"..." Ash was silent as he heard that.

'And WHY was I not told of this!?" he exclaimed, starting to get angry.

"Because you would have overreacted. Much like you're doing NOW." Lindsay responded.

"..." Ash was stunned at the answer, before just sighing and flopping down in a nearby chair.

"...checkmate." he muttered.

"But yes, it'd be good for Vicki to know that." he admitted.

Ash thought about it, before he realised something.

He hadn't.

"Uh... actually... no." he said. "I haven't." he admitted.

Lindsay merely shook his head.

"Not surprising." he muttered.

"Really?" Ash asked.

"A soul housed in a different body? Too much discord happening for there to be peaceful sleep." Lindsay told him. "Yes, it's Vicki's body, technically, but they're different enough, sadly."

"...oh no..." Ash said quietly.

"We'll need to get the info to her so she can go back to her own time. Fast." Lindsay said.

"And then she'll be able to stop this, right?" Ash asked.

"Most likely." Lindsay responded.

"I really do blame myself for this, too." he then said further, shaking his head.

"YOU?" Ash asked confusedly.

"The fire that Alice and Kiah started wouldn't have happened without my unwittingly throwing firestarter on it." Lindsay growled. "...even though I warned them..." he muttered under his breath.

"The testers you did were under very controlled conditions." Lindsay responded. "The real world has a LOT more chaos to it, which-" he started to say further, before Ash interjected.

"YES, YES, YES, I get it, you're both awful and it's your fault!" he said loudly.

"Snapping each other's heads off is NOT going to solve anything, and it's NOT going to do anything about what's happening to Vicki right now!" he told them. "So we can just focus on getting her the info she needs, while there's still time for her to USE it!?" he asked them.

"..." Lindsay was silent, before hanging his head.

"You're right." he admitted.

"...Alice still needs to rest for another 10 minute or so." he then insisted.

"Seriously, she needs to be able to actually move on her own power before we impart the necessary info to Vicki." he reasoned. "Because bringing HER down HERE would... not be a good idea."

Ash thought for a moment, before shaking his head.

"Uhhh... not that I've noticed, no." he said.

"Means we still have some time." Lindsay reasoned. "Not a LOT... but a comfortable amount, essentially." he said.

"...why are you all down here, anyway?" Ash then asked.

"To see if we can't use this nexus, and the mana it generates, to solve this issue." Lindsay replied.

"Alice wants to find a way to use it to reverse the effects... I'm here absorbing as much as I can, before seeing if I can go out and overload those monstrosities. Make them get their fill to the point of being obliterated."

"Meanwhile, I want there to be a backup solution, in case reversing it is impossible." Lindsay retorted, almost pointedly.

"...this... is so unlike you." Ash said. "Normally it'd be the reverse in terms of opinions, wouldn't it?" he asked.

"Kind of. Or, well, Alice and I would agree on a more peaceful solution." Lindsay responded.

"However... well... I suppose Alice is made of sterner stuff than I am, mentally speaking." he then said. "I reached my breaking point, and await when I can destroy those abominations out there." he went on.

"They're soulless devourers of mana and life force. If they're destroyed, then maybe this world has SOME change to heal and come back from the brink."

"What...?" Ash muttered confusedly, as Lindsay jumped to his feet.

"Explanations later!" he cried out. "Ash, please! Just leave this place!" he told him.

"QUICKLY! Just until you're on the other side of the glamoured barrier!" he finished, before racing off deeper into the room.

Ash was still confused, but turned raced off.

"You'll explain this to me later!" he yelled to them, before hastily making his way back from whence he came, stepping out of the supposed old piece of storage furniture, and shutting the door behind him.

"...." he was then silent, before sighing, and making his way back up to where Vicki was.

"Knock-knock?" he announced, sticking his head in and knocking on the doorframe.

"..." Ash didn't know what to say at that moment. Should he tell her about all he discovered? What he learned? Should she learn that NOW? From HIM? Or would it be better coming from Alice?

In the end, he decided to go with something that was still shocking, and rather saddening.

"We've lost Kayla." he told her.

"She'd been infected. And she rapidly succumbed." he said further.

"I don't know if my earlier transmission came through over YOUR device, but... yeah. She's lost to us now. Her soul is gone and she's... little more than one of THOSE things outside..." he lamented.

Again, Ash was unsure as to what to say here. He'd learned more about the transformation while down there... or, rather, had received a chilling reminder of how the process happened.

He then shook his head a little, and chuckled.

"Somewhere there." he said, putting on a small smile.

"We'll just need to get you back to your own time before anything drastic happens." he told her.

"And hopefully you'll have the info you need to stop this world from becoming a reality."

"Oh right, that." Ash said.

"Ah... well, I was, but then the whole hectic crap with Kayla happened, and because I happened to be near her at the time, defending someone from her, someone else offered to take the rest of the time." he told her.

"So... not quite dawn yet." he went on.

"Still got a few hours before the sun shows itself." he chuckled.

As he said this, his mind was wondering if that was good enough. He didn't want to be the one to reveal that Alice was alive. Or should he? Would it be better to tell her and not have it be such a shock when Alice showed up?

What more else could he say? Or should he say?