spiel that he'd given to Miki.

"So... yes, if you're fine with that, you can have a direct passage to my office. You just need to tell me where you are." he explained to her.

"But only if you're comfortable with it."