He grumbled slightly in his nearly-asleep stupor and scratched at the back of his neck, mistaking the scratching feeling of the parasite being removed for an itch.

Over the next several days, he went about his life as he always would, forcing the strange events from his mind, though they tried to nag at him.

After a week or so had passed since his encounter with Zenis, Gavin was walking home from a very long day at work. It was already dark out, with only the city lights to light his way. He was exhausted, and his hood was slowly falling away from his head, his once bright orange hair slowly starting to dull a bit, and the true brown nature of his hair was peeking through near his scalp.

He was slouching in his stance, shuffling along the sidewalk, and his breathing was somewhat labored by soreness and utter physical exhaustion. The only thing that allowed him to keep moving was his willpower alone.

Tiredly lifting his head upon hearing a noise in the alley he was coming up to, the movement of his feet ceasing.

"Bummer...." Zenis jumped down from the dumpster he was standing on and bending over to pick up the green orb he'd dropped. He glanced up again, seeing his familiar target and twitched a sort of smile in his direction. "Ah, good journey home," he said, bowing that weird way. "Best be on fleet feet for the rains are 'bout to fall on all of our heads." He stepped aside and lowered his head a bit.

His eyes widened just ever so slightly in tired curiosity, and against his own common sense, he stepped closer to the mouth of the alley, trying to get a better look at what had made the noise. It felt as though something were beckoning to him to come closer.

Ignored, apparently. Oh, but it was of no consequence to Zenis. He just went about his business. Which apparently consisted of picking up pebbles from between the cracks of concrete and putting them into the bulging pockets of his dusty trench coat.

It seemed to be a trance that had taken over Gavin, causing him to become oblivious to anything and everything around him except that noise in the alley. He took another step towards it, opening his mouth to draw in a deep breath as his sinuses were starting to feel stuffy and it was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe through his nose.

That was when it struck.

He started coughing, choking, his body stumbling sideways and he groped out with his arms, barely grabbing onto the building he was near and holding himself up. He started trembling, his eyes widening as he tried to grasp what had happened to him.

There was a cold feeling about his body that should've never been there...

Zenis's head snapped up and the little rocks he was cupping scattered onto the ground. He ran over to where the other was choking and he hovered quietly. That's not a Voice. Voices aren't nearly so violent. But...that energy isn't normal.

He stood by, coking his head to one side. If this person died right in front of him, he would have had a darker guilt to deal with. But he didn't know how to help this. He was magic, not a miracle-worker.

It took him a few, long minutes that felt like hours, but he managed to right himself a bit. Vomiting actually eased this, and he forced the strength back into himself to stumble back home; luckily, he was only two blocks away.

Once making it through the door to his apartment, and locking up, he collapsed, shaking and feeling a searing pain through his body, and that unusual, ominous cold...

Zenis watched...and when the other went along his way, he felt a bit more secure. He followed him ten yards behind. Right up to the apartment and then to the person's door. And he sat there in the hallway, bringing his knees up to his chest and sitting quietly. Closing his eyes and listening.

Inside the room, the red cage rattled violently, trying to get closed to Gavin's body.

He woke up a few hours later, feeling very groggy and with a massive, throbbing headache. Pushing himself up, he went into the bathroom and undressed, showered, then crawled into bed.

His body felt weird, and he didn't like it. Like he was suddenly becoming ill. Reaching for the phone next to the bed, he left a message for his doctor, then turned out the lamp on the nightstand and went to sleep.

The next day he waited for a return call from his doctor's office before heading out. He had called in sick to work, explaining that he had to go to the doctor's and would bring in a note when he went back. His job didn't like it, but they never were reasonable when it came to anything of importance.

Dressing, he left his apartment to head off to the doctor's office, completely forgetting to feed his cat; something he absolutely never did.

Zenis was still out in the hallway, dozing lightly with a couple of unoffending field mice snoozing on the worn toes of his faded black boots. He drew himself to consciousness when he heard the sound of Gavin's door shutting in his ear. "Dawn so soon?"

Once again, Gavin didn't even hear Zenis; though he wasn't ignoring him on purpose. He was too focused on going to the doctor's and finding out what was wrong with him so he could get it fixed. Biting his lip, he hoped desperately that it was something physical that felt like a big deal but could be cured easily enough.

Zenis hopped up to his feet, the little rodents all of a sudden vanishing, and followed after Gavin, putting his hands in his pockets and keeping a comfortable distance between the two of them as he walked.

After six hours at the hospital with his doctor, Gavin returned home; frustrated and determined to find out what the hell was wrong with him. Grabbing the phone book, he began looking through it's pages. If it wasn't something physically wrong with him, maybe he was insane. And he was going to be damned if he didn't try to figure out what it was and how to fix it.

And this time, Zenis decided that he really needed to actually get the guy's attention and talk to him. So he stood that the door to his apartment and knocked repeatedly, over and over again without pause, until Gavin opened the door.

It took him nearly fifteen minutes before he finally got up to open the door. Pulling it open a crack, his hair messy and uncombed, he glanced at Zenis, then began shutting the door again. "I'm busy," he muttered, putting his hand on the lock in preparation to lock up as soon as the door clicked shut.

"Um, yes, I would think, but I also," he stopped speaking just a moment to cram his foot in the door, "think that maybe I could, ah, help you out. You're not feeling well, right?"

"What do you care?" he asked, looking up at Zenis again, but fiercely this time. There was also fear and utter unease about his expression. All he wanted to do was try to fix what was wrong with him and continue on with his mediocre life.

"Well, you have something that belongs to me and I need it back through your own volition, so I figured that in exchange for it, I would help remedy what's wrong with you." Zenis looked right down into Gavin's eyes, his own, sharp yellow ones glowing purposefully.

"I don't have anything of yours. I'm not a thief."

"You have my Embryr Element Manifest. It's holding the Voice captive. Should be on the floor around your bed somewhere." He sighed.

"I don't even know what you're--" He blinked a couple times. "Oh... That parasite thing," he said quietly, thinking about that incident for the first time in several days. "I don't have it... There's nothing different about my apartment, but you can look if you want to..." He turned and walked back to his bedroom in the apartment and continued looking through the phone book, leaving the door open for Zenis to either enter or leave.

Zenis nodded and then cautiously walked inside, keeping his hands clasped behind his back. He tilted his head to one side and then the other. Then he walked towards the bedroom and stood at it's entrance, looking around.
"Ah, yes, there it is." He pointed across the room to where the little, red cage was quivering in the corner.

"Then take it," he said, not even looking up from the phone book as he circled a few numbers.

"I can't," Zenis said plainly. "I need you to give it to me by surrendering the ownership of it. It's part of your soul, after all; I can't just take it."

"You said it was a parasite. How can it be part of my soul?"