"....I see." Ty responded.

"Well... sadly, that makes sense." he admitted.

"Though I haven't seen Hal yet. Lady Remmington was adamant about nobody witnessing him." he told her.

"....I really don't want what I'm thinking might happen to happen." he went on.

"But maybe we need to prepare for it..." he said quietly, looking from left the right.

"...this doesn't leave us, either." he whispered.

"Panic and confusion in the Unit is the LAST thing we need right now."

"...she really did think all this through." Ty muttered.

"I should expect no less from the Head of the Council." he said.

"Well, at least the crisis seems to be over." he went on.

"THAT was something we never need to go through again." he growled.

"You're lucky you were away during this." he told her. "Who knows how your fae mana would have fared with this running rampant in the building." he continued.

"Sorry you had to come in like this, though." he then apologised.

"I know you were on vacation to spend more time with Liv."

"Ngh." the one on the bed groaned, as they continued to stir.

"..." they were then silent, before their eyes opened.

"Wha...?" he muttered.

"Huh? What the...?" he mumbled further, as things came into focus.

He then looked and saw Angela there.

".......Angie?" he asked upon seeing her.

"....I'm all right." Zeke replied.

"Well, better than before, anyway." he clarified.

"I no longer feel ready to just die. So that's an improvement." he went on.

"...and I can guess that I feel this way at all because the crisis is over." he continued.

"Also... because you're here." he then added with a small smile.

"....you were?" Zeke asked.

"Wait, why?" he asked her.

"Angela, what happened while I was unconscious?" he asked further. "How bad did I get." he continued to ask.

"........" he was then silent, and sighed quietly.

"...I'm guessing it was pretty bad..." he mumbled.

"If it started to worry you..."

"....okay then." Zeke responded quietly.

He then laid back and stared at the ceiling.

"At least I'm awake." he said.

"At least I'm alive." he went on.

"...thank heavens for that." he mumbled further, and then looked at her again.

"Thanks, Angela." he then told her.

"Something tells me our recovery and survival has a lot to do with you."

"......." Zeke was silent for a moment.

"Shit. Right." he said.

"Where's my phone?" he asked, looking for it.

Angela was silent and handed it to him.

"Thanks." he told her with a smile.

He then sighed, and dialled his mother's number, putting the phone to his ear to ready himself for the conversation.

A few seconds after she got comfortable, she heard Emerald's voice.

"Ah-!" he started to exclaim, before he clamped his mouth shut.

"R-Rylie!" he whispered, moving from where he was and getting up beside her.

"You're awake!" he said further, relief more than evident in his tone.

"Are you all right? How do you feel?" he asked her.

His mind was racing, and he knew someone needed to be told about this, but at the moment, he was just so happy to see that Rylie was awake again.

"....I..." Emerald stammered

"Yeah, I guess so." he said.

"Crazy timing, huh?" he asked further.

"How are you doing?" he then asked. "Should I get someone to come take a look at you?"

"....a while." Emerald replied.

"Like... almost 5 days now." he told her.

"A lot of people have already woken up, but some are still out cold." he continued.

"Mostly those that more heavily require mana to... well... live." he said further.

"...and I'm glad you woke up." he then admitted.

"I wouldn't have forgiven myself if you hadn't..."