"I..." Jaden stammered.

"Right." he said.

"Um..." he mumbled.

"I checked all the other food." he told her.

"Which is to say, I had it scanned professionally." he continued.

"Nothing else was contaminated with seafood or shellfish. But I tossed it anyway."

Jaden looked... shocked, to say the least.

"Sorry?" he responded.

"Desiree, you... you have absolutely nothing to apologise for." he told her.

"This... none of this is your fault." he went on.

"If anything, I'M sorry." he then said.

"This happened while you're under my protection." he reasoned.

"Also, overall? It's not much of a change." he then assured her. "Worst thing that's happened is... uh... well, there was that one time about 4 days ago where I wanted fish and chips, but decided against it just in case, but then the craving went away about 20 minutes later, so... yeah?" he then added with a small shrug.

Jaden raised an eyebrow.

"Haddock, huh?" he asked.

"Come talk to me after you sleep." he said.

"I might know of someplace good." he told her.

"...regardless, go on." he continued.

"I hope you can get some restful sleep."

Jaden just sighed.

"All right." he said.

"I'll remember that." he told her.

-Some time later-

Jaden just smirked to himself as he smugly strutted up to his building.

"Heh. Nice." he said.

"No need to worry about-" he went on, before he suddenly felt himself stopped dead in his tracks, a surge of pain going through him.

"...what..?" he muttered, taking another step... or trying to... before feeling the same thing.

"The HELL!?" he exclaimed, before taking out his cell phone and calling his mother.

"Hey, Mom?" he said when she answered.

"Seems like I can't get to my building anymore. Literally." he told her, obviously unimpressed. Not that this was her fault, but he needed to vent before he tried to get this fixed.

"....what...?" Jaden muttered.

"How... how did you...?" he stammered, before shaking his head.

"I don't know." he told her.

"I'm forced to stop here." he said.

"Like some kinda painful WALL is in the way." he went on.

"And I don't get it!"

Jaden nodded.

"Yes, there have been." he told her.

"After some digging, I discovered that Desiree's brother, Deryck, is very dangerous." he said.

"He's also a genetic mana hunter." he went on.

"I asked if the protections around this building would keep him out. They wouldn't. So I had them modify it to keep out genetic mana hunters." he explained.

"Just got the call earlier while I was out that they had done the job."

"...what?" Jaden asked.

"Wait, what!?" he exclaimed.

"This... this is no time for-" he continued, before pausing.

"Wait, how does this make ANY sense!?" he asked her.

"...know what? Sure." he then said.

"Your lasagna is heavenly." he reasoned.

"And I'll have some to make up for this day. Because I am going to call security up, and tear them a NEW one!" he finished.

That's when Sydney received a response.

....finally time, is it? it asked.

"Uh... a little bit." Jaden replied.

"Sure..." he then said.

"I'll... I'll show up at your place in... I dunno, close to 40 minutes or so." he estimated.

"Shouldn't be TOO long." he reasoned.

"And YOU'LL talk to them?" he then asked, pausing for a moment.

"Heh, all right." he said, smirking slightly.

"That's far better actually." he chuckled.

The male there, Nico, just sighed.

"I don't know, either." he replied.

"But... this day had to come eventually." he told her.

Sure enough, about 45 minutes later, Jaden appeared at his Mom's house, just inside the front door.

"Mom, I'm h-" he started to call out, before pausing.

And sniffing the air.

"....what the...?" he mumbled, now on guard.

Jaden was silent for a moment, before making his way further in.

"Uh..." he stammered.

"Well, uh... a little confused, actually." he said.

"Still wondering why I can't get into my building." he told her.

"And wondering... what I smell..." he continued.

"Not the lasagna. THAT smells amazing, as usual." he assured her.

"But there's something... else... in the air." he went on.

"Something... unusual? Something... I dunno... worrisome?"