Vincent raised an eyebrow when he heard her say that.

"....oh?" he asked.

"The apocalypse?" he asked her.

"....and it's Lindsay's fault? I assume you mean Lindsay, as you said you need to find him." he went on.

"So what, exactly, do you mean by 'apocalypse'?" he then asked her further. "Lindsay doesn't strike me as the type to release the Bringers." he commented.

Again, Vincent was silent, as Vic said what she did.

He then reached forward and accepted the orb, the mana absorbing into him.

Once it did, he froze for a moment, seeming to be lost in her memories. However, he was only lost in them for a few minutes, before returning to reality.

"...good heavens..." he said in a hushed tone.

"How...? How could Lindsay cause such a thing...?" he wondered.

"Well, as I said, it'll be very hard to find him." he told her. "Nobody knows where he goes, and any attempts to find him generally fail, mana or not." he went on.

"...no idea how long he'll be gone, either." he admitted. "But these generally last about a month or so, and he disappeared a week ago. So he'll be away for another few weeks, at least."

"Lab?" Vincent asked.

"I think it's somewhere in New Zealand?" he said.

"At least, that's where he says it is." he went on.

"He's also asked that people not go there." he continued, before pausing.

"You think the root of it all is there?" he asked her.

".....and Vicki is stuck in YOUR hell." Vincent commented.

"....fantastic." he said, sitting down absently.

"My daughter is stuck in a hellscape of a future, where she will more than likely die, and there's nobody there that will help her." he mumbled.

"This is wonderful." he continued.

"Never thought THIS would happen today."

Vincent just seemed to be staring at the ground while she said what she did.

".......Rowena must never know of this." he mumbled.

"She'll go crazy. She'll lose control." he murmured further.

"All this... this is not good..." he went on.

"Don't even know what you mean about him trying to make everyone equal, but since it's ultimately ended in THIS situation, it's nothing good."

"....go, then." Vincent replied.

"I'm going to... I don't know what." he told her.

"I... there's nothing I CAN do." he realized.

".....Vicki..." he said quietly.

"......" he was then silent once more, as he continued to stare at the ground.

Vincent didn't say anything to her in return. He merely remained silent as she spoke and then left... and remained silent afterwards as well, pondering the fate of Vicki.

Meanwhile, at the guild, she heard a response from the speaker just beside the door.

"If you're a hunter, state your codename." the person said.

"If you are a client, state your name, business, and confirmation password." they added.

".........AJ is not here." the voice responded.

"And we don't know when he is expected back." they said further.

"If you insist on waiting, then you will be waiting out there." they went on.

"Without proper authorization, you cannot come in." they then insisted.

"Now, please back away from the door." they finished.

There was silence on the other side of the comm, before there were sounds of an argument... and then the door opened slightly, a head poking out.

It was a young male that worked at the guild. He was a hunter there, but a lower-ranking one. B-level ranks were his highest.

But it wasn't unknown that he had a crush on Vicki.

"Vicki...?" he addressed her.

"What are you doing here? And what's this about AJ?" he asked her.

"......" the mage was silent for a moment.

"I see." he replied.

"Can you prove you're you?" he asked her, handing a small hand and mana scanner out.

Vic stepped forward, placed her hand on it, and pulsed a bit of mana into the device, with her name coming up on the display as Victoria Remmington.

"Dunno why he didn't do THIS..." the mage muttered.

"We gotta stop putting such twitchy people on sentry duty." he said, stepping out of the way so she could enter.