Nathan carries Guilt back to Sera and the others, hoping she might have an explanation for what happened to him.
"Almost there," Nathan mutters as he approaches another turn.
He spots Sera leaning against the wall, her eyes fixed on Jace and Nira—though she's clearly lost in thought. Joy sits between them, poking their faces in hopes of waking them up.
"Sera," Nathan calls, snapping her out of her thoughts.
Joy looks over. "That was fast," he says, then turns back to observing Jace and Nira.
"Have you relinked him?" Sera asks, hoping for a positive answer.
Nathan doesn't respond.
"What happened?"
He gently puts Guilt down. "He was like this when I got there. Maybe I was too late."
Sera stares at Guilt, a wave of shock washing over her.
"Oh— I see," she says quietly.
"I tried to link him," Nathan adds, "but the tablet says his emotional frequency is gone."
Sera's eyes widen. "Gone…"
She continues staring at Guilt in disbelief. It shouldn't be possible. Even if an emotion destabilizes, its frequency shouldn't vanish completely. At worst, it could drop too low for the Neurocrown to detect—but disappear entirely?
Unless…
Sera falls silent again, thoughts racing.
Nathan notices her distant look, even though she doesn't appear worried on the surface. He can still sense it.
"Hmmm— hey! What do you think you're— quit poking at my face!"
Nathan glances over. "Well, at least he's okay," he thinks.
"You could at least say thank you. Geez," Joy mutters as he scoots away.
Jace sits up slowly, his head pounding from the blast.
"You okay?" Nathan asks.
"Feeling like a million bucks," Jace replies as he gets to his feet. He looks around, then notices Guilt on the ground.
"Hey, we got him. Now onto the next one," Jace says, convinced his earlier effort paid off.
"Whoa, whoa, not so fast, big guy," Nathan cuts in.
"What? We caught him, didn't we?"
"Yes—but I haven't linked him yet."
"Why?"
"He doesn't have an emotional frequency anymore."
"And…?" Jace says, clearly missing the problem.
"That means I can't link him at all."
Jace squints, brows furrowing.
"Unbelievable," Nathan mutters. "He's looking at me like I'm speaking Latin."
"Without an emotional frequency, there's no way I can stabilize him."
"Ohhh," Jace says slowly. "Yeah. Of course."
Nathan gives him a dissatisfied look.
"So what now?"
"We should probably put Guilt in containment," Nathan says. "Right, Sera? …Sera?"
"SERA!!" Jace shouts.
"Oh my God, WHAT?!" Sera snaps.
"We were thinking of putting Guilt in containment for now."
"Yeah, yeah. We'll do that," she replies quickly. "No need to shout."
"Are you okay?" Nathan asks. "You've been zoning out a lot lately."
"Yeah," Jace adds.
"Oh— um… it's nothing. Don't worry about it," Sera says, avoiding eye contact.
Before they can press her further—
"Hey guys, Nira hasn't woken up yet," Joy says. "I've been poking her for a while now, but still no reaction." His smile doesn't quite match the worry in his voice.
"How come?" Jace asks. "And why are you smiling about it?"
"Hey, it's not my fault. I just can't help it."
Sera rushes over to Nira. "Nira? Nira?" She shakes her gently—then harder.
"Is she still breathing?" Jace asks.
"Of course she's still breathing," Sera replies sharply. "Let's take her to one of the wards. Jace, carry her."
"On it."
He lifts Nira carefully into his arms. "Let's go."
"What about Guilt?" Joy asks.
"Oh— right," Jace says. They almost forgot about him.
"Nathan, take him to the containment room in the lab," Sera says. "Meet us at the medical sector when you're done. Room 52."
"Got it. I'll be back soon," Nathan replies, lifting Guilt.
"I'll go with you," Joy says, jogging to catch up.
They split up.
————
Sera and Jace arrive at Room 52.
"This room's reserved for emergencies," Sera says as Jace lays Nira on the bed.
"I think you should stay with her for now," Sera continues. "Call me if anything changes. I'll meet up with Nathan and Joy."
"Okay," Jace says. "Be careful."
Sera gives him a quick thumbs-up before heading out.